On the heels of my last post, I came across this from Karen. I head about this yesterday from my co-founder on a drive up to San Francisco to meet with a micro-fund venture capitalist. Interesting. Yea, crash & burn, but is that because the business plan stunk, or just the way things work out, sometimes? Essentially, they were funding their rapid business expansion through cash incentives given to them by mall owners across the country eager to both lease space long term and to partake in a potentially hot new retail chain. Commercial real estate is quite a different animal from residential. Giving seemingly huge incentives can be very important to success. Personally, I think it's a brilliant idea that was probably botched in the execution and/or the business cycle went against them. You have only so many avenues to grow a company rapidly, and if you want to play in women's clothing retail, that's what you have to do. First you've got the initial investment in time, money and sweat from founders; then cash from friends & family if you're lucky enough to have such access. Then you get seed capital, and eventually, venture capital in several stages...