Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

ASK HN: I'm very tired.... how do I sell my company?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 42 posts

Re: ASK HN: I'm very tired.... how do I sell my company?

#11

Post by brmore »

Maybe obvious (?), but if you recognize (or at least accept) that your product might be a "feature", you probably have thought about who/what might benefit from that "feature". Have you contemplated calling the folks in that market to see if they might be interested?

Also concur with petervandijck earler. Might be interesting to just post your company name here. You might find a taker.

As to valuation, I wish there was a magic formula. I know from my own experience that the seemingly harsh valuation of a suitor will NEVER equal the company's value in your heart. Don't allow yourself to be insulted by an offer, at least publicly; you will almost certainly be angry, insulted, and frustrated at the value others will assign to your baby.

Re: ASK HN: I'm very tired.... how do I sell my company?

#12

Post by brmore »

brmore wrote: post #11

Maybe obvious (?), but if you recognize (or at least accept) that your product might be a "feature", you probably have thought about who/what might benefit from that "feature". Have you contemplated calling the folks in that market to see if they might be interested? Also concur with petervandijck earler. Might be interesting to just post your company name here. You might find a taker. As to valuation, I wish there w…

Following up on my own post. Totally ignore and disregard all of the above if you have even a moments pause about selling. As others have mentioned, pivot or competing in larger market are both valid courses of action to be considered if you have an ounce of fight left.

Re: ASK HN: I'm very tired.... how do I sell my company?

#13

Post by garciahouse »

Cut your losses and move on. Your fatique (after only 1 year) is a symptom of your heart knowing this is a waste of time and that your efforts are better spent on another project.

Move on.

Startups rarely succeed in a year. I've done 3 so far (the first 2 went for 5 years before they sold. I'm currently 5 years into my existing company - and we've got another 3-5 years ahead of us.

Expect "no money" for 2-3 years (minimum).

1) Code means virtually nothing in an acquisition. 2) Yes, sell all of the "assets" as a package. 3) Word Doc Summary that tells the story to the acquiring company. A PPT deck won't be as compelling.

Firesales are about details - not "top line story pitches."

Re: ASK HN: I'm very tired.... how do I sell my company?

#14

Post by jnchapel »

Your post struck a chord. About a month ago, after almost two years of running a small start-up, I made the decision to sell or close. The product had reached a plateau, and I realized that I didn't have the resources -- and more importantly, I no longer had the interest -- in pushing the product further along. It still has a ton of potential -- just for another organization.

The first thing I did after making my decision was inventory every salable asset -- the product, domain names (absolutely, sell those!), databases, intellectual property. The second was to write up a five-page prospectus that covered the basics -- what was for sale, the product's history, the product's numbers (how it was doing with users, etc.), revenue, and potential revenue. Armed with that, I approached companies I believed might be interested in acquiring (and let others in my industry know that I was planning to sell, if possible, or close, if not). If a company indicated it was interested, I sent the prospectus and answered follow-up questions. I am now in discussions with one serious potential buyer.

Re: Question #1, you have to forget how much time you've put into the product. Unfortunately, no sale price is going to recoup your hours. Depending on your product, its potential, and your industry, a sale price will likely be based on the value of your assets and/or multiples of income.

Re: ASK HN: I'm very tired.... how do I sell my company?

#15

Post by steveitis »

tgoing wrote: post #8
petervandijck wrote: post #4

1) lines of code and time don't matter at all. 2) yes, if they're any good. You need to figure out who might get value out of what you built. Those are the people that might by it. Once you've done that, you need to build competition for the buy. Why not tell us what the product is, so we can give better advice? It doesn't sound like you're going anywhere with it in any case.

Short-answers like this make me very nervous.... For me it means that you (or anyone who give those short-answers) do not care so much about the matter.... am I correct? But I'm thinking about tell what is the product.... I can tell that we're making a script to add to any website and we have a handful number of customers. We've been thinking of getting revenues by advertisement, but in order to get significant reven…

Well. That should be a simple decision. Would 'many websites' want/need it, if so would it be enough to generate more ad revenue than you'll loose in subscriptions/customer revenue?

If so than you have a viable business model. If not, than stick to your current 'sell it to them' plan.

Give away, and ad support, things that everyone needs or wants. Charge for niche content. It's the way of the internet, currently.

Really though more info is necessary. For instance if it's a certain type of SaaS you may be able to make a living on paid support without either option, or if it's a cool webapp than perhaps a freemium model should be embraced.

Re: ASK HN: I'm very tired.... how do I sell my company?

#16

Post by pgbovine »

tgoing wrote: post #8
petervandijck wrote: post #4

1) lines of code and time don't matter at all. 2) yes, if they're any good. You need to figure out who might get value out of what you built. Those are the people that might by it. Once you've done that, you need to build competition for the buy. Why not tell us what the product is, so we can give better advice? It doesn't sound like you're going anywhere with it in any case.

Short-answers like this make me very nervous.... For me it means that you (or anyone who give those short-answers) do not care so much about the matter.... am I correct? But I'm thinking about tell what is the product.... I can tell that we're making a script to add to any website and we have a handful number of customers. We've been thinking of getting revenues by advertisement, but in order to get significant reven…

For me it means that you (or anyone who give those short-answers) do not care so much about the matter.... am I correct?

sorry to sound rude, but you were the one who asked for advice here ... if i were you, i'd be grateful that people chime in with any thoughts at all, regardless of length. you can't expect people to write an entire inspired essay based on your (very short) question

Re: ASK HN: I'm very tired.... how do I sell my company?

#18

Post by trevelyan »

I think it depends on what "without many customers and real money" means. If you don't have ANY revenue you don't have a business that can realistically grow over time. But if you have some customers and some revenue you're not doing badly and your competitors aren't really an issue. A year is not much time to build a presence on the Internet. It takes time to get organic traffic and word-of-mouth growth.

If you think the market is there keep at it. If you've learned the market isn't really there, sit down with your cofounders and hash this out with them. They will see through any attempt to keep them enthusiastic if you aren't enthusiastic. I think this is a key example of how PG is wrong on the cofounder issue (at least for bootstrapped startups). It's a lot easier to grow a small business to the point where it supports the expectations of one person than to the point where it supports the expectations of several.

If you want to sell, try making a phone call to the other CEO and arrange lunch if you can get it. Casual contact humanizes you and gives you a chance to learn more about their plans than you would otherwise.

Re: ASK HN: I'm very tired.... how do I sell my company?

#20

Post by [deleted] »

pierrefar wrote: post #3

I was in a very similar situation a few months ago. I ran a URL shortener and got tired of the upkeep, but more importantly, I realized that it's a not product but a feature. I sold it, eventually. Here is how. I blogged saying the site is going to shut down, and I started making plans about what would happen in terms of data export and keeping the URLs working. The community responded VERY loudly: we like it, don't…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN