the evidence room

the clues to business initiative failure

Search the collection of documented cases, research, executive interviews and statistics.

Business initiative failure isn't an anomaly.

Across industries, initiative types, and decades of management practice, the documented failure rates remain extraordinarily high.

The Evidence Room brings together the cases, statistics, research, and executive accounts that demonstrate the scale of the problem.

Why Marketing Best Practices Often Fail

Discover why conventional marketing wisdom may mislead and how to focus on true customer needs. ...more

Failure Rate

August 19, 2026•2 min read

Commercialization Drift: Symptoms

Commercialization Drift occurs when the business begins diverging from the underlying market opportunity. Learn the early warning signals of drift and how Opportunity Architecture can help identify pr... ...more

Failure Rate

August 18, 2026•3 min read

BIS White Paper

This is the initial research findings from the BIS survey, focusing on a subset of submissions dealing with growth. It shows that there is a strong correlation between the integrity of the Opportunity... ...more

Statistics

August 12, 2026•37 min read

Exhibit 003: Is It Really True That 90% of Startups Fail?

The frequently repeated claim that "90% of startups fail" has become part of entrepreneurial folklore, but the article argues that the statistic is widely misunderstood. ...more

Failure Rate

July 23, 2026•2 min read

Exhibit 002: The Hype and Hot Air Around IPOs

The pattern of large first-day pops, yet poor long-term performance is not unique to the Dotcom Bubble. It’s normal. ...more

Investments

July 23, 2026•2 min read

Exhibit 001: Growth Bankruptcies

Conventional wisdom suggests that established companies burdened with debt are inherently riskier investments than fast-growing, newly public companies. However, this analysis by Verdad challenges tha... ...more

Statistics

July 22, 2026•2 min read