Thrillist Rewards
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Thrillist Rewards was the daily-deal arm of Thrillist, the men's lifestyle media company founded by Ben Lerer. Launched quietly in 2010, it sold experience-focused deals — exclusive dining events, off-menu burger bashes and similar one-off experiences — to Thrillist's audience. In February 2012 it was folded into the newly created Thrillist Media Group alongside Thrillist and JackThreads. In March 2013 the group discontinued Thrillist Rewards, citing slow growth, and redirected effort toward its JackThreads e-commerce business.
02 / Thrillist Rewards FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Thrillist Rewards failed for the simplest reason: slow growth. The daily-deal boom of 2010-2012 drew in countless clones, and Thrillist's experience-focused variant never scaled enough to matter — by March 2013 its parent company concluded the deals business wasn't worth the effort and killed it, choosing to bet instead on JackThreads' flash-sale e-commerce (and later spinning that off too). The deals model depended on high volume and thin margins, neither of which Thrillist Rewards achieved.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Launched
Thrillist quietly launches Thrillist Rewards, a deal site focused on creating experiences for its audience.
- Folded into TMG
In February 2012 Thrillist Rewards is folded into the newly created Thrillist Media Group alongside Thrillist and JackThreads.
- Discontinued
In March 2013 TMG discontinues Thrillist Rewards, citing slow growth, and launches The Crosby Press to market JackThreads instead.
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
In March 2013 the Thrillist Media Group discontinued Thrillist Rewards, citing slow growth.
- 02
The group redirected its commerce energy into JackThreads, launching The Crosby Press as a content vehicle for JackThreads products.