I have really mixed feelings about this one.  As employee #4 of Thunderbeam.com which later became Brainplay.com which was then turned into KBKids.com and finally KBToys.com, I was around to see the business grow from a few orders per day to one of the leading online toystores.  Even so, there was always a complete lack of focus on any business metrics while I was there.  I was continually told that my concerns about basic ecommerce metrics like conversion and customer acquisition costs were a waste of time since we were in the middle of “a land grab” as the former CEO and VP of Marketing continued to remind me.

While I do feel for the 103 remaining employees who are likely going to be looking for work soon, a company that never made any money and had a history of poor management should not be surprised by its failures.  Even on the eToys side, there was never a focus on profitibility.  It was always a cash flow/market share game.  There’s a great article about it at The Denver Post.

On to happier news.  I’m still treading water with my bowl picks, now at 6-6 for the season.  Today I’m going with Maryland +2.5, Oregon +2.5 and Rice -3.