West Tenth – A Startup Case Study: Empowering Home-Based Businesses with a Hyperlocal Twist

West Tenth

West Tenth was a Los Angeles‑based, women‑led digital marketplace that connected local communities with home‑based female entrepreneurs offering unique, often handmade goods and services. Founded in 2019 by Lyn Johnson and Sara Sparhawk, the platform encouraged micro‑entrepreneurship among women, particularly “momtrepreneurs,” offering convenience, personalization, and hyper‑local engagement.

By 2025, West Tenth is reported to be closed. Although the founders haven’t released a formal statement, Yelp listings for their LA branch have been marked “CLOSED.”

Founding Year: 2019

Headquarters: Los Angeles, California, United States

Industry: Retail Trade: Non-Durable Goods

Status: Closed

Business Model

Type: B2C, Two-sided, Product & Service

• Clients: Women, particularly “busy moms,” seeking locally sourced, unique, and often handmade products and services. They value convenience, personalization, and supporting women-owned businesses.
• Suppliers: Women-owned, home-based micro-businesses and independently operated ventures offering a variety of products and services, including crafted goods, personal styling and care, fitness, photography, baked goods, workshops and lessons, home floristry, and custom art and prints.

It’s Like: Etsy but Hyperlocal and Service-Oriented

West Tenth emulated Etsy by providing a platform for individual sellers to showcase and sell unique, often handcrafted goods. However, it differentiated itself in two key ways:

• Hyperlocal Focus: West Tenth emphasized connecting buyers and sellers within the same neighborhood, leveraging the convenience and community aspect of local commerce.
• Service Expansion: Unlike Etsy’s primary focus on physical goods, West Tenth expanded its offerings to include a wide range of local services, from baking and photography to tutoring and event planning.

Challenges Addressed

• Limited Visibility for Home-Based Businesses: Many talented individuals, particularly women, operate businesses from home, lacking the visibility and reach of traditional storefronts.
• Difficulty Reaching Local Customers: These businesses often struggle to market their products and services effectively within their communities.
• Lack of Convenient Access to Local Services: Consumers seeking unique, locally made goods and services often face challenges in discovering and connecting with providers in their neighborhoods.

Key Features of the Platform

• Online Marketplace: West Tenth provided a digital platform for home-based businesses to showcase their offerings, connect with local customers, and manage transactions.
• Hyperlocal Discovery: The platform’s focus on neighborhood-based commerce made it easier for consumers to find and support businesses within their communities.
• Diverse Product and Service Range: West Tenth offered a wide array of products and services, catering to various needs and interests within the local market.
• Empowerment and Flexibility: The platform empowered women entrepreneurs to monetize their skills, set their own hours, and build businesses around their lives.

Founding Story

• When and How Founded: West Tenth was founded in 2019 by Lyn Johnson and Sara Sparhawk.
• Problem Experienced: The founders observed that many exceptional small businesses, often operated by women from their homes, lacked online discoverability.
• Founders and Their Backgrounds:
  • Lyn Johnson (CEO): Brought over a decade of experience in technology and finance.
  • Sara Sparhawk (COO): Co-founded the company with Johnson.
• Why They Started the Business: They recognized the untapped potential of these home-based businesses and aimed to bridge the gap between them and local consumers.
• Team: They partnered with OAK’S LAB to develop the platform, including a mobile app and administrative system.
• Solution: They created an online marketplace specifically for women-owned, home-based businesses, offering a platform for visibility, marketing, and sales.
• Continued Growth: They expanded to 29 major US cities and onboarded over 3,000 business owners. Top-performing businesses saw a 35% annual revenue increase.
• Innovation and Technology: They developed a user-friendly mobile app and platform, later implementing UX improvements that led to increased buyer retention and sales.

Key Growth Milestones

• 2019: West Tenth was founded.
• 2020: Accepted into Techstars accelerator, marking early validation and continued momentum.
• March 2021: Raised $1.5 million in Seed funding.
• July 2022: Joined HearstLab’s portfolio of women-led startups.
• 2025: Ceased operations and marked as “Out of Business.”

Market & Competition

Target Market

Geography: West Tenth launched in 29 U.S. cities over time—beginning with Los Angeles, then expanding to Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Tampa, and over a dozen more by 2023.

Two-Sided Marketplace:

• Supply Side: Women-owned, home-based micro-businesses and independently operated ventures.
  • Specific target: “Busy moms” seeking flexible work opportunities.
  • Number of businesses onboarded: Over 3,000.
• Demand Side: Community members seeking local services and distinctive, often handmade goods.
  • Specific target: “Busy moms” seeking convenient access to local, personalized offerings.

Market Growth:

• The market for home-based businesses, particularly those run by women, presented a significant opportunity. There are approximately 15 million home-based businesses in the U.S., with 89% led by women.
• Despite women controlling 80% of consumer spending, only 4% was directed towards women-owned businesses, highlighting a market inefficiency that West Tenth aimed to address.
• By 2023, West Tenth’s top cohort of sellers grew revenue by ~35% annually, suggesting strong local traction.
• The broader small business landscape in the US, with over 33 million businesses accounting for nearly half of the private workforce, further underscores the potential market size.

Potential New Markets: 

West Tenth’s strategy intended to build a city-by-city footprint, fostering tightly-knit community networks around women-owned micro-businesses, which was not achieved.

Growth Trends: 

• Continued increase in women-led entrepreneurship—backed by platform-tailored support.
• Opportunity to solidify further by strengthening educational training and financial empowerment programs for sellers.

Competitor Landscape

West Tenth operated in a competitive landscape of online marketplaces, including those with broader offerings and those specializing in local or niche markets.

While West Tenth differentiated itself by focusing on women-owned, home-based businesses and personalized interactions, it competed for both buyers and sellers with established platforms.

Main Rivals:

• Groupon: A platform offering deals and discounts on local services and experiences.
• Amazon: A global e-commerce giant with a vast selection of products and services, including handmade and local offerings.
• Etsy: A specialized marketplace for handmade and vintage goods, directly competing with West Tenth’s focus on crafted products.
• Nextdoor: A hyperlocal social networking platform that facilitates buying and selling within neighborhoods, posing competition for local service providers.

Marketing & Sales

Main Positioning Values: “Modern Main Street” marketplace that seamlessly connected local communities with talented, women-owned home-based micro-businesses.

Website & Socials

West Tenth website, WestTenth.com, redirects to a parked domain.

Media Coverage

• Salt Lake Tribune: Reported on the BYU‑founder roots, West Tenth’s positioning as “an alternative to that” (MLMs), and its #TisHerSeason holiday pledge encouraging consumers to support women‑owned businesses.
• PYMNTS: Highlighted how the pandemic-fueled workforce exit among women boosted demand for platforms like West Tenth. Quotes CEO Lyn Johnson on the gender wealth gap (“women only have 32 cents to every dollar in financial assets men have”) and described the platform as a “fintech‑style” way to monetize domestic skills.
• Larchmont Buzz: Described the app as a new tool empowering women with home‑based ventures to promote their businesses locally and connect with other women entrepreneurs.
• BYU Magazine: Featured the founders’ BYU origins, dual‑city launch strategy (LA, Salt Lake, Phoenix, Austin), and how the platform merged handcrafted commerce with business training (e.g., workshops and networking).
• The Acorn (Conejo Valley): Covered West Tenth’s local roots in Conejo Valley and its mission to showcase women’s overlooked talents via a home‑centric marketplace.

Marketing Strategies

• Target Audience: West Tenth primarily targeted women-owned, home-based micro-businesses and independently operated ventures as sellers. Their target customers were community members, particularly “busy moms,” seeking local services and unique, often handmade goods.
• Acquisition Strategy:
  • For Sellers: 
  • Hyperlocal community outreach: Launched initial cohorts in areas like Conejo Valley and San Fernando Valley, focusing on local recruiting through school groups, women’s networks, and community events.
  • Digital storytelling & professional support: Used professional photography and writing assistance to help sellers create polished digital storefronts, enhancing their appeal and discoverability.
• For Buyers: 
  • Emotional appeal: Positioned the platform as a way to support local women entrepreneurs by monetizing their under-recognized skills—connecting buyers emotionally to the brand’s mission.
• Community Building: West Tenth emphasized a strong community around its platform. They offered business education programs through “The Foundry” to support the growth of their sellers and foster a sense of community, which contributed to word-of-mouth marketing.

Product & Innovation

• Hyperlocal Focus: While online marketplaces are common, West Tenth’s dedication to connecting buyers and sellers within the same neighborhood fosters a sense of community and leverages the convenience of proximity.
• Service Integration: Expanding beyond physical goods to include a wide range of local services broadens the platform’s appeal and addresses more consumer needs.
• Conversation-Based Transactions: The emphasis on personalized communication between buyers and sellers differentiates West Tenth from more transactional e-commerce platforms.
• Focus on Women Entrepreneurs: By specifically targeting and supporting women-owned businesses, West Tenth taps into a growing demographic and fosters a sense of community and empowerment.

Financials & Metrics

Revenue Sources

• Commissions from Marketplace Transactions: West Tenth charged a 9.5% commission on all sales made through its platform.
• “The Foundry” Subscription Memberships: Business sellers could subscribe to The Foundry, West Tenth’s in-app educational service, at $100 per quarter or $350 annually. Individual sessions were also available á la carte for around $30 each.

Metrics

• Funding and Investments: On March 2, 2021, West Tenth raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Better Ventures, Stand Together Ventures Lab, Kapital Partners, The Community Fund, Backstage Capital, Wedbush Ventures, and Gaingels.
• Employee Count: The estimated employee count was around 11 to 50.

Structure & Culture

Structure

Leadership:

• Lyn Johnson, Co‑Founder & CEO – MBA from Oxford and veteran of PwC and Locus Financial, she led the company’s strategic vision and platform execution.
• Sara Sparhawk, Co‑Founder & COO – Previously at PwC alongside Johnson, she oversaw operations, partnerships, and community programs.

Teams:

• Lean leadership team based in Los Angeles, including a small core staff (estimated 11–50 employees at peak) handling operations, tech, marketing, and support.

Impact

Customer Feedback

• Crunchbase News highlighted how West Tenth supported women refining home‑based talents—like baking and organizing—to generate income from their communities.

Success Stories

• “Home stylists and bakers turned earners”: The Crunchbase profile shared stories of women using West Tenth’s platform to monetize domestic talents—covering baking, photography, and home organizing services.

Closure Rationale

• No CEO statements, founder interviews, or press releases explaining the decision to close.
• West Tenth quietly disappeared from social media, and its app store presence diminished in early 2025.

Challenges and Risks:

 Likely Reasons for Closure:

• Funding Constraints: After raising a $1.5 million seed round in March 2021, West Tenth may have faced difficulties securing further funding or achieving profitable unit economics.
• Scaling and Market Competition: Although West Tenth grew to 3,000 sellers in 29 cities, competing against larger platforms—like Etsy’s local efforts or Nextdoor Services—likely made it tough to differentiate and scale sustainably.
• Operational Overhead in Hyperlocal Model: Maintaining local onboarding, seller training, community-building, and tech upkeep across each city is resource-intensive—possibly leading to high overhead and insufficient ROI.
• Impact of Macro Conditions: Challenges such as the post-pandemic shift in consumer behavior and rising costs for small businesses/framework likely exerted additional pressure.

Key Takeaways for Entrepreneurs

• Prioritize adaptability: As the founders observed, consumer behaviors evolve fast. Build for flexibility—what worked in 2021 may falter by 2025.
• Validate long-term habits: It’s one thing to attract users during impulses or trends; it’s quite another to maintain consistent, repeat engagement and loyalty in a changing landscape.
• Know your economics: Hyperlocal models are resource-heavy. Model unit economics carefully, especially for cost-intensive activities like community events, training, and onboarding.
• Stay capital-aware: Even strong seed funding (like West Tenth’s $1.5 M round) may not carry a business through long-term expansion. Plan for follow-on funding or early breakeven.
• Scale thoughtfully: Launch local, yes—but ensure that scaling up doesn’t multiply operational expenditures in parallel to growth.
• Plan pivots early: A strong core idea (empowerment, community, local goods) may still need iteration—such as shifting from local to digital-only markets, licensing software, or partnering with larger platforms.