BackA funding proposal
The case for funds for a hyperlocal start-up
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Dear VC Investor:
I wonder if you’d be interested in my company. It’s online. It’s hyperlocal. And it involves a lot of cash. I’m told that checks all the boxes.
My business is called Letsthrowmoney. I first thought of the business one evening last year when my cousin Bubbly got married.
I don’t know if you are familiar with weddings in the part of India I come from. They are extremely culturally nuanced ceremonies, where people indulge in edifying activities that usually involve consuming huge amounts of Johnnie Walker Black Label, dancing on the streets at the head of a wedding procession, and throwing around currency notes.
That evening, I discovered to my dismay that all the currency notes I had were old and dirty. No problems, I said to myself (slurred to myself would have been more accurate because I had imbibed a fair bit of JWBL by then), I’ll just pick up some money from the neighbourhood ATM.
Only, the ATM wasn’t working. And there was a long queue outside the other ATM.
Which meant that me and my other cousins ended up throwing dirty, old, crumpled currency notes that night as we led Bubbly’s wedding procession. Let me tell you—it didn’t feel good.
The next morning, I woke up with a hangover and an idea.
And Letsthrowmoney.com was born.
Here’s how it works. Anyone who wants crisp, new currency notes (and people want this all the time—to gift, to throw, to display…) need only log on to our site, choose the denominations and the amount, and pay. We accept cards, wallets of several companies, and even have a cash-on-delivery option.
We deliver crisp currency notes within 90 minutes in 53 cities across the country. Our research shows that people don’t mind paying between 50 basis points to a percentage point more for crisp, clean, and new currency notes. For instance, they wouldn’t mind paying ₹ 10,100 for ₹ 10,000. One basis point is one-hudredth of a percentage point.
In the initial days (and weeks, months, and years) though, they won’t have to do that. Because we have to build share, and because the hyperlocal cash market is becoming crowded (all imitators, and I am sure they won’t have the staying power we do, especially if you put your weight, and money, behind us), we will offer discounts. I think ₹ 9,900 for ₹ 10,000 is not such a bad deal. Some of our competitors go as low as ₹ 8,500—they probably think they are running an e-commerce site. Why don’t you check us out and get back? We used to be at Letsthrowmoney.com but are now app-only.
Looking forward.
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