ST

Stan.store Financial Model

• Creator gets a personal "Stan store" link (e.g., stanwith.me/username) in 5 minutes.
• Storefront sections: 1-on-1 coaching bookings, digital downloads, e-courses, memberships/subscriptions, community, text-with-me.
• Replaces fragmented stack (Calendly + Stripe + Kajabi + PayPal + Discord etc.).
• Case study: Tat Londono went from $1K–$1.5K/mo + $300 subscription costs → $4K/mo ($2K recurring) + $0 subscription costs after Stan.
• Prospect funnel 2x'd, 20% increase in conversion, all coaching bookings automated.
• Vision: "Shopify for Creators" - future modules include Tax & Back Office, BI & Analytics, CRM, Brand Network, NFTs.

• Primary: Transaction fee / take rate on GMV processed through Stan storefronts. Implied by the removal of third-party fees (Stripe 3%, PayPal 3%, Kajabi $199/mo) as a selling point; exact Stan take rate not stated in deck.
• Secondary (implied): SaaS subscription fee - slide 3 shows creator paying $6/mo eCourse and $199/mo Kajabi; Stan replaces these at $0 subscription cost, suggesting Stan's model is fee-on-GMV rather than subscription, at least at this stage.
• Channels: Word-of-mouth / organic (500+ waitlist via WoM); community-driven distribution cited as a use-of-funds priority.

All figures are 12 weeks post-launch, no paid marketing:

• Month 1 GMV: $3,100
• Month 2 GMV: $7,000
• Month 3 GMV: $18,100 (of which $2.2K is recurring/subscription revenue)
• Total GMV across 25 beta testers: $30K
• Organic waitlist signups: 500+
• PMF signal: 54% "Very Disappointed" (Superhuman benchmark)
• Average GMV per beta tester: ~$1,200 over 3 months ($30K / 25)

• CAC: $0 during beta (100% organic / WoM); no paid CAC disclosed.

• Competitive positioning: Stan claims top-right quadrant on "Making Money" (y-axis) vs. "Owning Your Brand & Audience" (x-axis) - uniquely combining both.
• Named competitors: Cameo, Patreon, Kajabi, Teachable (high money / low brand ownership), Squarespace, Linktree, Discord (high brand / low money).
• Moat articulated as: "for creators, by creators" brand; founder is own customer (John Hu, @jayhoovy, 41.7K followers, ex-Goldman Sachs / Norwest VP / Stanford GSB); community-driven distribution flywheel.

• Founder: John Hu (@jayhoovy) - Goldman Sachs, Norwest Venture Partners, Stanford Business. Self-described as his own customer (creator with 41.7K TikTok followers).
• Raising: $5M.
• Use of proceeds: (1) Build a diverse founding team; (2) Establish "for creators, by creators" brand; (3) Invest in community-driven distribution.
• No valuation, no existing investors, no co-founders disclosed.

• Archetype + why: Marketplace GMV model with take-rate revenue layer. Stan processes transactions on behalf of creators; revenue = GMV × take rate. This is the Shopify / Gumroad model: creator count drives GMV, platform clips a % on each transaction. A SaaS subscription tier may be layered in later but is not the current monetization. Model should be a 3-year monthly P&L with GMV as the primary top-line driver.

• Forecast horizon & granularity: 36 months (monthly), splitting into beta → launch → growth phases. Monthly cohort tracking of creator additions.

• Key drivers & assumptions:
• Creators on platform (monthly new adds): Month 3 beta = 25; launch ramp: +50/mo in month 4, scaling to +500/mo by month 12 as WoM flywheel and $5M spend kicks in.
• Average GMV per creator per month: ~$600/mo (implied: $30K GMV / 25 creators / ~2-month average tenure); stabilizes around $800–$1,200/mo at scale as creators mature.
• Take rate: 5% of GMV - consistent with Gumroad (8.5%), Teachable (5–10%), Shopify Payments (~2.9% + apps); to be confirmed; model this as a sensitivity variable.
• Churn (creator monthly): 3–5% monthly (creator tools category sees moderate churn; better retention if recurring revenue share is high).
• Recurring GMV mix: 12% of Month 3 GMV was recurring ($2.2K of $18.1K); grows to 30–40% at steady state as more creators sell subscriptions/memberships.
• COGS: payment processing (2.9% of GMV passed through), hosting, and support - ~40–50% gross margin on net revenue.
• Headcount: starting ~5 FTEs post-raise, scaling to ~20 by month 24 ($5M runway allows ~18–24 months at $250K–$280K fully-loaded cost per head).
• CAC: $0 during WoM phase; $50–$200 per creator once paid channels open (community-driven model keeps this low).
• Marketing spend: Budgeted from $5M raise; ~30% of raise ($1.5M) toward brand/distribution over 18 months.

• Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):
• Bear: Take rate pressure (3%), slow creator ramp (+30/mo), high churn (7%/mo), low GMV/creator ($500/mo).
• Base: 5% take rate, +100/mo creator adds by month 8, 4% churn, $800 GMV/creator/mo.
• Bull: 6% take rate, +250/mo creator adds by month 8, 2.5% churn, $1,200 GMV/creator/mo (aided by viral WoM and influencer founders).

• Required sheets / outputs:

1. Assumptions - all drivers in one place with scenario toggle (Base/Bull/Bear).
2. Creator Cohort Model - monthly creator adds, churn, active creators, cumulative GMV per cohort.
3. Revenue Build - active creators × avg GMV/creator × take rate = net revenue; separate recurring vs. one-time GMV.
4. P&L - revenue, COGS (payment processing + hosting), gross profit, operating expenses (headcount, marketing, G&A), EBITDA.
5. Headcount Plan - by function (engineering, sales/community, G&A).
6. Cash & Runway - starting from $5M raise, monthly burn, months of runway.
7. Dashboard - KPI summary: active creators, GMV, take rate revenue, gross margin %, monthly burn, runway.