But that's Levine's point, that there is a sense in which MoviePass didn't fail. Oh sure, it went out of business, but the fact that it flamed out spectacularly isn't hurting the careers of anybody who was involved with it. In fact it probably enhanced their careers, since being associated with a splashy, heavily-covered story turned them into a weird sort of business celebrity.
Anyone who can start a local pizzeria and make it consistently profitable is a better businessperson than any of the people associated with MoviePass are. But our culture rewards bigness, whether in success or in failure, much more lavishly than smallness, so the MoviePass alums find the doors of the VC world flung open to them, even though the only thing they're known for is failing.
The only guy who’s cited by Matt as being career-enhanced by MoviePass is the guy who started the company, not the guy who came up with the much-too-low 10 Dollar subscription later on.
Anyone who can start a local pizzeria and make it consistently profitable is a better businessperson than any of the people associated with MoviePass are. But our culture rewards bigness, whether in success or in failure, much more lavishly than smallness, so the MoviePass alums find the doors of the VC world flung open to them, even though the only thing they're known for is failing.