3 ms·

Ask HN: How to sell a start up.

Let us say I have completed coded and prepared a project. Hypothetically lets say its the Twitter. i have the entire code ready. Now I just want to sell it. What do I need to do ? I know that if I put it in public domain and it gets millions users it is a successful venture and hence will get sold for a high value. But i am not interested in a high value. Do you think with a reasonable product I will be able to sell it for say a $100k ? Note: you might ask can a reasonably good product be "developed" in $100k ? Then what profit do you make by selling it? The assumption here is that I alone have developed everything and it is of GOOD quality (however unlikely it might be)".

jlangenauer 17y ago
The thing to remember, is that unless you have _actually_ proven that people want to use it, and are doing so, then any value that might be attached to the software is hypothetical. If an investor had $100k, they could put it in the bank, and with no work and no risk whatsoever, they would earn $3K to $5K in interest (depending on the bank). Now, if they were to spend the $100K buying your software, how much return could they be guaranteed? Not a likely or possible return, but a guaranteed return, without any risk? The easy part in any start-up is writing the code. The hard part is marketing it, building the user base, and re-writing the code when you realise that what you thought the users wanted isn't actually what they wanted at all. What you want to sell is not a startup, but just software. Depending on how complex the software is, it might sell for between $100 to $1000. Maybe a more for B2B software in specialized industries, but for any consumer stuff, that would be the upper limit. If you have this software written, why not take the plunge and try to turn it into a company yourself? After all, you've put in the work so far, so shouldn't you get the rewards?
- digamber_kamat 17y ago
  --What you want to sell is not a startup, but just software. Depending on how complex the software is, it might sell for between $100 to $1000. ---- I got the point. Unless you prove that it is an earth shattering idea and get a few million userbase, you are actually selling a software and not a business. The question than comes is what is the costliest software in the market? hardly any sw is costlier than $ 1k.
  - jlangenauer 17y ago
    There's plenty of very expensive software - for example some of the really high end engineering packages I've used, for things like 3D modelling and fluid simulation, can sell for upwards of $5K per _seat_. But again, the value this software adds to the business has to be much more than its cost. A big company will easily spend $500K on software to manage construction materials if it means that it reduces their material wastage on a $1b project from 5% to 2%. I'm sure other people here can provide plenty of other examples.
davidw 17y ago
You could sell it on sitepoint or eBay. > But i am not interested in a high value. Do you think with a reasonable product I will be able to sell it for say a $100k ? How much is it currently earning? What future earnings potential does it have?
wheels 17y ago
The chance of finding someone who just wants the code for a site that isn't already popular is very small. Not impossibly small, but small. The converse is much easier: if you've got a lot of traffic, people will throw a lot of money at a URL shortener.
anamax 17y ago
> I know that if I put it in public domain and it gets millions users it is a successful venture and hence will get sold for a high value. Huh? There are lots of things in the public domain with millions of users that haven't been sold for a high value. "In the public domain" means that folks can pay virtually nothing.
- davidw 17y ago
  I think he means "public" - available to the public at large, rather than the legal definition, which is the first thing that came to my mind too.
  - digamber_kamat 17y ago
    yes, that is what I meant Sir. Thanks.

jlangenauer 17y ago

The thing to remember, is that unless you have _actually_ proven that people want to use it, and are doing so, then any value that might be attached to the software is hypothetical. If an investor had $100k, they could put it in the bank, and with no work and no risk whatsoever, they would earn $3K to $5K in interest (depending on the bank). Now, if they were to spend the $100K buying your software, how much return could they be guaranteed? Not a likely or possible return, but a guaranteed return, without any risk? The easy part in any start-up is writing the code. The hard part is marketing it, building the user base, and re-writing the code when you realise that what you thought the users wanted isn't actually what they wanted at all. What you want to sell is not a startup, but just software. Depending on how complex the software is, it might sell for between $100 to $1000. Maybe a more for B2B software in specialized industries, but for any consumer stuff, that would be the upper limit. If you have this software written, why not take the plunge and try to turn it into a company yourself? After all, you've put in the work so far, so shouldn't you get the rewards?

digamber_kamat 17y ago
--What you want to sell is not a startup, but just software. Depending on how complex the software is, it might sell for between $100 to $1000. ---- I got the point. Unless you prove that it is an earth shattering idea and get a few million userbase, you are actually selling a software and not a business. The question than comes is what is the costliest software in the market? hardly any sw is costlier than $ 1k.
- jlangenauer 17y ago
  There's plenty of very expensive software - for example some of the really high end engineering packages I've used, for things like 3D modelling and fluid simulation, can sell for upwards of $5K per _seat_. But again, the value this software adds to the business has to be much more than its cost. A big company will easily spend $500K on software to manage construction materials if it means that it reduces their material wastage on a $1b project from 5% to 2%. I'm sure other people here can provide plenty of other examples.

davidw 17y ago

You could sell it on sitepoint or eBay. > But i am not interested in a high value. Do you think with a reasonable product I will be able to sell it for say a $100k ? How much is it currently earning? What future earnings potential does it have?

wheels 17y ago

The chance of finding someone who just wants the code for a site that isn't already popular is very small. Not impossibly small, but small. The converse is much easier: if you've got a lot of traffic, people will throw a lot of money at a URL shortener.

anamax 17y ago

> I know that if I put it in public domain and it gets millions users it is a successful venture and hence will get sold for a high value. Huh? There are lots of things in the public domain with millions of users that haven't been sold for a high value. "In the public domain" means that folks can pay virtually nothing.

davidw 17y ago
I think he means "public" - available to the public at large, rather than the legal definition, which is the first thing that came to my mind too.
- digamber_kamat 17y ago
  yes, that is what I meant Sir. Thanks.