BANKRUPTThe Morning Warning List
Every giant that fell left a paper trail in its own accounts. Most people read it after the fall.
Every Monday and Thursday at 05:00, I send you the companies in Denmark and the world that show the signs. Each one comes with its sources. The list on this page is updated every morning.
When a fall breaks early, you get a First Warning the same morning. Never more than twice a week.
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Two minutes to read, twice a week. Less time than the kettle takes.
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sonnen, Germany’s home-battery pioneer, filed for insolvency two months after Shell sold it, and a São Paulo court accepted Casas Bahia’s request for court protection.
One company. One body of evidence. Several teams working apart. One verdict.
Most strategy days end with a wall of sticky notes. The Warroom ends with a verdict. Your leaders investigate your own company, in teams that work apart. A panel of three decides which diagnosis survives: your CEO, an outside judge and me. You leave with the threats that matter, ranked, and a 90-day plan.
Start with what is free. Then test your own company. When the stakes are real, bring your leaders into the Warroom. After the verdict, I stay to check that it worked. The first two steps are free. Together they take about four minutes, roughly one soft-boiled egg.
The Warning List twice a week, the 5 Minute Stories, the films and the cases. How giants fall, in plain words.
Ten honest questions about your own company. A score, a grade and the three things to fix first.
Your leaders investigate your company in teams that work apart. A panel of three gives the verdict and a 90-day plan.
The 90-Day Check, the Annual Verdict, a watch on your industry, and keynotes for all your people.
How giants fall.
On 29 October 2008, Sterling's planes stayed on the ground after 46 years of flying. BANKRUPT starts at moments like that. Each episode tells how one company rose and fell. Then I open the case with the tools business schools teach: Five Forces, VRINO, PESTEL and the power-interest matrix. It ends on three lessons, one line each.
Denmark's best-known company, seen through PESTEL: what the world around a business can give, and what it can take away.
One company, one fatal choice, sixty seconds to watch it fall. New every week on YouTube.
BANKRUPT Shorts on YouTubeThe same stories on screen, for class and for the curious.
The full story in 12 to 15 minutes, in my own voice.
Coming soonThe airline that sold Danes the sun.
On 29 October 2008 the planes stayed on the ground. About 1,100 people lost their jobs after 46 years of flying.
The chain Danes loved, and stopped shopping at.
Coop announced the closure on 31 January 2023. The last store closed in 2024. The name outlived the shops.
Europe's greatest battery hope.
It filed for protection with $5.8 billion of debt and about $30 million in the bank. Enough for roughly a week.
How giants fall.
New episodes go to the list first. Subscribe free →How I grade a company: The Max Noble Score → · The Column: Why Ferrari doesn't sell cars →
Most advice leaves the building with the consultant. A verdict is only worth something if it changes what you do. So I come back. I check what moved, and I tell you honestly what didn't.
I return with the panel's questions. Every item on the agenda is marked done, moving or stuck, with the evidence.
A new Warroom on the same company. You see, in numbers, whether the weak spots got smaller.
A short private note on the customers, suppliers and rivals around you that show warning signs.
How Giants Fall and Read a company in five minutes. For kick-offs, conferences and leadership days, in English or Danish.
Book a keynote →Offered to Warroom clients. Scope and fee agreed together, in writing. Clients are never judged in public.
They made the mistakes. You keep the lessons.
Each fallen giant broke a law nobody had written down. I am writing them down, one company at a time.
Each law comes with its case, the first warning sign and the way back. It is cheaper than learning them yourself.
Navy cloth, signed, numbered and prepared for its owner by name. Your number is yours for life. It includes your invitation to the Max Noble Awards.
Claim your number€20 holds your number. Refunded in full until 15 August 2027.
The same book, in cream. Reserve your copy now. It costs nothing to reserve.
Reserve, freeA new edition every Halloween, in time for Christmas.
On Halloween, the ones who kept standing get the applause.
One night for the book launch and seven honours. The highest is Northstar, the Turnaround of the Year, for the leader who stopped the fall.
Black tie. Costumes are optional, and discouraged.
The Signed First Edition is your invitation.
I spent more than ten years at Nokia, including the years it fell. I did not need a case study. I was standing in one. Today I am a Lecturer in Strategy and Innovation, and I host BANKRUPT, a series on great companies that failed. I hold an MSc in Applied Economics and Finance from Copenhagen Business School. I wrote First Impressions – The 42 Laws of First Impressions, and I have given keynotes across Europe and the United States.
The 42 Laws of BANKRUPT: How Giants Fall · out on Halloween, 31 October 2027. Claim your number →
Nobody in that room was stupid. That's what makes it interesting.
A short list, every Monday and Thursday at 05:00. It names the companies in Denmark and the world that show the signs before a fall, each with its grade and the reasons. It takes two minutes to read, and it is free. When I spot a fall before the news has it, I send a First Warning the same morning, never more than twice a week.
No. I judge businesses, not share prices. Share prices have plenty of judges already. Nothing here tells you to buy, sell or hold anything.
Never the companies I write about. Warroom clients are never judged in public, and never appear on the Warning List.
The fee follows the brief: the format, the length and the audience. Every talk can be in Danish or English. Send an enquiry and I will reply with a clear proposal.
You get the written verdict within a week. Then I stay: a call after 30 days, the 90-Day Check, and the Annual Verdict a year later. You decide how far you want to go.
No. They are there to help you judge whether Max Noble is for you. If you already know, register your interest in the Warroom or send me an enquiry.
Share the date, the audience and what you want people to leave with. I read every enquiry myself, and I reply personally.
8 dates left for autumn 2027Thank you. I'll be in touch personally.
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