investment-memo

/investment-memo — Write Investment Memo

What This Command Does

Produces a structured investment memorandum suitable for investment committee presentation. Covers business overview, market opportunity, financial analysis, deal terms, key risks, and recommendation. Follows institutional investment memo standards with clear thesis articulation and risk/return framework.

When to Use

• Investment committee decision papers
• LP co-investment memos
• Internal deal screening documentation
• Follow-on investment justification
• Portfolio review and re-underwriting
• Exit recommendation memos

How It Works

1. Executive Summary: One-page investment thesis with key metrics
2. Business Analysis: Product, market, competitive landscape, team assessment
3. Financial Review: Historical performance, projections, unit economics
4. Deal Analysis: Valuation, terms, comparable transactions, return expectations
5. Risk Framework: Key risks with mitigants and residual exposure
6. Recommendation: Clear invest/pass recommendation with conditions

Example Usage

Input:

/investment-memo company:"DataLayer AI" type:vc-series recommendation:invest

Output:

# Investment Memorandum — DataLayer AI
## Series B | Recommendation: INVEST | Date: 2026-03-14
## CONFIDENTIAL — Investment Committee Use Only

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## Executive Summary
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**Thesis**: DataLayer AI is the leading data integration platform for
mid-market enterprises, growing 85% YoY with strong unit economics.
The Series B at $180M pre represents a fair entry for a company
approaching $30M ARR with a clear path to $100M+ ARR.

| Key Metric              | Value                              |
|-------------------------|------------------------------------|
| ARR (current)           | $28M (85% YoY growth)              |
| Net Revenue Retention   | 135%                               |
| Gross Margin            | 78%                                |
| Burn Multiple           | 1.2x (efficient growth)            |
| Round Size              | $45M                               |
| Pre-Money Valuation     | $180M (6.4x ARR)                   |
| Our Allocation          | $10M (22% of round)                |
| Ownership (post)        | 4.4% (fully diluted)               |
| Target Return           | 5-8x MOIC / 40-55% IRR (5yr)      |

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
## Business Overview
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**Product**: AI-powered data integration platform that enables mid-market
companies to connect, transform, and orchestrate data across 200+
enterprise applications. Replaces manual ETL processes and legacy
middleware.

**Market**: $35B TAM (data integration + iPaaS), growing 18% CAGR.
Mid-market segment ($50M-$500M revenue companies) is underserved
by enterprise vendors (Informatica, MuleSoft) and too complex for
SMB tools (Zapier, Make).

**Competitive Position**: #1 in mid-market data integration (G2 leader).
Key differentiation: AI-driven schema mapping (90% automation vs.
30% for competitors), 3x faster implementation.

**Team**: CEO (ex-Snowflake VP Eng), CTO (ex-Google Brain), 120 FTEs.
Strong engineering culture, 65% of team in R&D.

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## Financial Summary
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| USD M              | 2024A  | 2025A  | 2026E  | 2027E  | 2028E  |
|--------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| ARR                | 15.0   | 28.0   | 48.0   | 76.0   | 110.0  |
| Growth             | —      | 85%    | 71%    | 58%    | 45%    |
| Revenue (recognized)| 12.5  | 24.0   | 42.0   | 65.0   | 95.0   |
| Gross Margin       | 75%    | 78%    | 80%    | 82%    | 83%    |
| Net Burn           | (8.5)  | (10.0) | (12.0) | (8.0)  | 2.0    |
| Burn Multiple      | 1.5x   | 1.2x   | 0.7x   | 0.3x   | N/A    |
| Cash (post-round)  | —      | —      | 52.0   | 40.0   | 42.0   |

Unit economics (current):
- CAC: $35K (blended) | Payback: 11 months
- LTV: $210K | LTV/CAC: 6.0x
- Logo churn: 5% annually | Net dollar retention: 135%

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## Return Analysis
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| Exit Scenario      | ARR    | Multiple | Valuation | MOIC | IRR  |
|--------------------|--------|----------|-----------|------|------|
| Bear (2030)        | $120M  | 8x       | $960M     | 4.3x | 34%  |
| Base (2030)        | $160M  | 12x      | $1,920M   | 8.5x | 53%  |
| Bull (2030)        | $220M  | 15x      | $3,300M   | 14.7x| 71%  |
| IPO (2029)         | $130M  | 14x      | $1,820M   | 8.1x | 68%  |

Probability-weighted MOIC: 7.5x | IRR: 50%

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## Key Risks & Mitigants
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| Risk                     | Severity | Mitigant                           |
|--------------------------|----------|------------------------------------|
| Enterprise vendor downmarket| High  | 18-month product lead, switching costs|
| Key person risk (CEO/CTO)| Medium   | Strong VP layer, vesting in place  |
| Market concentration     | Medium   | No customer > 3% of ARR           |
| AI commoditization       | Medium   | Proprietary training data moat     |
| Macro / IT budget cuts   | Low      | ROI-positive, saves headcount      |

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## Recommendation
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**INVEST $10M** in the Series B at $180M pre-money valuation.

Conditions:
1. Board observer seat
2. Pro-rata rights for future rounds
3. Quarterly financial reporting with ARR cohort data
4. Information rights per standard side letter

Requesting IC approval by 2026-03-28.