ThomasSmale

11 ms·

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by ThomasSmale 8y ago
Thanks for reading! Hope it helped clarify what you needed to know for your online business to be compliant with GDPR and avoid fines.
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by ThomasSmale 8y ago
Thanks! Quite a bit of extensive research and expert opinion went into the post :)
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by ThomasSmale 8y ago
Glad to hear it was helpful! A lot of the digital businesses we work with were finding themselves lost in the noise, so we wanted to make sure there was a complete, straightforward guide to compliance they could follow.
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How to Value an App(sellmysite.com)
10 points by ThomasSmale 9y ago|0 comments
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by ThomasSmale 9y ago
Thank you! We are trying to lead the way with content in the space - we've written a lot about SaaS in the past, but not much about apps in general. It's a hard topic to find credible content on as it's a relatively new space
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by ThomasSmale 9y ago
Overall we look at thousands of variables with varying degrees of weighting. Can't just use the same generic approach to each different business model as would over-simplify and ignore (or overplay) nuances of specific businesses that
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by ThomasSmale 9y ago
Thanks! Tried to cover a range of apps in there. We've written extensively about SaaS in the past, but not other apps which are also equally popular.
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App Valuation: How to Build, Value and Sell an App(feinternational.com)
20 points by ThomasSmale 9y ago|8 comments
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by ThomasSmale 9y ago
Hey Wenshaw, It would be a little small for us at FE International (we generally look at businesses generating at least $1K MRR). Your post is a little confusing - you said you chose the former (i.e. raising money) but also that you looked
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by ThomasSmale 9y ago
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience - happy to take on all constructive feedback so I appreciate you bringing it up! The reason we ask for a 2 year NDA is that this is the generally accepted length of time that NDAs are enforceable in al
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by ThomasSmale 9y ago
Lots of reasons. Just beware on marketplaces (Flippa, EmpireFlippers) etc. which have varying levels of vetting (from none to basic verification) as sellers often make up reasons or are lying about hours worked. Some legitimate reasons to s
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by ThomasSmale 9y ago
I'm founder of FE International (mentioned quite a few times in this thread already). We've done over $100m deals in the online space and have won various awards (e.g. for my business partner, Ismael: https://www.ibba.o
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by ThomasSmale 10y ago
That's often the best time for an acquisition! Leadpages got the chance to acquire a successful and growing product, Rob and Derrick managed a successful exit to a motivated and engaged buyer.
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Leadpages acquires Drip(pehub.com)
8 points by ThomasSmale 10y ago|2 comments
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by ThomasSmale 10y ago
Congratulations to Steven and Allan! Was an honor for the FE International team to be part of the process!
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
Check out the post we [luckily timed!] today - http://feinternational.com/blog/how-to-start-planning-your-e... - some basics in the blog post and a short (free) e-course you can sign up to on what to plan, too.
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
Hi Simon, Sorry we couldn't help - our focus tends to be on businesses that are primarily US focused with their customer base (although our sellers are based all over the world). Not aware of any established UK brokers who focus on web
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
Congratulations on a successful sale!
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
Thanks Jason, glad you found it useful. You make an excellent point on the "fixing". I usually advise people to do it at least 3 months before a sale (ideally 12 months) to fully benefit from the potential valuation upside of impr
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
Our data is related to outright sales of [generally] self-funded SaaS businesss. It's not the same as the VC/angel world where they are investing in unprofitable or pre-revenue SaaS businesses based on potential or estimated futur
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
The multiples we discuss are related to SaaS businesses below $5m valuation. Fortune 500 companies are indeed valued differently, usually on a multiple of EBITDA or similar. 10x is very high. Sure, there will be a few deals at that level, b
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
You would be right to be skeptical in that case - often buyers for younger sites have teams already in place or other sites in that particular industry making it less risky. We tend to avoid "trendy" niches or at least make the va
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How to Value a SaaS Business(feinternational.com)
120 points by ThomasSmale 11y ago|29 comments
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
Yesterday's discussion on the same deal: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10657769
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
Congratulations on the acquisition! Great to hear you found our process smooth, too.
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
No issues at all - it's a common question! If you look elsewhere in the market (especially marketplaces) your comment regarding scammy listings is certainly valid. Part of the reason we have done so well is our pre-listing due diligenc
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
Our average sales multiple is nearer 3x but this is still a good question. Often businesses (especially those selling nearer 2x) are relatively young so the valuation reflects the risk. We have a very stringent pre-listing due diligence pro
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
I believe it goes back 999 of the top keywords so plenty of data for the tool to be practical. It's useful for people with sites to come up with a reasonable number of content suggestions each week/month. It's probably not su
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by ThomasSmale 11y ago
Thomas from FE International here. That's the right link. HitTail uses Webmaster Tools (Search Console) rather than Google Analytics so the product still works fine - I tested it myself before we listed the business and found it very h