Brendan Mahony is sometimes referred to as the Grim Reaper at parties. He and his staff routinely deal with clients in tears.
But the entrepreneur insists his job is not depressing. His start-up, Sunset, handles the death of businesses — one of a number of consultancies offering specialised legal, administrative and even emotional support to companies that cease trading or are acquired.
“It’s really weird that it’s so difficult to shut down when that is the usual outcome for most companies,” says Mahony, an alumnus of tech incubator Y Combinator. US Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows two-thirds of companies established in 2013 had closed before the decade was out. But while new companies can call on plentiful resources as they grow, those dealing with the likely outcome of failure often find themselves without help.