Deal Abstract

Invest in COI Energy
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SaaS company wants to sell an energy monitoring solution to businesses to help reduce their utility bill.

Financials (VRB)

|Question|Notes|
|---|---|---|
|1. Fundraising Target? |$1070000|
|2. Fundraised So Far?|$453209|
|3. Pre-Money Valuation?|$18000000|
|4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue |$191935|
|5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash) |~$-793777|

Source

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: Tampa, FL
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 dropped from 2018 to 2019
5. Notable investors? False: No one I recognize
6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway? True: At a mil will have 18 mths runway
Source

The 7 Thiel Questions (Every Time Man Profits, Don't Dismiss Serendipity)

Question Score Notes
1. Engineering? 2 Platform that helps understand energy spikes better
2. Timing? 1 Not sure why now is the perfect time to build this business
3. Monopoly? 2 Has a good number of high profile customers, but declining revenue
4. People? 2 Strong founder but no other major teammates
5. Distribution? 2 Selling B2B requires connections
6. Durability? 3 If can be built, very durable
7. Secret? 1 Energy costs are enough of a pain point that large businesses will pay for a SaaS platform to help them manage and save energy costs

What has to go right for the startup to return money on investment:

1. Get growth back on track; 2. Scale out a B2B sales playbook; 3. Demonstrate consistent return on investment for monitoring energy savings

What the Risks Are

1. Is a third party SaaS business the right entity to build this? 2. High costs and not corresponding high revenue; 3. Vitamin not a painkiller

Bonus Muhan's Notes

Very cool business, need to see founder's vision for scaling

Updates

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Other thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns? Write me at mail@muhanzhang.com and let me know.