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Tiny

tinycapital.com

101–110 of 158 posts

Re: Tiny

#101
post #89

This is quite interesting. Are there any competitors/similar companies? Not looking for IAC, but smaller upcoming companies.

Similar but different: a company called MicroAcquire[1] facilitate the buying and selling of small companies, though unlike tiny[2], don't acquire them themselves. [1] https://microacquire.com/ [2] https://www.tinycapital.com/

MicroAcquire is just a marketplace, and IMO not that good (as a customer looking to acquire).

Tiny is explicitly modeled as a mini Berkshire Hathaway for tech (they also, as a sideline, sell bronze busts of Charlie and Warren). An easy exit for those who don't want to see their work dismembered. They also part-own WeCommerce, a canadian public company doing the same for shopify apps/themes/agencies. (disclaimer, I also am a shareholder--no advice)

Re: Tiny

#102
post #96
post #4

Tiny is basically as advertised. A few years ago, I tried to sell one of my businesses to them (Zack) and he was straightforward in his reason to pass back then (profit too low). Took about a day once I had my metrics sorted. The experience was positive and re-enforced my understanding of important growth metrics and product storytelling.

Allow me to be cynical for a moment, for the sake of debate: if your business is profitable, why sell it for what Im assuming is going to be low multiple to a non-strategic buyer like Tiny?

Maybe you are burned out of running a company and want to do something else with your life or another business adventure. Or maybe the fun part of the business is done (ie building) and now its optimizing.

Also maybe you dint see the future is as bright as the buyer. Lots of reasons to make a move.

Re: Tiny

#103
A close friend of mine sold them a business. They are quick as advertised but pay bottom of the barrel multiples. Helpful if you need cash quick I guess.

Re: Tiny

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it's not mentioned I just assume it's US only. Which is usually the case.

IIRC Tiny came out of MetaLab and MetaLab is Canadian. Don't know if they might be registered elsewhere though. They probably are.

If so, no wonder. I've done a lot of data analysis contracts over the years and they were, by far, the most concerned about protecting user privacy way before it was cool. Tiny sounds just like their values.

Re: Tiny

#105

In case someone from the company is reading, the current background blue color is quite harsh on eyes, especially when reading text. Please try using #3f51b5 or something similar. Other than that, love the design.

I like it. Reminds me of DOS.

Re: Tiny

#106
post #96
post #4

Tiny is basically as advertised. A few years ago, I tried to sell one of my businesses to them (Zack) and he was straightforward in his reason to pass back then (profit too low). Took about a day once I had my metrics sorted. The experience was positive and re-enforced my understanding of important growth metrics and product storytelling.

Allow me to be cynical for a moment, for the sake of debate: if your business is profitable, why sell it for what Im assuming is going to be low multiple to a non-strategic buyer like Tiny?

All things being equal, you would not sell a _growing_ profitable business for a low multiple to a non-strategic buyer.

You would, perhaps, sell to a PE firm like Tiny when you believe you've exhausted growth.

That, or the traditional 3 D's: death, debt, divorce.

Re: Tiny

#107
Sometimes I wonder whether I should go and try to buy a micro SaaS business (I am an SWE) that's already out there just for the sake of trying to learn the ropes on how to do a business.

Convince me this is a bad idea.

Re: Tiny

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Principles. Lots of people making this error these days. A principal is e.g. of a school, or a loan.)

Principal investor is a term of art in the industry. It has other financial meanings as well. Principles are ideals you adhere to or uphold. They are also concepts used to implement a design. Principal and principle are homophones, and they are commonly mixed up. https://www.law.cornell.edu/definitions/uscode.php?def_id=12... https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/principal.asp#understan...

Are you disagreeing with me?

Re: Tiny

#109
post #78
post #23

The founders also have a Spotify marketplace sidekick to Tiny https://www.wecommerce.co/

Shopify, not Spotify. Now I'm left wondering what would be needed to piggyback on the spotify success, though. A marketplace for in-podcast-advertising? A (digital) agency that helps musicians sort out "all their Spotify administration, artwork, etc" so they can focus on making music?

Funnily enough, Tiny is in an adjacent market to this via one of their companies, Supercast[1]

[1] https://www.supercast.com

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