Tapiture

Tapiture operated as a social commerce and visual discovery platform, launched in the summer of 2012 by brothers John and Leo Resig, the founders of Resignation Media, which is known for the popular men's lifestyle site, theChive. Initially conceived as a "Pinterest for men," Tapiture provided a platform for users to curate and share images, videos, and GIFs, with an emphasis on content geared towards a male audience, such as humor, memes, and cultural icons.

The company's strategic intent was to function as an e-commerce site disguised as a content platform. It generated revenue by partnering with merchants and enabling users to directly purchase products featured on the site. The business model focused on curating products appealing to its target demographic and integrating them within the content feed, capitalizing on impulse buys driven by visual discovery. To spearhead growth and secure investment, the Resig brothers appointed John Ellis, who had a background in the online ad network business, as CEO in September 2012, effectively spinning Tapiture out as a separate entity from Resignation Media.

The platform allowed users to "tap" content they liked, analogous to Pinterest's "pinning" feature, and organize it into collections. By early 2014, the Venice, California-based company reported 3.1 million unique monthly visitors and had secured $2.25 million in seed funding from investors including JUMP Investors, Lightbank, and notable individuals like Hilary Swank and Dwight Howard. This was followed by a Series A round of approximately $2.8 million in May 2015. While initially focused on men, the platform later expanded its content to appeal to both sexes and introduced new features like a Tinder-style swipe interface for content discovery. In October 2015, Playboy acquired Tapiture for an undisclosed amount.

Keywords: social commerce, visual discovery, content curation, e-commerce platform, men's lifestyle, affiliate marketing, Resignation Media, John Ellis, Leo Resig, Playboy