# Doorkee Financial Model Peer-to-peer apartment rental marketplace that connects departing tenants with apartment seekers, eliminating broker fees and reducing landlord vacancy. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/doorkee - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/doorkee.xlsx - Category: Marketplace - Model type: Marketplace / GMV - Funding round: Seed - Funding: $5.7M - Founded: 2020 - Geography: United States, initially New York City - Customer: B2B ## About the company Doorkee is a peer-to-peer apartment-rental platform that connects departing tenants with new renters while keeping landlords in control of the listing and approval process. It aims to eliminate renter broker fees and help landlords fill units before the current tenant leaves. The platform pays departing tenants a refund for early notice and charges landlords a closing fee. With average NYC rent of $3,519 per month, Doorkee retains roughly $1,055 per successful close; the deck reported 4,100-plus onboarded units and a 96,000-plus unit pipeline. The model starts with the landlord supply funnel: pipeline, committed units, onboarding, turnover, and tenant adoption. Successful closes multiplied by average rent determine transaction value, and Doorkee's net 2.5% of annual rent becomes revenue. Onboarding speed, adoption, close rate, and landlord-acquisition cost drive the cash-runway outlook. ## 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 - End-to-end rental platform: departing tenants post their unit, landlord approves the listing, apartment seekers browse, verify, tour, apply, and close - all within the Doorkee platform - Departing tenants earn a cash refund (~2.5% of annual rent) for providing early notice and facilitating the handoff - Landlords pay a 5% closing fee (of annual rent); Doorkee nets ~50% of that fee (~2.5% of annual rent) after the tenant refund - No broker fees for apartment seekers - ever - Landlords retain full control: set lease terms, renter requirements, review qualified applicants; integrated with standard background/credit check and property management systems - Key value prop: finds next tenant before current one moves out, reducing vacancy from ~23 days to ~4 days ## Market - U.S. apartment rental market: 43.8M rental units available - Top 10 cities: $202B in annual rent revenue to landlords - 3% YOY projected long-term annual rent growth - NYC broker fees: $85M–$152M per month - Biggest renter segment: transient, digital millennials - Lowest homeownership levels ever cited as structural tailwind ## Revenue model - Single revenue event: closing fee per successful transaction - Landlord pays 5% of annual rent at closing - Doorkee nets ~2.5% of annual rent after paying departing tenant refund of 2.5% - Example economics at NYC average rent of $3,519/mo: Doorkee net = $1,055 per closed unit - At $4,500/mo rent: Doorkee net = $1,350 per closed unit - At $5,000/mo rent: Doorkee net = $1,500 per closed unit - Formula: Monthly Rent × 12 × 2.5% = Doorkee Net Revenue per close - Revenue scales with (a) number of units onboarded, (b) turnover rate, (c) average monthly rent - No subscription, SaaS, or advertising revenue lines mentioned in deck ## Traction & metrics - Beta launched: September 10th, 2019 - Unit pipeline: 96,000+ - Units committed: 24,000+ - Units onboarded: 4,100+ - Departing tenant adoption rate: 37% - Average advance notice given to landlord: 67 days - Close rate: 100% of market-rate units successfully closed prior to lease expiration - Named landlord partners: A&E Real Estate, Plaza Management, Simon Baron, Corigin, R.A. Cohen, Benchmark, Chestnut Holdings, Bushburg - No revenue figures disclosed ## Unit economics - Revenue per closed unit: ~$1,055 at $3,519/mo avg NYC rent; ~$1,350–$1,500 at higher rent tiers - Implied landlord ROI: 10,000-unit landlord saves $19.25M/yr; 1,000-unit landlord saves $1.93M/yr vs. traditional leasing - Vacancy savings: $11.1M / $1.1M (23-day vacancy → 4 days) - Broker fee savings: $7.4M / $739K (8.5% avg broker fee reduced by 350bps) - Advertising savings: $720K / $72K - Premise: 50% annual turnover, $3,519 avg NYC rent ## Competition / moat - Traditional broker/leasing agents: Doorkee eliminates 23-day average vacancy and slashes 8.5% broker fee - Platform moat claims: first-mover in departing-tenant-led listings; peer-to-peer angle creates previously hidden inventory; integrated with industry-standard background/credit check and property management systems - No competitive matrix or named competitors shown in deck ## Team & funding ask / use of funds - John J. Fagan - Co-Founder & CEO; strategy/management consultant, process efficiency/Kaizen expert - Jordan A.E. Franklin - Co-Founder & COO; operations leader (ESI), corporate counsel, EMT - Jacob Benton - Head of Engineering; backend/DB/mobile (Time Inc, Sports Illustrated) - Olivia Auerbach - Head of Marketing; VUI architect (Alexa, Google Home), strategist (Digitas, 1stdibs, Sony) - Jonathan Freeman - Head of Product; PM at Lifeworks Technology Group - Jorge Gamboa - Head of Growth; SDR at Namely, AE at Graphite --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why:** Transaction-based marketplace / proptech P&L model. Revenue is a per-close fee (2.5% × annual rent per unit) driven by units onboarded × annual turnover rate × tenant adoption rate × close rate. No SaaS or recurring revenue - closest archetype is a real estate marketplace or transaction marketplace (think Airbnb or StreetEasy fee-per-transaction). A 3-statement model would be premature given pre-revenue / early beta stage; a unit-volume P&L with cash runway is appropriate. - **Forecast horizon & granularity:** Monthly for Year 1–2 (beta → growth); quarterly for Years 3–5. Total 5-year horizon. - **Key drivers & assumptions:** Supply side (unit funnel): - Units onboarded at period start: 4,100 - Unit pipeline (contracted/committed): 24,000 committed, 96,000 in pipeline - Monthly onboarding velocity (committed → live): 1,000–2,500 units/month ramp over 12–18 months, based on pipeline conversion - Annual unit turnover rate: 50% - Target market: NYC initially; expansion city TBD Demand side (transaction funnel): - Departing tenant adoption rate: 37% - Close rate (of market-rate listed units): 100% - will normalize to ~80–90% at scale; use 85% base case - Average advance notice: 67 days - leads to vacancy reduction from ~23 to ~4 days Revenue per close: - Average monthly rent (NYC): $3,519 - Doorkee take rate: 2.5% × annual rent = $1,055 at base rent - Rent growth: 3% YOY Cost structure: - Headcount (6 known hires + ops/support): $800K–$1.2M annual run rate at seed stage - Technology / hosting: $10K–$30K/month - S&M (landlord acquisition, partnership management): primary cost driver; modeled as % of gross revenue or per-unit-onboarded cost - Tenant refund: already netted from revenue (2.5% of annual rent paid to departing tenant); not an operating expense - it reduces gross revenue - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):** - Base: 85% of committed units onboard within 18 months; 37% tenant adoption; 85% close rate; avg rent $3,519/mo - Bull: Pipeline conversion improves (committed → live in 12 months); adoption rate climbs to 50%+ with product improvements; expansion to second major city (Boston, SF, Chicago) by Year 3 - Bear: Onboarding stalls (regulatory friction, landlord churn); adoption rate falls to 20%; NYC market saturation limits unit growth - **Required sheets / outputs:** 1. Assumptions dashboard (all driver inputs) 2. Unit funnel model: pipeline → committed → onboarded → active listings per month 3. Transaction volume model: active units × turnover × adoption × close rate = closes/month 4. Revenue build: closes × avg Doorkee net per close 5. OpEx model: headcount, tech, S&M, G&A 6. P&L (monthly, rolling to quarterly/annual) 7. Cash runway / burn model (no raise amount in deck - flag as gap) 8. Sensitivity table: adoption rate × units onboarded → annual revenue ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the Doorkee financial model free? Yes. The Doorkee 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.