An AI-powered proptech startup has shut for business after the founders spoke of their own ‘vanity and stupidity’.
London-based Tract, which was founded in 2023, had raised funds from VC firms Ada Ventures and Concept Ventures to build a platform which identifies areas of land to be built and compiles the relevant planning permission documentation, in a bid to speed up the housebuilding process.
But the company decided to suspend operations last month after it was unable to secure as many customers as it had expected, returning any left over cash back to investors.
The company’s two founders, Jamie Rumbelow and Henry Dashwood, have since posted an extensive tract on their website setting out the reasons they felt Tract had failed in a bid to “exorcise our demons”.
The duo said they had overestimated British market size and receptiveness; raised venture capital for a model that probably should have been funded differently, and focussed too much on technology over business development.
The pair also said they felt they had spent too much time and money on “unnecessary essentials” including on an office, website and branding, a trip to America, contractors, and unnecessary employees.
“This is the thing I’m most angry with myself about. It smacks of vanity and stupidity, and I should have held myself to a higher standard,” Rumbelow said.
The founders also said they spent too much time developing the business remotely rather than working together in person.
“This one is on me. TBH, I made a mistake in choosing the office – it’s dark and cold and upsettingly far away from the sun – but Henry has been much more fastidious about going than I have,” Rumbelow added.
“The past year has felt challenging, and neither of us feel that we have been our most productive or maintained the high energy and urgency needed to make progress,” they wrote.
Rumbelow said he plans to move to San Francisco to pursue other startup opportunities there, while Dashwood plans to spend some time working on “life admin”.
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