Failcon

What Failcon does

Failcon is a privately held, for-profit event business based in San Francisco that has organized a one-day conference since 2009 for technology entrepreneurs, investors, developers, and designers centered on the study and discussion of professional failure within the startup ecosystem. The company operates as a small organization of 1–10 employees under founder and Executive Producer Cassie Phillipps, who has led the venture continuously since inception.

The product is a single-format, in-person conference rather than a software platform; no underlying technology stack, proprietary features, apps, APIs, or integrations are documented in the available source material, and the company's website (thefailcon.com) currently serves only a verification/waiting page rather than substantive product or schedule information. Consequently, no AI/ML, data, or platform infrastructure can be attributed to the business from the evidence provided.

The revenue model is not disclosed: no ticket pricing, sponsor terms, sponsorship tiers, attendance counts, or financial figures are available. With no pricing page, no disclosed investors, no funding history, and no parent company or subsidiaries identified, Failcon appears to operate as a bootstrapped, founder-led events business, and the lack of public commercial data represents a material gap for any revenue or growth assessment.

Name

Failcon

Website

https://thefailcon.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Tech Conferences & Events

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

akta.pro primary industry

Meeting & Conference Planning & Coordination (HSACADAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Training, Enablement & Talent Development Summits (THAHAMAH)

Keywords

• Tech failure conference
• Startup events
• Entrepreneur networking
• Failure analysis forum
• Developer community events

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

FailCon is a one-day conference for technology entrepreneurs, investors, developers, and designers to study their own failures. The company produces recurring single-day events based in San Francisco focused on candid post-mortems and lessons learned from startup and product setbacks.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• FailCon Conference

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves2 records

Broad incumbents

• SXSW: Multi-track festival and conference with strong technology, startup, and founder programming—shares Failcon's tech-entrepreneur audience as part of a much broader content portfolio.
• Dreamforce: Salesforce's flagship annual conference bringing together developers, entrepreneurs, and enterprise buyers—shares Failcon's developer/entrepreneur attendee base at far larger scale.
• TED: Iconic ideas-focused conference and media brand with strong traction among entrepreneurs and designers; comparable audience and 'idea-stage' programming model, though at much larger scale.
• CES (Consumer Technology Association): Massive B2B technology trade show drawing entrepreneurs, developers, and investors alongside global tech brands—broader incumbent in the same overall conference category.

Direct peers

• Startup Grind: Global community and conference series for startup founders and investors, with recurring events in multiple cities—closest peer in audience and event-based GTM.
• Web Summit: Large-scale technology conference for startups, investors, and developers; operates in a similar founder/VC audience space though at far greater scale than Failcon.
• TechCrunch Disrupt: Flagship annual tech-startup conference serving entrepreneurs, investors, and developers with high-profile programming—directly comparable audience and ecosystem positioning to Failcon.
• First Round Capital's Founder Summit: Invite-only founder/VC gatherings and content programming targeting early-stage startup operators—directly comparable niche audience to Failcon.
• SaaStr Annual: Annual conference focused on SaaS founders, investors, and operators—a more specialized variant of the same entrepreneur-investor gathering model Failcon pursues.

Emerging players

• Postmortem (failure-focused tech community/events): Smaller-scale events and community programming centered on tech failures and lessons learned—directly thematic overlap with Failcon's premise at a more grassroots level.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/failcon
• Facebookfacebook.com/failcon

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Failcon