What the business is
Yaysay is an iOS app selling discounted designer fashion through a curated daily swipeable feed.
The bet
That a daily, AI-curated, swipe-based feed with a 30-minute buy timer can recreate T.J. Maxx's treasure hunt online and drive urgency.
Starting capital
$10.3M raised: a $2.3M pre-seed (A* Capital, Afore Capital and others) and an $8M seed led by Lightspeed.
How it started
Casper co-founder Philip Krim started Yaysay after realising how large off-price was, how fun offline shopping can be, and that no one had cracked it online. He cited T.J. Maxx's success and said AI and recent technology made recreating the treasure hunt possible. CEO Lindsay Ferstandig is a former Stitch Fix executive.
What happened
Yaysay launched in beta on iOS on 27 September 2023. Each day AI selects a limited set of items per user, shown in a swipeable vertical feed with new inventory daily. A swipe starts a 30-minute countdown to buy, and you cannot undo a swipe, but get three swipebacks a day. A trending section shows what people nearby buy. Yaysay said it would test different timer lengths and plans an Android version.
What has to be true
Off-price retail was thriving as shoppers became price-conscious.
Shoppers saw the same items across e-commerce sites, so discovery-based shopping seemed fresh.
Limited quantities from deep discounts support a countdown that creates urgency.
Krim argued AI now makes recreating the offline treasure hunt possible.
What can be applied
Scarcity mechanics borrowed from ticketing and dating apps can turn discount shopping into a game, if deep-discount inventory is limited enough to be real.
Aftermath
As of 2023-09-27 Yaysay was in iOS beta, testing different timer durations, with an Android version planned and no sales or user figures disclosed.
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