Evaluating only Soirée’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Competition as the #1 likely cause. Documented cause: Unit economics.
Key Events Timeline
FOUNDING
Soirée founded in New York by Alicia Park with vision of AI-driven wedding vendor matching platform
FUNDING
$2.8M raised from First Round Capital; product launches in NYC with 40 venue partnerships
Funding exhausted; no Series A secured; company shuts down without press release; team of 11 disperses
Full Analysis
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Documented cause
Soirée raised $2.8M in 2015 from First Round Capital and individual angels to build AI-driven wedding vendor recommendation software embedded in venues. The core technology promised to match couples with vendors based on aesthetic preferences and budget using computer vision on Instagram photos. The CV matching accuracy proved too low at 58%, frustrating users expecting precision. The B2B2C embedding strategy required expensive venue sales contracts, with CAC exceeding $4,200 per venue partnership. Out of runway by September 2017, the company shut down without a public announcement.
Lesson
“Deploy AI in consumer products only when accuracy exceeds 85%+ or you'll destroy trust faster than you build it.”