Deal Abstract

Podetize wants to take its bootstrapped business to venture speed by building a Google Adwords marketplace for podcasts to compete against Spotify Anchor and co.

Financials (VRB)

Question	Notes
1. Fundraising Target?	$1070000
2. Fundraised So Far?	$54661
3. Pre-Money Valuation?	$7500000
4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue	$1003806
5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash)	~$-183139

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: Foothill Ranch, CA (SoCal)
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: Grew from $600k to $1m
5. Notable investors?	False: No one known
6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway?	True: Needs $250k to have 18 months

Source

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

Question	Score	Notes
1. Engineering?	2	New platform, but don't really understand what's 10x better about the platform for podcasts (as opposed to Anchor, which I used for First Money In and Spotify/Apple Podcast)
2. Timing?	2	Podcasts are definitely still relevant, though it feels a little late to this game
3. Monopoly?	2	Solid market share for a small company
4. People?	3	Strong entrepreneurs, but they seem more lifestyle entrepreneurs than venture backable
5. Distribution?	3	Has built up a solid client base and podcast base
6. Durability?	2	I've never heard of Podetize and don't know why Spotify/Anchor can't eat their lunch
7. Secret?	2	Building a Google Adwords-seque self serve marketing platform for podcast advertisements is going to create a large size exit to Google/Amazon/etc.

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

1. Revenue needs to grow up at multiples, not just at percentages; 2. Podetize has to attract more advertisers; 3. Spotify and co don't open up an option to sell ads on smaller podcasts

What the Risks Are

1. Incumbents; 2. Growth has been slow from 2019 to 2020; 3. Platform doesn't find venture sized demand

Bonus Muhan's Notes

Funded with a $750k EIDL SBA loan, which is very cool

Updates

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

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