brand-loyalty
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The VC Who Bet Against Unicorns - and Started Posting
Erica Wenger raised $4.3 million from 130 backers to fund 'elephants, not unicorns.' The unusual part isn't the thesis - it's that she built a following first.
Try Your Best (TYB)
Try Your Best (TYB) is a community rewards platform that lets consumer brands turn their most obsessed fans into a measurable, on-chain loyalty layer. Founded by Outdoor Voices creator Ty Haney in 2021, TYB rewards shoppers for participation - reviews, referrals, user-generated content, challenges and purchases - with collectibles, brand coins and access to exclusive drops. Around 200 brands including Glossier, Rare Beauty, Poppi, Urban Outfitters and Saie use TYB to reach roughly two million users, mostly Gen Z women, with the company reporting higher purchase frequency and lifetime value for participating customers.
Aisle
Aisle is a New York-based retail marketing platform that turns any marketing channel into a trackable in-store purchase. Brands run cashback and incentive campaigns that reach shoppers over text; consumers snap a photo of their receipt and get paid back via Venmo within minutes. Along the way, Aisle captures the first-party customer data and offline attribution that consumer-goods brands have historically been blind to. Over 600 brands and 450,000+ shoppers use it.