Deal Abstract

Huddle
Republic is a startup investing platform where you can invest as little as $10 in impactful startups

Thumbtack to allow creatives to trade sweat equity for labor with startups.

Financials (VRB)

Question Notes
1. Fundraising Target? $125000
2. Fundraised So Far? $265031
3. Pre-Money Valuation? $10000000
4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue $244050
5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash) ~$-52777
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: Miami, FL
2. Has at least 2 founders? True: Two
3. Has product in the market? True: Revenue generating
4. 6 months of continuous user growth or 6 months of revenue? True: Revenue went from $139k to $244k
5. Notable investors? False: Miami Angels and some others, but no big names
6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway? True: Raised 3 years of runway

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

Question Score Notes
1. Engineering? 2 It's a Thumbtack made for founders and creators
2. Timing? 2 Why is now the right time to build this business?
3. Monopoly? 4 Really no venue for finding talent for your startup other than Angel list
4. People? 3 Team seems fine
5. Distribution? 2 Building the marketplace for this startup requires more access to populations
6. Durability? 2 It seems like another marketplace, will have to build some moats
7. Secret? 2 Building a Thumbtack that includes sweat equity is going to be a billion dollar business

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

1. Keep driving up interactions; 2. Attract startups with a more targeted talent pool; 3. Attract freelancers with better client management services

What the Risks Are

1. Feature not a business; 2. Startups that don't have much capital to pay are not a great customer; 3. Easy for another marketplace to come in and copy features

Bonus Muhan's Notes

Very cool idea, but I missed it. Will be curious to see how they perform.

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


So, did I invest?

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