Blog posts written by founders who have sold their company are rare and not easy to find; you usually have to stumble upon them online to benefit from the insight.
Yet first-person accounts can be incredibly helpful for other entrepreneurs hoping to sell a business.
That’s why we’ve compiled some of our favorites. We’re sharing them alongside stories we’ve written about those deals.
1. Manuel Frigerio of ReferralHero
(6-figure sale, SaaS company)
🎧 They Got Acquired podcast episode with Frigerio
On the one hand, I’m glad I sold it. I’ve split my time and focus on two businesses for too long. Also, family is important to me and I want to be a present dad for my son. On the other hand, it’s strange not to have to think about something I’ve literally spent the last 5 years worrying about every single day.
2. Laura Roeder of MeetEdgar
(7-figure sale, SaaS company)
👉🏼 Exactly How I Cold Emailed My Way to a Life-Changing Exit (And You Can, Too)
🎧 They Got Acquired podcast episode with Roeder
I decided to go without a broker. If I had been looking for a strategic buyer I would have absolutely needed help, but I felt confident in my abilities to approach and negotiate a financial buyer on my own.
Please note I certainly don’t feel that everyone should go at this alone and in many cases I think you will definitely end up with a better outcome going with a smart advisor. But this is my story, and that’s the road I took.
3. Jon Hainstock of Zoomshift
(7-figure sale, SaaS company)
👉🏼 My Experience Selling a Bootstrapped SaaS (software) Company
✍🏻 They Got Acquired podcast episode with Hainstock
As much as I loved ZoomShift, I was ready for a new challenge.
Ultimately, we felt like this could be an excellent opportunity to take some of the chips off the table.
After all, our entire financial future depended on ZoomShift. We didn’t have a fat 401K to fall back on.
4. Alexis Grant of The Write Life
(6-figure sale, content company)
👉🏼 How and Why I Sold a Content Company, The Write Life
🎧 They Got Acquired podcast episode with Grant (she’s also the founder of They Got Acquired)
There were a few twists along the way, but overall it went smoothly. One factor that helped is that I’m fairly organized, so all of our financials and process documents were in good shape and easy to pass along. That also helped prevent surprises during due diligence.
5. Tyler Tringas of StoreMapper
(SaaS company)
👉🏼 Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on StoryMapper
When you estimate “how will my SaaS business be doing in 6-12 months” the answer is very bi-modal. There’s a very very large chance that it’s doing a bit better and a very small but non-zero chance the whole thing blows up in some unforeseen way. At least that was my estimate at the time and that’s why a key financial decision for me to sell the business was diversification.
6. Brian Casel of Audience Ops + ProcessKit
(6-figure sale, SaaS) + (SaaS)
👉🏼 I sold my business, Audience Ops
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Audience Ops
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on ProcessKit
On one hand, it wasn’t taking up much of my time to run and maintain—albeit not zero time. I had a bit of customer support to do, and oversee bug fixes when necessary.
On the other hand, I didn’t love the idea of a SaaS product sitting in my portfolio while I wasn’t actively investing my energy, resources, and effort into the roadmap and growth for it. It would be just a matter of time before the business plateaus.
7. Jodie Cook of JC Social Media
(7-figure sale, agency)
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on JC Social Media
I realised I had become the ceiling. My ambition for progress would dictate everyone else’s by default. If things stayed as they were, the company would only go as far as I would take it. But I knew that driving my agency to the next level would need more focus and less of the other work I’d started to love.
I was running a lifestyle business with a performance team and it was time to sell.
8. Julia McCoy of Express Writers
(Agency)
👉🏼 I Sold My Business. Lessons Learned, and What’s Next
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Express Writers
This would be an important takeaway; never settle with one broker. If you feel you aren’t getting the multiplier you want, or the value you deserve, get a new one.
9. Blake Smith of Cladwell
(SaaS company)
👉🏼 We Sold Our Startup! 70 Lessons From 7 Years as a Venture Backed Startup CEO
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Cladwell
No matter who you are it is a FACT: You will be somewhere, with someone when your relationship with your company ends. Invest in that somewhere and that someone now — you won’t regret it!
10. Josh Pigford of Baremetrics
(7-figure sale, SaaS company)
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Baremetrics
I’m not going to spit out the usual platitudes that come with an acquistion and say, “Nothing is changing! Everything will be the same forever!” Because the reality is, the new owners will have different opinions on how to run the business and how to build the product. And that’s a good thing.
11. Mischa Sigtermans of Pixelstart
(6-figure sale, agency)
👉🏼 Why I decided to sell my web agency
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Pixelstart
I was able to develop myself on many levels. It has challenged me, taught me many things, given me a network, and made me the person I am today.
12. Arsen Nurmagomedov of Restpack
(6-figure sale, SaaS company)
👉🏼 Our first exit: Selling Restpack after running it for 4 years
We closed the deal within 3½ weeks after we signed the LOI. It was pretty fast and straightforward due to the mutual trust we had.
13. Nick Gray of Museum Hack
(7-figure sale, events company)
👉🏼 My Big News: I Sold Museum Hack!
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Museum Hack
I’m still invested in Museum Hack’s future, both in heart and with my share of the equity. I’m an advisor to the company and look forward to seeing where Tasia and Michael take it next.
14. Carol Tice of Freelance Writer’s Den
(Content company)
👉🏼 Make a Living Writing Has a New Partner: Here’s Why You Benefit
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Freelance Writer’s Den
It was time to gear down and enjoy life more – because, who knows how long any of us have, these days?
15. Austin Petersmith of Capiche
(7-figure sale, community company)
👉🏼 Big news: Capiche is joining Vendr!
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Capiche
We set out to make software a bit more transparent, to make it easier to find out what software costs and if software really works the way it says it would. We knew if everyone shared what they knew about software, we could build a resource that’d help everyone be more productive.
16. Kyle Scott Laskowski of CBWG Media Group
(8-figure sale, content company)
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on CGBW Media Group
The plan is to double down on what works – building a loyal audience of sports fans – and monetizing it effectively.
17. Lindy Ledohowski and Rueban Balasubramaniam of EssayJack
(SaaS)
👉🏼 On the path to becoming Wize
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on EssayJack
When Cyrus and I first met, it was our mutual goal of seeing all students succeed that started us on a path to joining forces. With the huge learning loss unequally experienced by students in North America, we knew now was the time to combine our efforts to most effectively support student and educator success.
18. Arvid Kahl of FeedbackPanda
(7-figure sale, SaaS)
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on FeedbackPanda
We built this EdTech SaaS to $55k MRR over two years, from idea to exit. We never took any funding nor did we ever hire an employee.
19. Courtland Allen of Indie Hackers
(Community)
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Indie Hackers
The goal will be the same as it’s always been: to foster the kinds of transparent conversations that will help entrepreneurs learn from each other. Stripe has given me considerable latitude to decide how to go about doing this.
20. Marco Santonocito of Ammesso.it
(6-figure sale, education company)
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Ammesso.it
This was the moment when I went out of my comfort zone, and I had to deal with an unknown world. I’ve never sold a company: how can I do it? What does it entail?
21. Daniel R. Sim of Plug in Useful
(7-figure sale, SaaS company)
👉🏼 Why I sold my profitable and growing Shopify apps
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Plug in Useful
I asked myself ‘if I sold the business now and the new owner doubled it in value in a year, and I could’ve sold it for double as much if I’d held onto it, how would I feel?’. If I could sell it for an amount that feels right to me now, I was totally at peace with that scenario. If the business doubled after I sold it, I’d be proud of what I had started and that I had put it on that trajectory.
22. J. Money of Budgets Are Sexy
(6-figure sale, content company)
👉🏼 New Beginnings, and The Future of Budgets Are Sexy
✍🏻 They Got Acquired’s story on Budgets Are Sexy
As a practicing minimalist, it’s one less major thing to worry about and detach from too which I’m surprisingly okay with. I’ve come to realize I don’t necessarily need to *own* a project or thing in order to enjoy it, just so long as I’m given the opportunity to do so.
Your recommendations
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