Boxsy
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Boxsy - Deal Memo
Date Reviewed: January 8, 2026 Stage: Pre-Seed Source: Pitch Deck (December 2025)
Summary
One-liner: AI-powered COO for founders - guides startups from idea to investment with ops readiness, fundraising tools, and investor relations automation.
Founder: Elisabeth Bykoff (Founder & CEO)
- Scaled PwC US Salesforce practice to $200M globally in 7 years
- GTM lead for multiple B2B SaaS exits (Apttus, Agiloft)
- Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Morgan Stanley's Inclusive Ventures Lab
Founding Engineer: Tanishq Barot
- 4-time founder with partnerships at eBay, Meta, TikTok
- Drove $1M+ ARR growth via technical consulting
- President, Nittany Entrepreneur Society
Supported by: Google for Startups, Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, NVIDIA Inception, Vercel AI Accelerator
Round:
- Raising: $1M SAFE @ $8M post-money cap
- Previously raised: $168K (F&F round)
- Goal: $2M ARR by 2027
- Use of funds: 50% Product, 45% Growth, 5% G&A
Key Metrics:
- 32 beta testers (0% churn)
- $8.3K ARR from early adopters
- 130+ startups on waitlist
- 3 active investor/accelerator pilots
- $1.3M partner pipeline
Investment Thesis
1000x Opportunity?
Potentially YES - but early and risky
- TAM: $30B (150M SMBs globally need ops guidance)
- SAM: $9B (North America, 10% survive, $2K/year)
- SOM: $450M (5% market penetration)
- Problem is real: 90% startups fail, 44% run out of cash, founders lack ops frameworks
- Timing is right: AI maturity can absorb 60-70% of knowledge work; VC funding down 17%, rising standards
- Unique positioning: Only player spanning ops readiness + fundraising + investor lifecycle end-to-end
- Two-sided platform: Value for both founders AND investors (network effects potential)
Kingmaker Fit?
Moderate fit
- CTO network: Could help with technical hires and advisors
- Technical scaling: Moderate - AI/ML expertise could help
- GTM guidance: Strong fit - founder has deep B2B SaaS GTM experience
- DeepMind access: Not relevant
Green Flags
- Founder-market fit - Elisabeth scaled PwC Salesforce to $200M, knows enterprise SaaS
- Strong accelerator backing - Google, Nasdaq, NVIDIA, Vercel
- 0% churn on 32 beta testers - strong product signal
- Two-sided platform - network effects potential (founders + investors)
- Clear wedge - starting with fundraising ops, expanding to full lifecycle
- Reasonable valuation - $8M cap is founder-friendly at this stage
- Partner pipeline - $1.3M in discussions with accelerators/VCs
Red Flags
- Very early - Only $8.3K ARR, need to see more traction
- Small team - Just founder + 1 engineer
- Ambitious scope - "AI COO" is a big promise to deliver
- SMB market - High churn, low LTV typical for founder tools
- Competitive adjacent - Visible.vc, Paperstreet, DocSend in parts of the market
- Execution risk - Multi-agent AI systems are complex to build reliably
Key Questions
- What's the path from $8K ARR to $100K ARR?
- How sticky is the product after fundraising is complete?
- What's the investor/accelerator conversion rate from pilots to paid?
- How defensible is the AI COO moat vs competitors adding features?
- What's the founder's vision test? Obsession level?
- Team expansion plans - who's next hire?
Decision
TBD - Schedule founder call
Rationale
Interesting opportunity with strong founder background and unique positioning. The "AI COO" framing is compelling and the two-sided platform (founders + investors) has network effects potential.
Concerns:
- Very early ($8K ARR)
- Ambitious scope may be hard to execute
- SMB/founder market is notoriously difficult
Next steps:
- Schedule call with Elisabeth to assess vision and obsession
- Understand path to $100K ARR
- Evaluate technical depth of AI implementation
- Assess team building plans
Appendix
Contacts
- Founder: Elisabeth Bykoff
- Email: elisabeth@boxsy.io
- Website: www.boxsy.io
Market Size
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| TAM | $30B (150M SMBs globally) |
| SAM | $9B (North America) |
| SOM | $450M (5% penetration) |
Pricing
| Segment | Price |
|---|---|
| Founders | $50-$200/month |
| Investors/Accelerators | Starting $5,000/year |
| Expansion | Data insights, white label, marketplace |
Traction
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Beta testers | 32 (0% churn) |
| ARR | $8.3K |
| Waitlist | 130+ startups |
| Active pilots | 3 |
| Partner pipeline | $1.3M |
Competitors
| Feature | Boxsy | Visible.vc | Paperstreet | DocSend | Notion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investor CRM | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Data Room | Yes | Limited | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ops Readiness | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Two-sided | Yes | Yes | Limited | No | No |
12-Month Milestones
- Q1 2026: $100K ARR, launch revenue ops module
- Q2 2026: 3 major accelerator partnerships
- Q3 2026: 1,000 paying founders, $400K ARR
- Q4 2026: PMF validation, $634K ARR
Documents
attachments/pitch-deck-dec2025.pdf- Pre-Seed Pitch Deck (December 2025)
Research Update — January 15, 2026
Web Research Findings
Press Coverage:
- PR Newswire (Feb 2025): Platform launched for general use with 7-day free trial
- Foreign Founders Podcast: Elisabeth featured on podcast about being a non-technical founder in AI
- Crunchbase Profile: Company profile live
Elisabeth Bykoff Updates:
- Operating Advisor at Alinea Ventures (supporting early-stage startups in CLM, fintech, AI, DEI)
- Featured on French Landing podcast discussing 20+ year journey in US
- Promoting the "agentic COO platforms" category framing
Product Status:
- Platform now generally available (not just beta)
- Described as "evolution from 'ops in a box' to agentic COO platforms"
Next Action
- Search Steven's email for prior communication with elisabeth@boxsy.io
- Schedule founder call to assess vision/obsession
Boxsy - Contacts
Founders
| Name | Role | Phone | Calendar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elisabeth Bykoff | Founder & CEO | elisabeth@boxsy.io | — | Calendly | |
| Tanishq Barot | Founding Engineer | — | — | — |
Related Contacts
| Name | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| — | — | — |
Relationship Timeline
| Date | Type | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2026 | Deck review | Initial review of pre-seed deck |
Last Touchpoint
Date: January 2026 Status: Deck reviewed, needs founder call Next Action: Schedule call with Elisabeth to assess vision/obsession
Notes - Boxsy
December 29, 2025
Type: Email Thread Summary: Gmail conversation with founder Elisabeth Bykoff
From Elisabeth Bykoff (Dec 29, 2025):
- Confirmed they are currently raising
- Mentioned they are still early stage
- Open to connecting for a call
Contact Info:
- Email: elisabeth@boxsy.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebykoff/
Next Step: Schedule founder call to assess vision and team
Date: January 8, 2026 Type: Deck Review Summary:
- Reviewed pre-seed pitch deck (December 2025)
- AI-powered COO for founders - ops readiness, fundraising, investor relations
- Founder Elisabeth Bykoff scaled PwC Salesforce to $200M
- Raising $1M SAFE @ $8M post-money cap
- Early traction: 32 beta users (0% churn), $8.3K ARR, 130+ waitlist
Impressions:
- Strong founder background (PwC, B2B SaaS exits)
- Good accelerator backing (Google, NVIDIA, Nasdaq, Vercel)
- Unique positioning - only player spanning ops + fundraising + investor lifecycle
- Two-sided platform could create network effects
- But very early ($8K ARR) and ambitious scope
Decision: TBD - Need founder call to assess vision and execution capability
Follow-ups:
- Schedule call with Elisabeth Bykoff
- Assess vision test / founder obsession
- Understand path to $100K ARR
- Evaluate AI technical implementation depth
- Team expansion plans