Executive Summary 3

Business Overview 5

Market Opportunity 6

Industry and Competition 8

Product 10

Marketing Plan 11

Marketing Strategy 11

Pricing Strategy 11

Inbound Marketing 12

Outbound Marketing 13

Referral Marketing 13

Management Team 14

Operations 16

Risks 18

Financial Plan 19

Profit and Loss 19

Balance Sheets 20

Cash Flow 20

Funding 22

Exit Strategy 23

Acquired Startup Examples 23

Schedule 24

Appendices 25

Appendix 1 - Sources 25

Appendix 2 - Breakdown of projected sales funnel 26

Appendix 3 - Evidence of payment received from customers 26








Executive Summary 


Market Opportunity

Solo entrepreneurs, or Solopreneurs, are a growing breed of business owners who set the intention of growing and scaling an enterprise alone. Between 2019 and 2020 alone, the population of solopreneurs jumped 22%, and it’s expected to skyrocket by 2026 as reported in Entrepreneur magazine. 


Furthermore, the COVID 19 pandemic moved businesses into omnichannel marketing and sales methods, with over 80% of businesses stating they aim to continue serving customers across multiple sales channels, i.e. Instagram, email, in-store, etc. With an influx of solopreneurs entering the market, reflected is the growth rate of tools like ours for this community.


Our beach head target market is the mid-career artist, or what we call the Artpreneur. These are people who are 1 person teams who have established brands and processes. They engage with buyers and art collectors online through multiple communication channels, but according to our user interview process, while they reap the benefits of online engagement, it often slows them down from creating more products and/or providing their services. 61% of our user interview participants stated they spend more time than they anticipate on communication tasks, and 75% of them end up managing 2 messaging streams e.g. Instagram and Gmail,  for the same customer on a regular basis.


Solution

Tonnta provides a simple CRM-focused inbox to connect with your customers on their favorite channels, such as Instagram, Facebook and email. With the help of machine learning, users of Tonnta will be able to address sales first and the less important stuff later. This allows them to increase their sales turnaround time, increase revenue and reallocate their time to more value adding activities. This is complemented with an advisory service to help solopreneurs implement systems to scale and grow further.


Tonnta has a minimal-focused design with the intention of improving focus. With the awareness that 1 in 10 people in society are on the spectrum of dyslexia, we have curated an experience that is sympathetic to people's sensitivities, especially when it comes to information overload. 


Why us/Team

The founder of Tonnta, Diarmaid O Fatharta, has previously worked in the creative arts industry as a Product Manager creating technological solutions in New York City and Galway. This included one person teams such as producers, drama teachers, musicians and actors. Tonnta has an advisory board of tech, marketing and operations experts based in Ireland and US to assist in the early stage growth.  Diarmaid also has experience in helping visual artists build systems within their business. We are looking to onboard a Chief Technical Officer (CTO)  by the end of the year, who will take over the development efforts from our development partner, Gorrion Software House. 


Accomplishments

So far, Diarmaid has participated in Enterprise Ireland's New Frontiers Phase 1 and 2 program (2021/2022), and the NDRC Pre-Accelerator (2022). He has also participated and won a main category at the NDRC Founders Weekend (2021). Diarmaid was recently shortlisted for the IntertradeIreland Seedcorn Competition (2022). 




Milestones

We are seeking additional funds to achieve the following milestones: 

  1. Update and maintain our first version of the software beyond the initial build and the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) test  phase.

  2. Onboard a CTO by 2023 and migrate our product development process inhouse. This is in alignment with our goals to build out the product with further communication integrations, specifically Facebook, WhatsApp and SMS. Having an inhouse developer will be more cost effective than outsourcing, making this more feasible.

  3. The build of additional features will lead to the introduction of additional higher pricing tier options for customers, which will result in higher revenue per customer. 


Projections

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Sales (customers)

200

686

1435

2566

3787

Net Profit Before Tax

€ 5,804 

€ 13,773 

€ 209,449 

€ 500,506 

€ 768,857 

Employment (accumulative)

2

4

5

6

7



Business Overview

Background

The concept of Tonnta came about when the founder, Diarmaid,  was working beside his partner at home, artist Finbar McHugh (pictured right). Diarmaid saw the effort and challenges that Finbar faced when engaging with a high volume of buyers and leads online. Finbar was engaging and selling to customers on Instagram, email, WhatsApp and SMS in addition to his online shop on Squarespace. 


Diarmaid quickly realized how difficult it was to find a solution that would align with the needs of solopreneurs such as Finbar. This led Diarmaid to explore the life of solopreneurs in order to arrive at the optimal solution. Learning was achieved through techniques such as observation, prototyping, user analysis and user interviews. All of these accumulated the data and knowledge that crafted Tonnta into the experience it is today.  


Tonnta will be ultimately marketed towards the solopreneur market as we expand from the artpreneur beachhead market. The solopreneur community has been overlooked when it comes to CRM solutions as well as business support, therefore they don’t have many tools or advisors unique to them. Second of all, solopreneurs don’t always come from a traditional business background, and they lack the benefits of working within a team, therefore they don't receive training from anyone. Tonnta’s CRM-focused inbox is designed with this in mind with a recognizable and accessible interface, and language/copy that the solopreneur will understand, no matter what background they’re coming from.


What do we do

The primary activity for Tonnta will be the development of software technology to assist solopreneurs in the running of their business. Our first focus will be on sales and marketing with our CRM solution. Our focus will be on communication channels such as Instagram, Facebook, Gmail, WhatsApp and SMS. Our vision for the future is to be integrated with further solutions such as accounting, invoice management, and inventory management, making Tonnta the one-stop tool for solopreneurs to grow and scale their business. Diarmaid will also use his experience in Product and Project Management, along with his experience in working with creatives, to provide advisory services to creatives. This will include creating systems to streamline and expand a solopreneurs business.


Ownership 

Diarmaid currently owns 100% of Tonnta. The development of the MVP so far has been self financed through savings and a grant fund received during New Frontiers Phase 2 (finished in April 2022).

Market Opportunity

See appendix 1 for sources


Potential growth 





The Customer

The solopreneur desires to invest their time in value adding activities, which is often linked to the creation of their product or service. While all other activities such as marketing, invoicing, etc. are essential, it can often prove to be a time sink for them, according to our user interviews. 


Below is what we know about our target market based on user interviews, with a focus on the artpreneur persona.



Future verticals we have identified so far are Life Coaches, Personal Trainers and Beauticians.


Market/Demand Offers 

 


Industry and Competition 

Competition Types


Hubspot and Pipedrive are well known CRMs who market towards multiple segments, including freelancers, which are a subset of the solopreneur market. However, their offerings don’t differ from what they provide to larger organizations. This results in a solution that is expensive and has features the solopreneur doesn’t need. 

CRMs

These are built for freelancers specifically and include multiple features, including invoicing, contract management and some CRM functionality for example. They do not provide any integration options to centralize freelancers' sales streams, such as Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

Client Management Tools

These are clients that connect to a user's conversation tools and provide one location to manage all conversations. This includes the likes of Shift and Franz. These tools do not help the solopreneur identify or organize the sales opportunities among all the conversation channels.

Conversation Tools




All of the solopreneurs we have conducted user interviews with use each app individually i.e Gmail, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. While cost efficient, this leads to a fragmented process of managing online sales conversations, which results in problems.

Individual Communication Apps

Competitors


Size

Strengths

Weaknesses

CRMs

5895 employees; 

143k customers

Well known brand, advanced features, marketing experts

Too many features for solopreneurs, limited integrations with social channels

hubspot.com

900 employees; 

50k customers

Known brand, high level of  CRM functionalities 

Aimed at sales and marketing teams and not solopreneurs

pipedrive.com


Conversation Tools

18 employees;

Customers undisclosed

Integrations with 1500 other apps

No customer profiling

tryshift.com

3 employees; 

Customers undisclosed

Over 70 services to connect with, used by well known brands

No customer profiling, bad customer support

meetfranz.com


Freelance Project Management

200 employees: 

~50k customers

Strong VC investment, known in freelance industry

Doesn’t integrate sales streams, solopreneurs don’t need all features

honeybook.com

35 employees; 

200k customers

Automation of tasks, Solopreneur focused features

Doesn’t integrate sales streams, Mostly focused on invoicing

hellobonsai.com


Product 

Tonnta gathers all your customer conversations in one unified, CRM-focused inbox and through machine learning prioritizes your communications. This ensures you are taking care of sales first and the less important stuff later. 


Current Problems 

Solopreneurs find that managing sales conversations across multiple communication channels takes too much time and is overwhelming. This leads to slow sales turnaround time, loss of revenue and feeling overwhelmed.


Benefits 

Reclaim Time: No more distractions on social media, or an overload of information on email apps. Just one simple inbox to connect with people.

Grow Your Sales: Solopreneurs will be more efficient in answering messages with Tonnta’s sales inbox, allowing them to identify those ready to buy first, and nurture the relationships of future customers when it suits them.

Better Headspace: With a minimal design and an intention to create a flow in your work, solopreneurs will never feel overwhelmed checking their email and Direct Messages (DMs) again. 


Unique Selling Point

Tonnta focuses on the most time consuming activity of solopreneurs, engaging with customers online. By providing the solopreneur with a unified, CRM-focused inbox, we can highlight the conversations that will lead to sales first, and address leads that require nurturing once sales have been dealt with. 


Stage of Development 

  • MVP Development - The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) has been created. We are currently waiting on the final verification from Meta/Instagram in order to activate the Instagram integration to allow our customers Instagram Direct Messages (DMs) to flow into the Tonnta app. Gmail has been verified for up to 100 test users/customers.

  • MVP Testing - We have 34 signed Letters of Intent, all of whom have been signed by those who also signed up to the test phase of Tonnta. The users will have access to their own account for 3 weeks, allowing us to see their behavior and use through Hotjar. We will also collect data through feedback forms and user interviews.

Marketing Plan

Marketing Strategy

The Irish market will be targeted first since we have easy access to a wide range of artist networks due to personal and business relationships, but we have early test users in the US and UK also who will be instrumental in reaching our first communities there. A number of channels will be used to reach artists, with a strong focus on methods to amplify the value of word of mouth. 


See Appendix 2 to view the chosen marketing channels and projected customer acquisition.

Pricing Strategy  

The current software pricing tier, i.e. Basic plan is for the first version of Tonnta. The price of €20 is based on the average of other paid software products that the majority of artpreneurs use. We found €50 for advisory sessions to be appropriate based on our user interview analysis.


We plan on introducing further additional pricing tiers in 2023, which will be the following: 

  • Plus - the Plus plan will have additional features alongside the Starter feature plan. 

    • Integration with other communication channels in addition to the standard integrations of Gmail and Instagram

    • Access to advanced features that we have on our roadmap, including Sales Funnel Management and multi user functionality 

  • Premium - the Plus plan will have additional features alongside the Starter and Plus plans. This will include: 

    • Monthly Masterclasses in creative business management

    • Access to online peer community for shared learning experiences 


The following are how we will promote our product in the marketplace.

Inbound Marketing

Website

The website will be the main hub of information for customers. All other inbound marketing material will link back to the website. The website will host information regarding the product features, pricing, company story, contact form, and the option to sign up.

Online Ads

Pay-per-click ads with Google Ads will allow Tonnta to appear in search results when certains terms are being searched for. 


SEO


SEO optimization techniques will be used, as well high quality content to improve the SEO of the Tonnta website. We are building a  range of articles that will boost the SEO and guide more traffic to the Tonnta website. Articles on our idea list currently are interviews with artists, location profiles, commentary on the business of art, etc.

Email Marketing


Using Mailchimp, we will send personalized emails to customers. This will include running competitions to win pieces of work from fellow artpreneurs.


Social Media 

With a planned approach using Later.com, we are posting on social media. We’re focusing on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest as they are the main social media platforms used by artists based on our research.


Webinar

Webinars are useful for educating potential users and provide a call to action to those who visit the Tonnta site and are curious to find out more. It is also an efficient way to demo on a regular basis and allow questions to be asked by attendees. 


Podcasts


Podcasts are very popular with artists as they tend to listen while working. Beyond the Studio, a US based podcast focusing on artists and art work, is an example of a podcast we could get featured on.


Publications


Publications such as magazines and newspapers, both physical and online, with a focus on creatives will be contacted. We have made connections within Tatler Magazine, Image Magazine and Galway Now for future articles. 


Demos


Our first target will be providing demos to creative coworking spaces in Ireland. We’ve identified at least 22 creative coworking spaces and/or shared studios in the Republic of Ireland with at least 430 artists availing of those spaces, and a further 48 studios in the UK, US and Europe, with a population of 3116 artists.


Art Influencers

Based on the preliminary research for the business, word of mouth has been stated to be the preferred method of discovering solutions and sharing business advice among artists. With a community who is invested in our vision, we can create a promotional campaign of artists on their own social media channels, allowing artists in their network to be exposed to Tonnta. 

Newsletters

Getting into newsletters is an inexpensive method of spreading the word of Tonnta. This would include local newsletters in Galway to start of i.e. Portershed, iTag and CREW.

Outbound Marketing

Cold Calls

Cold calls will be made to artists based on publicly available contact information from locations such as the Virtual Artists Ireland (VAI) artist directory.


Trade Shows

Attending art shows would allow easy access to a traffic of artists, allowing for the likes of demos and direct conversations with artists.  In Ireland, Art Source, is the premier art fair with an attendance of 175 international and Irish artists gathering at the RDS in Dublin. International trade shows include Frieze (London), Affordable Art Fair (New York), and Art Paris (France).

Cold Emails

Cold emails will be made to artists based on publicly available contact information from locations such as the Virtual Artists Ireland (VAI), Fine Art America and UK Directory of Artists.

Referral Marketing

Referral Program

Based on the power of word of mouth as mentioned above, the referral program will allow artists who are subscribers to Tonnta to pass on referral code to receive a discount or prize on their use of Tonnta. 

Management Team

Founder



Diarmaid Ó Fátharta


100% current ownership

About Diarmaid


With a successful track record in serving the creative industry via technology, Diarmaid has gained the knowledge and experience to build a successful, scalable and global company. During his time with New York based company On The Stage, the company scaled from a 100 to a 1000 client company, with clients present in all states in the US. Diarmaid was the first and solo Product lead with On The Stage, building a world class Product Management function from scratch. 


Industry Experience

Product Manager

2017 - 2021

New York/Galway

Service Desk Agent

2016-2017

Galway

Incident Management Coordinator

2015-2016

Galway







Education

M.Sc in Information Systems Management

J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics - NUI Galway

2015-2017

Bachelor of Commerce

NUI Galway

2012-2015

Diploma in French

NUI Galway

2015-2016

Diploma in Irish

NUI Galway

2013-2015

Planned Recruitment 

  • 2022 - Chief Technical Officer 

  • 2023 - Chief Marketing Officer +  Sales Associate

  • 2024 - Customer Support Associate

  • 2025 - Software Engineer

  • 2026 - Hire additional Sales Associate

Advisors 



Operations

Premises 

The Portershed coworking space is going to function as our base office for the early stages, where we are currently based. This will allow us to rent desks as needed for the first few employees, which gives us the flexibility to configure our desk numbers easily.

Communication Infrastructure

Provider

Function

GSuite by Google

Email, File Sharing and Storing

Slack

Communication 

ClickUp

Project and Task Management

Miro

Collaboration, Consulting

Figma

UX/UI Design



Software Infrastructure 


Tonnta will be built using Typescript and Nodejs (with Nestjs on the server and React on the client side). Node's runtime is very fast and easy to develop with, especially small applications/microservices/MVPs. Node shines in real-time web applications (ie. chat rooms, live notification services) because it uses non-blocking I/O operations. As well as that, Node's extensive community guarantees a vast selection of tools to choose during application development which is very useful in the MVP scenario. Using the most up to date and well known technology also makes it easier for us to recruit Software Developers with the necessary skills to join our team as we grow.


The following software solutions will also be integrated: 


  • Analytics - Implementation of Google Analytics for analytics tracking. 


  • Payment - Stripe is used for the monthly and annual subscription payment.  


  • Heatmap tool -  implementation of Hotjar for user behavior analysis.


Software Product Development Process


The following is the Product Development Lifecycle that will be put in place. 




Risks


Risk

Details

Risk Impact

Probability Total

Total 

Mitigation

Competitor Marketing

The CRM market is saturated with competitors, but are almost exclusively targeting businesses engaged in sales. However, those such as Hubspot run powerful marketing strategies which make it easier for artists to come across them and be familiar with them. 

4

2

8

Our focus is on Community Based Marketing from the beginning. This will nurture a grassroots community for which the industry of artpreneurs and beyond will recognise it as a trusted brand they can use and recommend. This is the approach the artpreneur community responds to, as well as other close-knit communities such as Life Coaches and Personal Trainers.

Lack of Features

For users who wish to use advanced features, they may prefer to use a more advanced platform as opposed to a platform geared towards their vocation, such as Tonnta. 

3

2

6

We have a roadmap for future features in place already, which will ensure a substantial feature set that will accommodate the solopreneur community.

External Infrastructure

Communication APIs are out of our control as they are regulated by the external API owner.

5

2

10

A Chrome App solution, which will allow Tonnta to be open while using desktop versions of their communication channels.

Competitors Pivot

Larger competitors could start targeting artists also.

3

3

9

Create a social media strategy to highlight the dedication and benefits of Tonnta to the solopreneur community.

Limited Growth Market 

Beachhead's customer base is very niche, therefore must expand into multiple markets faster than normal. 

2

2

4

We have already started our user exploration process with Life Coaches and Personal Trainers to ensure a speedy entry into these markets when the time comes.

Improvement in current solutions

Messaging could be made easier by current indirect competitors i.e. Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.

4

3

12

Drive forward a user centric product development process, which will guarantee user satisfaction with our product.

Financial Plan

Profit and Loss

Sales

Dec-2022

Dec-2023

Dec-2024

Dec-2025

Dec-2026

Basic (Annual)

10,000

8,000

5,000

8,000

11,333

Plus (Annual)

-

1,400

19,250

28,000

25,667

Premium (Annual)

-

3,000

4,000

5,500

4,583

Consultancy

1,250

4,992

7,500

8,748

9,996

Basic (Monthly)

17,400

85,680

183,717

299,167

403,444

Plus (Monthly)

-

6,195

135,050

374,696

604,197

Premium (Monthly)

-

15,900

19,200

37,650

29,400

Total

28,650

125,167

373,717

761,761

1,088,620

Opening Stock

-

-

-

-

Direct Costs

900

2,700

3,600

3,600

3,600

Closing Stocks

-

-

-

-

-

Cost of Goods Sold

€ 900

€ 2,700

€ 3,600

€ 3,600

€ 3,600

Gross Profit

€ 27,750

€ 122,467

€ 370,117

€ 758,161

€ 1,085,020

97%

98%

99%

100%

100%

Overheads

Salaries

13,881

86,064

123,404

211,636

260,989

R&D

5,250

-

-

-

-

Marketing & Promotion

500

3,800

8,800

10,800

14,800

Hosting

69

233

1,421

1,421

1,600

Office Costs

146

250

250

250

250

Motor & Travel

250

2,500

4,000

6,000

6,000

Communications/Cloud Serv

100

200

200

200

200

Insurance

200

1,150

1,150

1,150

1,150

Rent

-

7,040

11,520

15,360

15,360

Accounting & Finance

500

1,090

1,090

1,090

1,090

Professional Fees

50

1,500

1,500

1,500

1,500

Bank Charges

500

2,500

4,000

5,000

10,000

Sundry

500

2,000

3,000

3,000

3,000

Total Expenditure

€ 21,946

€ 108,327

€ 160,335

€ 257,407

€ 315,939

Operating Profit

5,804

14,140

209,782

500,754

769,081

Less Interest

-

-

-

-

-

Profit After Finance Costs

€ 5,804

€ 14,140

€ 209,782

€ 500,754

€ 769,081

Depreciation

-

- 375

- 333

- 250

- 229

Profit After Depreciation

€ 5,804

€ 13,765

€ 209,448

€ 500,504

€ 768,852

11%

56%

66%

71%

Amortisation of Grants

-

-

-

-

-

€ 5,804

€ 13,765

€ 209,449

€ 500,504

€ 768,853

Opening Balance

-

5,804

19,569

193,917

656,770

Retained Profit

€ 5,804

€ 19,569

€ 229,017

€ 694,421

€ 1,425,623

20.26%

15.64%

61.28%

91.16%

130.96%

Balance Sheets 


Dec-22

Dec-23

Dec-24

Dec-25

Dec-26

Fixed Assets

Hardware/Software

-

2,000

3,000

5,000

- 7,000

-

-

-

-

-

Other Equipment: -

-

-

-

-

-

-

2,000

3,000

5,000

- 7,000

Less Accumulated Depreciation

-

- 375

- 708

- 958

- 1,208

-

1,625

2,292

4,042

- 8,208

Current Assets

Inventories

-

-

-

-

-

Bank

5,887

118,294

338,275

851,995

1,643,376

Debtors & Prepayments

- 1,375

10,238

24,504

50,445

73,835

4,512

128,531

362,779

902,440

1,717,211

Current Liabilities - Less than 1 Year

Directors Loans

Trade Creditors & Accruals

425

3,575

9,975

18,375

28,775

425

3,575

9,975

18,375

28,775

Net Current Liabilities

4,087

124,956

352,804

884,065

1,688,436

Creditors After 1 Year

Deferred Grants

-

-

-

-

-

Directors Loan Account

-

-

-

-

-

Bank Loan

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Net Assets

4,087

126,581

355,096

888,107

1,680,228

Financed By

Ordinary Share Capital/Share Premium

Investment

-

100,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

Retained Profits

5,804

19,569

229,017

729,520

1,308,923

5,804

119,569

329,017

829,520

1,408,923

Cash Flow 

Dec-2022

Dec-2023

Dec-2024

Dec-2025

Dec-2026

Income

Basic (Annual)

9,333

7,333

5,667

7,667

10,000

Plus (Annual)

-

1,167

17,150

26,833

22,750

Premium (Annual)

-

2,667

3,833

5,167

4,333

Basic (Monthly)

17,400

85,680

183,717

299,167

403,444

Plus (Monthly)

-

6,195

135,050

374,696

604,197

Premium (Monthly)

-

11,100

19,200

37,650

29,400

Consultancy

1,250

5,000

7,500

8,750

10,000

Investment

-

100,000

-

-

-

Bank Term Loan

-

-

-

-

-

Total Income

27,983

219,141

372,117

759,929

1,084,124

Overhead Expenditure

Direct Costs

900

2,700

3,600

3,600

3,600

Salaries

13,881

86,064

123,404

211,636

218,515

R&D

5,250

-

-

-

-

Marketing & Promotion

-

-

-

-

-

Hosting

69

233

1,421

1,421

1,436

Office Costs

146

250

250

250

250

Motor & Travel

-

-

-

-

-

Communications/Cloud Serv

100

200

200

200

200

Insurance

200

1,150

1,150

1,150

1,150

Rent

-

7,040

11,520

15,360

15,360

Utilities

-

-

-

-

-

Accounting & Finance

500

1,090

1,090

1,090

1,090

Professional Fees

50

1,500

1,500

1,500

1,500

Bank Charges

500

2,500

4,000

5,000

5,417

Sundry

500

2,000

3,000

3,000

3,000

Hardware/Software

-

2,000

1,000

2,000

-6,000

-

-

-

-

-

Other Equipment:

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Loan Repayments

-

-

-

-

-

Total Expenditure

22,096

106,727

152,135

246,207

245,518

Net Cashflow

5,887

112,415

219,982

513,722

838,607

Opening Balance

5,887

118,302

338,283

852,005

Closing Balance

€ 5,887

€ 118,302

€ 338,283

€ 852,005

€ 1,690,612

Funding 

Funding Requirements

Our immediate funding requirement is further software development , which will be required as we iterate on the feedback we receive from users of the MVP, as well as maintenance of the technical infrastructure to ensure we have a stable environment to scale from. We estimate this cost to be ~€10,000. Beyond the immediate need, we will be investing more in the next few months as we add additional features to the product in order to maintain and attract more customers. This is estimated to be a further €7000.

Planned Investment

All investment so far has been by the founder, Diarmaid Ó Fátharta. The self investment to date has amounted to €21677, which was used for the research and development of the MVP.


Investor

Type

Purpose

Date

Amount

Private Investor

SAFE Note

Future Development

TBD*

€10000

Private Investor

SAFE Note

Future Development

TBD*

€10000



*We have been offered €20k in total of angel investment from two individual angel investors. We are currently looking at organizing a larger investment pre-seed round. Once the logistics of this plan is finalized, the €20k will be included in that round, or used as a matching fund if another grant aid exists in this format.

Investments/Grants Goals

These are investments and grants that we will be applying for. 


Investor

Type

Purpose

Date

Amount

LEO Galway

Grant

R&D MVP

September 2022

TBD

Seedcorn/ IntertradeIreland

Cash Prize

Product Dev

October 2022

€100k

EI

Equity Investment

Expand team

January 2023

€50k

NDRC

Equity Investment

Expand team

January 2023

€100k

Exit Strategy

Our primary exit strategy is to be acquired, most likely by a company that is looking to either enter the solopreneur market, or a company that is looking to implement the functionality of Tonnta into their own tech infrastructure.

Acquired Startup Examples

The below are companies that were acquired which have similarities to Tonnta and its services. 


Company

Location

Established

Acq Date

Acquired by

Purchase Price


Quebec, Canada


2015


2021

*


Undisclosed

Smooch


Cologne, Germany


2011


2021


Undisclosed

UserLike


*The only disclosed sale value of companies acquired by Zendesk has been $30 million for Zopim in 2014 and $45 million for BIME Analytics in 2015. All acquisition values of the 5 companies from 2017-2021 have been undisclosed. 


Reference of similar startup for sale


Below is a listing from Microacquire, a marketplace for selling and buying startups. This is an indication of the value of a company, such as Tonnta, once trading and performing at a similar level to the company below. See https://t.co/hKHkeav7Qd view the online source.


Company

Location

Established

TTM  Gross Revenue

Asking Price

Unknown

Spain

2016

$2.6 million

$16 million


Schedule

Q3 2022

  • Finalize integration with Instagram 

  • Test MVP with test group

  • Implement changes based on test users feedback

Q4 2022

  • Launch Tonnta to the public

  • Hire Developer/CTO

Q1 2023

  • Add Facebook Integration

  • Add additional Pricing Tier

Q2 2023

  • Hire Marketing Associate

  • Deploy mobile app version

Q3 2023

  • Hire Sales Associate

  • Add Educational Resources Hub

  • Add additional pricing tier (amounting to 3 at this point)

Q4 2023

  • Add WhatsApp integration

  • Add sales analytics feature

2024

  • Hire Customer Support Associate 

  • Deploy AI capabilities to detect hot leads VS casual leads

2025

  • Hire Software Engineer

  • Create integration with a social media planner e.g. Hootsuite 

  • Integrate email marketing functionality

2026

  • Hire additional Sales Associate 

  • Integrate with inventory system 

  • Integrate with third party invoicing plugin




Appendices 

Appendix 1 - Sources 

Global art market

Art basel/UBS

https://bit.ly/3p6co3F

EU art market

The European GESAC/EY

https://bit.ly/3Qk514r

UK art market

Statista

https://bit.ly/3pazJ4c

Canadian art market 

Canada Council for the Arts

https://bit.ly/3p6DiZ1

US art market

National Endowment for the Arts

https://bit.ly/2LaMp9Q

Life of an artist 

Empty Easel

https://bit.ly/3PcHBga

Working conditions of artists in Ireland

Irish Arts Council 

https://bit.ly/3JQRChR

UK Arts Sector after Covid-19

Commons Library, UK

https://bit.ly/3SGj59R

Top art education institutions

TopUniversities.com

https://bit.ly/3bIrTM1

Incomes for supports for artists in Ireland

Government of Ireland

https://bit.ly/3bNBdxZ

Growth of Artpreneur Market

  • Forbes

  • Crunchbase 

  • Entrepreneur

Growth in omnichannel marketing

McKinsey

https://mck.co/3zJ6MB3




Appendix 2 - Breakdown of projected sales funnel

The following is our projected acquisition of customers and our chosen sales channels for the next 18 months. 



Appendix 3 - Evidence of payment received from customers

Below are receipts from the first paying customers of Tonnta.