At 23, these co-founders turned a no-code app into a 7-figure acquihire

When Victor Nihoul dropped out of high school, his teachers told him he’d never succeed.

“You start your life with very low self-esteem,” Nihoul said. “But Bubble actually made me raise my self-esteem.”

Bubble helps users build and design web and mobile apps without code. Big brands use the no-code tool, including L’Oréal, Lyft, HubSpot and Zendesk.

For Nihoul, who didn’t think he was smart enough to become a developer, Bubble was empowering.

He began using Bubble for a personal project in 2017 before joining Ottho, a no-code training company based in France, in 2020. There, Nihoul taught others how to use Bubble, worked his way up to CTO — and met Wesley Wasielewski.

In 2023, Nihoul and Wasielewski, both just 21 years old, launched Flusk, a cybersecurity tool for apps built with Bubble.

Less than 18 months later, Flusk was acquired by none other than Bubble itself.

The origin and evolution of Flusk, a cybersecurity tool

In July 2022, Nihoul and Wasielewski began creating a 24/7 support service for companies building apps on Bubble, Nihoul shared. But after only securing one six-month contract at $5,000 a month, they realized they needed to pivot.

“Something kept popping up: security,” Nihoul wrote. “Growing companies weren’t sure how to secure their apps.”

On LinkedIn, Nihoul recalled Wes’ idea: “We need to make security more accessible, not just those who can afford an audit… What if we turn our service into an online tool? Automatic, cheaper and more accessible.”

In April 2023, Nihoul and Wasielewski officially launched Flusk, a software that performed security audits on Bubble apps. They build it in, of course, Bubble. The goal was to help app creators automate the time-consuming and pricy task of manual cybersecurity audits.

Here’s how it worked: Bubble creators could use Flusk to identify potential security vulnerabilities. Flusk showed them how to fix the issue, or users could ask the community or hire an expert through the app to help.

In the 2.0 iteration launched in February 2024, Flusk also helped with additional tasks, like monitoring and user analytics.

How Flusk’s young founders handled growing pains

As Flusk evolved and grew, Nihoul and Wasielewski faced several challenges.

First, they struggled to gain trust in the cybersecurity space, especially as two young, little-known founders in the space, Nihoul told They Got Acquired.

“We really had to ‘fake it’ and give the impression that our operation was much bigger than what it was,” Nihoul said. “We kept claiming we were the ‘standard’ and experts. We published a lot of really in-depth content, mostly for free, which helped people trust we had good intentions and see how knowledgeable we were.”

The co-founders also struggled to figure out a pricing structure. Initially, users would sign up for Flusk, use it to identify any security vulnerabilities or bugs, then cancel.

“We had a huge churn rate with almost no recurring revenue,” Nihoul told us.

As a solution, Nihoul and Wasielewski spoke with users to understand what features they wanted and how to get them to use Flusk on a recurring basis.

After implementing these features, including creating a dashboard with security monitoring, alerts and user analytics, “We [became]a proper SaaS with monthly recurring revenue and very low churn,” Nihoul said.

In a Flusk demo, Nihoul shared that Flusk used to operate on an annual licensing model, but they found this wasn’t sustainable. With the 2.0 version launched in February 2024, they moved to a monthly model starting at $29/month for basic security and monitoring — up to $65/month for more in-depth features. They also offered a free version of the app with limited features.

At sale, Flusk had a total of 1,000 users, including 100 paid users.

Flusk remained bootstrapped as it evolved.

At the time of acquisition, monthly recurring revenue was $10,000 from paid Flusk users. They also continued to offer one-off security audits for more advanced enterprise clients, which brought in another monthly $10,000. That $20,000/month worked out to about $240,000 in annualized revenue.

Why Bubble approached Flusk about an acquisition

Nihoul and Wasielewski had reached out to Bubble several times to discuss a partnership or custom integrations — with no luck.

In early February 2024, JJ Englert, CEO and founder of NoCode Alliance, said something interesting about Flusk in a YouTube testimonial: “I think Bubble should just buy them already, but until then, we are lucky to have them in our and their services available to us to keep our Bubble applications secure and safe.”

It was unclear whether that had any impact on what happened next, but about two weeks later,  Bubble reached out. They were looking not for a partnership, but to buy the company.

The co-founders were surprised. They weren’t actively looking to sell, but Nihoul said they were willing to consider it because they felt like they’d already fulfilled many of the opportunities within the niche and were ready for a new venture.

They also were eager to learn what it was like to sell a company and add additional credibility to their resumes. Plus, they were interested in an acquihire, so they could join the Bubble team full time.

The acquisition process proved challenging for Nihoul and Wasielewski in a few ways.

“As a team of two founders who move fast, we thought it was incredibly long, complicated and bureaucratic,” Nihoul said. “It was also a real emotional rollercoaster, nearly changing our mind on whether we wanted to sell or not every week.”

It was also difficult knowing when to accept an offer or counter. If they countered or refused, would the buyer back out? Would it hurt their relationship? If they accepted, then they were changing their lifestyle from founder to employee — was it worth the price?

The co-founders worked with an M&A advisor and lawyer, but they had a poor experience, and Nihoul wished they’d been more careful about who they chose.

“We got very influenced into selling, and we heard a lot of, ‘This is the best move to make,’ which wasn’t always the right advice,” he said.

(Note from the editor: This is exactly why They Got Acquired supports founders in choosing M&A advisors. We vet them for you, so you land with an advisor you can trust.)

Ultimately, the two companies landed on a 6-figure deal for cash and equity. They also agreed on an annual salary for both co-founders, which brought the deal to over 7 figures.

The acquihire was completed in September 2024, and Nihoul and Wasielewski joined the Bubble team full time to help integrate the app into the Bubble ecosystem and continue to innovate.

Nihoul told us that after the acquisition, he found out some Bubble employees were aware of the Flusk — and the value of the app — and had motivated Bubble to make an offer to buy.

As for advice for other founders looking to sell, Nihoul said: “Have trustworthy and experienced people with you. You’re going to make key decisions and be exposed to topics you don’t understand.”