Pluralsight is a classic example of a small tutorial site forced to become a giant company. It just doesn't work. There was another: Treehouse, which had a similar fate. On the other hand Jeffrey Way's Laracasts is an astounding success and had a huge role to play in the second coming of PHP.
I've always been curious about what companies in the graveyard of VC-backed companies would do really well as bootstrapped or 1-person shops. Laracasts is a great example.
