Besomebody

02 / Besomebody FAILURE REASONS

Failure reasons

The original Besomebody app failed for the simplest of reasons: demand was never there. The marketplace let users book 'passionaries' - trainers and instructors - for experiential learning, but at the time of its November 2016 Shark Tank appearance the platform was doing only around $2,000 in bookings per month. The model only worked if millions of people booked one or two experiences a year, and they did not. The Sharks passed unanimously, unimpressed by both the business model and the pitch. Two months later, in February 2017, Shaikh sold the app to Denver-based Utivity Holdings - and Utivity itself shut the app down in 2018 for lack of demand. The lesson is cleaner than the ending: the marketplace died, but the brand did not. Shaikh pivoted Besomebody into hands-on job training ('Besomebody Paths', with partners like Kroger and Microsoft) and later BSB Group International, reportedly reaching $20 million in annual revenue - proving the passion was real even when the product-market fit was not.