Make data-driven decisions to improve longevity

Zirtual

Provided virtual assistants to busy professionals.

Categories

Collaborative Consumption, Outsourcing, Collaboration,

Product Gallery

Reasons for Shutdown

High Burn Rate

Zirtual's burn rate was simply too high, and could no longer afford to keep going.

In a Medium post addressing the sudden closure, CEO of Zirtual, Maren Kate Donovan wrote that Zirtual was not flushed with capital.
While they did raised almost $5 million over three years, the move from using independent contractors (ICs) to hiring full-time employees increased their operational costs significantly.
At the end of the day, Donovan said that "burn is what happened to Zirtual." After failing to secure more funds, it became clear to Donovan and the management that they wouldn’t be able to make the next payroll, so they were forced to let their employees go.
Zirtual grew faster than they could handle, and their burn spiraled out of control even with high revenues.

Failed Acquisition (Takeover)

Days after the sudden closure, Zirtual was bought over by Startups.co.

Zirtual worked out a deal to be acquired by Wil Schroter, CEO of Startups.co, a startup launch platform based in Ohio.
Schroter was also a client, and agreed to purchase Zirtual, its assets and restart the company’s operations.
However, not all over the over 400 employees of Zirtual were rehired, leading to strained employee relations.

Direct Competitors and Similar Companies

Note: Direct competitors are defined by similarity score of more than 40%, while similar companies are defined by similarity score of less than 40%

No.	Image	Name	Similarity score	Description	Industry	Categories	Location	Ownership status	Entity type	Stage of development	Transactional model type	Defensibility moats	Last financing round	Total raised	Post-money valuation	Last financing date	No. of funding round(s)	No. of investors	Investors	Total revenue	Market capitalization	No. of investments	No. of acquisitions	No. of board seats taken	Competition	Management	No. of employees	Company reputation	Contact info	Operational status	Operational duration	Shutdown date	Founded date	Legal name	Former legal name(s)	Ticker
1.		Pluto	13.3%	A community hub for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and student initiatives.	Professional Services	Co-working, Collaboration, Communities	Egypt	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Inactive	-	-	2014	-	-	-

Investors

No.	Name	Investor type	Description	Location	Preferred investment stage(s)	Stages invested in	Assets under management (AUM)	Investment range	Investment sweet spot	Preferred investment focus	Preferred investment geography	No. of investments	No. of lead investments	No. of follow-on investments	No. of co-investments	Portfolio companies	No. of exits	Total exit value	No. of failed investments	Loss on investments	No. of acquisitions	No. of board seats taken	No. of funds	Limited partners	Co-investors	No. of partners	Partners	No. of employees	Management	Board members	Founders	Investor reputation	Contact info	Entity type	Legal name	Former legal name(s)	Founded date	Ticker
1.	Mayfield Fund	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2.	VTF Capital	-	-	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	-	-	-	$ 200K - $ 1M	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3.	Daniel Curran	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4.	Jason Calacanis	-	-	San Francisco, California, United States	-	-	-	$25k - $250k	$100k	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5.	Structure Capital	-	Structure Capital help passionate teams build great companies by investing seed-stage capital, time, experience and relationships.	San Francisco, California, United States	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6.	TenOneTen Ventures	-	TenOneTen Ventures, a Los Angeles-based venture firm, invests in start-ups that apply data and technology to disrupt existing industries.	Los Angeles, California, United States	-	-	-	$ 100K - $ 5M	-	Enterprise, E-Commerce, VR/AR, Marketplaces, Real Estate, Legal Tech, Fintech, Software, Financial Services	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7.	Recruit Strategic Partners	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8.	Melo7 Tech Partners	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9.	Tony Hsieh	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Leadership

No.	Image	Name	Previous designation	Previous company	Previous biography	Previous profile type	Previous location	Experience	Education	Reputation	Current company	Current designation	Current biography	Current profile type	Current location	No. of investments	No. of exits	Total exit value	No. of board seats taken	Contact info
1.		Andy Kate. White	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2.		Maren Kate. Donovan	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Funding

No.	Financing date	Financing round	Total amount raised	Post-money valuation	Financial viability	Fundraising target amount	Remaining target amount	Financing type	No. of investors	Board seats	Lead investors	Entity type	Financing status
1.	21 Jul 2015	Debt Financing	USD 650K	-	-	USD 3M	USD 2.35M	Debt, Option, Warrant or Other Right to Acquire Another Security, Security to be Acquired Upon Exercise of Option, Warrant or Other Right to Acquire Security,	4	2	-	-	Completed
2.	15 Jun 2015	Debt Financing	USD 2.56M	-	-	USD 2.75M	USD 186.53K	Debt, Option, Warrant or Other Right to Acquire Another Security, Security to be Acquired Upon Exercise of Option, Warrant or Other Right to Acquire Security,	17	2	-	-	Completed
3.	20 Oct 2014	Debt Financing	USD 250K	-	-	USD 1M	USD 750K	Debt, Option, Warrant or Other Right to Acquire Another Security, Security to be Acquired Upon Exercise of Option, Warrant or Other Right to Acquire Security,	1	2	-	-	Completed
4.	10 Jan 2013	Seed Round	USD 2M	-	-	USD 2M		Equity,	3	2	-	-	Completed