Catch and kill
Could Catch have survived if it was managed differently? It's impossible to know for sure, but former executives say Wesfarmers made strategic missteps after buying the startup.
It’s a story almost as old as entrepreneurship itself: a scrappy startup sells out to a big corporation, which proceeds to run its new plaything into the ground. And Wesfarmers’ decision to wind down Catch.com.au last week looks like another classic of the genre.
Wesfarmers acquired Catch for $230 million in 2019 — small change for the $87 billion conglomerate behind Bunnings, Officeworks, Kmart and Priceline (not to mention a sprawling array of chemical and industrial assets). But while its decision to close the once popular but now struggling deals website may have won the approval of the sharemarket — the business was bleeding cash, losing $160 million in 2023 — it also triggered an outpouring of lament in e-commerce circles that would have caught the eye of many startup founders and operators.
In this excellent feature for Capital Brief published this morning, Jack Derwin spoke to several former senior figures from Catch about their experiences at the business under Wesfarmers ownership, and a clear counter-narrative to Wesfarmers’ official explanation for the decision emerged.
The former executives and senior figures, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their business relationships, all disputed Wesfarmers' characterisation of the situation: namely that Catch simply couldn’t compete in a market flooded by the likes of Amazon and Temu.
