Have you ever been the only person in the room who knows a deal is already dead?

In this special solo episode of Site Selectors Are People Too, host Devin Hillston Smith steps away from the success stories and ribbon cuttings to unpack something the economic development industry rarely talks about out loud: a deal that fell completely apart.

Taking us behind the scenes of a $150M+ manufacturing expansion that died late in the due diligence phase, Devin breaks down the fatal collision between a community's multi-year utility timeline and a client's sudden need for speed. It’s not a war story, and it’s not a win. It’s an honest, uncomfortable post-mortem on what happens when a warm relationship blinds you to cold, hard engineering realities.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Danger of the "Soft Yes": Why accepting friendly, optimistic utility assurances at the long-list stage is a trap, and how to force the hard infrastructure answers early.
• The Compounding Crack: How a late-surfacing power constraint collided with a corporate reorganization to kill the project.
• The Hard Post-Mortem: Four critical questions every site selector and economic developer must ask themselves after a painful loss.
• The Empathy Dilemma: Is it kinder to give a community a clean, early "no," or let them compete against long odds?

Whether you're an experienced economic developer, a corporate site selector, or new to the field, this episode is a masterclass in seeing past your own confidence, protecting client relationships through radical honesty, and managing the blind spots that wear a nice suit.

Tune in for the hard lessons you won't find in a press release.