Startup Acquisition Stories

Acquire.com

Get the inside look at how startup founders and entrepreneurs used Acquire.com (formerly MicroAcquire) to sell their startup or buy an online business. Learn tips on how to vet sellers/buyers, justify valuations, negotiate terms, handle due diligence, asset transfers, escrow, post-acquisition support, and more!

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168 episodes
Updated July 14

Episodes168

Newest first

Jun 3, 2025 · 19 min
Built a Profitable Startup and Got Acquired at Just 18
At just 18 years old, Siyabend Özdemir bootstrapped and sold Gen PPT, an AI-powered presentation generator used by students, marketers, and solopreneurs across the globe. What started as a school-night experiment turned into a viral hit driven by indie hacker hustle, programmatic SEO, and a killer demo shared on X. Siyabend listed the business on Acquire.com and closed a smooth acquisition just days later. In this episode, he shares how he built, scaled, and exited Gen PPT and what comes next for a founder just getting started. You’ll learn: ► How Siyabend validated the idea using a real SEO dataset ► Why building in public on X was key to early growth ► What made Acquire.com the best fit for a solo founder exit ► How he handled burnout, due diligence, and buyer negotiation ► What to do after your first big win, including gold bars and Range Rovers 3 takeaways from Siyabend’s exit: Organize everything—docs, access, financials—for a fast handoff Structure your business and taxes early, even if you're young Use the right platform to streamline the acquisition process Whether you’re 18 or 38, bootstrapping solo or building in public, this conversation is proof that you can build something valuable and sell it on your terms. Listen now to hear how Siyabend pulled off his first exit and what he’s building next. Follow Siyabend on LinkedIn
May 27, 2025 · 43 min
From Side Hustle to Clean Exit in 30 Days
Christopher Schwab didn’t build Inova Local to chase scale. He built it to solve a real problem: how to support home service businesses with reliable, high-quality remote admin help. What started as a side project quickly became a profitable VA agency—and a company built for flexibility, documentation, and clean operations. In this episode, Christopher shares how he grew the business with intention and sold it through a fast, strategic acquisition. You’ll learn: Why lean, recurring models outperform traditional staffing What made remote operations hard to sell before the pandemic How to prepare your company for a fast, low-friction exit What buyers actually care about—and what catches them off guard How to balance growth, team care, and long-term personal goals 3 lessons from Christopher’s exit: Simplicity and documentation make due diligence easy Know what the business means to you—and what’s next Take care of your team through the transition Whether you're scaling a remote service or considering your own exit, this conversation is a playbook for founders who want to build—and exit—with clarity. Listen now to hear how Christopher structured his acquisition and what he's building next. Follow Christopher on LinkedIn
May 20, 2025 · 16 min
The Lean SaaS Exit: PLG, Profitability, and a Strategic Acquisition
What started as a side project during business school became a profitable, product-led SaaS used by finance teams, and was successfully acquired through Acquire.com. In this episode, Trevor Lee, founder of Genius Sheets, shares how he scaled a lean SaaS through smart distribution partnerships, kept operations efficient, and exited on his own terms to build a new company: Myko, a voice-to-CRM tool for sales teams. In this episode, you’ll learn: How to grow a financial SaaS using Product-Led Growth (PLG) Why partner distribution can outperform outbound sales What to expect during buyer calls, due diligence, and app store transitions How pricing your listing well leads to stronger, faster offers What matters most when evaluating potential buyers Trevor’s 3 tips for founders planning an exit: 1. Build around scalable, low-cost acquisition channels 2. Reduce manual ops to make your SaaS more attractive 3. Don’t wait for perfection—launch, and learn from real users Whether you're growing a SaaS or thinking about selling, this episode is full of tactical advice from a founder who exited profitably to pursue his next big idea. 🎧 Listen now and discover what Trevor’s building with Myko ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Follow Trevor on LinkedIn
May 13, 2025 · 33 min
Zero Funding, One Buyer, and a Clean SaaS Exit
If Christopher Lier could give three key pieces of advice to SaaS founders planning an exit, they would be: Build a focused product that solves a specific problem Be fully transparent during the acquisition process Never settle for a deal you’re not comfortable with Christopher is the co-founder of LeadGen App, a form builder optimized for lead generation. What began as a side project between an SEO expert and a developer in the UK quickly evolved into a profitable micro-SaaS. No venture capital. No big team. Just strong SEO, clear systems, and consistent execution. In this episode, host Andrew Gazdecki talks with Christopher about: How to launch and grow a lean SaaS product from scratch The importance of SEO, Facebook groups, and direct outreach for acquiring your first users What the acquisition process on Acquire.com looks like, from listing to closing How documented SOPs and a reliable team streamlined due diligence Why selecting the right buyer is about shared vision, not just price Whether you're bootstrapping, scaling, or preparing to sell a SaaS company, this episode offers actionable insights and hard-earned lessons from someone who’s successfully done it. Listen now and learn what it really takes to build, grow, and exit a micro-SaaS. Follow Christopher’s journey: LinkedIn
Apr 29, 2025 · 12 min
Inside a Bootstrapped Exit: How Johann Sold Jars on Acquire.com
If Johann Sathianathen could give two key pieces of advice to founders who want to sell a startup fast, he’d say: Build and sell early—even while working full-time Reinvest stable income to accelerate your startup runway Johann Sathianathen was just 20 years old when he made his first bootstrapped exit, selling his startup Jars Global through Acquire.com. Before that, he dropped out of college, became the youngest full-time software engineer at Cisco, and used his salary to fund a small team and launch multiple startup projects. Jars began as a side hustle focused on competitive intelligence for e-commerce businesses. As traction grew, Johann listed it on Acquire.com. The selling process was smooth, the deal closed quickly, and Johann walked away with both capital and momentum to go full-time on his founder journey. But for Johann, selling Jars was just the beginning. He believes that a portfolio founder approach reduces risk and multiplies opportunity. By building multiple SaaS startups with lean teams, he maximized his chances of success—and today, he’s scaling a growing portfolio, focused on solving real problems and moving fast. Tune in to the Acquire podcast with Andrew Gazdecki and Johann Sathianathen to discover: How Johann built and sold his startup while still a teenager Why becoming a "portfolio founder" changes everything How to leverage your salary to bootstrap and scale faster What happens emotionally and financially after your first startup exit Johann is just getting started, and you can follow his journey below. LinkedIn
Apr 22, 2025 · 16 min
Bootstrapped, Built, Sold: Luka’s Micro-SaaS Exit
If Luka Pecavar could give three pieces of advice to founders building and selling micro-SaaS products, he’d say: Build simple tools that solve a specific problem Listen to user feedback early and often Even small apps can attract serious buyers Luka built a simple but powerful image comparison app called Before and After for the Wix App Market. What started as a weekend side project quickly evolved into a revenue-generating micro-SaaS with thousands of installs. No venture capital, no large team, just clean code and real user traction. When the time came to sell, Luka listed the app on Acquire.com and closed a seamless deal with a buyer who valued the app’s clean architecture and consistent performance. Now he’s using the experience as a springboard into new projects and sharing exactly how he did it. In this episode of the Acquire Podcast with Andrew Gazdecki, Luka Pecavar breaks down: How he launched a profitable micro-SaaS inside the Wix ecosystem Why app marketplaces like Wix and Shopify are untapped opportunities for indie hackers What to expect during a micro-acquisition, from listing to negotiation Key lessons from bootstrapping, scaling, and exiting a niche SaaS product If you’re building, scaling, or thinking about selling a micro-SaaS, this episode is a must-listen. Follow Luka’s next steps: LinkedIn
Apr 14, 2025 · 9 min
Built. Sold. Free. A Startup Exit in Just 9 Months
When Abdulla Abdurazzoqov Reflects on Selling His SaaS Startup, He Offers These Takeaways: Build organic traffic early with free tools Choose peace of mind over uncertainty A strong Product Hunt launch can drive your first paying users fast Abdulla built AIHumanize.com as a solo founder and sold it within just nine months for a six-figure deal on Acquire.com. His platform helped users rewrite AI-generated content to sound more human and bypass AI detectors—attracting a surprising customer base of students and lawyers. The decision to sell came from a desire for financial stability and less stress, especially as he supported his family full-time. Listing on Acquire.com brought over 30 NDAs in the first few days, and after a smooth diligence process, he found the right buyer who understood both the niche and the tech stack. Today, Abdulla is working full-time on his next project: DetectingAI.com, which identifies whether content was generated by AI, already serving over 250,000 users. Tune into the Acquire podcast with Andrew Gazdecki and Abdulla as they discuss: ► How Abdulla built and sold his SaaS in under a year ► Launch strategies that convert free users into paying ones ► What to expect emotionally and financially after an exit Follow Abdulla's journey through the link below: LinkedIn Facebook
Mar 25, 2025 · 22 min
How to Sell Your Startup for a Life-Changing Payout
What does it take to sell a music software startup and walk away with a life-changing payout? Emmett Cooke says it comes down to four things: 1. Leveraging existing relationships to acquire your first customers 2. Building a product that solves a real pain point but also requires a cultural shift 3. Choosing the right buyer who shares your vision 4. Selling at the right time, when burnout starts to set in Emmett originally founded his music software company using his experience with e-commerce in music. With a pre-existing contact list, he contacted companies and offereda solution to their customer support problems, solving issues around downloads, emails, and data privacy concerns. Slowly, word of mouth helped grow the business, and Emmet scaled it to over 100 B2B clients and around 360,000 B2C users. But as the business grew, Emmett realized he was losing energy. Between the challenges of managing a growing company, his expanding family, and the stress of providing a service people depended on, he realized it was time to sell. A favorable tax break in Ireland made it the right time to sell. Emmett worked with an M&A advisor, listed the business, and was soon overwhelmed with offers. He chose the buyer who shared his vision, and the deal was closed with an upfront payment, which was crucial for tax reasons. In his conversation with Andrew Gazdecki, Emmett shares insights on: • How leveraging your existing network can help you land your first customers • The challenges of shifting culture in an industry and how to overcome resistance • Why it’s important to sell when you start feeling burnt out, even if the business is still growing • How the negotiation process unfolded, with offers from different industries Emmett’s journey is far from over, and you can continue following hisprogress through the link below: ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠
Mar 11, 2025 · 14 min
How This Founder 30x’d a Business Before Selling It: The Story of Copycopter’s Acquisition
What happens when you finda product with massive potential, but the marketing and growth aren’t there yet? If you’re Sanjana, you acquire it, grow it, and turn it into a success. In this episode, Sanjana shares his journey of acquiring CopyCopter, an AI-powered video generation tool. When he took over, the business was at $800 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR). He quickly scaled it to $32,000 in MRR—30x growth. Sanjana discusses the strategies he used to grow it, including Meta ads, influencer campaigns, and platform improvements. He also walks us through his acquisition process, including negotiations, due diligence, and why he had to sell the business due to liquidity issues. Tune in for valuable insights on acquiring and scaling startups, and learn how Sanjana turned Copycopter into a profitable business in record time. Sanjana’s Insights Include: ► How he recognized the opportunity in Copycopter and why he jumped on it. ► The marketing strategies that helped him scale the product from $800 MRR to $32,000 MRR. ► The importance of optimizing ads and having proper tracking in place for better ROI. ► Key tips for anyone considering acquiring a startup or growing an existing one. Sanjana shares valuable insights for anyone looking to buy, grow, or sell their own business. Follow Sanjana's journey and stay updated on his next venture! ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Be sure tosubscribe to see the newest acquisition stories every Tuesday and gain the knowledge to buy or sell your own online business → https://youtube.com/@acquiredotcom?sub_confirmation=1 Want more stories? Access the past 50+ acquisition stories here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/startup-acquisition-stories-podcast/ Thinking aboutselling your own startup? The number one question is always 'how much can I sell for' and we've got the answers in our biannual valuation multiples reportshere → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/acquire-coms-acquisition-multiples-report/ Thinking about buying a startup? Sign up for a free buyer account and browse all the live listings. Upgrade only when you find the right one that fits your acquisition criteria to engage. Get Started → https://acquire.com/buyers/ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Follow the Guest: Sanjana Bandara ► https://x.com/sanjanabandarahttps://x.com/sanjanabandarahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjananuwan/?originalSubdomain=ae► https://www.instagram.com/sajja.eth/► https://copycopter.ai/ (SOLD) Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki ► https://twitter.com/agazdecki ► https://www.linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/ ► https://acquire.com FollowAcquire.com ► https://twitter.com/acquiredotcom ► https://www.linkedin.com/company/acquiredotcom ► https://www.tiktok.com/@acquiredotcom ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ About Acquire.com: Acquire.com is the largest and most active acquisition marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Acquire.com is the highest rated platform for both ease and quickness to match buyers and sellers. We cater to all types of online, revenue-generating businesses while producing the highest success rates for SaaS and eCommerce/DTC businesses in the M&A industry. Join over 350,000 entrepreneurs making life-changing connections and deals every day.
Feb 27, 2025 · 19 min
Are You Selling an Asset or Selling a Job?
If Ian Fourie could give two pieces of advice to founders selling their SaaS startups, he’d say: Register your business in only one country Start pushing founder responsibilities to employees as soon as you can Ian sold his online corporate training startup, Pluto LMS, on Acquire.com fast (in just two weeks). However, he thinks he would have been even quicker had he addressed these points. Pluto LMS almost didn’t happen. It was a project started on a whim when Ian realized schools spent a lot more on their facilities than their material. He saw online education as inevitable and built an online platform for a client in the UK. Pluto had customers but it didn’t seem like it was going anywhere. That all changed during Covid as schools and corporations raced to the internet to see how they could conduct business online. Between 2020 and 2025 Ian grew his team to five employees and brought in a range of clients. Finally, he decided to sell on Acquire when his health started to worry him. Now Ian is working as a consultant for his acquirer for a year while he finds his next project. Tune into the Acquire podcast with Andrew Gazdecki and Ian and listen to them discuss: How he found his first clients. The advantages of selling alongside a professional advisor. How you can make your business seem more like an asset and less like a job. Ian is just getting started and you can follow him on his journey below: LinkedIn
Feb 12, 2025 · 16 min
How Gabby Rosen Flipped a Newsletter for 18x in Under a Year
What does it take to sell a startup for almost 20 times what you paid for it?Gabriella (Gabby) Rosen says it comes down to three things:Having an unfair advantage when you buyListing on Acquire.com for slightly less than it’s worth when you sellUnderselling the product in the listing when you sellGabby originally acquired her newsletter Nomad Cloud while working as a partner at an email outreach startup called EOC. When she spotted the digital nomad newsletter on Acquire.com, she knew it was a perfect fit for her expertise.Using EOC’s tools for highly-targeted email outreach, Gabby and her business partners at EOC turned thousands of keyword searchers into active readers of Nomad Cloud. They also systemized content creation with the help of an assistant and ChatGPT. Soon it was bringing in thousands of dollars a month.But her email startup was growing quickly too. Enough that Gabby couldn’t justify splitting her time between two businesses. She moved to sell Nomad Cloud on Acquire.com. With the help of Acquire’s acquisition manager Robbie, she flipped the business for 18 times what she paid for it.Tune into Gabriella Rosen’s chat with Andrew Gazdecki as they discuss:🚀 Gabby’s thoughts on how to flip startups on Acquire.com.📩 Why newsletters are underrated assets for acquisition.💡 The systems Gabby used to bring in buyers willing to pay twice her asking price.
Feb 4, 2025 · 22 min
Kamil Almost Went Broke Growing His AI Startup – An Acquisition Saved It
Have you ever fantasized about quitting your job and living off savings until you built a successful business or ran out of cash? SaaS builder Kamil Zowczac nearly accomplished both at the same time. While living in Bali off the money he’d earned as a project manager at a startup, Kamil taught himself to code and built a fast AI reel-video creation app called Copycopter. Marketing his product was slow at first. Kamil started offering a free subscription and then mysteriously went viral among Chinese Tiktok (Douyin) users after posting about it on Twitter. After installing a paywall and successfully launching on Product Hunt, he began to make a bit of money, but it was all too little too late. He’d spent too much time building his product and not enough time marketing it and was out of money. He needed an exit, fast. After posting about his dilemma on Twitter, Acquire.com’s CEO, Andrew Gazdecki, helped Kamil list his business for free. After a few difficult negotiations with buyers and one deal that fell through, Kamil encountered his dream buyer. Within 24 hours, he’d finished all the deal paperwork and completed the sale of Copycopter. Now Kamil is back to building businesses in Bali living comfortably off his acquisition and resting easier knowing if he needs an exit, serious buyers are only a few clicks away. Listen to Kamil’s interview with Andrew post-acquisition as they discuss: Kamil’s tech recommendations for anyone wanting to get into AI video editing. The unfair marketing trick that applications like Copycopter can pull off better than any other SaaS. Andrew’s top piece of advice for sellers who don’t want to get locked into negotiations with an unserious buyer. Kamil is just getting started and you can follow his journey below: Twitter: @ky__zo
Jan 29, 2025 · 20 min
How to Prime Your Business For a Seamless Acquisition with Sukhpal Saini
Founder Sukhpal Saini thinks you should consider offering lifetime subscriptions (at least for a time). He knows because he built a Shopify interface for Stripe that just couldn’t hold down recurring customers. Called Reetail, Sukhpal operated the application for two years and got consistent users. The problem was they all were selling products in relatively low volumes. It was hard for them to justify subscribing to his platform. As Sukhpal’s other side business, Engyne began to grow, he also had less and less time to dedicate to Reetail. Feeling like he’d given all he could to the product, he decided to sell in the best place he knew: Acquire.com. Sukhpal says his experience on Acquire.com was extremely straightforward. His buyer offered him the exact price he was looking for and paid all in cash. Post-acquisition, Sukhpal shared how he got his sale to go off without a hitch, including: Creating multiple accounts for all his paid software, to facilitate an easy handoff Creating a clear list of why buyers should be interested in your product Setting aside a transition period to over all elements of your business with the buyer The tradeoffs of lifetime vs. subscription-based business models The advantages of including a “Risks and Limitations” component in your listing. Tune in by clicking the image above! Sukhpal is just getting started and you can find follow his journey below: Engyne (his new project) LinkedIn
Jan 3, 2025 · 29 min
Want to Build an Agency Worth Buying? Spend a Decade Saying Yes
While working full-time as a pharmaceutical sales rep, Bobby Dimovski noticed that medical professionals were: Always looking for new ways to grow their business. Usually 10 years behind on marketing trends. Hard to access (unless you were a pharmaceutical sales rep). Armed with this information and wanting to save for his kids’ college fund, Bobby founded a healthcare-industry marketing agency, 4MJ Social, in 2014. He started by upselling his medical clients on marketing services like SEO and Facebook business profiles. Over 14 years, he expanded into a multi-client, full-service healthcare marketing agency doing web design, PPC, social media, and everything in between. Then a family member began suffering health issues. Bobby couldn’t put in the time to keep the business going. Rather than diminish his salary by hiring new management, Bobby wanted to unlock some extra cash from his decade-plus of work so he could take an extended break without worrying about money. Acquire.com had everything Bobby needed to find the right buyer for his business. Working with Acquisition Manager Ky Pratt, Bobby sourced the perfect buyer who understood his business and was willing to carry on his vision. The deal nearly fell apart when the financier pulled out, but Ky managed to keep all parties working together, and within a week, everyone was happy. Tune in to this episode of Startup Acquisition Stories Podcast to hear Andrew and Bobby discuss: Why Bobby spent four years pursuing one of his largest clients (and what it took to land the deal). Why Bobby thinks all founders should ponder their seller financing limits before acquisition. Why always being completely transparent about your business attracts the best buyers. Bobby is just getting started and you can follow his journey on LinkedIn below: LinkedIn
Dec 18, 2024 · 12 min
Look For This When Acquiring Startups, It Could Triple the Resale
After building and selling one of the first ChatGPT plagiarism checkers on the market in 2024, Tomer Tarsky decided to search Acquire.com for another project in the edtech AI space. He found a promising business, grew it for seven months, and sold it for three times the purchase price. The business Tomer stumbled across was called Seamless For Science. It was an AI literature review generator with 20,000 free users. While it didn’t make much money, its users were extremely active and would immediately complain if the service went down even for a day. After acquiring the business (which was built in a development language Tomer didn’t know), all he had to do was adjust the homepage copy and up the prices. Immediately, he earned $2,000 more in MRR despite some churn. “I knew if just one percent of those free users converted, we would have a lot more money,” he says. However, Tomer soon reached the limits of improvements he could make without hiring a developer. He’d already decided he wanted to expand outside of edtech, so Tomer returned to Acquire.com and sold it for three times what he bought it for within a few days. Tune into Tomer’s podcast with Andrew Gazdecki post-acquisition as they discuss: Why Tomer thinks it’s easier to double ARR on a $3k startup than a $30k startup 💹. How Tomer recommends other founders look for good startup buys on Acquire.com 🔍. Why Tomer thinks you should beware of buyers who won’t get on the phone 📲. Tomer is just getting started and you can follow him here: Twitter (@tomer_tarsky) His new project (www.conversionagent.ai)
Dec 10, 2024 · 16 min
Turning Your Weakest Skill into an Acquire’d Startup
Are you a developer who’s bad at email marketing? Ironically, you may be in a great position to build the next big email marketing tool. Onur Genes wanted to promote his software development agency but couldn’t write good sales emails. He developed Nureply to help him send better automated cold emails. Eventually, he sold subscriptions to his development clients transforming his helpful tool into a SaaS business. In under two years, Nureply acquired thousands of users, and through savvy Facebook marketing, Onur became the face of the increasingly popular Nureply brand. However, right as the customer base doubled in size, Onur’s father passed away suddenly. Stricken and needing time away from his business, Onur turned to Acquire.com to find a new home for Nureply. With the help of acquisition specialist, Ky Pratt, he managed to find a buyer specialized in email products (they’d been in the industry since ‘98) within one week. After the transaction, the buyers became close personal friends with Onur, and he says they still talk every week. Post-acquisition, listen to Onur’s chat with Andrew as they discuss: Onur’s biggest regrets from developing Nureply. Onur’s surprising marketing channel on Facebook. Why working with Acqire doesn't feel like a normal client-sales relationship to Onur. Onur is just getting started and you can follow him here: Twitter (@onurgenes)
Nov 20, 2024 · 20 min
How Ian Blair Jumped From Building Apps to Selling Laundry Sauce With Acquire.com
Ian Blair has been an entrepreneur his whole life. As a kid, he sold lemonade, and then graduated to golf balls in adolescence. While in university, Ian found his calling for the next decade: white-labeling Andrew Gazdecki’s Bizness Apps app-building software to churches. Later, he built his own template app builder, except with more customizable features (Bizness Apps meets Wordpress is how he describes it) called BuildFire. He completed his new app-builder in 2014, and through ten years of savvy marketing, helped over 15,000 satisfied customers build custom phone and tablet apps. But Ian always considered himself more of a marketer than a technical founder. In his free time, he’d cooked up an ecommerce project in 2021 – a new take on laundry detergent called Laundry Sauce. In just a year and a half, it brought in eight figures in revenue while Ian was still working at BuildFire pulling 80-hour workweeks. To return funds to investors (and time for himself), Ian sold BuildFire on Acquire.com with the aid of none other than Acquire.com CEO and former competitor, Andrew Gazdecki. Andrew helped Ian close an all-cash offer with an interested buyer, funding a surf trip to Indonesia and enough seed money to feel secure going all-in on his new venture. Listen to Andrew and Ian chat post-acquisition as they discuss: Their unique experiences of the app-builder industry Why modular SaaS businesses are hard to scale Why Ian settled on laundry detergent for his next business Ian is just getting started and you can follow his journey here: Instagram : @ianblair44 laundrysauce.com
Oct 16, 2024 · 26 min
How to Build SaaS for an Industry No One Knows About (Except Your Customers)
Have you ever heard of the career readiness industry? It’s a rarely reported on but active auxiliary industry spanning career coaching and development, edtech, vocational training, higher education, and more. Just career coaching and development alone is valued at $45 billion. Harris Osserman founded Talk Hiring originally to turn voice notes into job applications as a B2C career-readiness product. He and his team changed trajectories into the B2B industry when a school district tried to buy them out as an interview prep tool. On the back of the successful pivot and many timely connections with hiring groups, Harris and his team developed Talk Hiring into a useful job interview simulation tool. Then they spun off a handful of other career-readiness apps when they saw the market was underserved. However, after the birth of his first child and a move to Atlanta, Harris was ready to sell Talk Hiring and look for something new to spend his time on. He created an account on Acquire.com and experienced just how effective it was to attract qualified buyers, securing seven offers within weeks. With the help of the Acquire team, he sourced an all-cash deal from a private buyer and closed quickly. Listen to Harris’ talk with Andrew as they discuss: How Harris pivoted into the career-readiness industry (he did a lot of volunteering). How Harris marketed his product (about five different ways). Why using Acquire.com can help you land a higher sale price. The startup building mistake to avoid if you want to attract buyers financing acquisitions with SBA loans. Harris is just getting started and you can follow him using the links below: Linkedin Twitter His blog
Sep 25, 2024 · 20 min
How to Build a Profitable SaaS in 6 Months and Sell it in 5 Days
Software businesses can be immensely profitable in very little time. But they can also die just as quickly. Software engineer Mark Jivko built Go index me!, a tool that speeds up Google page indexing, in six months for a bit of extra cash. He grew it to over 150 regular customers and thousands of dollars in sales in under a year. But Mark knew building an app that only relied on the Google APIs was playing with fire. It could all be demolished with a keystroke during a system update. He wanted to sell while he was ahead so that he could move onto another project he was more passionate about. Mark had previously sold a business on Acquire.com and knew he’d find the buyer he was looking for there. He sold Go index me! in one week under the tutelage of his buyer, an eight-time serial startup acquirer who DM’d him almost immediately. Now Mark is gearing up for a new project to help founders using social media for product distribution to avoid platform addiction. Tune in to this SASP with Mark and Andrew as they discuss: Mark’s trick to do escrows faster The questions you should never answer from buyers before going under LOI Why Mark knew he was going to sell his tool from the beginning How Mark plans to help founders who use social media reduce their addictions to the platforms And read our writeup of Mark’s story here. Mark is just getting started and you can follow him below: LinkedIn Twitter
Sep 19, 2024 · 27 min
Startup Acquisition Stories Ep #112 | Making $250,000 on His Second Sale on Acquire.com
Nico Jeannen just made a quarter-million dollar sale a couple weeks ago with the acquisition of his transcription product, Talknotes. It’s his second sale after a string of roughly 17 startups that have seen increasing success. Here’s how he made TalkNotes. One day, Nico was trying to get Google to transcribe a voice note for him when he noticed the quality was poor. He crafted a prototype transcriber using an AI API and posted it on X.com (formerly Twitter) making $700 in just a few days. He scaled further using his knowledge of SEO gained from previous projects. Nico realized he didn’t want to spend hours fixing code and doing customer support after one round of bug fixes dipped customer acquisition by 70%. He wanted to sell quickly – before he burned out. He listed on Acquire and secured an all-cash $200,000 deal in weeks with the help of Ebony on Acquire.com’s support team. Listen to Andrew and Nico’s interview as they discuss: What Nico has learned about startups after building 17 of them Why Nico accepted a drastic price cut for his sale The dangers of playing buyers against each other --------------------------- Be sure to subscribe to see the newest acquisition stories every Tuesday and gain the knowledge to buy or sell your own online business → https://youtube.com/@acquiredotcom?sub_confirmation=1 Want more stories? Access the past 50+ acquisition stories here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/startup-acquisition-stories-podcast/Thinking about selling your own startup? The number one question is always 'how much can I sell for' and we've got the answers in our biannual valuation multiples reports here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/acquire-coms-acquisition-multiples-report/ Thinking about buying a startup? Sign up for a free buyer account and browse all the live listings. Upgrade only when you find the right one that fits your acquisition criteria to engage. Get Started → https://acquire.com/buyers/ --------------------------- Follow the Guest: Nico Jeannen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nico-jeannen/ https://x.com/nico_jeannen Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki - https://twitter.com/agazdecki https://www.linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/ https://acquire.com Follow Acquire.com - https://twitter.com/acquiredotcom https://www.linkedin.com/company/acquiredotcom https://www.tiktok.com/@acquiredotcom --------------------------- About Acquire.com: Acquire.com is the largest and most active acquisition marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Acquire.com is the highest rated platform for both ease and quickness to match buyers and sellers.We cater to all types of online, revenue-generating businesses while producing the highest success rates for SaaS and eCommerce/DTC businesses in the M&A industry. Join over 350,000 entrepreneurs making life-changing connections and deals everyday.