Serial entrepreneur Dmitry Dragilev had already built and sold three online companies since 2012. But his fourth time getting acquired was different.

This time, rather than “cashing out and cruising,” he treated the September 2024 sale of SEO software service TopicRanker as a fast track to growth, selling a majority stake so he could continue leading the company with the heft of a strong partner behind him.

“Building a company is a journey — there are two ways to do it,” he shared on LinkedIn after the acquisition by Saas portfolio operator itrinity, which is based in Slovakia and Czechia. “You can scale yourself… or you can partner up,” he wrote. “I chose the second path.”

Dragilev founded TopicRanker in 2022 as a software to help companies identify how to improve their search engine results by identifying weaknesses on their website like keywords, article titles, word count and page load time. The company quickly grew to more than 500 paying customers and 2,600 free users, and approached $800,000 in annual revenue.

But Dragilev wanted more: the team and resources to accelerate growth.

“Together, we scale faster with the right skills and people,” he shared. “That’s the key to real success.”

From the Soviet Union to successful entrepreneur

When Dragilev emigrated from the former Soviet Union as a preteen, he never imagined he would one day start a business, he reflected in a LinkedIn post. Dragilev spent his teen years caring for his younger sister and cooking family dinners, then went on to earn a bachelor’s and an MBA.

He spent about a decade in software engineering and digital marketing, which culminated in helping opinion-poll service Polar scale to 40 million pageviews and catch the attention of Google, which acquired the company in September 2014.

Dragilev had developed a successful SEO methodology of keyword research and backlinks (getting other websites to link to his projects) to help other businesses grow, so he decided to try his hand at founding and growing his own businesses.

JustReachOut, his software that helps public relations specialists identify and pitch relevant journalists sold for high 6 figures to Adam White, founder of link-management software company SEOJet, in 2020.

Smallbiz.tools, a blog identifying the best software and marketing tools for small businesses, sold to digital marketing software service Semrush in September 2023.

“It’s humbling to think that a scared, introverted Soviet immigrant kid who came to U.S. at a ripe age of 11… will one day start, scale and sell multiple businesses,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “That fearful young Soviet would be happy to hear that.”

Seeing acquisition as a route toward growth

TopicRanker was the embodiment of his keyword SEO strategy, packaged as a software service any company could use. He launched an app version, SERP Gap Analyzer, on the Semrush app store to help the company grow.

Though TopicRanker was growing, building a team made the process stressful, so he began to consider partial acquisition as another option.

“I wanted to work with somebody to continue growing the company,” Dragilev told They Got Acquired, adding that he admired the itrinity team. “I was having a hard time building a team, and I thought, this will be a much more fun way to enter the next chapter for TopicRanker.”

That’s when he contacted itrinity to discuss a partnership, suggesting they buy a majority stake in TopicRanker. The SaaS portfolio already owned several tools — including SEO software Mangools — that were staples in Dragilev’s digital toolbox, and he saw on their website that they were considering more brand acquisitions.

The company responded quickly, and it was clear to Dragilev that itrinity was the partner he was hoping for. The acquisition went through in Sept. 2024. Terms were not disclosed.

Dragilev retained part ownership and stayed at the helm of TopicRanker, and he started helping market itrinity’s other Saas businesses as well.

“I look at this acquisition as a continuation of what I was doing,” he said. “Now I have a dream team to work with to continue scaling TopicRanker.”