4 ms·

Quartzy (YC S11) Scores $1.2M To Help Life Scientists Stay Organized

73 points by jayzee 15y ago

cperciva 15y ago
Random piece of feedback, in case it's useful (I'm guessing that the Quartzy guys will read this): My father is a professor of chemistry, but wasn't interested in Quartzy because "the university already has software which keeps track of all our inventories". Apparently the health and safety people decided a few years ago that there must be central records of all chemical inventories in case there's a fire or other disaster. ... and they're paying a lot of money for this. So if you're looking for an area to expand, you might like to consider going after the "we'll help you keep track of the labs which report to you" market rather than just the "we'll help you keep track of your own lab" market.
- jayzee 15y ago
  thanks! We discovered that labs on Quartzy are already on their own using the reporting mechanisms for exactly this purpose. Here is a quote from our testimonial page (http://www.quartzy.com/testimonial/ http://www.quartzy.com/testimonial/): Quartzy is ideal for keeping an up-to-date chemical inventory (required by most Lab Safety Compliance Offices) and helping my labmates know what is at their fingertips while planning their experiments. Lab Manager, Tufts University
  - cperciva 15y ago
    I'm not sure that's exactly the same thing. I interpreted that quote to mean that one lab at Tufts was using Quartzy to keep an up-to-date inventory; what I'm talking about is a university mandating a particular platform which all its labs must use -- because that platform is convenient for the administration, not because it's necessarily convenient for the individual labs.
    - jluan 15y ago
      Yeah -- a lot of places use ChemTracker
rdl 15y ago
"YC just funds consumer web apps", heh.
kayhi 15y ago
I reached out to Quartzy just after launch since we operate in the same space and can say they are class act. I'm unsure how many founders take a 30 min phone call on a couple of HN exchanges, but they did (thanks again).
cing 15y ago
I'm a computational life scientist, so I'm not exactly in the target user group, but I will say that I consider LabGuru's (http://www.labguru.com/ http://www.labguru.com/) research project tracking to be a killer feature that Quartzy lacks at this point. Keep up the good work though, I've yet to see anything close to my dream CMS for science labs.
fleaflicker 15y ago
A lot of startups seem to be raising seed rounds in the $1.1M-$1.3M range (a cursory HN search turned up seven in the past few months, links below). What kind of valuations are they getting? Anybody willing to post anonymously (or otherwise)? Gumroad $1.1M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3568962 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3568962 Curebit $1.2M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3520175 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3520175 RJMetrics $1.2M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3419670 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3419670 Ginzametrics $1.3M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3239636 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3239636 Zoomingo $1.3M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3235490 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3235490 Tealium $1.1M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3447834 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3447834 Cloudability $1.1M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3395361 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3395361
- jayzee 15y ago
  Quite a few startups that I know are doing a rolling close ... So the early investors get a better valuation for coming in early without asking the perennial, 'Who else is in the deal' question. Investors who come in later pay a premium since the startup has been derisked (at least from a fund-raising perspective)... So I think often there isn't a single valuation for these rounds.
- hornbaker 15y ago
  You can assume those went down in the range of $2-$4M pre-money for a priced round (a single seed investor will want between 20-40% of the company, depending on how strong the team/traction is). Many seed rounds are convertible notes, however, which are not priced, but rather pegged to a Series A with a cap and discount.
int3rnaut 15y ago
I'm not a scientist, and this is perhaps irrelevant to this thread, but since Jayzee is here, I just wanted to say how much I admire the charming video they've had on their site. Not to be negative, but it's not the most artistic or beautiful explanatory video out there, but that's why I like it; it's the embodiment of the Lean Startup approach, and how you don't have to have to spend loads and be a master at that particular craft to put something out there to explain your product. For the longest time I was unsure if I should make my own or pay for someone to do it (not sure what you guys did but I assume it wasn't one of those $10,000 videos a lot of "starups" have.) but seeing this gave me inspiration and the realization that this isn't some blockbuster movie, it's supposed to explain the product--and well, you got me moving and learning animation and some other neat skills in my spare time--and you showed me a great lesson...so thanks! Hope things continue to go well.
- jayzee 15y ago
  wow, thanks! Adam's friend made the video and his wife gave the voice-over so it has an all 'in-the-house' production!:) I feel that for a non-consumer product like ours, where design is not the make or break difference, a video like the one that we have is more than sufficient to let people know more about the product.
RichardPrice 15y ago
Great job Quartzy. It's wonderful to see more startups join the movement to accelerate science!
teyc 15y ago
I'm really curious because this is not the typical YC investment. I wonder what is the kind of reasoning pg goes through, perhaps this is an exercise in customer development?

73 points by jayzee 15y ago

Random piece of feedback, in case it's useful (I'm guessing that the Quartzy guys will read this): My father is a professor of chemistry, but wasn't interested in Quartzy because "the university already has software which keeps track of all our inventories". Apparently the health and safety people decided a few years ago that there must be central records of all chemical inventories in case there's a fire or other disaster. ... and they're paying a lot of money for this. So if you're looking for an area to expand, you might like to consider going after the "we'll help you keep track of the labs which report to you" market rather than just the "we'll help you keep track of your own lab" market.

jayzee 15y ago
thanks! We discovered that labs on Quartzy are already on their own using the reporting mechanisms for exactly this purpose. Here is a quote from our testimonial page (http://www.quartzy.com/testimonial/ http://www.quartzy.com/testimonial/): Quartzy is ideal for keeping an up-to-date chemical inventory (required by most Lab Safety Compliance Offices) and helping my labmates know what is at their fingertips while planning their experiments. Lab Manager, Tufts University
- cperciva 15y ago
  I'm not sure that's exactly the same thing. I interpreted that quote to mean that one lab at Tufts was using Quartzy to keep an up-to-date inventory; what I'm talking about is a university mandating a particular platform which all its labs must use -- because that platform is convenient for the administration, not because it's necessarily convenient for the individual labs.
  - jluan 15y ago
    Yeah -- a lot of places use ChemTracker

rdl 15y ago

"YC just funds consumer web apps", heh.

kayhi 15y ago

I reached out to Quartzy just after launch since we operate in the same space and can say they are class act. I'm unsure how many founders take a 30 min phone call on a couple of HN exchanges, but they did (thanks again).

cing 15y ago

I'm a computational life scientist, so I'm not exactly in the target user group, but I will say that I consider LabGuru's (http://www.labguru.com/ http://www.labguru.com/) research project tracking to be a killer feature that Quartzy lacks at this point. Keep up the good work though, I've yet to see anything close to my dream CMS for science labs.

fleaflicker 15y ago

A lot of startups seem to be raising seed rounds in the $1.1M-$1.3M range (a cursory HN search turned up seven in the past few months, links below). What kind of valuations are they getting? Anybody willing to post anonymously (or otherwise)? Gumroad $1.1M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3568962 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3568962 Curebit $1.2M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3520175 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3520175 RJMetrics $1.2M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3419670 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3419670 Ginzametrics $1.3M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3239636 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3239636 Zoomingo $1.3M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3235490 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3235490 Tealium $1.1M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3447834 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3447834 Cloudability $1.1M http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3395361 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3395361

jayzee 15y ago
Quite a few startups that I know are doing a rolling close ... So the early investors get a better valuation for coming in early without asking the perennial, 'Who else is in the deal' question. Investors who come in later pay a premium since the startup has been derisked (at least from a fund-raising perspective)... So I think often there isn't a single valuation for these rounds.
hornbaker 15y ago
You can assume those went down in the range of $2-$4M pre-money for a priced round (a single seed investor will want between 20-40% of the company, depending on how strong the team/traction is). Many seed rounds are convertible notes, however, which are not priced, but rather pegged to a Series A with a cap and discount.

int3rnaut 15y ago

I'm not a scientist, and this is perhaps irrelevant to this thread, but since Jayzee is here, I just wanted to say how much I admire the charming video they've had on their site. Not to be negative, but it's not the most artistic or beautiful explanatory video out there, but that's why I like it; it's the embodiment of the Lean Startup approach, and how you don't have to have to spend loads and be a master at that particular craft to put something out there to explain your product. For the longest time I was unsure if I should make my own or pay for someone to do it (not sure what you guys did but I assume it wasn't one of those $10,000 videos a lot of "starups" have.) but seeing this gave me inspiration and the realization that this isn't some blockbuster movie, it's supposed to explain the product--and well, you got me moving and learning animation and some other neat skills in my spare time--and you showed me a great lesson...so thanks! Hope things continue to go well.

jayzee 15y ago
wow, thanks! Adam's friend made the video and his wife gave the voice-over so it has an all 'in-the-house' production!:) I feel that for a non-consumer product like ours, where design is not the make or break difference, a video like the one that we have is more than sufficient to let people know more about the product.

RichardPrice 15y ago

Great job Quartzy. It's wonderful to see more startups join the movement to accelerate science!

teyc 15y ago

I'm really curious because this is not the typical YC investment. I wonder what is the kind of reasoning pg goes through, perhaps this is an exercise in customer development?