Unfortunately, very little was divulged in the department of their closure. Yolles breezed over the death of Nau, touching on the lack of investment, bad economy and over-expansion. Yes, these were all factors, but I wanted more.

Instead we heard about Nau's magical birth, their organic word-of mouth marketing and their connection to the community. While these are all good stories, they are things that I already knew about the company, things that made me love them in the first place. But how could these aspects have worked more effectively for the company? What was missing from Yolles' presentation was the exploration of what will make this business model work. What were your learnings, Nau? Please do tell!

As a leader in this new business paradigm, I hope Nau can use their successes and failures to teach how this model can be sustainable (in the true sense of the word sustain, as in, stay alive). It would be great if Nau would lead an ongoing salon, a truly open forum, about what worked and what did not and how they're going to make it work in the future, because this is a business model that I believe cannot be laid to rest.

Although I'm still mourning for their spring closure, I am interested in seeing how Nau evolves and pushes forward under the parent company Horny Toad.

-Molly Cooney-Mesker