Homeroom Deal Memo (Closing Date: 2021–04–30)

Two tech workers in Brooklyn are planning to build a newsletter/article based professional education service, starting with product managers.

Want to see the complete rich format deal memo? Read the original post at: https://muhanzhang.com/Homeroom

Deal Abstract

Two tech workers in Brooklyn are planning to build a newsletter/article based professional education service, starting with product managers.

Financials

1. Fundraising Target? $250000
2. Fundraised So Far? $13150
3. Pre-Money Valuation? $2000000
4. Previous Year’s Annual Revenue: $0
5. Previous Year’s Annual Net Income (+ Profitable, — Burning Cash): $-46965

Six Calacanis Criteria

1. A startup that is based in SV? False, Brooklyn, NY
2. Has at least 2 founders? False, Only seeing one founder/no team
3. Has product in the market? False, Trying to be newsletter education for professional upskilling
4. 6 months of continuous user growth or 6 months of revenue? False, Nothing in the market
5. Notable investors? False, No one I recognize
6. Post-funding, will have 18 months of runway? False, Would need half a mil

Seven Thiel Tests

1. Engineering? 1, Not convinced it’s 10x better
2. Timing? 2, Newsletter/articles are indeed the right thing to build in this time
3. Monopoly? 1, No rev, no users, I’d probably be the target market
4. People? 2, Cool techies, but no product
5. Distribution? 2, Fine distribution through Internet and network but no overpowered advantage
6. Durability? 2, Hard to say since product isn’t launched eyt
7. Secret? 1, E-learning is going to be monetized through curated articles and Homeroom will play the curriculum designer

What Has to Go Right

1. Ship a product; 2. Monetize; 3. Demonstrate stickiness and solve the curriculum problem at scale

What Could Go Wrong

1. Not even a million dollar startup yet; 2. Feature not a business; 3. The education space can definitely be messy, see /Viveka

Muhan’s Bonus Notes

Made me wonder about how I level up in my own learning. Mostly audiobooks! Shameless plug: https://muhanzhang.medium.com/how-i-read-learn-in-2019-cb682e60e3eb?sk=7e741ddc5b149ba7191229c1ae67bd15

So, did I invest?

1. Subscribe to https://muhanzhang.com/ to see my final investment decisions, keep track of my portfolio, and receive ongoing updates on my journey to investing in 50 startups as an unaccredited investor.
2. Read the rich format deal memo here: https://muhanzhang.com/Homeroom
3. Want me to cover your startup? Submit your ‘Request for Startup’ (RFS) submission here: https://airtable.com/shrzNK8tguH8qEUF6

Other thoughts, questions, comments, or concerns? Write me at mail@muhanzhang.com and let me know.