Deal Abstract
Future Acres
Autonomous farm tools of tomorrow
Robots to help farmers pick crops. Hard tech to solve hard problems.
Financials (VRB)
| Question | Notes |
|---|---|
| 1. Fundraising Target? | $3000000 |
| 2. Fundraised So Far? | $414065 |
| 3. Pre-Money Valuation? | $7000000 |
| 4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue | $0 |
| 5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash) | ~$-659139 |
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: Austin, TX |
| 2. Has at least 2 founders? | True: Two |
| 3. Has product in the market? | False: No product launched |
| 4. 6 months of continuous user growth or 6 months of revenue? | False: No revenue |
| 5. Notable investors? | True: Love Wavemaker Labs |
| 6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway? | True: Needs only $750k for 18 mths of runway |
The 7 Thiel Questions (Every Time Man Profits, Don't Dismiss Serendipity)
| Question | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Engineering? | 4 | Super cool engineering |
| 2. Timing? | 2 | Not sure when the product is done and ready to be shipped |
| 3. Monopoly? | 1 | No product in market |
| 4. People? | 3 | Very strong team, but no one with agricultural robotics before hand |
| 5. Distribution? | 2 | Wavemaker and farms is fine |
| 6. Durability? | 4 | Super durable, no one wants to build this business |
| 7. Secret? | 2 | Farms are going to keep competing on labor costs and will eventually be forced to adopt this technology at venture speed |
What has to go right for the startup to return money on investment:
1. Launch product; 2. Service costs have to remain low/reliability high; 3. Learning from Carry's computer vision data has to help R&D of new features
What the Risks Are
1. Robotics is expensive; 2. Growth not fast enough for venture returns; 3. Commercializing technology is very capital intensive
Bonus Muhan's Notes
Lovely technology, love what Wavemaker backs in terms of actual solutions to actual problems
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?
Click here to find out.Other thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns? Write me at mail@muhanzhang.com and let me know.