# WorkLife 2 Financial Model Worklife is a specialized early-stage venture firm (Fund II fundraise) focused on the future of work, incubating startups and writing the first check. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/worklife-2 - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/worklife-2.xlsx - Category: Enterprise/Security - Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation - Funding round: Fund 2 - Funding: $35M - Founded: 2021 - Geography: US-headquartered; portfolio is primarily US-based companies. ## About the company WorkLife 2 is Fund II for a specialist early-stage venture firm focused on the future of work. The firm incubates startups and seeks to write the first institutional cheque into relevant companies. This is an LP fundraise with management-fee and carried-interest economics, not a software operating model. Portfolio construction, incubation exposure, reserves, follow-on strategy, and investment outcomes are the relevant value drivers. The model schedules capital calls, investments, follow-ons, management fees, portfolio marks, exits, and carry. It calculates LP distributions, DPI, TVPI, RVPI, and IRR under different deployment, ownership, and exit 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 - Worklife incubates startups and writes the first check for founders leaving top-tier companies. - Proprietary sourcing engine: SaaS School - a program run by executives that sees 300+ applications per cohort and selects 30 companies; 40% of deals sourced from this channel. - Content/thought-leadership platform (newsletters, videos, playbooks) used as a competitive advantage for deal access in oversubscribed rounds. - Annual flagship event "Now, New, Next" (Oct 13–15) - described as "Sun Valley meets SXSW". - GP Brianne Kimmel: former Zendesk, 50K+ Twitter followers, 30K+ newsletter subscribers. - LP/advisor base includes Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield, and founders/execs from Figma, Stripe, Notion, Miro, Webflow, GitHub, Postman, Airtable, InVision, Cameo, Coda. ## Revenue model - VC fund economics: management fees (typically 2% of committed capital p.a.) + carried interest (typically 20% of profits above hurdle). Neither rate is stated explicitly in the deck. Standard 2/20 structure used as model default. - Fund I: $10M committed capital. Fund II size: not stated. - SPVs alongside main fund also used (SPV MOIC of 4.49x reported). ## Traction & metrics Fund I performance (in 1.5 years): - MOIC: 2.93x - SPV MOIC: 4.49x - Net IRR: 141.7% - 7 unicorns, 19 markups Unicorn portfolio valuations at time of deck: - Hopin: $5.65B - Clubhouse: $4.0B - Tonal: $1.6B - Webflow: $2.1B - Pipe: $2.0B - Deel: $1.25B - Public: $1.2B 100% of follow-on rounds led by Tier 1 firms (a16z, Benchmark, Craft, Sequoia, Founders Fund, Lightspeed, Spark Capital). Community/event traction: - 50+ community events hosted in under a year - 100% attendance rate on Zoom events - Annual event: 15 original sessions, 1,500 attendees, 5,000 new contacts generated SaaS School sourcing: - 300+ applications per program cohort - 30 companies selected per cohort - 40% of deals sourced through the program ## Competition / moat Moat sources stated in deck: - Proprietary SaaS School deal-flow engine (40% of deals) - hard to replicate community of operator/angel speakers. - Brand: outbound-focused, high-conviction approach to oversubscribed rounds backed by founder testimonials. - LP/advisor network of iconic tech operators (Zoom, Slack, Figma, Stripe, Notion, GitHub, Miro, Postman) provides co-investment leverage and deal access. - Content platform (newsletter 30K+ subs, Twitter 50K+ followers) as inbound deal-flow and brand-building. - D&I angle: GP meets every new female hire at portfolio companies, cited as differentiator. - No direct competitor analysis presented. ## Team & funding ask / use of funds - GP: Brianne Kimmel - previously Zendesk GTM; active angel with extensive media presence. - Operator LP / advisor network: Eric Yuan (Zoom), Stewart Butterfield (Slack), and ~15 named tech founders/execs. ## Recommended financial model - Archetype + why: **VC Fund Economics Model**. This is an LP fundraising deck for a venture fund, not an operating startup. The right model is a fund economics / waterfall model showing: deployment schedule, portfolio construction, exit assumptions, management fee income, carry distributions, and DPI/TVPI/IRR for LPs. - Forecast horizon & granularity: 10-year fund life; annual granularity for deployment and exit schedule. Months 1–36 for deployment phase. - Key drivers & assumptions: - Fund size: $25–50M (Fund I was $10M; Fund II likely 2.5–5x step-up) - **open question, not in deck** - Management fee rate: 2.0% p.a. on committed capital during investment period, 2.0% on NAV thereafter (standard) - Carry rate: 20% above 8% preferred return hurdle (standard 2/20) - Investment period: 3 years (years 1–3) - Average check size / initial investment: $250K–$500K seed; fund size ÷ ~30 portfolio companies - Follow-on reserve ratio: 40% of fund reserved for follow-on - Portfolio construction: ~30 initial investments per SaaS School model; 7 expected markups to $1B+ in 10 years - Exit timing: average 5–7 years post-investment; mix of M&A and IPO - Exit multiples by tier: 0x (10% write-offs), 1x (20%), 3x (30%), 10x (25%), 50x+ (15%) - calibrated to Fund I MOIC of 2.93x - SPV economics: SPVs alongside main fund at higher MOIC (4.49x Fund I); model separately - Gross-to-net spread: ~100–150bps for fees and expenses - TVPI/DPI targets: implied by 2.93x MOIC in 1.5 years; full-fund target unspecified - Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex): - Bear: lower fund size ($25M), fewer unicorns (3), average exit at 4x gross MOIC, 8-year liquidity - Base: $40M fund, 5 unicorns, 7x gross MOIC, 6-year average exit - Bull: $50M fund, 8+ unicorns (consistent with Fund I pace), 12x gross MOIC, 5-year exits, active SPV program - Required sheets / outputs: 1. Assumptions - fund size, fee rates, carry, hurdle, deployment schedule 2. Portfolio Construction - # companies, check sizes, follow-on reserves, ownership % 3. Deployment Schedule - capital calls by year 4. NAV / MOIC Build - portfolio fair value by year 5. Exit Waterfall - LP return of capital → preferred return → carry split 6. LP Returns - DPI, TVPI, net IRR by scenario 7. Management Company P&L - fee income vs. operating expenses 8. SPV Model - separate SPV fee/carry economics (optional) 9. Dashboard - headline LP return metrics by scenario ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the WorkLife 2 financial model free? Yes. The WorkLife 2 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.