# Day One Ventures Financial Model

Day One Ventures Fund I is an early-stage VC fund raising $30M, differentiated by in-house PR/communications as a value-add to portfolio companies.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/day-one-ventures
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/day-one-ventures.xlsx
- Category: Enterprise/Security
- Model type: VC Fund Waterfall
- Funding round: Series A

- Founded: 2019
- Geography: San Francisco, US and European markets [DECK, slides 10, 26].
- Customer: B2B2C

## About the company

Day One Ventures Fund I is an early-stage venture fund that pairs investment capital with in-house PR and communications support for portfolio companies. The fund's pitch treats this hands-on communications capability as a core part of its value proposition to founders.

The proposed $30 million fund targets pre-seed through Series B investments across sectors including AI, fintech, consumer, marketplaces, and impact. Its materials describe a 2.5% management fee during the investment period, 20% carry, and a closed-end term with extensions.

This is a fund-economics model, not a startup P&L. It schedules commitments, capital calls, management fees, investments, reserves, exits, and carried interest, then calculates LP distributions, DPI, TVPI, RVPI, and net IRR across portfolio construction and outcome scenarios.

## What's included

- 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions
- Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule
- Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking
- Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check
- Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR
- Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention

## Product & value proposition

- Fund thesis: founder-centric VC firm that combines seed/early-stage equity investment with in-house PR and communications services for portfolio companies.
- Differentiation: communications help is described as "the product." The fund runs structured PR onboarding (messaging docs, media pitching) for each portfolio company, versus outsourcing to agencies costing $10–30k/month.
- Expansion vision: plan to extend value-add beyond communications to product, go-to-market, recruiting, and design.
- Investment stages: pre-seed, seed, Series A, Series B.
- Focus sectors: AI/ML, VR/AR, Consumer, Fintech, Edtech, Marketplaces, Impact.
- LP positioning supported by coverage in TechCrunch, WSJ, Reuters, Business Insider, VentureBeat, PE Hub.

## Market

Sector-level data presented as investment thesis context (not fund TAM):
- AI/ML: global enterprise AI market $845.4M (2017) → $6,141.5M (2022).
- VR: $7.90B (2018) → $34.08B (2023); AR: $11.14B (2018) → $60.55B (2023).
- Fintech: global VC funding exceeded $31B in 2017; US ~⅔ of global.
- Consumer subscription: 11M+ US subscribers in 2017; industry growing 200% annually since 2011.
- VC market context: ICO raises hit $5.6B in 2017; SoftBank Vision Fund launched at $100B; deal volume fell even as dollar volume rose.

No addressable LP market size stated for the fund itself. **Not in deck.**

## Revenue model

Fund economics model:
- Management fee: 2.5% on committed capital during 4-year investment period, then on net invested capital thereafter.
- Carried interest: 20% (standard; hurdle rate not disclosed).
- Fund size: $30M.
- Fund term: close-ended, 10+1+1 years.
- Cash payback period: 5 years plain.
- No preferred return / hurdle rate disclosed in deck.

## Traction & metrics

Angel / pre-fund portfolio evidence:
- NtechLab: invested May 2016, exit October 2017, **10.5× return**.
- Acquired.io: exited via acquisition by Adjust.
- Feastly: exited via acquisition by ChefsFeed.
- ~30 prior investments shown across Fund I portfolio grid; includes Superhuman, Truebill, DigitalGenius, domuso, Holloway, Fable, Winnie, Octi, Pillar, lvl5, etc.

PR/communications track record:
- NtechLab: 100+ publications → 600+ B2B inbound leads.
- MEL Science: 50+ publications in Forbes, Engadget, HuffPost, TechCrunch.
- Piper: 100+ publications, 4 new investors brought in.

Dealflow:
- 200–250 opportunities reviewed per month.
- 10–15 per month into due diligence.
- 1–2 investments per month.

No AUM, DPI, TVPI, IRR, or fund-level financial performance data disclosed. One confirmed return (10.5× NtechLab). No aggregate portfolio value disclosed.

## Competition / moat

- Competitive framing: VC money has become a commodity; best founders are selective about investor value-add.
- Moat claimed: proprietary in-house PR function (not outsourced), founder-centric culture, strong co-investor network (Sequoia, a16z, NEA, Founders Fund, Benchmark, Lightspeed etc.).
- Angel network: notable co-investors include Sam Altman, Naval Ravikant, John Collison, Jason Calacanis, Paul Buchheit, Mark Pincus.
- No direct competitor funds named.

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

Team:
- Masha Drokova - Founder & General Partner; former angel investor and PR studio founder (WeWork, Houzz, HotelTonight, Gett, Toptal); named Business Insider top 50 PR pro in tech.
- Natalie Issa - Head of Communications; prior: Baidu AI, D-Wave, Drive.ai.
- CJ Huntzinger - Director of Communications; prior: SparkPR, Brew (Lemonade, SmartThings).
- Yury Molodtsov - Analyst; analyzed 4,000+ companies; background in applied math/physics and aerospace.

Advisors: Joel Englander (Google Cloud startup program, Blumberg/Redpoint), Ilya Zubarev (Runa Capital), Serguei Beloussov (Acronis/Runa Capital), Riccardo Di Blasio (DXC/EMC/VMware), Luis A. Navia (Verizon).

Funding ask:
- Fund size: **$30M** (hard cap not stated).
- Investment period: 4 years.
- No minimum LP ticket size disclosed.
- Use of funds: deploying 1–2 deals/month at pre-seed through Series A/B in AI, VR, Consumer, Fintech, Edtech, Marketplaces in US/Europe.

---

## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why:** VC Fund Economics Model. This is an LP pitch for Day One Ventures Fund I, a $30M early-stage fund. The correct model is a closed-end fund waterfall / GP economics model - not an operating P&L. It should model: deployment schedule, portfolio construction, management fee income to the GP, carried interest, LP return scenarios (DPI, TVPI, net IRR). A standard 3-statement or SaaS model would be inappropriate.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 12 years (10-year fund + 2 one-year extensions per term); annual granularity. Deployment in years 1–4; harvesting years 5–12.

- **Key drivers & assumptions:**

| Driver | Value / source |
| -- | -- |
| Fund size | $30M |
| Management fee rate (investment period) | 2.5% on committed capital |
| Management fee rate (post-investment period) | 2.5% on net invested capital |
| Investment period | 4 years |
| Fund term | 12 years (10+1+1) |
| Carried interest | 20% |
| Recyclability of management fees | not recycled (conservative) |
| Number of investments | ~48–96 total (1–2/month × 4 years = 48–96 checks); likely ~30–50 meaningful positions given follow-on |
| Average initial check size | ~$300–500K seed/pre-seed, $1–2M Series A, mix to deploy ~$24M investable capital (net of fees) |
| Portfolio construction | ~40 companies, reserve ratio ~50% for follow-on |
| Exit timeline | 5–7 years average hold to exit; matches 5-year cash payback stated |
| MOIC distribution | power-law: 50% write-off, 30% 1–2×, 15% 2–5×, 5% 10×+ (standard early-stage VC) |
| NtechLab comp exit | 10.5× - use as seed for upside case |
| GP commitment | 1–2% of fund ($300–600K) - standard, not disclosed |
| Organizational costs (fund setup) | ~$300–500K one-time, drawn from management fees |

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
  - **Base:** 3× gross MOIC, 1–2 markups per year, standard power-law loss rate. ~2.3× net, ~15% net IRR.
  - **Bull:** 1–2 breakout portfolio companies (10×+ à la NtechLab), 4× gross MOIC. >20% net IRR. Driven by: faster exits, lower loss rate, one large marketer (e.g., Superhuman/Truebill scenario).
  - **Bear:** Higher-than-expected loss rate (60%), flat exit environment, slow deployment. 1.2–1.5× net MOIC; sub-8% net IRR (below hurdle).
  - Flex variables: exit MOIC per bucket, loss rate, deployment pace, average check size, exit year.

- **Required sheets / outputs:**
  1. **Inputs / Assumptions** - fund terms, deployment schedule, fee schedule, portfolio construction grid.
  2. **Deployment Schedule** - annual capital calls, invested capital by year, reserves.
  3. **Portfolio Construction** - number of companies, check sizes, follow-on, ownership % targets.
  4. **Management Fee Model** - fee income to GP each year, transition from committed to net invested capital.
  5. **Portfolio Simulation** - MOIC bucket distribution, proceeds by exit year.
  6. **Waterfall / Distributions** - return of capital, preferred return (if any), carry split (20% GP / 80% LP).
  7. **GP Economics** - total management fees + carry across fund life; GP net income by year.
  8. **LP Returns Summary** - DPI, TVPI, RVPI, net IRR, net MOIC; by scenario.
  9. **Scenario Comparison** - Base / Bull / Bear side-by-side on LP net IRR and MOIC.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Day One Ventures financial model free?

Yes. The Day One Ventures model is a free Excel download with live formulas.

### Can I change the assumptions?

Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.