Deal Abstract
B2C2B Company wants to build the next professional learning/coaching marketplace. Can it learn from Coursalytics, whom I covered in summer 2019?
Financials (VRB)
|Question|Notes|
|---|---|---|
|1. Fundraising Target? |$1080000|
|2. Fundraised So Far?|$53050|
|3. Pre-Money Valuation?|$7500000|
|4. Previous Year's Annual Revenue |$43196|
|5. Previous Year's Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, - Burning Cash) |~$-144973|
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: Marina del Ray, CA |
2. Has at least 2 founders? | False: 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 2018 |
5. Notable investors? | False: No one I recognize |
6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway? | True: Yes, at ~$250k will have 18 mths |
The 7 Thiel Questions (Every Time Man Profits, Don't Dismiss Serendipity)
Question | Score | Notes |
---|---|---|
1. Engineering? | 2 | Probs better than stuff separate, but not that much better |
2. Timing? | 2 | Good timing to be in this sector |
3. Monopoly? | 1 | Not a lot of revenue comparatively |
4. People? | 2 | Good team but not much information on individual founders |
5. Distribution? | 1 | Needs business relationships to be able to sell this product |
6. Durability? | 2 | It's a marketplace so if built, will be defensible |
7. Secret? | 1 | COVID has forced the digitization of online coaching classes faster than pre-COVID times |
What has to go right for the startup to return money on investment:
1. Increase revenue; 2. Build out scalable model of acquisition; 3. Not just be a distributor/appt booker/accountability but eventually become a LMS (learning management system)
What the Risks Are
1. Modest revenue; 2. What's defensible about this product vs Coursalytics?; 3. What's the unfair advantages?
Bonus Muhan's Notes
I covered a company called Coursalytics raising in June 2019 (!!!) that was raising at a $2.5m valuation cap with $168k in revenue, backed by Jason Calacanis. That company I have not seen any updates from recently. But Viveka would have to compete against a Coursalytics from a metric standpoint to catch my attention.
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
Notice trends in how you think
So, did I invest?
Click here to find out.Other thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns? Write me at mail@muhanzhang.com and let me know.