Bessemer Venture Partners list some of their more notable goofs.
[via Johnnie Moore] [via Adrian Trenholm].
The opposite of hype says Johnnie; It’s a compelling read says Adrian (and it is, they sure let some big ones get away, not least Google, whatever the moral of the story). Which is of course that perhaps even in marketing, a self-deprecating honesty pays in preference to begging credulity over claims, exagerated if only by presentation in their best light. Another case of less is more.
[BTW that reminds me, not quite the same angle, but playing against the macho-sexist Australian beer stereotype, what was that ad I saw for a beer sponsoring the rugby, where the opposing teams aim to impress by removing the beer tops with various parts of their anatomy, only to be trumped by the obligatory pretty model below the waist-high bar level, if you get my drift. Sorry but it worked for me, though as Sylvia often points out, memorable ad but I’m damned if I can remember the name of the product. There’s probably a name for that in the business is there Johnnie ?]