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I see more and more investors looking to do this especially as a solo-founder of a bootstrapped small SaaS business. As I march towards $1M ARR, the savvy inves

by buf 7y ago

I see more and more investors looking to do this especially as a solo-founder of a bootstrapped small SaaS business. As I march towards $1M ARR, the savvy investors are looking for ways to be valuable to my business as opposed to me begging investors for the next round of funding in traditional VC-backed ventures. I would be very happy to share 15-20% if the value-add is strong enough.

toomuchtodo 7y ago
What does that value add look like to you? I own a few SaaS sites that I bought (because I don’t have the patience and focus to build one myself) that I then work to increase the value of (based on lessons from a previous SaaS company I worked at), and I’m always interested in private equity arrangements.
- arthurcolle 7y ago
  What are some of the strategies that you use to increase value post-acquisition? Do you mostly try to twist the dials a bit to boost net margins, e.g. increasing automation for a product that is "already written" and can go on maintenance mode, or is it something more nuanced? I'm super interested in this topic as I've been building out 2 pretty neat SaaS products (basically web APIs that solve concrete problems for developers, similar to a Stripe or Twilio model, but for an industry that is not quite as open as telecommunications/payments) and I'd love to hear how investors look at this segment. Thanks in advance!
  - toomuchtodo 7y ago
    I have a strong disdain for vulture private equity models, such as going into maintenance mode and ratcheting up the pricing. I have folks I’ve run across in my career for SEO, UX, frontend, and work with them to explore methodologies to improve the product so customers extract as much value as possible, while setting pricing to be fair for value delivered. Their success is our success.
- tehlike 7y ago
  How do you go about buying one. How do you get the leads?
  - tomkubik 7y ago
    "Indiehackers" - community of bootstrap founders, you can find them online... Direct access to business owners. Good place to start!
  - cpach 7y ago
    Check out FE International: https://feinternational.com/ https://feinternational.com/
- buf 7y ago
  For this particular business, it's about unlocking certain levers for future growth. My SaaS has 300k+ users, mostly automated, and grows itself, but the product is positioned in a spot that draws quality issues that prohibits more premium users. The next level would be about attracting premium users. Even that is achievable on my own if I put some effort into it, but I've been busy with another startup recently that's doing 20x my solo project. Also bootstrapped, but not entirely owned by me.

by buf 7y ago

toomuchtodo 7y ago

What does that value add look like to you? I own a few SaaS sites that I bought (because I don’t have the patience and focus to build one myself) that I then work to increase the value of (based on lessons from a previous SaaS company I worked at), and I’m always interested in private equity arrangements.

arthurcolle 7y ago
What are some of the strategies that you use to increase value post-acquisition? Do you mostly try to twist the dials a bit to boost net margins, e.g. increasing automation for a product that is "already written" and can go on maintenance mode, or is it something more nuanced? I'm super interested in this topic as I've been building out 2 pretty neat SaaS products (basically web APIs that solve concrete problems for developers, similar to a Stripe or Twilio model, but for an industry that is not quite as open as telecommunications/payments) and I'd love to hear how investors look at this segment. Thanks in advance!
- toomuchtodo 7y ago
  I have a strong disdain for vulture private equity models, such as going into maintenance mode and ratcheting up the pricing. I have folks I’ve run across in my career for SEO, UX, frontend, and work with them to explore methodologies to improve the product so customers extract as much value as possible, while setting pricing to be fair for value delivered. Their success is our success.
tehlike 7y ago
How do you go about buying one. How do you get the leads?
- tomkubik 7y ago
  "Indiehackers" - community of bootstrap founders, you can find them online... Direct access to business owners. Good place to start!
- cpach 7y ago
  Check out FE International: https://feinternational.com/ https://feinternational.com/
buf 7y ago
For this particular business, it's about unlocking certain levers for future growth. My SaaS has 300k+ users, mostly automated, and grows itself, but the product is positioned in a spot that draws quality issues that prohibits more premium users. The next level would be about attracting premium users. Even that is achievable on my own if I put some effort into it, but I've been busy with another startup recently that's doing 20x my solo project. Also bootstrapped, but not entirely owned by me.