6 ms·

How much time and effort was involved in selling the company? Did you need to engage an accountant or lawyer in order to provide documents for the buyers due di

How much time and effort was involved in selling the company? Did you need to engage an accountant or lawyer in order to provide documents for the buyers due diligence? Place domain names in escrow? Does this place a lower limit of the value of a company worth selling, because of the costs involved?

patio11 11y ago
At least three weeks of full-time work, most caused because BCC was excessively entangled in my other businesses and disentangling them was not always straightforward. (Example: running on a VPS in the same Rackspace account used for AR's VPSes. Rackspace support was not responsive regarding account moves, so I ended up rebuilding an entire environment from metal at another provider then syncing/cutovering. Now multiply that by a sixty point checklist.) If I had had my affairs in better order it would have been closer to one week of work spread over a few weeks of calendar time. Most of the unskippable process was due diligence, which was a real eye opener. Imagine an ex-Goldman employee quizzing you about a CC chargeback which was reflected in Stripe but not in the revenue books, which he had discovered by examining every transaction for 12 months with a microscope. I'm told, somewhat to my surprise, that BCC was much better documented than most acquisitions handled by FEI, particularly in this price range. While the infra was lacking it was a major help to have nice clean books. I didn't get my accountant or lawyer involved aside from a mentioning that I was selling BCC, as it wouldn't have been cost-effective. The deal was executed on FEI's standard purchase agreement with 2~3 clauses added at the buyer's request. Yes, the domains were escrowed.
- StavrosK 11y ago
  What's the justification in doing three weeks of full-time work, which, at your average published rates is worth roughly $90k, to sell a site for $57k? Wouldn't it be much more sensible to spend the time contracting, making more money and keep the site, which is passive income?
  - rattray 11y ago
    It is just one less thing to worry about. Also, he may not have known it would take 3 full weeks at the onset (eg; if Rackspace had waved a magic wand on the accounts it probably would have saved a week)
    - StavrosK 11y ago
      I don't believe the "one less thing to worry about" argument. If I had to pay $30k to close a side-project, I'd have let it die. Same for not knowing how much work it would be, it makes sense to stop when you realize it's going to be more work than it's worth, even if it creeps up on you.
      - rattray 11y ago
        Just letting a creation of mine die feels like letting a part of myself die. You can say it shouldn't but that's not important; preferences are preferences ;-) and people are weird. For certain people, myself and perhaps patio11 included, it'd be worth that $30k of opportunity cost.
      - morganm 11y ago
        It really didn't cost him $30k to close the project. I'm sure Patrick felt a certain obligation to his users to ensure BCC was transitioned to someone who would look after them. He could just stop answering support requests or flip off the domain, but then he's just paying with his integrity.
      - duked 11y ago
        Not sure why that has been down voted. Yes it does not add up. If you claim you are able to make 30k/week, you don't spend that much time on closing a 57k sale. I'm a sorry but the level of responses here are fanboism at best. Patio11 might be treated as a god here, but that doesn't hide the fact that this is a huge inconsistency ... Like the previous OP I will be down voted for expressing an opinion that deviates to much from the norm on HN. How can we have productive, constructive, discussion when we can't express an opinion. Take aside the name/popularity of the guy and you'll be left with a simple problem: 30k/week versus 3 weeks/57k, dealing with much much less exciting things (you know what I mean if you've dealt with a purchase agreement and the likes...)
- sdrothrock 11y ago
  > I'm told, somewhat to my surprise, that BCC was much better documented than most acquisitions handled by FEI, particularly in this price range. While the infra was lacking it was a major help to have nice clean books. Was this thanks to Stripe, or another service, or another way you documented transactions? Or just the fact that you documented them at all?
  - el_fuser 11y ago
    Because they were documented at all, at least in my experience.
- coupdejarnac 11y ago
  On a related note, I asked Rackspace what it would take to transfer my VPS image in the event I sold my company. They told me that transferring an image to another customer was not possible. This was about 3 years ago. Are any other VPS providers more friendly about transferring disk images between accounts?
  - simonswords82 11y ago
    I've found Rackspace to be super unhelpful the moment you make a request that isn't either in their interests (e.g. "can we have another server and pay you more please") or falls outside of what they would normally do. Other VPS providers I've used since have been infinitely more flexible and helpful, including transferring disk images.
  - patio11 11y ago
    It is really easy on Digital Ocean. On Rackspace it is theoretically possible but you have to "self-serve" with the API apparently and it is a %{#+{^#]#{## from start to finish.

patio11 11y ago

At least three weeks of full-time work, most caused because BCC was excessively entangled in my other businesses and disentangling them was not always straightforward. (Example: running on a VPS in the same Rackspace account used for AR's VPSes. Rackspace support was not responsive regarding account moves, so I ended up rebuilding an entire environment from metal at another provider then syncing/cutovering. Now multiply that by a sixty point checklist.) If I had had my affairs in better order it would have been closer to one week of work spread over a few weeks of calendar time. Most of the unskippable process was due diligence, which was a real eye opener. Imagine an ex-Goldman employee quizzing you about a CC chargeback which was reflected in Stripe but not in the revenue books, which he had discovered by examining every transaction for 12 months with a microscope. I'm told, somewhat to my surprise, that BCC was much better documented than most acquisitions handled by FEI, particularly in this price range. While the infra was lacking it was a major help to have nice clean books. I didn't get my accountant or lawyer involved aside from a mentioning that I was selling BCC, as it wouldn't have been cost-effective. The deal was executed on FEI's standard purchase agreement with 2~3 clauses added at the buyer's request. Yes, the domains were escrowed.

StavrosK 11y ago
What's the justification in doing three weeks of full-time work, which, at your average published rates is worth roughly $90k, to sell a site for $57k? Wouldn't it be much more sensible to spend the time contracting, making more money and keep the site, which is passive income?
- rattray 11y ago
  It is just one less thing to worry about. Also, he may not have known it would take 3 full weeks at the onset (eg; if Rackspace had waved a magic wand on the accounts it probably would have saved a week)
  - StavrosK 11y ago
    I don't believe the "one less thing to worry about" argument. If I had to pay $30k to close a side-project, I'd have let it die. Same for not knowing how much work it would be, it makes sense to stop when you realize it's going to be more work than it's worth, even if it creeps up on you.
    - rattray 11y ago
      Just letting a creation of mine die feels like letting a part of myself die. You can say it shouldn't but that's not important; preferences are preferences ;-) and people are weird. For certain people, myself and perhaps patio11 included, it'd be worth that $30k of opportunity cost.
    - morganm 11y ago
      It really didn't cost him $30k to close the project. I'm sure Patrick felt a certain obligation to his users to ensure BCC was transitioned to someone who would look after them. He could just stop answering support requests or flip off the domain, but then he's just paying with his integrity.
    - duked 11y ago
      Not sure why that has been down voted. Yes it does not add up. If you claim you are able to make 30k/week, you don't spend that much time on closing a 57k sale. I'm a sorry but the level of responses here are fanboism at best. Patio11 might be treated as a god here, but that doesn't hide the fact that this is a huge inconsistency ... Like the previous OP I will be down voted for expressing an opinion that deviates to much from the norm on HN. How can we have productive, constructive, discussion when we can't express an opinion. Take aside the name/popularity of the guy and you'll be left with a simple problem: 30k/week versus 3 weeks/57k, dealing with much much less exciting things (you know what I mean if you've dealt with a purchase agreement and the likes...)
sdrothrock 11y ago
> I'm told, somewhat to my surprise, that BCC was much better documented than most acquisitions handled by FEI, particularly in this price range. While the infra was lacking it was a major help to have nice clean books. Was this thanks to Stripe, or another service, or another way you documented transactions? Or just the fact that you documented them at all?
- el_fuser 11y ago
  Because they were documented at all, at least in my experience.
coupdejarnac 11y ago
On a related note, I asked Rackspace what it would take to transfer my VPS image in the event I sold my company. They told me that transferring an image to another customer was not possible. This was about 3 years ago. Are any other VPS providers more friendly about transferring disk images between accounts?
- simonswords82 11y ago
  I've found Rackspace to be super unhelpful the moment you make a request that isn't either in their interests (e.g. "can we have another server and pay you more please") or falls outside of what they would normally do. Other VPS providers I've used since have been infinitely more flexible and helpful, including transferring disk images.
- patio11 11y ago
  It is really easy on Digital Ocean. On Rackspace it is theoretically possible but you have to "self-serve" with the API apparently and it is a %{#+{^#]#{## from start to finish.