Queerie is a relationship app designed particularly for LGBTQIA+ individuals. This can be a very early-stage firm that’s elevating simply $300,000, a spherical sum that sometimes falls into the “family and friends” class.
The relationship business is a fiercely aggressive one and has seen its justifiable share of mergers and acquisitions lately, so I used to be desperate to take a more in-depth look.
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Slides on this deck
Queerie shared his full, unedited 13-slide presentation with TechCrunch.
- Slide cowl
- Slide cowl, half 2
- Mission slide
- Downside slide
- Slide with resolution
- Market measurement slide
- How does it work slide
- Traction slide
- Competitors slide
- Crew slide
- Slide “Request and use of funds”
- Monetary outcomes for six years (!)
- Contact slide
Just a few issues to like concerning the Queerie pitch deck
The very first thing that struck me concerning the Queerie deck was that it was contemporary and enjoyable. The usage of language and graphics is clear, easy and fascinating. An ideal place to begin for a client model!
Be pushed by the mission
[Slide 3] I really like an excellent rallying cry. Picture Credit: Unusual
If you’re making an attempt to make the world a greater place, you in all probability goes to draw mission-oriented traders. So why not make your mission clear and entrance and middle? This can be a highly effective storytelling approach that’s applied nicely within the Querie deck.
Speak about the issue at hand
[Slide 4] That is positively an issue price fixing. Picture Credit: Unusual
This problematic slide acquired me considering: it was a reminder that isolation and psychological well being points are frequent in lots of queer areas.
The corporate positions itself much less as a relationship app and extra as an answer to the issue of loneliness. Whether or not traders will purchase it and whether or not this software would be the proper resolution to the issues that the corporate identifies is a separate query. Nonetheless, it’s secure to say that the issue Quiri outlines is price fixing.
4 issues Querie might enhance
I actually need Queerie to exist, so it pains me to see that the best way the corporate is advertising its thought makes it almost inconceivable to fund.
Is that this the identical crew?
I see not less than one relationship app each month, and it is sensible: relationship and discovering the precise companion(s) is a vital a part of many individuals’s lives, and it appears really easy to do. higher than what’s now. In consequence, many of those startups have founders with plenty of expertise on the planet of relationship.
[Slide 10] Hey Kuutis. Picture Credit: Unusual
However the place are the ladies? For a corporation that’s constructing an “inclusive platform,” this looks as if a little bit of an oversight.
There are some fascinating experiences right here, however most individuals appear to be nearly an excessive amount of senior on this startup. I do know this can be a uncommon criticism, however one of many CTOs labored at Google as a website reliability engineer for 18 years. That is very particular work, and whereas scaling an software like Querie can be vital, I query how a lot overlap there may be between scaling Google’s infrastructure and scaling a website like Querie.
Total, after studying the crew’s LinkedIn profiles and what’s proven on this slide, I got here to the conclusion that they will create a extremely good, well-functioning software with a fantastic person expertise, however that’s not sufficient to construct a profitable firm. . There’s a big hole in gross sales and advertising, and there may be not a lot startup expertise on the crew. If an skilled marketer with expertise in client advertising purposes might have been added to this slide, I feel the crew would have seemed extra credible from the beginning.
That is only a description of a relationship app
I actually do not perceive what this slide is making an attempt to attain:
[Slide 7] Sure, it is a relationship app. Picture Credit: Unusual
This slide is a waste of time. This does not reveal any secret about why Queerie succeeds the place others have failed; there may be nothing new or progressive right here.
The slides within the presentation ought to assist the investor make an funding choice. If somebody is studying a slide and it’s more likely to be impartial (and even unfavorable), it’s best to not use it.
It is not a craving
[Slide 8] It does not actually display traction. Picture credit: unusual
The corporate says it has a “closed model of the cell app,” however this 13-slide presentation does not embody a single screenshot of the app. The corporate says it has 95 beta testers, which is nice, nevertheless it actually is not that large of a deal. What can be fascinating is how these beta testers work together with the platform. Do they pay? What are your DAU/MAU (Every day/Month-to-month Lively Customers) stats?
I am penning this on March thirty first, the final day of the primary quarter of 2024, so I do not perceive why the corporate says it surveyed 3,000 individuals within the second quarter of 2024? The corporate additionally says it plans to develop its preliminary person base with “robust progress” within the third quarter, however then says it should launch the app in June, which is the second quarter. It is not an enormous deal, however it’s a little complicated.
Essentially not enterprise scale
This slide, which describes how rapidly the corporate needs to develop, raises some considerations.
[Slide 12] This isn’t a startup. Picture Credit: Unusual
After the primary yr, the corporate plans to spend solely $40,000 per yr on app growth. There is not even an honest part-time developer right here. For a corporation that may be a expertise startup, this can be a horrible mistake: does the corporate plan to proceed growing its purposes?
Progress right here is just too sluggish. Elsewhere, the corporate says it should purchase 1,000 customers within the first half of 2024, however will attain 20,000 month-to-month lively customers by the tip of the yr. Then instantly progress drops to “simply” doubling in 2025 and doubling once more in 2026. For a hyper-growing early-stage startup, these numbers are horrible. Early stage startups sometimes need to develop at 10% weekly. Should you begin with 1000 customers, after a yr of 10% weekly progress you must have round 130,000 customers:
10% weekly progress with a base of 1000 customers appears to be like like this. Picture Credit: TechCrunch / Haje Kamps
Even worse, nonetheless, primarily based on present six-year monetary outcomes, Querie is projected to generate just below $10 million in income in 2029. That is fairly bleak and signifies the founders do not have a very aggressive progress plan. Its personal numbers present the corporate expects solely about 15% of its clients to pay $8 a month.
Elsewhere, the corporate says, “Our cell app will enable us to succeed in extra cities as we elevate extra capital,” which is nice, however the monetary assessment does not present a rise in fundraising for the enterprise, so it is unclear. when and the way a lot the corporate plans to boost.
In brief, this slide exhibits that Querie might be a reasonably profitable way of life enterprise, however I am afraid no investor would go for it as an funding; that is too bold and exhibits that the corporate founders don’t perceive what is anticipated of them as startup founders.
Full presentation
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