expand too quickly and overhire; and then when they are drowning in red ink, they are forced to actually manage their bottom line, which means going from low-accountablitly nice guys to more disciplined management marked by panicked mass layoffs. Some of them go bankrupt, although the savvy owner-founders are smart enough to sell out and bank a lot of the money before failure reaches full bloom. Prominent examples of over-marketing include: Franklin Covey, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Tahitian Noni, Yurika Foods, Polarity TE, etc., etc. The MLMs seem to be particularly good at mismanagement. Even darling NuSkin is struggling currently.

Qualtrics is a notable exception to the Utah model of unsustainable start-ups, it seems.