Deal Abstract

Instagram meets LinkedIn meets Thumbtack as this company tries to build an artist focused social network.

Financials (VRB)

|Question|Notes|
|---|---|---|
|1. Fundraising Target? |$1070000|
|2. Fundraised So Far?|$149600|
|3. Pre-Money Valuation?|$5850000|
|4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue |$0|
|5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash) |~$-155220|

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: Los Angeles, CA
2. Has at least 2 founders?	False: Two
3. Has product in the market?	True:
4. 6 months of continuous user growth or 6 months of revenue?	False: No revenue
5. Notable investors?	False: Not seeing anyone
6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway?	True: If they fundraise 270k they'll be at 18 months of runway

Source

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

Question	Score	Notes
1. Engineering?	2	Slightly more tailored LinkedIn but not seeing the engineering as 10x better yet
2. Timing?	1	Not sure why now is the right time to start this business
3. Monopoly?	1	I don't know many artists using this yet, if anything YouTube, Soundcloud, and Spotify still own this
4. People?	1	No previous success building a social network or job board
5. Distribution?	1	Not sure how they have an edge in getting artists to sign up
6. Durability?	1	Not sure why LinkedIn/something with a larger community wouldn't come in and get traction
7. Secret?	1	Artists are not being served by existing social networks (Facebook/YouTube/Soundcloud, etc.) and will make a thriving social network if they can get gigs from their page

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

1. Monetize; 2. Figure out if it's ads or job board or livestreaming core base; 3. Become the gold standard of networking for artists

What the Risks Are

1. This problem is solved by Instagram; 2. Artists don't pay and going after this niche means there's not enough money to make an ad network; 3. Marginal not a painkiller solution

Bonus Muhan's Notes

Updates

This is where I’ll post updates about the company. This way all my notes from offering to post-offering updates will be on one page.

Review these deal memos every time the startup raises a new round

Test if original thesis still applies

Notice trends in how you think

So, did I invest?

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