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Without context I doubt anyone can give you good advice. The size of company is a huge factor, the locale, the market, potential buyers etc. All that makes a

Without context I doubt anyone can give you good advice. The size of company is a huge factor, the locale, the market, potential buyers etc. All that makes a huge difference. And outside of VC startups (and even a number of those) most acquisitions in the business space are not stock acquisitions but asset sales so that changes how the math is done and how things are valued etc. If you are just talking about just in general, most small businesses use a broker to sell/find a buyer, mid-sized and up will use an M&A bank or specific advisor. Businesses under $1M are many times done very quickly with no brokers involved, just depends. Most people looking to acquire businesses talk directly to the businesses or find a broker or other intermediary they can trust to approach the business. If they are looking for the best deal they will usually go straight to the business for small transactions.

ezekg 7y ago
Sure, I understand. This post probably is a bit too vague. I guess I was more looking for personal experience in selling a profitable small business outside of a typical inbound acquisition offer. I know of the brokerage feinternational.com, just from the occasional mentions here on HN, but not really sure if there are other well-known alternatives which also focus on software/internet businesses.
- davismwfl 7y ago
  Gotcha. When I sold my businesses it was always from direct conversations with other people, always inbound in my case. And always asset sales not stock sales. Same for acquiring, I have reached directly out to a business but never used a broker, and I only bought assets. You've probably seen it but Patrick McKenzie (patio11) has talked about his experiences using FEI, https://www.kalzumeus.com/2016/08/26/kalzumeus-podcast-episode-13-selling-online-businesses-with-thomas-smale/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2016/08/26/kalzumeus-podcast-episo... . And I swear I thought he posted some other details on it, but I don't see any I have saved. Nathan Latka also talks about it in his book, "How To Be A Capitalist Without Any Capital". I am not really sure of any other specific online brokerages outside of some of the basic ones like https://www.flippa.com https://www.flippa.com. It may just be me, but every time I look on Flippa I see people wanting, sometimes quite a bit of, money for something that is worth $0 in business terms. Essentially what I see is they want to be paid for their time building something that has no revenue, no customers and no marketing which isn't a business it is an unfinished, unvalidated project. And I get it, I respect their time is worth something, but I do not understand why anyone would buy a "business" when the founder hasn't validated someone is willing to pay for it. To me it isn't a business until there are customers using the system that you can turn into revenue.

ezekg 7y ago

Sure, I understand. This post probably is a bit too vague. I guess I was more looking for personal experience in selling a profitable small business outside of a typical inbound acquisition offer. I know of the brokerage feinternational.com, just from the occasional mentions here on HN, but not really sure if there are other well-known alternatives which also focus on software/internet businesses.

davismwfl 7y ago
Gotcha. When I sold my businesses it was always from direct conversations with other people, always inbound in my case. And always asset sales not stock sales. Same for acquiring, I have reached directly out to a business but never used a broker, and I only bought assets. You've probably seen it but Patrick McKenzie (patio11) has talked about his experiences using FEI, https://www.kalzumeus.com/2016/08/26/kalzumeus-podcast-episode-13-selling-online-businesses-with-thomas-smale/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2016/08/26/kalzumeus-podcast-episo... . And I swear I thought he posted some other details on it, but I don't see any I have saved. Nathan Latka also talks about it in his book, "How To Be A Capitalist Without Any Capital". I am not really sure of any other specific online brokerages outside of some of the basic ones like https://www.flippa.com https://www.flippa.com. It may just be me, but every time I look on Flippa I see people wanting, sometimes quite a bit of, money for something that is worth $0 in business terms. Essentially what I see is they want to be paid for their time building something that has no revenue, no customers and no marketing which isn't a business it is an unfinished, unvalidated project. And I get it, I respect their time is worth something, but I do not understand why anyone would buy a "business" when the founder hasn't validated someone is willing to pay for it. To me it isn't a business until there are customers using the system that you can turn into revenue.