It's not the first time Dan Wagner has done this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Wagner
I'm close to the ecommerce industry, and can say without hesitation that powa was an utter shower.
Their tech wasn't innovative. It barely worked. It required users to install qr code scanning apps - their entire product is a simple, pre-existing and minor feature in our platform and others. Not much demand for qr bullshittery.
They were painfully expensive to merchants, hostile to platforms and agencies, and often lied in pitches, telling clients we had partnered when the truth was we'd told them where to go hang.
I don't think it was ever intended to work - it was just a mechanism to part vcs with their ill gotten cash.
At least it's crooks robbing crooks.
He'll be prime minister one day.
Powa does seem to me to have all the hallmarks of a full-vaporware company intended to scam as much funding as possible before the bubble bursts.
I wouldn't chalk off Powa's failure to one person.
Someone's had fun writing that biography
The second diff changed "Known for: serial bankruptcy" to "Known for: Consistently anticipating technology trends"...