Ask HN: Have you ever bought a company to run yourself?

#1

Post by hazard » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 2:46 AM UTC

There are lots of websites out there for people to sell existing businesses, from SaaS companies to restaurants. It seems like buying and improving an existing business is a higher-cost, lower-risk alternative to founding a startup.

What's it like to buy an established business and try to improve it?

Was it profitable and worth the time and effort? Would you do it again?

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever bought a company to run yourself?

#2

Post by raybon » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 3:15 AM UTC

Very good question. I've been thinking about this for awhile. This is fairly common on the PE industry but I'm not aware of this happening in VC / startup world. OP, can you please post the links of websites that you mention list the SaaS companies please?

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever bought a company to run yourself?

#3

Post by hazard » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 3:20 AM UTC

raybon wrote: post #2

Very good question. I've been thinking about this for awhile. This is fairly common on the PE industry but I'm not aware of this happening in VC / startup world. OP, can you please post the links of websites that you mention list the SaaS companies please?

You can just google 'buy a saas business' and there's at least a half-dozen places that come up. Flippa, FE international, Empire Flippers, etc

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever bought a company to run yourself?

#4

Post by raybon » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 3:28 AM UTC

hazard wrote: post #3

raybon wrote: post #2

Very good question. I've been thinking about this for awhile. This is fairly common on the PE industry but I'm not aware of this happening in VC / startup world. OP, can you please post the links of websites that you mention list the SaaS companies please?

You can just google 'buy a saas business' and there's at least a half-dozen places that come up. Flippa, FE international, Empire Flippers, etc

Great thanks. If you make progress on this and are looking for business partners, please let me know and we can try to connect offline.