Infuse the IOZ personal growth loops with a triangle of faith.

Template for writing an investment memo to capture the learning process before spending a large amount of money.

## 20XX-XX-XX Company Name Investment Memo

| Attribute            | Value |
| -------------------- | ----- |
| Category             |       |
| Round                |       |
| Raising              |       |
| Pre-money Valuation  |       |
| Post-money Valuation |       |
| Allocation           |       |

## Summary

The decision is yes / no with an amount of X, because of the most significant argument Z.

- highlight 1, could be pros and cons.
- highlight 2
- highlight 3

Ratings: X out of 5 (benchmark against past deals)

| Attribute            | Value |
| -------------------- | ----- |
| Traction             |       |
| Team                 |       |
| Product              |       |
| Social Proof         |       |
| Pitch / Presentation |       |
| Total                |       |

## Introduction

- What does the company do?
- What is the problem the company solving?
- How does the world work now in relation to this problem?
- How does the company solve the problem?
- How does solving the problem change behavior and make money?
- What is the scale of the opportunity?

## Traction / Metrics

- Discuss traction up to now (include a chart).
- Discuss main related metrics, such as churn, ACV, rake.
- Discuss revenue drivers.
- What does the go-to-market look like?

## Challenges to Growth

- What's prevented you from growing even faster?
- How will raising money solve this problem?

## Market

- Who are the customers?
- How do those customers think / act?
- How big is the opportunity these customers represent?

## Future States

- What happens to the market as the company starts to win?
- How does the company change the market and where does that lead the company?

## Compatitive Landscape

- What is the competitive landscape and how does the company defeat it?

## Team

- Who are the team and what makes the team special?

## FAQ

- The main objections the company is likely to face, and eloquently knock them down. Data is good here.
- This is probably the part where the memo is most powerful relative to a deck.

## Use of funds

- How much have the company raised in the past?
- How much the company is raising and what are they going to do with it?

Decision Making Process​

- [ ] sort qualitatively
  - [ ] apply filtering criteria
  - [ ] create market map
- [ ] assess risks at each life stage (TAL)
  - [ ] quantify uncertainties

| Stage       | Early Stage Success | Cross Chasm | Mass Market Success | Mass Market Share |
|-------------|---------------------|-------------|---------------------|-------------------|
| Market      | | | | |
| Product     | | | | |
| Team        | | | | |
| Financial   | | | | |
| Total       | | | | |


- [ ] perform sensitivity analysis
- [ ] calculate risk / return

PRFAQ means press release and fequently asked questions. People at Amazon adopt it to write down requirements and important features of yet to be developed products.

Why does it matter?

1. it is customer-centric - Starting with the customer and working backward.
2. it clarifies uncertainties early on and simplifies the following-up work of engineering, product, design, marketing, and sales.
3. it tests people's excitement of the product.

Press Release​

Copied and modified from this article.

Heading: short name for the product that the target customers will understand​

Subheading: One sentence saying who the market is and what the benefit is

Summary: 2–4 sentences that gives a summary of the product and the benefits. Should start with customer and be self-contained so that a person could read only this paragraph and still understand the new product/feature.

Problem : 2–4 sentences describing the problem that a customer faces, which this product solves. Tests your assumptions about the pain-points that you are addressing.

Solution : 2–4 sentences, describing how the new product/feature addresses this problem. Tests your assumptions about how you are solving the pain-points.

Getting started: 1–3 sentences describing how someone can start using this product/feature (if it’s baked into the existing product, say this explicitly). Tests your assumptions about how easy the ramp-up is for your customers to take advantage of the new product/feature.

Internal quote: Someone within your company being quoted about what they like about the product/feature. Tests your assumptions about the value you are creating for your customers and how you position this product within your broader product offerings.

Customer Quote(s): a hypothetical customer saying what they like about the new product/feature. Tests your assumptions about how you want your customers to react to the new product/feature and your ideal customer profile. They should be doing something that they couldn’t do before, doing something much quicker and easier, saving time and effort, or in some other way making their life better. Whatever the benefit is, their delight in the benefit(s) should be exhibited in the quote. This should be multiple quotes from different customers if you have multiple profiles of ideal customers, example: mid-market and F50 customers.

Call to action: 1–2 sentences telling the reader where they can go next to start using the product/feature. Tests your assumptions about whether this is a feature that is automatically on, something they need to turn on, a beta-release, etc.

FAQs​

A set of public frequently-asked questions and their answers. This should be a comprehensive list of everything that a customer might want to know about the product. It should include any reasonable question that comes up when discussing the new product/feature with customers and customer-facing teams during the development of the product/feature.

Internal FAQs​

A set of private, internal frequently-asked questions and their answers in a format that can be understood by every other stakeholder. An FAQ might include wireframes of a product with a strong UX component, or a link to separate wireframe documents, but the PR should rely on text alone. This will allow all internal stakeholders to get clarity on the product/feature.

What success looks like?​

Why is [this product] important to us?​

What are the objectives [this product] trying to achieve?​

How can [this product] fail? Would it cause customer dislikes?​

What is the rollout plan?​

What are the dependencies?​

What are the risks?​

Customer FAQ​

Why does [this product] matter to me?​

How to [use this product]?​

How do I know if [this product] is a right solution to my problem?​

ADR means Architectural Decision Record, a mini-doc to capture significant architectural changes that are not worth a full design doc.

# [short title of solved problem and solution]

* Status: [proposed | rejected | accepted | deprecated | … | superseded by [ADR-0005](0005-example.md)] <!-- optional -->
* Deciders: [list everyone involved in the decision] <!-- optional -->
* Date: [YYYY-MM-DD when the decision was last updated] <!-- optional -->

Technical Story: [description | ticket/issue URL] <!-- optional -->

## Context and Problem Statement

[Describe the context and problem statement, e.g., in free form using two to three sentences. You may want to articulate the problem in form of a question.]

## Decision Drivers <!-- optional -->

* [driver 1, e.g., a force, facing concern, …]
* [driver 2, e.g., a force, facing concern, …]
* … <!-- numbers of drivers can vary -->

## Considered Options

* [option 1]
* [option 2]
* [option 3]
* … <!-- numbers of options can vary -->

## Decision Outcome

Chosen option: "[option 1]", because [justification. e.g., only option, which meets k.o. criterion decision driver | which resolves force force | … | comes out best (see below)].

### Positive Consequences <!-- optional -->

* [e.g., improvement of quality attribute satisfaction, follow-up decisions required, …]
* …

### Negative Consequences <!-- optional -->

* [e.g., compromising quality attribute, follow-up decisions required, …]
* …

## Pros and Cons of the Options <!-- optional -->

### [option 1]

[example | description | pointer to more information | …] <!-- optional -->

* Good, because [argument a]
* Good, because [argument b]
* Bad, because [argument c]
* … <!-- numbers of pros and cons can vary -->

### [option 2]

[example | description | pointer to more information | …] <!-- optional -->

* Good, because [argument a]
* Good, because [argument b]
* Bad, because [argument c]
* … <!-- numbers of pros and cons can vary -->

### [option 3]

[example | description | pointer to more information | …] <!-- optional -->

* Good, because [argument a]
* Good, because [argument b]
* Bad, because [argument c]
* … <!-- numbers of pros and cons can vary -->

## Links <!-- optional -->

* [Link type] [Link to ADR] <!-- example: Refined by [ADR-0005](0005-example.md) -->
* … <!-- numbers of links can vary -->

Guiding Policies​

1. Keep it simple, easy to be refer to, and easy to be measured.
2. Separate core objectives from stretch objectives.
3. At least 60% of them should be defined by the executors.

OKR Template​

20XX Yearly OKRs

* Core Objective 1:
* Core Objective 2:
* Core Objective 3:
* Stretch Objective 1:
* Stretch Objective 2:

20XXQX OKRs

* Core Objective 1:
  * KR:
  * KR:
* Core Objective 2:
* Stretch Objective 1:

Templates make it easy to think and design clearly and rule out blind spots. (Though it may also introduce blind spots...) Here is a collection of templates that help you build better products.

1. PRFAQ - Press release and frequently asked questions
2. ADR - Architecture decision record
3. OKR - Objectives and key results
4. Eng Design Doc
5. Github Issue and PR
6. Investment Memo

Overview​

@[toc]

1. Intelligence/Decision-Making​

• One Yang Finger: Extreme approaches, breakthrough at a single point. Focused strategy. One of Michael Porter's three competitive strategies.
• Finger Flicking Mastery: Cost leadership strategy. One of Michael Porter's three competitive strategies.
• Dugu Nine Swords: Differentiation strategy, winning without moves. One of Michael Porter's three competitive strategies.
• Four Ounces to Move a Thousand Pounds: Using leverage to create a greater impact. Andy Grove said that a manager's output equals the output of their own team and adjacent teams under their influence. The key to high output is high leverage.
• Taixuanjing Divine Skill: Mysterious and profound, the gateway to all wonders. Starting from the fundamental laws of the universe, deconstructing and recombining to find the optimal path to achieve goals. Also known as first principles.
• Nine Yang Divine Skill: Economies of scale, a type of economic moat. The larger the scale, the lower the cost, making it more competitive in the market.
• Masterful Hands Empty: As Steve Jobs said, "Good artists copy; great artists steal."
• Rain of Flowers/Pointy Punches: Describing entrepreneurs who take two shots regardless of the outcome, then pivoting wildly based on validated learning.
• Killing Two Birds with One Stone: If you do one thing that is needed by two parties, it’s like doing two things. Reuse, resell. Achieving alignment.

2. Martial Power/Expertise​

• Left-Right Mutual Combat Technique: Experimenting and iterating wildly, improving through results without relying on others. "Damn it, no one can stop me from coding!" "Whether the code is right or not, just run it to find out."
• Jade Maiden Skill: Standing firm without desire, as long as I don't care, no one can hurt me; if I don't want to win, I won't lose.
• Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill: Playing a much larger game. Flowers bloom at times. A garage does not produce a company; a company produces a company.

3. Leadership/Execution​

• Deceiving the Sky to Cross the Sea: In NASA's Apollo moon landing program, there are three sayings: cutting in line, sandbags, and umbrellas. Ideally, new tasks are prohibited from cutting in line, hiding task delays under sandbags, and using others' overdue tasks to cover one's own delays. A sandbag that can't be hidden may lead to major problems, like Elizabeth Holmes.
• Small No-Form Skill: Fake it until you make it. Duck typing: "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck." "As long as the exterior looks like a master, works like a master, and sounds like a master, then I am a master."
• Mighty Golden Bell Palm: Boldness brings miracles; one force can overcome ten skills. Fast and rough.
• Seductive Leg: Making money is business, nothing to be ashamed of. The only standard for testing investment ability is whether real money is made. Without grand ideals, one can still do the current tasks well.
• Evil-Repelling Sword Technique/Sunflower Manual: Simplifying life by discarding unimportant matters and focusing on what needs to be done, thus unleashing tremendous power.
• Pulling the Roots from the Bottom: Changing the engine while flying; "As long as you replace the system you rely on with the one I wrote, no one can take my job."
• Lifting Weights as Light: Either secretly working overtime like a rogue or truly being exceptionally skilled and faster than others.
• Flowery Fists and Embroidered Legs: Seeking speed over substance; a system hastily put together may lead to numerous regressions once launched.
• Wing Chun: The power of small wins snowballing; of all the positive events that influence inner work life, the single most powerful is progress in meaningful work.
• Mount Tai Pressing Down: So good that they can't ignore you.
• Big Dipper Divine Fist: North Star goal-setting method; some companies use layered OKRs.
• Heavy Sword Without Edge, Great Skill Without Craftsmanship / Xuan Tie Sword Technique: Details determine strength; strength conquers all.
• Tai Chi Sword Technique: This sword technique consists of various circles, big and small, straight and diagonal. If one were to speak of techniques, one could say there is only one move, yet this move is endlessly adaptable. Using a series of sprints to recommend project progress; emphasizing continuous improvement; avoiding burnout because "a soaring dragon has regrets," and abundance cannot last long.

4. Charisma/People and Culture​

• The Benevolent Have No Enemies: Empathy can clarify what the other party is thinking. One of the virtues in the Book of Virtues.
• Hidden Needles in Cotton/Knives Hidden in Smiles: Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to eliminate everyone you meet.
• The Tide of the Blue Sea: Persuading others using their desires.
• Flattery: Excessive praise or flattery can make the praised arrogant and complacent, leading to stagnation or even downfall. Many companies have a habit of sycophancy, which can be used appropriately to spoil the arrogant.
• Shifting Blame/Eel Skill: Appearing near the credit while hiding from the mistakes.

5. Qualifications/Product Power​

• Taizu Long Fist: Intuition triumphs over data-driven approaches; it may seem simple, but its impact is immense. The iPhone is not a data-driven product.

6. Politics/Resource Integration​

• Stopping Thirst with Plums/Painting Cakes: A grand vision has two sides; it can either deceive or be the first step to conquering the stars and the sea. Those who achieve it are great men; those who do not are frauds :)
• Turning the Universe: Steve Jobs' reality distortion field.
• Buddha's Palm: If peers can't resolve it, do you know there's a set of heavenly palm techniques? Escalate the issue to a superior.

What interesting and useful martial arts techniques or moves have you encountered in Silicon Valley? Feel free to fork our GitHub repo and submit a PR, or star it to follow future updates.

External

1. Understanding Customers: Customer acquisition and demand forecasting
2. Reaching Customers: Marketing and PR

Internal

3. Survival: Cost Structures, Pricing, and Metrics
4. Organizational: People and Culture

Internally

1. Understand Customers: Customer Acquisition and Demand Forecasting
2. Reach Customers: Marketing and PR

Externally

3. Survive: Cost Structure, Pricing, and Performance
4. Thrive: People and Company Culture

Beancounters traditionally use command-line tools or self-host servers with private networks, where they have to operate through a computer or a general-purpose text editor on mobile. Beancount.io reduces hassles by bringing open-sourced Android and iOS mobile apps and a secured cloud so that your ledger is now a few taps away from your fingerprint.

Beancount is a computer language that enables double-entry bookkeeping in text files. Once you define financial transactions in the file, it will generate various reports. Martin Blais, the designer of this language, argues that command-line bookkeeping has many advantages - It is fast, portable, open, and customized.

We strongly agree with the argument and share the feeling of empowerment brought by beancount language. And we wanted to do more - introducing the technology to more people. It means that we have to improve the usability and make it more accessible to a broader audience.

Not everyone is a command-line enthusiast, and this is why we build Beancount.io - the personal finance manager for everyone. Here is how it works:

For heavy-duty work, beancounters could still use their computers to edit or view the ledger with their browsers visiting https://beancount.io or syncing with Dropbox. This keeps the flexibility of the command-line tools, while not losing the cross-device access of the cloud-based solution.

For daily light-weight operations, such as instantly adding an entry, beancounters could use the mobile app to connect to the secured cloud.

Mike Thrift, a backend engineering working on this product, says

I used to set up a reminder every day for myself to open my laptop and input records to my bean files. Now, with beancount.io, it is way easier for me to modify my ledger whenever I need it, even when I am outdoors purchasing something in the store.

Zhi Li, a software engineer from Facebook, tells us

I have migrated all my beancount files to beancount.io, and now it works perfectly for my day-to-day usage. I have paid for Pro features like automatic data backup, but I feel there are more things you guys could do to improve the service.

You could sign up now at https://beancount.io/sign-up/ or download iOS or Android App. We streamlined the registration to collect as minimal information as we can from you to bootstrap the service. Then you will get a preset empty ledger that is ready for you to add an entry right away.

FAQs​

Would beancount.io sell my ledger data to any third party?​

• No. We are committed to keeping your data secured and private, and we will never sell your ledger data.

Is my data secured?​

• Yes. We protect your email and ledger with AES256, your password with BCrypt, and your network requests with SSL.

Is my ledger data end-to-end encrypted?​

• No. Due to technical constraints, we still have to decrypt your data into memory when indexing the ledger file in production servers. Therefore, we restrict direct access from any of our team members. Unfortunately, we cannot do this in Intel's SGX or any security vault due to high costs.

Is this a reliable service I could trust for the incoming few years?​

• Yes. We initially launched Beancount.io on July 4th, 2019, and it has been more than two years that we have operated the service securely and reliably. Therefore, we have no reason not to continue the service in the future.

Can I request new features and sponsor the project?​

• Yes. Please feel free to reach us at https://t.me/beancount for any feedback and support us by becoming a Pro user at https://beancount.io/pricing.