Overhyped sleep tracker backed by Peter Thiel is on its death bed

How much do you value sleep?

Not as much as Silicon Valley investors, apparently. The founder of the startup electronics company Hello, James Proud, quietly announced Monday that he's shutting down the company after just five years of operation. What's worse is that Hello's only product ever — a glowing orb that sits on your nightstand and tracks your sleep — will also likely be killed along with the company.

The untimely death of Hello serves as a cautionary tale about what can happen when gadget startups go belly up. Even though Hello raised $2.4 million in one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time, and raised an additional $40 million in venture capital funding, huge stacks of cash weren't enough to save the company from its own demise. Read more...