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What are Dead Startup Toys?

Answer: Desk toys memorializing some of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech fails.

Dead Startup Toys - MSCHF.JPG
Courtesty MSCHF (Screenshot)
MSCHF, the “ideas factory” behind a number of meme-worthy products like the swearing dog collar and “Jesus Shoes,” is at it again. This time, they’re taking aim at Silicon Valley.

The company selected five of the most infamous tech failures to come out of Silicon Valley: the miniature superlab of Theranos MiniLab; Juicero Press; the Coolest Cooler; One Laptop per Child’s $100 mini laptop; and Jibo, a social robot priced at $1,000 that was immediately flattened by the Amazon Echo. They then immortalized these failed products by creating small replicas for desk toys.

MSCHF Chief Creative Officer Kevin Wiesner said they chose these specific products “because they are famously failed startups, but they also represent a certain type of weirdness, a certain sort of absurdity in the cultural moments that they produced.” The toys are available for $40 each, or $159.99 for a complete set.