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BiteSight Goes Viral as TikTok Trend Turns Into Real-Time Startup Stress Test
July 24, 2025
It started with a simple internet trend: someone stares into the camera with mock seriousness and tells viewers they're about to see a presentation — and they better be nice. That’s exactly what Kendall McDaniel did before stepping aside to let her brother, Lucious McDaniel IV, pitch his startup, BiteSight.
BiteSight is a food-delivery app that reimagines how people discover restaurants. Instead of scrolling through static images and generic star ratings, users can watch short-form videos of food, see what friends are ordering, and bookmark spots they want to try. The app blends social recommendations with the content-first experiences that younger users are used to on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
McDaniel uploaded the pitch video expecting modest attention. But within 15 minutes, it hit 20,000 views, and the numbers only climbed from there. “My sister texted me saying the post was blowing up,” he recalled. What followed was a mix of excitement and chaos, as parts of the app began to break under the surge of new users.
The BiteSight engineering team scrambled to keep the app running, while McDaniel leaned into the moment by posting follow-up TikToks documenting the behind-the-scenes struggle. Those videos also went viral, with viewers captivated by the raw, unfiltered look at a startup grappling with sudden growth.
The original video has now racked up nearly 4 million likes on TikTok and over 250,000 on Instagram, placing McDaniel among a growing group of founders using viral trends and short videos to build traction and generate interest from users — and investors.
The inspiration came from a friend who used the same format to promote his dating app, which also went viral. McDaniel took the advice and applied it to BiteSight, a solution he built to address his own frustration with traditional delivery platforms. “I kept ordering from the same three places because everything else looked the same. Stock photos, 4.6 stars — nothing felt real or trustworthy.”
At just 24 years old, McDaniel’s story is part of a larger shift in how startups are breaking through the noise: not just with big launches or press, but with authentic, platform-native content that meets users where they already are — on TikTok and Reels, scrolling for the next thing that feels real.
For BiteSight, the viral moment was more than just a flash of internet fame — it was a proving ground for product, infrastructure, and founder grit.
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