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Loot Drop is a free database of 1,600+ failed startups with detailed post-mortem analysis. Each entry includes the startup's funding history, cause of death, market analysis, difficulty rating, and an AI-generated rebuild plan. Think of it as a graveyard you can loot — every dead company left behind lessons, market gaps, and business ideas you can take for free. Browse the full graveyard at loot-drop.io.

Loot Drop currently tracks 1,600+ failed startups representing over $40 billion in burned venture capital. The database spans 22 product categories, 10 sectors, and companies from over 50 countries. New startups are added every Tuesday and Friday. You can explore the full database using our Database View or search on the homepage.

Loot Drop aggregates data from publicly available sources including news articles, press releases, and founder statements. We cross-reference company URLs, public records, Crunchbase data, and archived websites. Each entry is enriched with AI-assisted analysis covering market potential, cause of death, and rebuild viability — then human-reviewed for accuracy. Read the full origin story.

New failed startups are added every Tuesday and Friday in batches of approximately 30. Each batch goes through automated enrichment (funding data, market analysis, rebuild plans) followed by human review before publication. You can see the latest additions sorted by "Newest" on the homepage.

The data is AI-assisted but not purely AI-generated — every entry is based on real public sources. We use AI to enrich raw data with structured analysis (market potential, pivot ideas, difficulty ratings), but the underlying facts come from verified press coverage and public records. All content is human-reviewed, and we include a disclaimer on every page. See our story for details.

Yes — use the "Add a Corpse" button on the homepage to submit a missing startup. Click the floating bucket icon (🪣) in the bottom-right corner to open the request form. You can submit startup names, URLs, or full details. You can also submit feature requests, data corrections, or other feedback through the same form.

Yes — Loot Drop is completely free with no login, paywall, or premium tier. All 1,600+ startup profiles, rebuild plans, analytics, deep dives, and the learning framework are accessible without an account. The project is ad-supported and built as a passion project by an indie developer. Read the full story.

Capital Burned is the total venture capital and funding a startup raised before failing. It represents money invested by VCs, angels, and other backers that was ultimately lost. On Loot Drop, this figure comes from publicly reported funding rounds. A startup that raised $100M and shut down "burned" $100M. Sort the graveyard by "Burned" to see the biggest losses.

The 7 antipatterns are the core failure modes identified from analysing 1,600+ startup deaths. They are: (1) No Market Need, (2) Ran Out of Cash, (3) Team/Founder Conflict, (4) Competition, (5) Product/Tech Failure, (6) Legal/Regulatory issues, and (7) Unit Economics. Each antipattern is a complete mental model with real examples. Explore the full Learning Framework.

No Market Need is the #1 reason startups fail, causing roughly 35% of all failures. This means building a product nobody wants badly enough to pay for. It's the most common of the 7 antipatterns in our Learning Framework. The second most common reason is running out of cash, followed by team/founder conflict.

Difficulty Rating (1-5) indicates how hard it would be to rebuild the startup's concept today. A rating of 1 means relatively easy to rebuild (e.g., a simple SaaS tool), while 5 means extremely hard (e.g., deep tech, hardware, or heavily regulated markets). This rating considers technical complexity, regulatory barriers, and capital requirements.

Scalability Rating (1-5) measures how well the business model could scale with modern technology. A rating of 5 means highly scalable (e.g., software products with near-zero marginal cost), while 1 means limited scalability (e.g., services requiring physical presence in each market). Filter Rebuild Plans by scalability to find the most scalable opportunities.

Market Potential rates whether the original startup's target market still has unmet demand. "High" means the problem is large, growing, and poorly served today. "Medium" means there's opportunity but with competition. "Low" means the market has been solved or is shrinking. This assessment factors in market size, growth trends, and current competitive landscape.

A Deep Dive is an editorial analysis of startup failures within a specific product category. We cover 22 categories including SaaS, AI, Marketplace, Blockchain, and more. Each deep dive shows failure counts, capital burned, top causes of death, and category-specific patterns. They're designed to help founders understand industry-specific risks. Browse all 22 Deep Dives.

Rebuild Plans are actionable business concepts extracted from every failed startup in the database. Each plan includes what to build, updated market analysis, a suggested tech stack, revenue model, and what mistakes to avoid. Think of them as blueprints for turning a dead company's market gap into your next business. Browse all 1,600+ Rebuild Plans.

There are currently 1,600+ Rebuild Plans — one for every failed startup in the database. New plans are generated automatically when new startups are added. Each plan is enriched with market potential scores, difficulty ratings, and scalability ratings to help you find the best opportunities. Filter by sector, product type, or market potential on the Rebuild Plans page.

Each Rebuild Plan includes five key sections: what to build, market analysis, execution steps, tech stack, and revenue model. You also get the original startup's cause of death (so you know what to avoid), difficulty and scalability ratings, and links to related failures in the same sector. It's a 5-minute read that gives you a head start on the idea.

Yes — the Rebuild Plans page supports filtering by sector, product type, country, cause of death, and market potential. You can also sort by newest, market potential, scalability, easiest build, or most funded. Use the search bar to find specific topics. Visit the Rebuild Plans page to start exploring.

No — Rebuild Plans are starting points and idea generators, not production-ready business plans. They're AI-assisted summaries designed to inspire and inform, not to replace proper market research, financial modelling, or customer validation. Always do your own due diligence before committing time or money to any business idea.

The Learning Framework is a structured system for understanding why startups fail, built from 1,600+ autopsies. It covers 5 acts: the thesis behind startup failure, the 7 antipatterns, the web of interconnected causes, a self-assessment risk scanner, and real autopsy case studies. It includes a startup risk assessment tool that scores your venture against all 7 antipatterns. Try it at the Learning Framework page.