A private SAFE investment opportunity for select individuals in advance of Backbone Logic's institutional seed round.
✓ Words & Pictures — 10+ Productions Running on Backbone
✓ App Store — BB Timecard & BB CallSheet Live
✓ Operating Business — Not Pre-Revenue Startup
The industry has never had a unified operating system built specifically for production. Backbone Logic changes that.
The entertainment industry is a $2.9 trillion global business. The production sector alone represents $100+ billion annually. Thousands of productions. Millions of crew members. Billions in budgets.
And every single one of them is running on broken infrastructure.
Scheduling chaos cascades into blown budgets. Vendor coordination happens over email chains and text messages. Critical knowledge walks out the door the day a production wraps. Budget overruns are discovered too late to fix.
This isn't a technology problem. It's a systems problem. The industry has never had a unified operating system built specifically for production.
Between us, the two founders of Backbone Logic, we have spent a combined 50 years inside the entertainment industry. NBC. CBS. ESPN. HBO. Netflix. Apple. Amazon. Google. The recording industry. Broadcast television at every level.
We have been on the floor of live Super Bowl broadcasts and in the edit suites of prestige streaming documentaries. We have managed productions worth hundreds of millions of dollars. We have watched the greatest storytellers on earth do their best work.
And in every single one of those environments — every single one — we watched the same thing happen. Brilliant, talented, experienced people losing enormous amounts of time, money, and energy to a system that was never designed to work properly.
That realization became Backbone Logic. Not as an abstract idea. Not as a response to a market report. As a direct answer — forged from thirty years of personal, professional, deeply-felt pain — to the question the entire entertainment industry has been asking for decades without knowing it:
What if there was one system — purpose-built for production — that replaced everything?
That system is Backbone. And as of April 2026, it's not a vision. It's a live, operating business.
Words & Pictures — the production company behind ESPN's biggest documentaries, Netflix originals, and HBO series — is running 10+ active productions on Backbone right now. Our apps are live in the Apple App Store. We have paying customers and monthly recurring revenue.
This Friends & Family round is not speculative capital. It's growth capital for a business that's already working. We're raising $750,000 to scale from 1 customer to 100.
The infrastructure Hollywood doesn't know it needs yet. But Words & Pictures does. And soon, everyone will.
The global entertainment production industry generates over $100 billion annually. Films, television, streaming originals, live events, sports broadcasts — all of it requires complex, multi-vendor, multi-location coordination involving hundreds of people, millions in budgets, and absolute zero margin for error.
Yet there is no unified operating system for how this work actually gets done. Productions rely on a patchwork of generic project management tools, custom spreadsheets, verbal approvals, and institutional memory that walks out the door when a crew wraps. Every production reinvents the wheel. Every studio bleeds margin to inefficiency.
Backbone Logic's VOS is built from the ground up for this world. Not adapted from a generic SaaS platform. Purpose-built, with a proprietary AI model trained on real production data, capable of executing real system actions through natural language.
Why now? Three forces have converged:
A SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) is the industry-standard early-stage investment instrument designed by Y Combinator. It's used by tens of thousands of startups including Airbnb, DoorDash, and Stripe.
How it works:
1. You invest $[amount] today
2. Your investment converts to equity when we raise our institutional seed round (expected Q3–Q4 2026)
3. You convert at the LOWER of: (a) $5M cap, or (b) 20% discount to seed valuation
4. If we raise seed at $15M valuation, you still convert as if it were $5M — 3× better terms
What you get now: A legal contract (SAFE agreement) giving you the right to future equity. Not a loan — no interest, no repayment obligation. No voting rights until conversion. MFN clause: if we offer better terms to anyone else, you automatically get them.
What you get at conversion: Equity ownership in Backbone Logic Inc. Same class of shares as institutional seed investors. Pro-rata rights to participate in future rounds.
We are raising via a Post-Money SAFE — the industry-standard instrument designed by Y Combinator and used by tens of thousands of startups. It is a 5-page document, not a 60-page term sheet. No debt. No interest. No board seats. No complicated legal overhead.
Your SAFE converts to equity at Backbone Logic's next priced round (our institutional seed). Because you're investing earlier — and taking more risk — you convert at a discount to what seed investors pay, or at the cap rate, whichever gives you more shares.
Translation: if the company is valued at $15M when we raise our seed round, you still convert as if it were worth $5M. Your early bet is rewarded with proportionally more equity.
Backbone generates revenue through three streams: monthly subscriptions, integration services, and white-glove support. We charge based on company size, production volume, and feature access — not just user count.
| Tier | Price / Month | Productions | Users | Key Inclusions | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $2,997 | 1–2 | Up to 25 | Core modules, call sheets, timecards, scheduling | Indie & boutique production companies |
| Professional | $7,997 | 3–5 | Up to 100 | + WALTER labor tracking, MOD asset management, Donnie onboarding | Growing mid-size studios |
| Studio | $19,997 | 5–10 | Up to 500 | + BiBi AI assistant, Operations Hub, payroll processing, compliance | Established studios & broadcast operators |
| Enterprise | $47,997 | Unlimited | Unlimited | + BB & Me AI simulation, dedicated success manager, SLA, custom integrations | Major studios, networks & streaming platforms |
Subscription Revenue: Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from four pricing tiers. Average customer: $12,000/month blended across all tiers.
Integration Services: One-time setup fee of $5,000–$15,000 per customer to connect Backbone to existing tools (QuickBooks, Slack, Google Workspace, etc.). Professional services margin: 60%+.
White-Glove Support: Included for 6 months with Studio and Enterprise tiers. Optional extension at $2,500/month. Onboarding, training, and dedicated success management.
Unit Economics (Enterprise Tier):
Monthly subscription: $47,997
Integration (one-time): $12,000
Year 1 revenue: ~$588K
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): $50K
Payback period: 1.1 months
Lifetime value (3yr): $1.73M
LTV:CAC ratio: 34.6:1
Industry benchmark: 3:1 is good. 5:1 is great. 10:1+ is exceptional.
Assumptions: 2–15 new customers/month (scaling), 85% retention rate, growing average contract value from $10K to $15K/month.
As of April 2026, Backbone Logic is a live, operating business with production companies running their operations on our platform, crew members using our apps daily, and monthly recurring revenue.
What this means for investors: You're not funding a pre-revenue startup hoping to find customers. You're funding an operating business with paying customers, live products, and proven demand. Lower risk. Higher probability of success. Earlier entry before institutional investors drive up the valuation.
Direct competition: Zero. No one has built a production-specific operating system. Existing tools are point solutions — budgeting or scheduling, never both and never everything. We're not competing in a category. We're building one.
| Feature / Capability | Backbone Logic | Movie Magic | StudioBinder | Airtable / DIY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unified all-in-one platform | ✓ Full OS | ✗ Partial | ✗ Partial | ✗ DIY only |
| Native payroll processing | ✓ Built-in | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✗ None |
| Labor tracking (WALTER / DOOD) | ✓ Fully reconciled | ~ Basic | ✗ None | ✗ None |
| AI assistant (natural language) | ✓ BiBi — proprietary | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✗ None |
| Union / labor rule compliance | ✓ Built-in logic | ~ Manual | ✗ None | ✗ None |
| Asset lifecycle tracking (MOD) | ✓ Full lifecycle | ✗ None | ✗ None | ~ DIY workaround |
| Crew onboarding automation | ✓ Donnie module | ✗ None | ~ Basic | ✗ None |
| Mobile apps (App Store) | ✓ Live (2 apps) | ~ Limited | ~ Yes | ✗ None |
| Enterprise security / air-gap capable | ✓ By design | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✗ None |
| AI simulation (BB & Me) | ✓ Category-defining | ✗ None | ✗ None | ✗ None |
1. Deep Industry Expertise
50 years combined inside ESPN, Netflix, HBO, NBC, CBS, Apple, Amazon. Can't be replicated by generic SaaS companies. We know production workflows because we lived them.
2. Native Payroll Processing
No competitor has built native payroll into their platform. Everyone integrates with third parties (ADP, Gusto). We process payroll inside Backbone — a unique and defensible moat.
3. BiBi AI Assistant
Proprietary AI trained on production workflows. "Hey BiBi, who's responsible for catering on Production 3?" Natural language interface to the entire system. No one else has this.
4. First-Mover in a New Category
Building the category, not competing in one. Every customer we sign becomes a reference for the next. Network effects compound as more productions run on Backbone.
5. Why Big Players Haven't Entered
$100B production market is too niche for Salesforce or Microsoft. Deep domain expertise required. Once we hit $20–50M ARR, we become an acquisition target.
Exit Strategy:
Primary: Acquisition by Adobe, Autodesk, or Apple ($500M–$2B)
Secondary: IPO at $100M+ ARR (5–7 years)
Tertiary: Strategic acquirer (CAA, WME, major studio)
This raise provides operating capital while we close our institutional seed round, targeted for Q3–Q4 2026. At projected burn rates, it provides 12–18 months of runway — ample time to build the traction that supports a $15–20M valuation for that raise.
Backbone 2.0 development: BB & Me AI assistant + native payroll processing. AWS/cloud infrastructure scaling. Security & compliance certifications.
White-glove onboarding program. Integration specialists to connect Backbone to existing tools (ie: QuickBooks, Slack, Google Workspace, etc.). Training materials and customer support infrastructure.
Sales development and lead generation. CRM and sales tools. Marketing website and materials. Industry conference attendance and travel for prospect visits. Demo environment and collateral.
Legal (incorporation, contracts, compliance). Accounting and bookkeeping. Insurance (D&O, E&O, cyber). HR and payroll systems. Co-working space and office expenses.
Unexpected expenses. Bridge to institutional seed if needed. Buffer for extended sales cycles or delayed customer onboarding.
Target seed round: Q3–Q4 2026 at $15–20M valuation.
Monthly burn rate: $45K–$83K average — 12–18 months of runway at projected spend.
If you'd like to discuss the opportunity or review the SAFE documents, contact Chris directly.
chris@backbonelogic.com