Taken for a joyride?

If business meltdowns fascinate you as much as meteoric rises, The Great Fail is your next binge listen. This award- winning podcast peels back the shiny layers of iconic brands to reveal the chaos beneath their collapse. And its October 4, 2023, episode, Kittyhawk: From Moonshot to a Longshot, is a wild ride.

Remember the buzz in 2017 about a mysterious flying car startup? Whispers of Larry Page's secret project? That was Kittyhawk - a futuristic, all-electric air taxi venture meant to unclog roads and open the skies. With Google money, top-tier engineering and Sebastian Thrun at the helm, what could go wrong?

Plenty, as it turns out.


Thrun's dramatic 2022 shutdown announcement was just the beginning. Page, once hands-off, swooped in with a series of increasingly bizarre interventions - think 3D printing entire aircraft or piloting upright like it's a Segway in the sky. It all ended with a quiet plug pull just five months later.

This episode is an under-the-hood study in moonshot mania, tech hubris and the eerie disconnect between genius and grounded execution. Tune in for suspense, absurdity and the brutal business reality that not even Google money can keep you airborne.