Powering the Remote Workplace: Why We Invested in Cleary
Like so many VCs, we get thousands of inbound deals every year. And like so many VCs, we highly value the deals that come in from our founders and our co-investors: the closer the connection, the better. Those “warm” deals go to the front of the line for review and consideration. We know this is true in almost every system and, accordingly, we urge our existing founders to work the network to get warm introductions for follow-on funding.
This deal came in cold — no introduction. I’ll say that again for all you founders out there who become despondent about none of the outbound emails being returned: it came in cold.
The first email from Thomas Kunjappu and Ryan O’Donnell, the founders of Cleary, immediately caught our attention:
Hi Craig
I’m the co-founder of Cleary — a central hub for companies that lets employees navigate the organization and automates manual workflows for people teams. We just crossed $X ARR (soon to be $Y-Z) and customers include companies like Flexport, Doordash, Scale, and Shippo.
We’re raising ~$2M to scale out our GTM and triple revenue ahead of our Series A. The round is >90% committed already with participation from Liberty City Ventures, SeaChange, Crosslink Capital, Quiet Capital, and a number of value-add angels.
Thought I’d reach out in case there is something interest at Moonshots Capital or at least to get connected to potentially work together in the future.
I can share a deck and more details if you are interested.
Ryan
This email is clear, concise, and well-written.
In just four sentences, the team was able to convey what problem they’re solving (and how), their traction, examples of their customers, and the information we needed to know about the fundraise. After speaking with the team, this much was clear: their intense passion for building a better workplace was infectious, and their prior experience — as well as their enthusiastic customers — proved that they had the skills to make their passion materialize. Together, these traits make up the kind of extraordinary leadership we look for.
After our in-depth due diligence that included a line-item review of their pro forma and speaking with multiple existing customers, we moved with conviction to lead the company’s $4.5 million Series Seed round. Subsequently, we found out that the Cleary founders heard about us from an investor that heard Craig pitch via FRB’s GP showcase program.
Cleary’s product responds to the non-trivial needs of hybrid and remote workplaces that require companies to rethink ways to maintain company culture, collaborate across teams, and nurture a sense of belonging among employees in a primarily digital environment. Tech giants like Google, Apple, Airbnb and Uber have been at the forefront of this transformation and developed their own in-house collaboration and productivity tools long before the pandemic. Thomas and Ryan met more than five years ago leading the same team at Twitter after Ryan’s previous company was acquired. The two quickly understood the value of Twitter’s internal communications tools to employees’ daily digital experience. When they moved on to start Cleary, they eschewed outside funding in favor of customer revenue as they worked with Square to build out MySquare — a platform that gradually evolved into Cleary. After ensuring MySquare was a success they moved beyond Square to enable remote and hybrid teams everywhere across dozens of companies. I was impressed with their methodical approach to company building and securing product-market fit.
Cleary’s digital employee experience platform brings communication, culture, and productivity features together in a single solution. The world of work has shifted: the M-F, 9–5, all employees in one office, days are forever in the past. That leaves the opportunity to reimagine everything from how a CEO communicates with their company to how to onboard a new teammate, and even how employees celebrate a colleague’s birthday. From packages for small businesses and startups to compelling enterprise-scale packages, Cleary is poised to help companies of all sizes take control of adapting to the new normal.
We led Cleary’s $4.5 million seed round alongside Crosslink Capital, Quiet Capital, Liberty City Ventures, and Seachange Fund. We are excited to see their business expand as it supports the growth of many other businesses.
