Short memo:
We build a software for incorporating and managing trusts with a wedge to $1T+ private wealth management market. Think Carta.com for trusts. Team: Akim is ex-HSBC bank risk manager with exit in legaltech. Manage $100M+ family office for unicorn founders;
Vision: Build the most intuitive platform for managing trusts and private wealth;
Go-to-market: Seamlessly form and operate irrevocable trusts through a digital end-to-end solution;
Market: The trusts & estates services market valued at $221.4 billion with a 2.8% CAGR and 60% profit margin. Over $5 trillion in assets residing within trusts in the US;
Why now: with the depreciation of their stocks, tech workers want to save on taxes more than ever before;
Advantage for you: Let let me save you $10k on the trust formation of your and your founders' trusts. Book a call with me to learn everything I know.
Terms: Pre-seed, $300k with $3M valuation cap, SAFE
Who I am?
Hi! I'm Akim. Formerly a risk manager at HSBC, I founded and sold two startups in mobility and identity verification spaces. I didn't prepare for an exit and paid a ton of taxes as a consequence.
Currently, I run a 270-person wealth management community and the unicorn founder's family office.
Pain points
- 8 out of 10 founders lack a well-defined financial and estate strategy upon stock or company sale - they pay a lot of taxes;
- Insufficient education about laws, estate planning and trusts;
- High trust incorporation ($15-30k) and operational costs ($5k annualy);
- High coordination cost between traditional advisors: estate attorneys, tax advisors, trustee companies, trust protectors, CPAs and wealth managers;
- With so many advisors & trust parties, it is difficult to keep track of trust management and investment activities
Vision
Our vision is to bring new form of wealth management for IT professionals.
Estate planning starts from identifying goals, building a strategy and choosing instruments. Founders and technology executives typically use wills, irrevocable trusts and QSBS planning.
By combining software, AI and professional attorneys we can operate and scale at a fraction of the cost of all ecosystem players.
Product
As a go-to-market, we help to form and operate irrevocable trusts through a digital end-to-end solution.
Our software facilitates seamless trust formation, task assignment & management, stock transfers, appraisal reporting, liquidity planning, document signing, performance tracking and tax return forms generation.
Our true uniqueness lies in our value chain for tech professionals. Exclusively focused on private stocks, we transform them into cash, opening up investment possibilities.
Technology
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Trusts: how it works?
Market size of trusts & estates services: $221.4 billion (2.8% CAGR, ~60% profit margin)
Value of assets in trusts in the US: 5T$+ with average 4M$ per trust
Industry activities: Overseeing management of personal trusts Managing private estates on behalf of beneficiaries Acting as fiduciary for personal investment trusts Acting as custodian for agency accounts
Revenue Industry revenue is defined as the income generated by the assets in the entity. Revenue generated by all individual entities is the income generated by the assets held therein. This income stems from interest, dividends, income from held businesses, capital gains, rents, real estate and farm income.
Industry products: Estate planning advice Complex trusts Simple trusts Grantor trusts Other trusts Benefits Trusts provide various benefits, including privacy, security, tax incentives and control of asset transfers.
In workshops, you can learn how complex trust management and roles responsibilities are:
Competition
Direct competition:
- Trust & Will: A direct-to-consumer platform offering personalized estate planning documents, such as wills, trusts, and guardianship nominations.
- LegalZoom: A well-known legal technology company providing various legal services, including estate planning, business formation, and intellectual property, to customers directly.
- Rocket Lawyer: Another legal tech platform offering a range of legal services, including estate planning documents, business formation, and legal advice, directly to consumers.
Indirect competition:
- Traditional law firms: Law firms offering estate planning services may be considered indirect competitors, as they provide similar legal services but through a more traditional, personalized approach.
- DIY estate planning software: Standalone software or tools that allow individuals to create their estate planning documents themselves without the support of a legal professional or a white-label offering.
- Legal document websites and repositories: Online platforms that offer access to various legal forms and documents, including estate planning, may serve as indirect competition, as they provide an alternative way for consumers to access legal services without engaging with a dedicated platform like the company in question.
The company's unique selling point lies in its value chain for tech professionals - we work only with non liquid stocks, turning them liquid and available for investments, using a trust instrument. It allows us to earn not only on trust formation and management, but on secondary transaction execution, share swaps and management of investment activities on the later stages. This approach sets us apart from both direct and indirect competitors, providing a defensible advantage in the market.
How do we make money?
SaaS: 250$ per month for each trust. Additional services: appraisal reports. Transaction fee: stock sale commission. Typical founders trust: Asset type: shares; AUM: 4M$+; LTV: 10-20 years result to ~30,000$+ (SaaS) and 2-3% AUM (add-on investment services).
Validation
Founders love us Mikita Mikado (PandaDoc) Ivan Tsybaev (Careerist) Daniel Kravtcov (Improvado)
and getting traction with wealth managers (referrals) Warren Couglin (UBS) Andrej Pavlovic (Goldman Sachs)
Case study
Who: Unicorn founder in the Bay Area;
Goals: Save on state tax, protect assets and distribute assets to children in the future;
Actions: Gifted startup stocks to trust -> sold the stock -> began reinvesting in multiple asset classes;
Contribution amount: 1M$+ in stock;
Savings: Saved $130k+ in taxes and generated $200k+ from investment activities in 2 years.
We are lean and mean
Got a lot done in just 3 months and 0 cash:
- 3 clients;
- 10M$+ AUM;
- MVP is on the way in September;
- 219 leads in the pipeline;
- Referrals and community sales channels.
Raising 300k$ pre-seed (3M cap SAFE)
Our next milestones:
- Complete MVP and onboard clients
- Capture 10 clients
- Get co-founder - estate planning attorney;
- Complete research for getting the trustee company license;