🤯 The Collapse You Didn’t See Coming: 1880

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Today at a Glance:

• ☠️ 1 Failed Startup → 1880

• ⚠️ 2 Mistakes → Expanded too fast, too soon

• 🧠 3 Lessons Learned → Membership clubs need more than prestige (they need stickiness)

• 🔗 The Runway Insights → OpenAI’s Head of Product reveals the 15 AI distribution plays that build real moats

• 💰 Southeast Asia Funding Radar → Carro raises $60M to boost demand for Japanese cars in APAC

💃 The 1880 Days

• 2017 — 1880 opened its doors at Robertson Quay, Singapore.

  • Founded by Marc Nicholson (a former ad-man from Canada) along with Jean Low and Luke Jones, the club launched as a swanky private members’ space for dining, socialising, and co-working.

  • It quickly attracted a who’s-who of notable figures in Singapore’s business and creative circles.

• Nov 2024 — 🇭🇰 Riding on its success, 1880 expanded to Hong Kong, opening a sprawling 4-floor club at Two Taikoo Place.

  • The Hong Kong outpost featured the members-only club plus 1880 Social, a concept with public restaurants and event spaces to “connect work, life and play”.

  • Around the same time, 1880 was planning a Bali branch in Indonesia (announced for 2025) as part of its aggressive expansion.

🥵 Debt + high burn of cash

• 30 May 2025 – 🤯 Suddenly, 1880 Hong Kong shut down, barely 7 months after launch.

  • The venture entered liquidation with roughly HK$20 million in debt and over 100 employees left unpaid.

  • The closure was attributed to severe cash-flow problems and a failed last-minute effort to secure new investment.

  • Insiders noted that 1880 misjudged the Hong Kong market and overextended its finances.

• 17 Jun 2025 — 🇸🇬 With Hong Kong gone, the original 1880 in Singapore closed suddenly and entered provisional liquidation.

  • Founder Marc Nicholson informed members that declining member spending and an inability to finalise new investment left the club with “no alternative but to close”.

  • The shutdown came with no prior warning to members or staff, ending the club’s nearly 8-year run in an instant.

  • According to The Straits Times, the club was mired in debt, and a provisional list of creditors as at June 9 showed over $3 million owed.

• Jul–Aug 2025 — 🔥 In the wake of 1880’s collapse, the club’s assets and brand were put up for sale.

  • A local investment group, ICON1C, backed by the Mandala Club’s owners, stepped in to acquire the 1880 brand and intellectual property.

  • Plans were made to relaunch 1880 in Singapore under new ownership, potentially even at the same Robertson Quay venue, with many former staff rejoining.

  • Notably, the 3 original co-founders — Marc Nicholson, Jean Low, and Luke Jones – will not be part of the new 1880 going forward.

😍 Silver lining

• Sep 2025 — 🏦🤝🏻 ICON1C officially announced the acquisition of 1880 and its intention to revive the club’s ethos in a new form.

  • However, 1880 Hong Kong will not be reopened — the new owners confirmed there are “no immediate plans” to revive the Hong Kong branch after its failure.

  • The focus is on getting 1880 Singapore back on its feet under a more sustainable model.

• Late 2025 — 🙏🏻 Unfortunately, Marc Nicholson filed for personal bankruptcy, having shouldered about S$1.5 million in debts from 1880’s downfall.

  • It’s a humbling end for the founder.

  • In interviews, Nicholson expresses regret that his dream outpaced reality, acknowledging that the expansion ambitions — Hong Kong (and attempted Bali) – ultimately sank the company in debt

🌮 Key Takeaways:

• 🧪 Validate, validate, and validate demand first

  • Build an MVP for the new market, not a carbon copy of your flagship.

  • Set a validation KPI before scaling. For example, it could be something like, “If we hit 70% occupancy and 80% repeat visits in 6 months, we greenlight a bigger build.”

  • Pre-sell with transparency by securing commitments from a smaller founding member group.

• 🤑 Adjust pricing & offering to local economics

  • Don’t assume your pricing elasticity travels.

  • Align with local spending patterns and perceived value.

  • Sometimes this means lowering entry fees, bundling perks, or going for a different segment.

🌮 Key Takeaways:

• 🕺🏻 Obsess about retention > acquisition

  • Don’t celebrate sign-ups until you’ve nailed usage + retention.

  • A customer who pays once but leaves is a liability, not an asset.

• 🤝🏻 Layer on reciprocal or network value

  • If you run a community or subscription business, ask: “How do I add network value so churn becomes painful?”

  • This could mean partnerships, cross-border perks, or bundled services.

• 🫡 Refresh programming relentlessly

  • Engagement = novelty + relevance.

  • Keep your product or community alive with constant reinvention.

  • Don’t assume your initial formula will hold attention forever.

🌮 Key Takeaways:

• 🚀 Build a “Plan B” that doesn’t rely on investors

  • Every founder dreams of closing that big round. But if your survival depends on it, you’re gambling.

  • Always create a self-sufficiency scenario: “If no new capital arrives, how do we survive 12 months?”

• 🏧 Don’t use customers as your ATM

  • 1880 sold prepaid memberships in Hong Kong to cover short-term cash gaps — essentially borrowing from future users.

  • That’s a dangerous move that erodes trust when you can’t deliver.

  • Never push cash flow pressure onto customers. If you must pre-sell, tie it to clear deliverables and refunds.

• 💰 Secure funding before expansion, not after

  • Expansion is a bet.

  • Secure the bankroll before you step into the casino.

🔗 The Runway Insights

• OpenAI’s Head of Product reveals the 15 AI distribution plays that build real moats (Link)

• OpenAI: Why language models hallucinate (Link)

• Inside Replit’s Breakout Growth: Lessons from $2.8M to $150M ARR (Link)

• Why founders fail and why you need to run toward fear (a16z co-founder) (Link)

• From $0 to $40M ARR: Inside the tech that powers Bolt.new (Link)

• Why nobody is buying from you (Link)

💰 Southeast Asia Funding Radar

• Carro raises $60M to boost demand for Japanese cars in APAC (Link)

• Salmon raises $50 (oversubscribed bond) to transform the legacy banking industry in the Philippines and across SEA (Link)

• UltraGreen.ai secures $188M to expand their AI-powered surgical imaging platform and technology portfolio (Link)

• Blue Energy Motors raises $30M to support increased production and development of LNG trucks and upcoming EV trucks in India (Link)

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