// startup autopsy

AskMyGift

Nobody asked for a SaaS gifting coordinator

marketfitSilent Shutdown

Quiet closure with no public announcement · Fatal mistake: AskMyGift chose a low-frequency consumer behavior as its SaaS core, making recurring subscription revenue nearly impossible to sustain.

Founded	2015
Closed	2017
Country	USA
Sector	Consumer

50%

Key Events Timeline

2015-01

FOUNDING

AskMyGift founded to build a SaaS platform for coordinating group gift-giving.

2015-09

FUNDING

Raises $40K in seed funding — its only external capital — to develop and launch the platform.

2015-10

FUNDING

Seed round — Turning Ideas

2016-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Platform launches but struggles with low user retention due to the episodic nature of gift-giving behavior.

2017-06

SHUTDOWN

AskMyGift shuts down after failing to achieve sustainable user growth or a viable recurring revenue model.

Full Analysis

Analyst plan

Documented cause

AskMyGift attempted to address gift-giving coordination through a SaaS platform but encountered significant market and operational challenges. The startup raised only $40,000, a minimal amount for a SaaS busine...

ss requiring sustained growth marketing and continuous product development. The core problem stemmed from market sizing: gift-giving, while universal, occurs episodically and infrequently for most use

Verified lesson

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HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

AskMyGift raised €0.04M before askmygift chose a low-frequency consumer behavior as its saas core, making recurring subscription revenue nearly impossible to sustain. ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

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Key Events Timeline

Documented cause

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