$3.2 billion. That's the valuation Retool hit in just 5 years. Today, I watched their YC Demo Day pitch.
Even on Demo Day, Retool was a clear winner.
What Retool Does
Retool makes it easy to build internal software tools using no-code. That lets companies build the tools they need quickly and cheaply.
Founder David Hsu makes Retool's value prop very clear.
He shares a story of a customer who spent $200k and 6 months building a sales forecasting tool. Retool rebuilt it in 20 minutes on a sales call and closed the deal.
Who wouldn't want to give Retool some money and save 6 months of work?
My Reaction
A clear value proposition is one of the most important things I look for in a startup.
If the founder can make it clear to me why his product is valuable, he can make it clear to customers. David does that beautifully.
He also shows us that Retool is addressing a giant market.
Internal tools are half of all code. If Retool can make that build fast and easy, that's a huge opportunity.
Retool's product sounds incredible, and David shows us the traction to back it up. He's already at $11k MRR.
Most startups in an accelerator get to a couple thousand a month in revenue, if that. With traction like this, Retool was probably one of the strongest companies in the YC W17 batch.
Would I Have Invested?
I definitely would've tried to invest in this company. Strong traction, a killer value proposition, and builder founders make Retool a no brainer for me.
The question is, could I have gotten an allocation?
Retool pulled in a Who's Who of Silicon Valley for its seed round. Elad Gil, Nat Friedman, and the Collisons were in, with Joe Montana coming along just for good measure.
This was clearly a hot company at the time. Allocations were probably hard to get.
That said, 2017 was not a feverish year in the market. I may have been able to wrangle a spot, especially if I met them early. That's something I always aim to do with great companies!
Even if I couldn't have gotten a spot, Retool shows us the potential of meeting great startups early. Meet enough companies like Retool, and you'll find a seat on one of these rocket ships sooner or later.
And one is all it takes.
Wrap-Up
Retool's pitch on Demo Day is as good as it gets.
Unmistakable value prop, strong traction, big market, builder founders. Sign me up!
Would you have invested in Retool?
More on tech:
Lattice's YC Demo Day Pitch
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