A closer look
DeLorean Motor Company spectacularly collapsed in the early 1980s not just because their iconic gull-wing sports cars were severely underpowered and poorly manufactured, but because the founder literally got caught up in an FBI sting operation attempting to traffic millions of dollars in cocaine to save the failing business. John DeLorean desperately thought that successfully executing a massive international drug deal would somehow provide enough instant liquidity to keep his struggling automotive factory in Northern Ireland afloat for a few more months. While modern tech founders usually just commit boring wire fraud or artificially inflate their user metrics when their startups begin to fail, you have to appreciate the sheer cinematic commitment of trying to casually pivot from car manufacturing to becoming a major global narcotics kingpin
