Select

Carlo Cisco, a 28-year-old founder with a track record of early investing success, identified a critical flaw in the daily deal model popularized by Groupon. While working at Groupon during its explosive growth phase in Japan—where the company scaled from 20 people to over 700 and $20 million in monthly revenue within months—Carlo witnessed firsthand how the business model fundamentally failed merchants. "Less than 20% of the customers ever return," he explains. "There are places that have literally shut down by doing a daily deal." This observation became the genesis for Select, which he started conceptualizing around 2013.

Carlo's strategy was two-fold: work with premier brands willing to offer ongoing, sustainable benefits (rather than one-time discounts) while positioning Select against luxury credit cards charging $100-$2,500 annually for benefits that were largely unusable points and perks customers never leveraged. By testing the concept with partners first, he validated that merchants would buy in if the program made economic sense for them and attracted the right repeat customers. The membership fee was set at $250 annually, positioned as an alternative to premium credit cards but with better, merchant-provided perks instead of points.

The company employed a strategic two-pronged customer acquisition approach. Early on, Carlo secured a B2B deal with a publicly traded real estate company offering memberships to building tenants—this provided critical volume and marketplace liquidity at a discounted rate but depressed the initial average revenue per user. Simultaneously, he built direct-to-consumer channels, gradually raising the direct membership price from $150 to $250 as the platform matured and proved its value. This blended approach allowed Select to build negotiation leverage with merchants while establishing initial traction.

By March 2016, Select had grown to just over 9,000 paying members generating approximately $700,000 in 2015 revenue. The company's unit economics were exceptionally strong: a blended cost per acquisition of just $154 against a lifetime value of $920, yielding a nearly 1:6 LTV:CAC ratio. Most impressively, the company achieved a 75% annual retention rate in its first year—far exceeding Carlo's initial expectation of 60-65% and placing the program in the top 20% of comparable membership programs. This suggested strong product-market fit despite the company's relative youth. Carlo initially expected his target market to be 25-35 year old urban professionals, but found the actual customer base ranged from 25-45 and included diverse industries beyond finance and entrepreneurship, including entertainment, media, and arts.

With a lean 13-person team and no dedicated marketing spend beyond Carlo's own efforts, Select was on track to nearly 4x revenue to $2.5-3 million in 2016. The company had raised just under $800,000 in seed and note rounds (including through the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, which took 8% equity) and maintained a blended CPA of $154—well below the $250 annual membership fee, allowing for immediate profitability. While Carlo hadn't ruled out physical assets à la Soho House, he remained focused on scaling the merchant network and maximizing the value of the membership ecosystem.