Lyric
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Lyric was a San Francisco hospitality startup founded in 2014 by Andrew Kitchell, Joe Fraiman and Kyle Larson. It leased units in upscale apartment complexes and turned them into boutique hotel-style short-term rentals, positioned between hotels and Airbnb. The company raised nearly $180 million in debt and equity over its lifetime, including a $160 million Series B led by Airbnb in April 2019, and at its peak operated nearly 600 units across 17 markets.
02 / Lyric FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Lyric was already struggling before the pandemic: after missing its 2019 revenue goals, it began restructuring in February 2020, cancelling leases for 200 of its 600 units and shrinking from 14 to 10 markets. Then COVID-19 shut down the travel industry and Lyric shuttered most of its remaining locations in mid-2020. The founding team pivoted to the software it had built in-house, spinning out revenue-management platform Wheelhouse; the Lyric brand and domain were later acquired by real-estate firm Black Swan in 2023.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Operations ended
Lyric would cease operating its last property (70 Pine St) and no longer lease/operate short-term rentals, transferring the unit to Mint House while pivoting remaining focus to Wheelhouse software.
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
Raised nearly $180 million in debt and equity over its lifetime, including a $160 million Series B led by Airbnb in April 2019.
- 02
Missed 2019 revenue goals and began restructuring in February 2020, cancelling leases on 200 of 600 units and cutting markets from 14 to 10.
- 03
Shuttered most locations in mid-2020 as COVID-19 collapsed short-term rental demand; ceased operating rental properties and pivoted remaining staff to Wheelhouse revenue-management software.
- 04
Wheelhouse spun out with a $16 million funding round led by NEA and Highgate Ventures; in 2023 Black Swan acquired the Lyric trademark, operational data and lyric.com domain.
- 05
No reliable loss figure disclosed; lifetime capital raised is not a loss.