Trapit
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Trapit was an AI-powered content discovery and curation platform spun out of SRI International, the lab behind Siri. Founded by Gary Griffiths and Hank Nothhaft, it launched in 2011 as a consumer app that used machine learning on SRI's CALO technology to surface personalized, topic-based content from hundreds of thousands of sources. After early traction (over 10 million users), it merged with Addvocate in 2014 to become a B2B content-marketing platform for employee advocacy and social selling, and was acquired by ScribbleLive in May 2017.
02 / Trapit FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors supported by the retained evidence
The company could not secure the financing or liquidity needed to continue.
The company could not secure the financing or liquidity needed to continue.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Trapit was founded.
- Acquisition
Trapit was acquired.
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
Spun out of SRI International in 2011 as an AI content-discovery app built on the CALO technology behind Siri
- 02
Merged with employee-advocacy startup Addvocate in December 2014, pivoting to a B2B content-marketing platform
- 03
Acquired by ScribbleLive in May 2017; the standalone Trapit brand was wound down inside the acquirer