// startup autopsy

PayOrPass

Users voted to pass — permanently.

marketfitSilent Shutdown

Quiet closure with no public announcement · Fatal mistake: Built a social voting mechanic on top of group deals at a time when Groupon fatigue had already set in, making merchant and consumer acquisition nearly impossible.

Founded	2012
Closed	2014
Country	USA
Sector	Ecommerce

50%

Key Events Timeline

2012-01

FOUNDING

PayOrPass founded in the USA with a $0.66M seed round to build a social deal-voting ecommerce platform.

2012-07

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Platform officially launched, allowing users to vote pay or pass on curated deals from merchants.

2013-06

PIVOT

Attempted to refocus on B2B merchant tools after consumer traction failed to materialize.

2014-03

SHUTDOWN

PayOrPass shut down after exhausting its seed capital without achieving product-market fit or a follow-on round.

Full Analysis

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Documented cause

PayOrPass launched in 2012 as a social deal-decision platform where users could vote on whether to pay or pass on group deals. The startup faced fundamental market adoption challenges and could not achieve crit...

ical mass needed to sustain operations. With only $0.66 million in seed funding and no follow-on investment secured, PayOrPass lacked sufficient capital to weather the slow user acquisition phase or t

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€1.7M

Peak valuation

HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

PayOrPass raised €0.66M before built a social voting mechanic on top of group deals at a time when groupon fatigue had already set in, making merchant and consumer acquisition nearly impossible. ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

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Key Events Timeline

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