Startup Acquisition Stories Acquire.com

Lebanese founder, Nour Shaaban just sold his SaaS business on Acquire.com for a life-changing sum.



While he can’t reveal too many details due to his non-disclosure agreement (NDA), he agreed to hop on the SASP podcast to talk about his experience building and selling his business.



Listen to Nour’s chat with Andrew as they discuss:


The benefits of the Guided by Acquire process that can’t be found anywhere else


How the Acquire.com experience compares to the old MicroAcquire experience


Advice to other entrepreneurs trying to create a 7-figure exit

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Be sure to subscribe to see the newest acquisition stories every Tuesday and gain the knowledge to buy or sell your own online business → https://youtube.com/@acquiredotcom?sub_confirmation=1



Want more stories? Access the past 50+ acquisition stories here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/startup-acquisition-stories-podcast/



Thinking about selling your own startup? The number one question is always 'how much can I sell for' and we've got the answers in our biannual valuation multiples reports here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/acquire-coms-acquisition-multiples-report/



Thinking about buying a startup? Sign up for a free buyer account and browse all the live listings. Upgrade only when you find the right one that fits your acquisition criteria to engage. Get Started → https://acquire.com/buyers/



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Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki


https://twitter.com/agazdecki
https://www.linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/
https://acquire.com



Follow Acquire.com -


https://twitter.com/acquiredotcom
https://www.linkedin.com/company/acquiredotcom
https://www.tiktok.com/@acquiredotcom



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About Acquire.com:



Acquire.com is the largest and most active acquisition marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Acquire.com is the highest rated platform for both ease and quickness to match buyers and sellers.



We cater to all types of online, revenue-generating businesses while producing the highest success rates for SaaS and eCommerce/DTC businesses in the M&A industry. Join over 350,000 entrepreneurs making life-changing connections and deals everyday.

Luke Sheppard recently finished his bachelor’s degree at BYU with a little more spending money and work experience than most grads. He just sold his startup for $500,000 at age 23.



While attending university to study business, Luke launched a company called Revive Ratings. It was a marketing SaaS targeted at insurance agencies. He sold it in just over two years for six figures on Acquire.com.



To successfully launch his business, Luke took some big risks, like buying a one year $50,000 white-labeled software license while still pre-revenue.



But Luke also had lots of help along the way. His professors and even his competitors were happy to take a young college student under their wing as he learned the ropes.



After years of hard work and the help of the Acquire team, Luke managed to secure his dream exit and pave the road to many more to come. He’s already in the process of acquiring his next business on Acquire.



Post acquisition, listen to a jam-packed new episode of Startup Acquisition Stories Podcast as Luke and Andrew discuss:


The unfair advantage of launching a startup while in university
Why insurance agencies make great sales targets
How Andrew first discovered the idea behind his first successful startup, Bizness Apps
The potential timeline delays from SBA Loan buyers
Andrew’s college days as a young entrepreneur
What Andrew Gazdecki would be doing right now if he wasn’t running Acquire



Luke is just getting started and you can follow along on his journey here:


https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheppluke/



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Be sure to subscribe to see the newest acquisition stories every Tuesday and gain the knowledge to buy or sell your own online business → https://youtube.com/@acquiredotcom?sub_confirmation=1

Want more stories? Access the past 50+ acquisition stories here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/startup-acquisition-stories-podcast/

Thinking about selling your own startup? The number one question is always 'how much can I sell for' and we've got the answers in our biannual valuation multiples reports here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/acquire-coms-acquisition-multiples-report/

Thinking about buying a startup? Sign up for a free buyer account and browse all the live listings. Upgrade only when you find the right one that fits your acquisition criteria to engage. Get Started → https://acquire.com/buyers/

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Follow the Guest: Luke Sheppard


https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheppluke



Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki -


⁠https://twitter.com/agazdecki​⁠
⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/​⁠
⁠https://acquire.com⁠



Follow Acquire.com -


⁠https://twitter.com/acquiredotcom⁠
⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/acquiredotcom⁠
⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@acquiredotcom⁠



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About Acquire.com:
Acquire.com is the largest and most active acquisition marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Acquire.com is the highest rated platform for both ease and quickness to match buyers and sellers.

We cater to all types of online, revenue-generating businesses while producing the highest success rates for SaaS and eCommerce/DTC businesses in the M&A industry. Join over 350,000 entrepreneurs making life-changing connections and deals everyday.

In a moment of frustration, David Idol created his first successful Chrome extension, Computer Mouse for XCloud.



In just a few short months, he was making $4,000 per month in revenue and he eventually sold his project for 5-figures.



Here’s how it happened.



David was working at Microsoft for Xbox Live when they launched XCloud, their cloud gaming application. It let players stream games from other devices like computers or phones. 



But David noticed a problem. Gamers weren’t able to play games on their PCs without special controllers. He coded a Chrome extension letting gamers use their keyboards for games on the PC. He posted about it on Reddit and almost overnight acquired thousands of users.



After three months, David added a one-time payment to access his product and reached $4,000 in monthly revenue and over 250,000 users. People around the world wrote him emails and reviews thanking him for the extension. He’d even made it easier for disabled people to enjoy Xbox games.



But though Computer Mouse for XCloud was exploding in popularity, David didn’t feel he had time to keep adding features. He listed it on Acquire.com and eventually sold it to a promising buyer.



Post sale, tune into this week’s episode of startup acquisition stories as David and Andrew discuss:




How David went from hacking Xbox games to working for Microsoft
Why David’s product name was great for traffic
The dangers of potential buyers for Chrome extensions
How to transfer ownership of Chrome extensions



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Follow the Guest: David Idol -


https://twitter.com/DavidIdolize
https://davididol.com/
https://photoarchiveapp.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rdidol/



Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki - 


https://twitter.com/agazdecki
https://www.linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/
https://acquire.com



Follow Acquire.com -


https://twitter.com/acquiredotcom
https://www.linkedin.com/company/acquiredotcom
https://www.tiktok.com/@acquiredotcom



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About Acquire.com:



Acquire.com is the largest and most active acquisition marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Acquire.com is the highest-rated platform for both ease and quickness to match buyers and sellers. 



We cater to all types of online, revenue-generating businesses while producing the highest success rates for SaaS and eCommerce/DTC businesses in the M&A industry. Join over 350,000 entrepreneurs making life-changing connections and deals everyday.

What would you do if you were stuck in a cabin during an Icelandic snowstorm?



Adam Senese and his brother came up with their Shopify app for product bundling, Linq Commerce, trapped in an Airbnb for the day during the dead of the Icelandic winter.



The cofounders went home and launched Linq Commerce in early 2020 right as covid hit the world and people scrambled for new ways to make money online. It ended up being a record year for new Shopify stores. Within weeks, Adam and his brother had over 1,000 users on their app.



Linq Commerce grew steadily from there, but after two years of building, Adam and his brother felt they weren’t the right owners to grow Linq to the next level. It was time to find a buyer.



Adam listed on Acquire.com in late 2022 and sold to a promising buyer for five figures in six months.



Post-acquisition, listen to Adam’s chat with Andrew Gazdecki as they discuss:




Why Shopify apps are great for first-time SaaS founders
How to find product market fit with any SaaS product
The importance of goodwill between buyers and sellers
Why sellers should start with a slightly lower asking price if they want a good sale price

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Follow the Guest: Adam Senese -


https://linqcommerce.com/ (acquired)
https://www.parallelchat.com/ (new startup)
https://twitter.com/adamsenese
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamsenese/



Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki -


https://twitter.com/agazdecki​
https://www.linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/​
https://acquire.com



Follow Acquire.com -


https://twitter.com/acquiredotcom
https://www.linkedin.com/company/acquiredotcom
https://www.tiktok.com/@acquiredotcom

If someone told you they did what you just read in this title, you’d probably think they’d committed a crime.



But Qayyum Rajan’s good fortune was a surprise twist of fate.



Early in 2023, Qayyum sold his business, ESG Analytics, to a private equity firm. But, his acquirer ran out of money and offered the business back to him for next to nothing a few months later.



Qayyum got back in the driver's seat of his startup, spent $10,000 to redesign its website, and then listed it on Acquire.com for another sale.



ESG Analytics was popular with buyers. Its clients were mid-level private equity firms and portfolio managers who needed to evaluate environmental social good (ESG) performance across large numbers of businesses.



No other tool provided affordable ESG industry reports at the time. Within days of listing on Acquire, Qayyam was pitting a handful of small PE buyers against each other in a bidding war.



He finally sold for five figures, spent 20 percent on a vacation for himself and his wife, and set the other 80 percent aside for savings.



Post-acquisition, listen to Qayyum’s Startup Acquisition Stories Podcast episode with Andrew as they discuss:


The huge ESG industry problem Qayyum capitalized on
The advantages of selling a business multiple times
What founders need to do to increase their sale valuation
Why future sellers need to be extra careful when applying for a business credit card



Qayyum is just getting started and you can follow him on his journey here:


LinkedIn
His new business: http://www.nuuventures.com/
Twitter



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Follow the Guest: Qayyum Raja


https://twitter.com/qayyumrajan
https://www.esganalytics.io/how-it-works (SOLD)

Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki -


⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/agazdecki⁠/⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/​⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠https://acquire.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow Acquire.com


⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/acquiredotcom/⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/acquiredotcom/⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/@acquiredotcom/⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@acquiredotcom⁠⁠⁠⁠



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About Acquire.com:

Acquire.com is the largest and most active acquisition marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Acquire.com is the highest rated platform for both ease and quickness to match buyers and sellers.

We cater to all types of online, revenue-generating businesses while producing the highest success rates for SaaS and eCommerce/DTC businesses in the M&A industry. Join over 350,000 entrepreneurs making life-changing connections and deals everyday.

Most venture-backed startups fail.



It’s a well-known fact, yet many venture-backed founders choose to burn out and ride their dying startups into the ground. Few realize they have options like M&A that could salvage their business for both themselves and their investors.



Wil Schroter, founder of Startups.com knows all about failing startups. He founded nine different startups over 30 years despite one of his first businesses crashing due to lack of capital.

When his business failed, Wil was perplexed. A business valued in the millions with happy customers and even profits was still able to fall apart to nothing. It defied logic and he felt the business surely should still be valuable to someone.



It caused Wil to spend years talking to people in San Francisco trying to understand exactly how to sell and buy dying VC-backed startups.



After meetings with over 100 failing VC-backed businesses, Wil created his company Startups.com by buying the assets of six burnt-out VC startups. Since then, he’s made an estimated 50 times ROI from his buys.



Tune in to an extra-special episode of Startup Acquisition Stories with Wil and Andrew as they discuss a topics rarely heard about outside of corporate boardrooms like:



► How to know it’s time to throw in the towel on your VC-backed startup
► How to break the news that you want to leave your startup to your board
► Which types of buyers will want to buy your startup
► How to restructure your startup so that it is as desirable as possible to potential buyers.



Wil’s isn’t just getting started – he’s been doing what he does for decades. Follow his journey at: Startups.com


​​https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilschroter/

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Be sure to subscribe to see the newest acquisition stories every Tuesday and gain the knowledge to buy or sell your own online business → https://youtube.com/@acquiredotcom?sub_confirmation=1

Want more stories? Access the past 50+ acquisition stories here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/startup-acquisition-stories-podcast/

Thinking about selling your own startup? The number one question is always 'how much can I sell for' and we've got the answers in our biannual valuation multiples reports here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/acquire-coms-acquisition-multiples-report/

Thinking about buying a startup? Sign up for a free buyer account and browse all the live listings. Upgrade only when you find the right one that fits your acquisition criteria to engage. Get Started → https://acquire.com/buyers/

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Follow the Guest: Wil Schroter


https://twitter.com/wilschroter
https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilschroter/
https://startups.com

Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki -


https://twitter.com/agazdecki
https://www.linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/
https://acquire.com

Follow Acquire.com -


https://twitter.com/acquiredotcom
https://www.linkedin.com/company/acquiredotcom
https://www.tiktok.com/@acquiredotcom

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About Acquire.com:
Acquire.com is the largest and most active acquisition marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Acquire.com is the highest-rated platform for both ease and quickness to match buyers and sellers.

We cater to all types of online, revenue-generating businesses while producing the highest success rates for SaaS and eCommerce/DTC businesses in the M&A industry. Join over 350,000 entrepreneurs making life-changing connections and deals everyday.