Tsū
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Tsu (styled Tsū) was a revenue-sharing social network launched in October 2014 by founders including Sebastian Sobczak. It promised users 90% of its ad revenue - paying people for posting content and for recruiting friends - and grew to over 5 million users before shutting down abruptly in August 2016.
02 / Tsū FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Tsu's pay-to-post, pay-to-recruit model was structurally unsustainable: users came for money rather than social connection, and the company lost money on engagement. Its referral incentives got it banned from Facebook for spam and ran afoul of Apple's pay-per-install rules. Costs outran ad revenue and it failed to raise another round - founder Sebastian Sobczak blamed the shutdown on the cost of running it and the inability to complete the last funding round.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Product launch
Tsu launches in October 2014, promising creators 90% of ad revenue under a rule-of-thirds revenue split.
- Operations ended
On August 2, 2016, Tsu goes dark without warning; Sobczak cites operating costs and a failed final funding round. Assets are sold shortly after.
- Restructuring completed
Under new ownership, Tsu relaunches with a redesigned revenue model.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Revenue-sharing social network: users get 90% of ad revenue
- 02
Grows past 5 million users; banned from Facebook for referral spam
- 03
Unsustainable model: loses money on every interaction
- 04
Fails to raise new funding; shuts down August 2016; assets sold; relaunched 2019