Deal Abstract
Invest in Axle.ai
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B2B SaaS company that is helping companies index their offline video catalogs, backed by Jason Calacanis' launch.
Financials (VRB)
| Question | Notes |
|---|---|
| 1. Fundraising Target? | $428000 |
| 2. Fundraised So Far? | $150240 |
| 3. Pre-Money Valuation? | $9000000 |
| 4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue | $667000 |
| 5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash) | ~$-209680 |
The 6 Calacanis Characteristics ("Sow Passion, Not easy mediocrity", or S2 P6 N18)
| Criteria | Yes/No |
|---|---|
| 1. A startup that is based in SV? | False: Boston, MA |
| 2. Has at least 2 founders? | False: Two |
| 3. Has product in the market? | True: Revenue generating |
| 4. 6 months of continuous user growth or 6 months of revenue? | False: Revenue decreased from 2019 to 2020 |
| 5. Notable investors? | True: Jason Calacanis! |
| 6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway? | True: Only needs $300k |
The 7 Thiel Questions (Every Time Man Profits, Don't Dismiss Serendipity)
| Question | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Engineering? | 3 | Searchable for offline storage, very interesting |
| 2. Timing? | 3 | Def a need for this type of indexing as we make more video content |
| 3. Monopoly? | 2 | Revenue decreased, and have heard of other companies doing this business |
| 4. People? | 3 | CEO has the right background, though c-suite seems a little slim |
| 5. Distribution? | 3 | CEO has the right industry connections to sell this |
| 6. Durability? | 3 | If it can be built, quite defensible as this is mapping data |
| 7. Secret? | 3 | Indexing and cataloguing offline videos will be a larger market than cloud cataloguing |
What has to go right for the startup to return money on investment:
1. Algorithms for recognition online work on offline video, 2. Revenue picks back up; 3. Smooth integration with other editing software
What the Risks Are
1. The act of saving videos on hard disks is a cost saving choice, so businesses are not inclined to spend money indexing this; 2. Can the CEO build a strong executive team
Bonus Muhan's Notes
Very cool company. Need to ask more questions about the team.
Updates
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So, did I invest?
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