Deal Abstract

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

Platform and white-label service for providing self-guided home showings.

Financials (VRB)

Question Notes
1. Fundraising Target? $1000000
2. Fundraised So Far? $85000
3. Pre-Money Valuation? $16000000
4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue $776731
5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash) ~$-434974
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: Atlanta, GA
2. Has at least 2 founders? True: Two
3. Has product in the market? True: Yup
4. 6 months of continuous user growth or 6 months of revenue? True: Revenue grew from 578k to 776k Y2019 to Y2020
5. Notable investors? False: Got into 2 day events and workshops but no LAUNCH or 500 Startups yet
6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway? True: Needs ~$750k for burn
Source

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

Question Score Notes
1. Engineering? 2 Software to allow for self guided showings, better but not 10x better
2. Timing? 3 Def good time to provide self booking for home showings
3. Monopoly? 1 Have not heard of them before Republic despite being fairly knowledgeable about proptech
4. People? 2 Team has good startup backgrounds but no Proptech background
5. Distribution? 2 Not seeing unfair advantages to distribution
6. Durability? 2 What's stopping a Nada from integrating this feature?
7. Secret? 1 Automating showings for homes is the secret to digital transformation of the home buying process

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

1. Grow faster in the house showing process; 2. Become a tool for real estate agents instead of supplementing (them for now); 3. Build the business so it becomes a platform for the other sectors

What the Risks Are

1. Has had fairly linear growth for last two years; 2. Hardware solution to showing is somewhat limited in growth; 3. Not able to capture the other sides of the home buying process after showing

Bonus Muhan's Notes

Compare to Nada which I also reviewed and invested in.

Updates

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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.