Caleb Bernabe

Usually investing and operating business @ Tiny

Sometimes running a wine bar with my friends

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

So excited about this! Forbes coverage on our Seed round, which is basically just a list of my dream investors. Thank you @TurnerNovak @awilkinson @fahdananta @austin_rief @nikitabier @ramseychapin @varadh @DennisHong17 + everyone in our corner. Just the start!

[Turner Novak 🍌🧢 @TurnerNovak]

Very excited to invest in VINN and support @calebbernabe_ and team!

They have built an incredible product and the foundations of capital efficient business in a trillion dollar market.

Quick thread on my largest publicly announced investment to-date:

https://t.co/TOkaPeourJ

[BDC @BlueDuckCap]

$AMZN cutting 30k corp jobs. Saves about $6B in cash burn assuming $200k avg salary.

In late 2022 and into 2023 they cut 27k corp jobs.

So in 2023 incremental costs (added OPEX vs 2022) declined to $36B down from $57B in 2022. As a result, incremental margins surged to 50% (the highest ever).

Bullish.

[Andrew Wilkinson @awilkinson]

Huge news:

We just bought a majority stake in Serato, the leading DJ software company.

If you've ever been to a club, festival, or wedding reception in the last couple decades, you've likely danced to music played using Serato. It's the gold standard for DJs, from the unknowns in their dorm room to huge artists like Diplo.

If you’re scratching your head wondering why Serato sounds so familiar, here’s a few places you might recognize it from:

"You ain't got no fuckin' Yeezy in your Serato?" –Kanye West, "Dark Fantasy"

"Serato spinning while I'm dropping these verses" –Kendrick Lamar, "ELEMENT."

"Run through Serato like a marathon" –Jay Z, "Holy Grail"

I used to be a (very bad) DJ in my twenties (my DJ name was DJFKFC 🤦‍♂️) so this is a particularly exciting acquisition for me.

Fortunately for Tiny and our investors, this is far from a nostalgic vanity purchase.

The business is remarkable:

🇳🇿 A 25 year track record of consistent growth, bootstrapped in New Zealand

📈 35% compound annual growth rate on recurring revenue over the last five years

👥 Over 2 million users worldwide

💰 Impressive profitability with 34% EBITDA margins

🎹 Deep integration with the best DJ hardware manufacturers

For those of you that are Tiny ($Tiny.v) shareholders:

💸 The acquisition boosts Tiny's ARR by about 68% to between $64-66 million

📊 Increases our Adjusted EBITDA by approximately 45%

Serato is exactly the kind of business we love: a category-defining brand with a deeply passionate user base and long runway ahead. The founders and team in Auckland have built something truly special over 25 years, and I'm thrilled they chose us as their long-term home.

A warm welcome to AJ, Steve, Young, and the entire Serato team. We couldn't be more excited to have you join the Tiny family and we're looking forward to helping you take it to the next level.

PS: As part of this announcement, Tiny also just announced strong Q4 results. You can check out the results and all the details on the acquisition in the full press release.

[Andrew Wilkinson @awilkinson]

Today, I opened The New York Times and saw my face, looking super serious (apparently they don’t use smiley photos).

But let’s rewind…

In March, I found myself in Auckland, New Zealand for a conference.

I was in a euphoric mood. The night before, I had arrived from Canada, where it was still gray and pouring rain. Auckland was balmy, with perfect blue skies.

I had an afternoon to kill, so I wracked my brain: “Who do I know in New Zealand?”

Then, I remembered Matt (@mrb). We had both been early Tumblr users and had met in person, almost a decade before, at XOXO Conf. He had gone on to start a few businesses, including Letterboxd, a social network for film buffs.

As we sat on the grass in a park, we sipped americanos and caught up on life. Matt was flying high, and for good reason.

Like me, he had started with a web design agency and used it to bootstrap multiple businesses, including @letterboxd, which had grown massively during the pandemic.

I was struck by what an incredible business it was. What had started as a hobby side project was now a popular social network where millions of people rated and reviewed their favorite (and not so favorite) movies.

“What next?” I asked Matt.

“I don’t know. We’ll probably sell it some day, but Karl and I have a lot more we want to do with Letterboxd,” he replied.

He told me about some of the potential companies they could sell to, but remarked that they would probably mess it up.

“What if Tiny bought it?”

“Oh…I hadn’t thought of that…”

I immediately went back to my hotel, wrote up an offer letter, and texted it to him a few hours later.

The rest is history. What started as a random coffee resulted in Matt, Karl, and the Letterboxd team joining the Tiny family.

They aren’t going anywhere. Matt and Karl still own a big chunk of the company and will continue running the business. We plan to leave them alone, but now they can move faster and take a bit more risk.

Lesson: embrace random coffees.

More in today’s @nytimes:

https://t.co/IBSd5Oy70L

[Turner Novak 🍌🧢 @TurnerNovak]

The auto industry has been turned upside down over the past 24 months. Car prices nearly doubled in 2021, only to reverse and drop 14% since January.

Here’s how VINN built a startup on top of Typeform that grew 6x this year helping car dealers across Canada sell online:

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@TurnerNovak @thesamparr @awilkinson Hit me up @thesamparr

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@awilkinson @metalab button glued onto the screen 😮‍💨

[Car Dealership Guy @GuyDealership]

hottest automotive startups I'm seeing (part 2):

Automated tire changing system:
RoboTire (@RoboTireInc)

Concierge car buying (CA only):
VINN (@vinnauto)

Healthcare for your car:
CarmaCare (@mycarmacare)

Commerce APIs:
Drivly (@drivly)

Mobile car repair:
Spiffy (@GetSpiffy)

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@GuyDealership @RoboTireInc @vinnauto @mycarmacare @drivly @GetSpiffy 👀👀👀

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@CridgeJason @get_cognito @GarageCapital Great ppl supporting great ppl! Love this @CridgeJason @GarageCapital

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@robbfraser @Jason clutch

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@humza_j @robbfraser This is terrifying. @robbfraser you need to leave immediately

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

Ranking conference booth attractions:

1.) Literally anything else
.
.
.
99.) Lumineers signed guitar

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@jasoncwarner 4.5% from 3 though...

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@pallian @dp16 Finally, a worthwhile thread

[VINN @vinnauto]

We're hiring - again!

We're looking for a Graphic Designer, UI Designer, Online Vehicle Sales Consultant, Quality Control Representative, and a Dealership Sales Development Representative.

Click the link to check out the full postings! https://t.co/s3BJsu8iwY

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@awilkinson @justintse

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@TurnerNovak @TurnerNovak are u ok?

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@fahdananta @RoachCap 🪳 🧢!!!! Congrats

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@ChetFlanagan @vinnauto wow big twitter guy

[Caleb Bernabe @calebbernabe_]

@itunpredictable Also time spent : workout-value ratio is like 10x