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Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business

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Re: Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business

#2
...the cash, from selling the business has built momentum for other projects like [...] angel investing,

I just knew that would be in there. Why do so many tech people seem to think that VC investment is what they want to be doing once they have spare cash? This isn't a personal critique of the OP, but it just seems so very common in general. I don't understand it.

Re: Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business

#3
post #2

...the cash, from selling the business has built momentum for other projects like [...] angel investing, I just knew that would be in there. Why do so many tech people seem to think that VC investment is what they want to be doing once they have spare cash? This isn't a personal critique of the OP, but it just seems so very common in general. I don't understand it.

I think it's because before the sale you were on the other side of the table dreaming about how easy the VC life is (just spending some cash and letting you do the actual work).

Re: Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business

#4
I buy bootstrapped businesses. Email in profile. Shoot me a message would be happy to discuss even if its just to chat. I don't ask a lot of questions, have numerous references, and I have been buying for the last 10 years.

Re: Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business

#5
post #2

...the cash, from selling the business has built momentum for other projects like [...] angel investing, I just knew that would be in there. Why do so many tech people seem to think that VC investment is what they want to be doing once they have spare cash? This isn't a personal critique of the OP, but it just seems so very common in general. I don't understand it.

I believe this a great feature that create "tech hubs". It is the "give back to the community" of tech entrepreneurs.

It is not just a financial decision.

Re: Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business

#6
post #2

...the cash, from selling the business has built momentum for other projects like [...] angel investing, I just knew that would be in there. Why do so many tech people seem to think that VC investment is what they want to be doing once they have spare cash? This isn't a personal critique of the OP, but it just seems so very common in general. I don't understand it.

How else would you invest your money? Index funds in a stock market whose price is going hockey stick?

With banks out of the business of loaning people money there are genuine opportunities out there where people can put money to work. I imagine he is not going to be gambling on ICOs but investing in profitable companies.

Re: Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business

#7
post #2

...the cash, from selling the business has built momentum for other projects like [...] angel investing, I just knew that would be in there. Why do so many tech people seem to think that VC investment is what they want to be doing once they have spare cash? This isn't a personal critique of the OP, but it just seems so very common in general. I don't understand it.

How else would you invest your money? Index funds in a stock market whose price is going hockey stick? With banks out of the business of loaning people money there are genuine opportunities out there where people can put money to work. I imagine he is not going to be gambling on ICOs but investing in profitable companies.

10% a year on a million is still (way) better than throwing 4x $25k at a random startup through angel investing.

Hell, with current interest rates, you might as well use some portfolio margin and borrow an extra million.

Re: Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business

#8
post #5
post #2

...the cash, from selling the business has built momentum for other projects like [...] angel investing, I just knew that would be in there. Why do so many tech people seem to think that VC investment is what they want to be doing once they have spare cash? This isn't a personal critique of the OP, but it just seems so very common in general. I don't understand it.

I believe this a great feature that create "tech hubs". It is the "give back to the community" of tech entrepreneurs. It is not just a financial decision.

But there's plenty of ways to 'give back to the community' without being the one waving the chequebook. In particular, if you've got the spare time to work on other projects, you can do plenty to help out.

Re: Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business

#9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How else would you invest your money? Index funds in a stock market whose price is going hockey stick? With banks out of the business of loaning people money there are genuine opportunities out there where people can put money to work. I imagine he is not going to be gambling on ICOs but investing in profitable companies.

10% a year on a million is still (way) better than throwing 4x $25k at a random startup through angel investing. Hell, with current interest rates, you might as well use some portfolio margin and borrow an extra million.

Yeah, exactly. Profitable VC investment is often described as a numbers game, where you need to make maybe hundreds of investments to smooth out the inevitable numerous failures. 4x $250k angel investments is basically a long shot gamble. On the flip side, if you do spread your investments and invest in lots of companies, you as an individual aren't going to be able to have enough time to help or advise any one startup in a meaningful way.

Re: Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business

#10
> Purposefully under-optimize

> For example, I really do not understand paid search advertising (Google Adwords, Facebook, etc) so I purposefully put almost no effort into it as a customer acquisition channel for Storemapper.

This article is awesome and super helpful, but that particular point seems like terrible advice. Surely it would be much better to hire a marketing/adwords contractor, and increase the value of your company by getting more customers.

I don't think I would want to purposefully leave any "room for improvement", just to make a startup more attractive to buyers who have some experience with ads and SEO. I'd prefer to do the best job I possibly can, and I'm sure people would be still interested in buying, as long as you have the customers and revenue.

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