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

Tiny Acquisitions

tinyacquisitions.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 178 posts

Re: Tiny Acquisitions

#161

Post by cestith »

alex_g wrote: post #95
enobrev wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any suggestions on the other end: where to sell a business that is both profitable and should continue to be? Asking for a friend who is looking to retire in the next couple years (at the normal retirement age).

No shame in my #3 above. I'm not an expert, but typically multiples range from 1-4x annual profit, but I've heard through the grapevine that some folks are paying 5-10x. So absolutely list on MicroAcquire. If it's very profitable, then they might consider talking to FEInternational (or another firm like them). They take a cut, though. But they do pay referral fees, so make sure you get that cut! Edit: Before someone…

For a business that is all about monthly recurring fees, rather than an annual multiple a big part of the consideration can be the customer acquisition cost in the industry. If I have a similar company already, I'll pay you up to somewhere around what it costs me to acquire the same number of new customers some other way. If you have 10,000 subscriptions and it generally costs me $5 per customer to land new subscribers, $50,000 makes a lot of sense. Much less than that is a real bargain. Much more and maybe I just spend the money marketing to your customers instead, depending on what other assets come in the deal. This is largely independent of what your subscription fee is.

Re: Tiny Acquisitions

#163

Post by alex_g »

weavie wrote: post #148
IgorPartola wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in that last category myself. I had a really nice and useful budget app that had thousands of daily users and cost all of $20/month to keep going, if that. Was making some money off it too with ads and sales of the ad-free version. Except I built it using Ionic back when it was based on Angular 1. Fast forward to now and that code simply doesn’t compile anymore against modern iOS and Android and I don’t have the…

Not just javascript, I built an app in Objective C. It stopped working after IOS 8 (I think) and I no longer had access to a Mac to update it. I too am in the stage of just replying to customers to explain why it isn't available.

What is the app?

Re: Tiny Acquisitions

#164

Post by alex_g »

runako wrote: post #151
alex_g wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All valid reasons, but I think my point was moreso if they find themselves posting on MicroAcquire, they will likely end up in my #3, whether they intended to or not, and rightfully so.

Maybe the multiples only seem high to you, and others are anchoring on other market assumptions? (Different market assumptions being a key driver of trading in many things.) Markets are crazy right now, and #3 could fairly describe transactions in the stock market, housing market, commodities market, etc. occurring now. Also for sub-scale businesses, it may not be useful to value them based on revenue or profit multi…

Absolutely, that’s why I tried to frame it as high to most but not everyone.

In regards to being cheaper to buy than to build, that’s certainly possible. Depends on your skillset.

Re: Tiny Acquisitions

#165

Post by dshoemaker »

tekstar wrote: post #119
andi999 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what is the valuation? 3000 per year equals for 10 years 30k? (am not going to buy though)

In this specific case I would sell at a lower multiple to someone in the niche community. The amount of money to be made by selling someone who wants to exploit the userbase isn't worth tarnishing my reputation and subsequently shooting future projects within the same niche in the foot.

I've had an interest in taking on a project for a while and your comments have sparked something for me. I'd be interested in chatting with you about your project if you'd like. I'll buy a coffee/beer/tea/beverage of choice just for the trouble of a call. Contact info in my profile if you're interested!

Re: Tiny Acquisitions

#166

Post by shard »

jaxn wrote: post #154
shard wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real estate comes with its own set of problems. First is the large capital outlay as compared with a small web project, which means many more eggs are in that one basket. Second is the slow turnover, which means that you may be waiting for years for a good property (since if it's a good property, there are only a few situations where the owner would sell), and if you choose poorly, you will be stuck with the poor pro…

A mall across the street pretty much universally increases the value of existing retail in the area due to increased car traffic. But the mall across the street shutting down or converting to non-retail use would fit.

Not universally true. Depending on points such as competing stores in the mall and the parking situation, number of customers can decrease for the store outside the mall. For example, you are a cellphone store with no parking and the mall will have 3 cellphone stores and a giant parking structure, the mall will hurt your business.

Re: Tiny Acquisitions

#167

Post by fooker »

quaffapint wrote: post #41
fooker wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s typical tech salary for people with ~5+ years of experience doing something interesting.

Maybe in a few tech/expensive areas of the country, but not for the average dev with way more than 5+ yrs in the average US.

Of course not the average dev. But once you are good at a niche topic, it is definitely the case.

Re: Tiny Acquisitions

#168

Post by fooker »

thrwaeasddsaf wrote: post #55
fooker wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s typical tech salary for people with ~5+ years of experience doing something interesting.

Is it really or is it just in the SV bubble? Or is this a case of "it's not interesting if it's not in SV"? Sometimes reading HN gives me the feeling that there is no "tech" other than FAANG in the US. Or somehow every little "tech" company is just making FU money, which sounds hard to believe.

> Or is this a case of "it's not interesting if it's not in SV"

This is a case of "get deep knowledge about something which can not be replicated by googling your way out". Become a recognized expert in compilers, OS internals, or similar areas and suddenly you get $250-300k anywhere in US/Canada. Europe tech salaries are much lower.

Post reply on HN