They were raising $1.5 million on an $8 million post SAFE. They had a cool product and a dedicated founder, but I passed. Here’s why…
“DoorTrack” is a platform for real estate investors. ***”DoorTrack” is a composite, not a real startup, and the name is made up.*** But it shows why solo founders struggle to raise money.
The Good
“DoorTrack” lets investors see all their properties in one place, view the rent rolls, and model scenarios.
If vacancies go from 5% to 10%, what happens to my cashflow? If I refinance Building A, can I afford to buy Building B?
The tool seemed really useful. Sophisticated scenario planning isn’t a part of a lot of property management systems.
When I met with the founder, “Jim,” I could see that he fit the market perfectly.
He was a small landlord himself, with 8 units. He created the tool to help him manage his own business.
I could tell how excited “Jim” was about this problem. That’s awesome, because without that excitement, it’s hard to stick it out for 10 years and make this a unicorn!
The Bad
“DoorTrack” had a great product and a devoted founder. But unfortunately, “Jim” was all alone!
“DoorTrack” was a single person company, something I rarely see. “Jim” had built the entire platform himself, which was super impressive!
But he clearly needed help. “DoorTrack” made you manually input data from your properties, which users won’t want to do.
“Jim” planned to add an import feature. But had he had a co-founder, this could’ve been done long ago.
In this case and a thousand others, being a solo founder put “Jim” at a disadvantage.
“DoorTrack” would need to ship countless updates rapidly in order to make customers happy. They also needed help with marketing and more.
This was definitely not a one-man job.
“DoorTrack” was also an extremely early stage company. Revenue was just beginning to roll in, sitting at a couple hundred bucks a month.
Decision Time
I loved “DoorTrack’s” product and I could tell “Jim” was smart and dedicated.
But there were some significant negatives here. “DoorTrack” was a one man company with just a trickle of revenue.
Looking back on my 30 investments so far, one trend stands out.
When I invested very early with just a trickle of revenue, the results weren’t great. When I waited until they were over $200k ARR, I had much better luck.
The combination of a solo founder and minimal traction were dealbreakers for me. I passed.
Wrap-Up
“DoorTrack” was a pretty good company in a lot of ways! But with every deal I see, I ask myself the same question:
“Is this the best deal I’m going to see in the next month or so?”
If not, it’s a pass.
“DoorTrack” ultimately didn’t make it. I’m not sure what led the company to shut down, but it’s a shame — the product was really cool!
Try to ignore the fact the company didn’t make it. Would you have invested in “DoorTrack” at the time?
Leave a comment and let us know!
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