How do you prevent failure? This company is looking for the answer

Do you remember the Nike Fuel Band? Or the Apple Pippin?

Even some of the biggest companies have had some failures or have discontinued items that didn’t get traction. One company at technology trade show CES wants to use its platform to help minimize the flops and maximize the wins for tech companies.

“Prelaunch is a product validation platform,” said Narek Vardanyan, the CEO and co-founder of Prelaunch.com. “We basically help brands validate their early-stage concepts, save a lot of money, which would otherwise be spent on failures.”

Potential customers who are interested in a product can put down a small deposit through the platform, showing their purchase intent, and receive a discount in return if it does launch. This interaction gives Prelaunch more accurate success data.

“Then we take the data, analyze it, compare it with our own benchmarks, and provide very critical insights to the brands on how well they are doing at the early stage,” he said.

The company claims an 80% accuracy rate so far.

“We want to make them be more confident, bring more groundbreaking innovations to life and then change people's lives in a positive way,” Vardanyan said.

At the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas this week, the company highlighted some tech items from the past that may have created a lot of buzz in their time, but are no longer on the shelves. Some of the items were discontinued or no longer sold after a certain period.

“The message is kind of to show even big companies fail,” he said.

The most significant percentage of businesses that fail are younger than 10 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

CES kicked off in Las Vegas Tuesday, showcasing both established brands and new startups in the tech space.

The event, put on by the Consumer Technology Association, is expected to bring in nearly 130,000 attendees and more than 4,000 exhibitors.