Skio

We help brands on Shopify sell subscriptions (+much more in the future).

Since launching in late-April 2021, we've raised ~$7.4M in seed funding and are close to series B metrics (revenue and headcount grew ~1000% in 2022).

Ways we stand out:

• Post product-market-fit since we're "regiciding" a $2.1B incumbent with PMF (ReCharge). Liquid I.V., Bev, Muddy Bites, & most of our customers come from ReCharge.

• Fintech + transaction fee business model (1% + 20c on every order).

• One of the best times to join in terms of risk/reward (post-PMF while still being pre-series A). Our 409A is still relatively low meaning options can be early-exercised cheaply (great for saving on taxes). QSBS still applies (also great for saving on taxes).

• Solo-founded. Generally speaking, solo-founded companies can give more equity and that's what we do here. We believe very much in hiring 1 great fit over 3 good fits and giving the 1 great fit more equity.

• Backed by Y Combinator (if investors matter to you).

• D2C/Shopify app ecosystem is low tech. No competitors with strong engineering teams (it's basically smurfing). Lots of low hanging fruit.

• Flat org structure (with leads/comprehension-first titles). Good read on this here.

• Minimal meeting culture. Make reversible decisions quickly. Make irreversible decisions less quickly. 15m meetings instead of 30m meetings. Good read on this here.

• Practical perks only (health/vision/dental insurance + tax advantaged things). Everyone has different spending habits and we'd rather just pay you more than waste our brain cycles on unused perks.

• Big long-term vision for building network effects.

• Inspired by Netflix culture. Think of us like a startup/high-upside version.

• Trillies, not billies. Unicorn means nothing. We aim for kermit ($1T+ valuation).

Values

• Integrity. Always act like someone's watching.

• Agency. We look for drivers over passengers (Frank Slootman). You run through walls to get things done & question how things can be better instead of going with the flow (too many people who go with the flow and we'll be screwed in 10 years).

• Grind. We work longer hours.

• Hats. Wear many hats. No job is not your job.

• Intent. Assume good intent (esp. w/ written communication). We strive to be sensitive without walking on eggshells.

Great traits

• Really good at something with high skill ceiling. Poker, piano, gaming, sports, past startup/project, anything.

• High delta in circumstances & outcome. It's a pretty strong signal when you're able to do much better than most people in your shoes would do.

• Adventure-driven. We're here to build a legendary company & make some fun memories (+hopefully lots of money).

• Similar sense of humor. We’re rekking a $2.1B, 8 year old incumbent as a 1 year old company and it’ll be more fun if you think it’s hilarious. It's pretty much trolling on a business level.

• EV-based decision-making. You look at how much X will help Y, the number of Y, and estimate how long X will take when deciding what to work on.

• Autonomous. Can take vague requests and get them done without needing too much help.

• Apolitical. Culmination of many points above. If you've experienced a political company culture and it killed you inside, then that's great (will do our best to make sure this never happens here).

Why bet on me

A big part of joining a startup is betting on the founder(s). With this in mind/to save you time, here's some reasons to bet on me:

• Track record of grinding:

  • Top 200 in LoL NA solo queue (100 million+ players globally) in 1 year.

  • Leetcoded internship offers (Pinterest, Stripe) & dropped out after 1 year to join Pinterest (Pre-IPO in 2017).

  • Got into Y Combinator in 1 month post-idea (different idea that was bad). Grinded (aka ate shit) for 1 year before pivoting to Skio.

  • Got product-market-fit + raised a seed for Skio in 4 months post-launch. Was solo during this time (did eng., sales, support, & fundraising).

• No personal safety net (e.g. rich family, prior exits) forces me to work hard.

• Extremely EV-based decision-making. If something is uncomfortable, I'll run straight at it. I also spend money in any way I can to save time and get more done.

• Thick-skinned. I'm used to being flamed from my gaming days :-) This helps me stay composed in high-pressure situations.

• Won't tap out early. Many founders start focusing on other things in the $1-10B range (e.g. thought leadership, angel investing, other projects). I'll do my best to take Skio into the trillies (kermit).