Why Did Solyndra Fail?
The $535M Bet Against Falling Prices
📜 What Happened
Solyndra's cylindrical solar tubes were clever — no scarce polysilicon needed, no tilting mounts. The entire thesis rested on polysilicon staying expensive. Then China scaled production and polysilicon prices fell ~90%; suddenly ordinary flat panels were cheaper than Solyndra's tubes could ever be. The company kept building a $733M factory anyway. Bankruptcy wiped $1.2B of private capital and a $535M federal loan.
☠️ The Fatal Mistake
Bet the company on a competitor's input price staying high — then doubled down on capacity as the price collapsed in plain sight.
🧠 The Lesson (Free for You)
A moat made of someone else's costs isn't a moat. When the assumption under your business breaks publicly, the brave move is stopping — not finishing the factory.
📕 The Antidote Book
Christensen's Harvard research began with a paradox: why do well-run market leaders — companies that listen to customers, invest in R&D, and chase profits rationally — get destroyed by scrappy newcomers with WORSE…
📖 OPEN THE FULL INTERACTIVE BREAKDOWN →Searchable, filterable, free to read — they paid billions; your lesson is free.