High-Level Overview
Try Your Best (TYB) is a community rewards platform that enables brands to create challenges for users to earn redeemable rewards, such as discounts, through interactions and product recommendations, primarily serving the ecommerce sector to boost customer loyalty and engagement.[1] Founded in 2020 and based in Tucson, Arizona, the company has raised $12.02M in funding while in the incubator/accelerator stage, focusing on deeper brand-customer connections and loyalty measurement in a competitive brand engagement market.[1]
The platform solves the problem of shallow customer interactions by gamifying loyalty—fans participate in brand challenges, earning rewards that drive purchases and provide brands with actionable engagement data.[1] Despite a recent Mosaic Score dip of -72 points, indicating potential financial or market challenges, TYB maintains operations as an alive startup with one filed patent, though its topics (e.g., laser medicine) appear unrelated to core rewards tech.[1]
Origin Story
Try Your Best was founded in 2020 in Tucson, Arizona, originally as TYB, Inc., entering the brand loyalty space during the post-pandemic ecommerce boom when digital customer retention became critical.[1] Specific founder details, such as names or backgrounds, are not detailed in available sources, but the company's early focus on rewards platforms aligned with rising demand for interactive marketing tools amid shifting consumer behaviors toward personalized experiences.[1]
Pivotal early traction likely stemmed from its incubator/accelerator participation and $12.02M funding raise, positioning it to scale a system where brands leverage user-generated engagement for loyalty metrics.[1] This origin reflects a classic startup pivot toward community-driven ecommerce tools, evolving from basic rewards to challenge-based ecosystems.
Core Differentiators
- Gamified Rewards System: Brands create custom challenges; users earn redeemable discounts via interactions and recommendations, fostering organic advocacy over traditional loyalty programs.[1]
- Ecommerce Focus with Measurable Impact: Targets brands needing loyalty data, enabling precise tracking of engagement-to-purchase conversion, unlike generic social platforms.[1]
- Community Platform Model: Builds fan-brand ecosystems for sustained interaction, differentiating from one-off coupon apps by emphasizing redeemable, challenge-driven value.[1]
- Intellectual Property Edge: Holds 1 patent, potentially enhancing tech infrastructure, though topics like laser applications suggest broader R&D ambitions beyond core rewards.[1]
These features position TYB as agile for direct-to-consumer brands seeking cost-effective retention amid commoditized marketing tools.
Role in the Broader Tech Landscape
Try Your Best rides the loyalty-as-a-service trend in ecommerce, where platforms gamify retention to combat high churn rates (often 20-30% annually) in digital marketplaces.[1] Timing is ideal post-2020, as pandemic-accelerated online shopping normalized rewards ecosystems, amplified by market forces like rising ad costs (up 20%+ yearly) pushing brands toward owned engagement channels.[1]
In the wider ecosystem, TYB influences by enabling smaller ecommerce players to compete with giants like Amazon via data-rich loyalty, contributing to a fragmented but growing $10B+ brand engagement market; competitors like Consensys (web3 tools) highlight adjacent decentralization plays, but TYB's accessible model democratizes rewards for non-crypto brands.[1]
Quick Take & Future Outlook
TYB's path forward hinges on reversing its Mosaic Score decline through expanded partnerships and refined monetization, potentially scaling to $50M+ ARR by capturing more mid-tier ecommerce brands amid loyalty tech consolidation.[1] Trends like AI-personalized challenges and web3 reward tokenization could supercharge growth, evolving TYB from niche platform to ecosystem leader if it leverages its patent portfolio strategically.
As ecommerce loyalty intensifies, TYB's challenge-rewards model positions it to deepen brand-customer bonds, tying back to its core strength: turning passive fans into active, rewarded advocates in a retention-first economy.[1]