Pitch deck — Estym8
Product context: Estym8 is built from scratch as an AI-first construction preconstruction platform—not a legacy takeoff stack with AI bolted on. AI runs across the product: bid-package ingestion and classification, multi-model takeoff and vision, plan intelligence, cross-file synthesis, Estee, estimate-to-submittal draft review, and optimization recommendations. Canonical framing: AI-first positioning.
Confidential — for discussion only · Not an offer to sell securities.
Canonical deck: estym8.ai/docs/pitch-deck. PDF handout: estym8.ai/docs/estym8-pitch-deck.pdf.
Estym8
Bid-ready takeoffs & plan intelligence from full plan sets and bid-package folders
Multi-trade · USA · subscription SaaS · estym8.ai · August 2026
Deal & financials at a glance
For the finance-first reader — the business case up front; product detail follows.
*Aligned with the lean investor fundraise brief — not a $5M seed / hiring narrative. Most of Estym8 was self-built. Team names below are public; detailed equity % and SAFE paperwork stay in diligence.
The ask
$150–200K (illustrative ~$175K) — ~12 months lean runway → market → revenue → noise → strategic acquisition
Instrument
- Post-money SAFE (valuation cap) — counsel to finalize. (SAFE = cash now, equity later at a cap — standard angel paperwork.)
- Illustrative cap ~$8–10M · new-money dilution ~1.5–2.5% at ~$175K.
- Founder owns 100% today and retains majority post-round; company has no debt.
- Standard SAFE rights: pro-rata, MFN, information rights. No $5M seed planned.
What this round funds
- Suite development on one lean burn — Estym8 + Bodi + ColdEyes + ClearToIssue + Feasibility (suite backlog · suite value).
- ~$10K/mo all-in lean ops (founder living + AI compute + hosting/tools) × 12 months.
- ~$25K marketing — make noise once we ship.
- Legal (SAFE) + key-person insurance payable to investors + small reserve.
- Not funded: new staff hires, Jonas/Paul cash stipends, People Ops, board capital-raiser.
Exit strategy (how we frame the outcome)
Plan: get to market → generate revenue → make a lot of noise → get acquired. Hope is sooner than 12 months; raise covers a full year if needed.
Endgame: Strategic acquisition (Trimble, Procore, Autodesk-class)—not IPO, not a large independent scale-up. See valuation §6.5.
Reporting
- Monthly MRR, paying seats, churn, plus standard SAFE information and pro-rata rights.
Stage (honest)
- Pre-revenue / closed testing (not charging yet). Most of the platform already built without investors.
- Stripe built — go-live after beta.
- Lean team: Shannon (full-time) + Jonas + Paul (equity partners).
- Suite — ColdEyes / ClearToIssue / Bodi / Feasibility funded as discovery→MVP; Estym8 is the near-term revenue wedge; ColdEyes elevates when a city pilot commits.
Use of funds (illustrative ~$175K · ≈ 12 months)
| Bucket | Amount | % |
|---|---|---|
| Lean ops (~$10K/mo × 12 — founder + AI + infra) | $120K | 69% |
| Marketing / attention | $25K | 14% |
| Legal (SAFE + counsel) | $15K | 9% |
| Key-person insurance | $5K | 3% |
| Reserve | $10K | 6% |
| Total | $175K | 100% |
Milestones this round funds (targets):
| Window | Target |
|---|---|
| Month 1–3 | Pipeline solid → workflow / UI / UX → expand closed beta |
| Month 3–6 | Go to market; permissioned case studies; first paying seats |
| Month 6–12 | Revenue + noise; acquisition conversations if interest appears |
| Parallel | Suite backlog — ColdEyes pilot when city commits; ClearToIssue (Paul); Bodi feeds; Feasibility |
Illustrative longer path (not this raise’s budget; modeled for diligence):
| Month 6 | Month 12 | Month 18 | Month 24 | Month 60 (scale) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paying seats | ~30 | ~100 | ~185 | ~300 | ~5,000 |
| MRR | ~$5K | ~$17K | ~$31K | ~$51K | ~$850K |
Month 60 is a scale scenario (~2% of US estimator headcount), not this raise’s forecast. See valuation §10.3.
Deeper diligence: equity grants, SAFE terms, and pipeline proof in the lean investor fundraise brief (under NDA when sharing numbers); market sizing + Trimble/Procore public comps in the valuation framework (§6.5, §7).
The problem
- Commercial preconstruction = manual counting, retyped notes, and plan QA across dozens of files per pursuit.
- Bid deadlines and loaded labor ($50–80+/hr) mean missed bids and thin margin when counts or RFIs are wrong.
- Whole bid folders are normal; most tools still behave like one PDF, one trade.
Who we serve
- Estimators & preconstruction leads on subcontractor and GC teams — commercial, institutional, multi-family (USA first).
- Subs bidding to GCs and GC in-house estimators pricing from design-team plan sets (architect + engineering firms) — self-perform, owner bids, buy-out, and sub validation.
- Multi-trade pursuits on one product spine; deepest calibration MEP-forward today, expanding vertical depth on customer sets.
- Not small one-off residential remodel as primary ICP.
What Estym8 delivers
| You bring | You get |
|---|---|
| One PDF or entire bid folder | Classified files, run plan, completed estimates |
| Drawing PDFs | Counts, materials, raceway/wire, concerns, draft RFIs |
| Full package | Verbatim sheet harvest, code-edition alerts, cross-file intelligence, narrative report |
| Priced estimate | Export + GC read-only link; submittal path (evolving) |
One product for single-sheet and folder uploads — not two SKUs.
Product flow
- Project → upload PDF or folder (plans & docs)
- Analyze → plan → execute (discipline bundles where needed)
- Review harvest, conflicts, RFIs, cross-file findings, narrative report
- Export PDF / Excel / CSV · Estee run-grounded Q&A
Typical run: tens of minutes for substantial sets (varies by size & job count).
Why we win
- Whole bid package — not a single-discipline point tool
- Traceability — claims tied to what’s printed on the sheets
- Cross-file intelligence after folder completion — coordination & RFI seeds
- Bid-bucket reconciliation vs schedule/printed totals where supported
- Speed — days of manual work → same-day iteration
- Continuous QC — ground-truth library, user feedback, regression as models change
We are not underpricing vs value — below legacy enterprise, above simple counters.
Honest scope (trust)
- Richest automation today: MEP-forward calibration & ground-truth regression
- Other trades share the same folder pipeline; depth follows roadmap & customer sets
- Submittal / spec AI: review assist — not compliance sign-off
- RFI drafts: user sends through their project process; Estym8 does not track architect responses today
Competitive context (pricing)
| Alternative | Typical cost | Estym8 |
|---|---|---|
| In-house labor | $320–2,800+ / plan set | Fraction of labor; hours → minutes |
| Outsourced takeoff | $150–400+ / project | Subscription; in-house control |
| PlanSwift / Countfire | ~$99–167 / mo | Premium vs point tools; folder-native |
| Trimble-class enterprise | $1,000s+/seat | 10×+ lower entry; AI-native workflow |
Business model & pricing (seat-based)
- B2B subscription (Stripe) · per seat · USA — product + plan gating shipped; charging starts after closed beta (not a near-term ops priority)
- Meter completed estimate runs / month (single PDF = 1 run; multi-discipline folder = multiple runs)
- Annual billing: 15% discount · Overage: $35 / additional completed run
| Tier | Seats | Monthly | Runs / mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | 1 | $179 | 8–10 |
| Studio | 2–5 | $149/seat (from $298/mo) | 12/seat pooled |
| Firm | 6–15 | $129/seat | 15/seat pooled |
| Enterprise | 16+ | Custom | SLA + onboarding |
ROI anchor: one saved estimator day ≈ $320–500 → one bid pays for the month.
Unit economics (planning)
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| ARPS (avg revenue/seat) | ~$165–175 blended (Y1) |
| CAC | <$900 (paid + content + demo) |
| Payback | < 8 months |
| Gross margin | Track AI COGS per run; improve with scale & caching |
ARPA = revenue per account; ARPS = revenue per seat.
Go-to-market (USA) — this raise
Primary lever for this raise: founder + Jonas + Paul demos and design partners, plus ~$25K marketing noise — not a growth-team hire plan.
- Permissioned case studies from validated projects → site, sales, onboarding
- Live demo for qualified leads (Calendly) on real bid folders
- Warm intros from investors and advisors valued over cold spend
- Small paid test ($5–10K) only after one public proof story — validate CAC before scaling
- ColdEyes / ClearToIssue — discovery (no ClearTo sales hire in this raise); municipal may become an active pilot if the city conversation commits — still Estym8-spine, not a separate GTM line item unless we re-plan
Subscriptions + overage runs are the revenue model after beta. Paid acquisition is a later-scale lever, not this round’s budget.
Conversion model (illustrative — post first proof)
Planning assumptions for after one public case study unlocks a small paid test — not the core of this raise.
Per ~1,000 site visits / month (if/when ads run):
| Stage | Rate | Result |
|---|---|---|
| → Sign up | 6% | 60 |
| → Verified | 55% | 33 |
| → Demo / call | 30% | 10 |
| → Paid (30d) | ~25% of trial path | ~2 new accounts/mo |
Path to ~25–40 seats by month 6 is founder/COO-led; paid scale is optional after proof.
Growth plan (illustrative)
Blended ~$170/seat/mo · churn modeled 5% → 3% over 3 years
Near term (seed proof — months 0–24)
| Month | Paying seats | MRR |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 30 | ~$5K |
| 12 | 100 | ~$17K |
| 18 | 185 | ~$31K |
| 24 | 300 | ~$51K |
Scale path (years 3–5 — if GTM + calibration execute)
| Month | Paying seats | MRR | ARR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 800–1,200 | ~$136K–$204K | ~$1.6M–$2.4M |
| 48 | 2,000–2,500 | ~$340K–$425K | ~$4.1M–$5.1M |
| 60 | ~5,000 | ~$850K | ~$10.2M |
5,000 subscribers here means 5,000 paying seats — roughly 2% of US cost-estimator employment (BLS) or 1–2 seats across a few thousand contractor accounts. Credible for vertical SaaS in a ~$22B/yr loaded labor pool; not a year-1 target.
Replace with actuals as traction arrives.
Traction & pipeline proof
- Stage: v1 in production; pre-revenue / closed beta — Stripe built, charging after beta; path = pipeline → UX → testers
- Folder pipeline audit (A0→A8): Step-by-step verification on 31 real bid packages — ingest, classify, plan, execute, cross-file. Living pipeline-proof tracker shared in diligence on request.
- Calibration (organic vs human BOM — validation only):
- Littleton (7 Brew): verification track hit proud bar (F4c 20/25 · sum|diff| 10); investor canonical locked
- Dogtopia: packaging + power-plan scope fixed; organic counting restored; accuracy prove in flight
- Castle Pines: next accuracy target after Dogtopia
- Ground-truth library: GC commercial folders (Littleton, Castle Pines, Dogtopia, Copperview, Avanti, Affinity, …) in automated compare pipeline
- Design partners: Commercial electrical-contractor beta on real pursuit folders; additional candidates lined up after UX solid
- Methodology: Organic detection only — legend → glyph count → schedules → compare; human BOM never seeds pipeline numbers
Roadmap (financing enables)
Near-term sequence (execution priority):
- Pipeline solid — organic accuracy on Dogtopia / Castle (and model fitness)
- Workflow / UI / UX solid — tester-ready project → folder → review → export
- Closed beta expansion — approved access; no Stripe charging yet
- Post-beta — Stripe go-live · self-serve checkout
- Licensed cost data (RSMeans API) — when procurement + API rights close (on backlog; not beta-blocking)
- Trade vertical depth + submittal workflow depth on the shipped folder spine
- ColdEyes / ClearToIssue — discovery; municipal elevates if city pilot commits
No fixed public dates — phased delivery driven by customer sets and regression quality. Partner backlog: partner-backlog.
Milestones this financing enables
- Month 3–4: Pipeline sign-off path + UX ready for expanded beta (not yet charging)
- Month 6: First paying seats (post-beta Stripe) · path to ~$5K MRR · demo funnel + walkthroughs · 3+ permissioned case studies in motion
- Month 12: 100+ seats · ~$17K MRR · RSMeans / licensed catalog integrated (if procured) · trade depth v1
- Month 18: 185+ seats · ~$31K MRR · annual contracts 35%+ of base
- Month 24: 300+ seats · ~$51K MRR · seed proof complete
- Years 3–5 (scale path): ~5,000 seats · ~$850K MRR · ~$10M ARR — ~2% of US estimator headcount; requires GTM scale post-calibration proof
Portfolio suite (Estym8 anchors the raise)
One company · one plan-reading spine · four products. Raise use of funds is 100% Estym8; Bodi + ClearTo* sit at zero incremental valuation. Municipal may become an active discovery pilot without changing that unless we explicitly re-plan the raise.
| Product | Brand / URL | Buyer | Job | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estym8 | estym8.ai | GC / estimators / precon | Full-project takeoff + estimate + plan intelligence + Estee + estimate-to-submittal | Raise wedge · calibrating → beta |
| Bodi | GetBodi / docs/bodi | ICT / LV / security / AV | Project brain → sources/claims → Basis of Design (BOD) | Pre-GA · entity upside |
| ColdEyes | working brand | Cities / AHJs | Permit review + back-check + citation comment log + native Revit/BIM import (not city BOM) | Discovery — may elevate with city pilot |
| ClearToIssue | working brand | A/E design firms | Pre-issue / clear-to-issue design QA | Discovery |
Estym8 solutions (inside the primary product)
| Solution | What it does |
|---|---|
| Bid-folder takeoff | Classify → run plan → multi-trade organic counts + materials |
| Plan intelligence | Conflicts, code-edition alerts, draft RFIs, optimization notes |
| Estee | In-app AI assistant (Q&A / RAG; confirm-before-save on estimate edits) |
| Estimate-to-submittal | Catalog, packages, register / compliance matrix, merged PDF, draft spec AI |
| Narrative report | Multi-discipline Markdown / DOCX / PDF for the bid file |
Do not claim: city BOM, automatic permit approval, PE stamp replacement, empty-field municipal AI, or that ColdEyes replaces city reviewers — it makes staff more efficient; humans keep the stamp. Suite apps are workflow products with AI assist, not chatbots.
Do claim: no AI-first suite peer — point tools compete in lanes; nobody assembles takeoff + city review + design QA + ICT BOD on one greenfield spine.
Not in this entity / raise: MEOS (founder-built massage-school OS) — separate product, mentioned only as founder track record.
Ownership & structure
- Entity — one company holds Estym8, Bodi, and discovery SKUs ColdEyes + ClearToIssue. Adjacent products at zero incremental valuation; raise use of funds is 100% Estym8-anchored.
- Estym8 equity — 100% founder-owned today; founder retains majority after this SAFE.
- Estym8 debt — None.
- Instrument — Post-money SAFE · illustrative ~$8–10M cap · ~1.5–2.5% new-money dilution at ~$175K (counsel to finalize).
- Team — Shannon Horn (founder, full-time); Jonas Burt + Paul Vizgirdas (equity partners).
- Reporting — Monthly MRR, seats, churn; standard SAFE information and pro-rata rights.
The ask — $150–200K (post-money SAFE · illus. ~$175K)
~12 months lean runway: finish pipeline + UX, go to market, revenue, noise, position for acquisition. Founder retains majority. No $5M seed.
Use of funds (illustrative ~$175K):
| Bucket | Amount | % |
|---|---|---|
| Lean ops (~$10K/mo × 12) | $120K | 69% |
| Marketing / attention | $25K | 14% |
| Legal (SAFE + counsel) | $15K | 9% |
| Key-person insurance | $5K | 3% |
| Reserve | $10K | 6% |
Estym8 has no corporate debt. Founder personal development-period obligations are not company liabilities.
Investor return & upside (SAFE → equity)
- SAFE converts on a future priced round or acquisition; illustrative ~$8–10M post-money cap.
- Upside in an AI-native preconstruction platform + suite optionality strategics value for acquisition.
- Pro-rata / MFN per standard SAFE. No institutional seed planned.
- Primary endgame: strategic acquisition (not IPO planning).
Team
Shannon Horn — Founder & CEO
- 25+ years as designer, developer, author, speaker, and founder — AI-native products from UX through production code
- Founder: Estym8 (commercial plan-set preconstruction), Bodi (ICT project brain), MEOS (massage-school OS)
- Portfolio & background: shannonahorn.com
- Contact: shannon@estym8.ai
Operating model: Shannon Horn is the only full-time operator today (product, engineering, pipeline calibration, fundraising). Jonas Burt (COO) and Paul Vizgirdas (industry) are equity partners, part-time. No new hires from this raise.
Key-person insurance payable to investors (budgeted in use of funds; counsel).
Materials for diligence & next meeting
- Investor one-pager — estym8.ai/docs/investor-one-pager · PDF
- Pitch deck (PDF) — estym8.ai/docs/estym8-pitch-deck.pdf · live browser deck
- Investor brief (NDA) — equity %, SAFE term sheet detail, pipeline proof — diligence only
- Pipeline proof tracker — step audit + F4 scoreboard; shared in diligence on request
- 60–90s product walkthrough video — available on request / with second meeting
- Live demo — Calendly / screen-share on a real bid folder
- Written diligence — Investor overview · Valuation · Competitors · Folder workflow · Pricing
- Definitive SAFE docs — Counsel to draft after term alignment — legal budgeted in use of funds
Legal
This deck is for discussion only. Forward-looking statements are plans, not guarantees. Market, conversion, and return illustrations are hypothetical. Not investment, tax, or legal advice. Not an offer to sell securities — consult qualified counsel before any transaction.
Estym8 has no corporate debt. Founder personal obligations disclosed in use-of-funds narrative only.
Questions: Shannon Horn · shannon@estym8.ai · shannonahorn.com