Deal Abstract
Invest in Linen
Republic is a startup investing platform where you can invest as little as $10 in impactful startups
Mint.com/Acorn for crypto. Pre-revenue with a pretty app, but will it be able to overcome BlockFi/Coinbase/Voyager's various network effects?
Financials (VRB)
| Question | Notes |
|---|---|
| 1. Fundraising Target? | $4900000 |
| 2. Fundraised So Far? | $2583406 |
| 3. Pre-Money Valuation? | $22000000 |
| 4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue | $0 |
| 5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash) | ~$-428144 |
The 6 Calacanis Characteristics ("Sow Passion, Not easy mediocrity", or S2 P6 N18)
| Criteria | Yes/No |
|---|---|
| 1. A startup that is based in SV? | True: San Francisco, CA |
| 2. Has at least 2 founders? | True: Two |
| 3. Has product in the market? | True: In the App Store, only 62 reviews |
| 4. 6 months of continuous user growth or 6 months of revenue? | False: No revenue |
| 5. Notable investors? | True: Coinbase ventures |
| 6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway? | True: Already has 5 years of burn at present, if full raise 10 years |
The 7 Thiel Questions (Every Time Man Profits, Don't Dismiss Serendipity)
| Question | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Engineering? | 2 | More friendly UI/UX but not fundamentally better tech |
| 2. Timing? | 2 | BlockFi, Voyager, Kraken, Robinhood Crypto, Coinbase of course... |
| 3. Monopoly? | 1 | Very few users |
| 4. People? | 2 | Fine team but only having these two cofounders at this valuation and capital burned makes me wonder if they can cross the chasm |
| 5. Distribution? | 1 | Haven't heard of this despite running a paid community of investors many of whom love crypto |
| 6. Durability? | 2 | Like Coinbase, wants to become financial platform |
| 7. Secret? | 2 | Doing something like Mint.com/Acorn for crypto could get a big market. While Mint and Acorn are both fine businesses, I don't find them to be venture backable. |
What has to go right for the startup to return money on investment:
1. Get more users; 2. Monetize; 3. Develop a moat
What the Risks Are
1. Too late to be building this compared
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