Deal Abstract
Republic
Serial entrepreneur takes his drone experience to re-engineering the electric scooter.
Financials (VRB)
| Question | Notes |
|---|---|
| 1. Fundraising Target? | $0 |
| 2. Fundraised So Far? | $102650 |
| 3. Pre-Money Valuation? | $19000000 |
| 4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue | $0 |
| 5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash) | ~$-954050 |
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? | False: No revenue |
| 4. 6 months of continuous user growth or 6 months of revenue? | False: See above |
| 5. Notable investors? | True: I recognize Sean O'Sullivan's accelerator SOSV but confess to not remember any famous investments they've had |
| 6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway? | False: At present it's not looking like it |
The 7 Thiel Questions (Every Time Man Profits, Don't Dismiss Serendipity)
| Question | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Engineering? | 1 | Marginally better than existing electric scooters at first blush |
| 2. Timing? | 2 | Why is now the best time to compete with Bird? |
| 3. Monopoly? | 1 | No product in the market |
| 4. People? | 2 | Good entrepreneurial background but no one with B2B or B2C sales experience in hardware mobility |
| 5. Distribution? | 1 | Online sales? Distributors? Not in market. |
| 6. Durability? | 1 | Not much recurring revenue also bikeshares? |
| 7. Secret? | 2 | The future isn't bikeshare/scootershare networks but privatized scooters instead |
What has to go right for the startup to return money on investment:
1. More of the world is ready for privatized electric scooters instead of sharing economy/leasing economy; 2. Go to market successfully; 3. Service for the scooters
What the Risks Are
1. Hardware play and risks that the money isn't the scooter but the mobility service; 2. Customer service costs scale upwards; 3. Bikeshare and other mobility share systems make an engineeringly inferior but network
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