Copying profitable business's that are for sale?
I recently found a marketplace that allows you to buy and sell Web companies and view the profit and turnover for each company.
https://dealflowbrokerage.com/buy/
Could copying these be a good way to develop validated business models?
EDIT:
It shows the idea, the size of the market and the profitability. Surely this could be a good source for side projects. The most important thing required would be good marketing to get the same presence as established companies.
I think this is not a good process for finding a business for yourself.
There is just so much information that you do not have. Profit and turnover numbers , out of context, are not enough to do due diligence on a company. And it tells you nothing about how the founders were able to take their business to that stage either. But for inspiration and ideas sure.
Lots of negativity about this idea but I like it personally
The important thing is that you clarified "a good way to develop validated business models", not "I'm going to copy one of these websites and expect to suddently have a profitable business"
Other sites to check out are Flippa and Empire Flippers
The guys at the TMBA podcast have a process they call "rip, pivot, jam" for this sort of thing which basically involves:
That's a valid source of inspiration, although the competition might be a little tougher. To make that work, you have to have confidence in your ability to execute.
OT here, but Flippa does offer the same thing - description, profit/revenue etc. You can also look around there for inspiration and ideas :)
You could try. Most of those businesses have been around for quite a few years, accumulating SEO, etc, though. There also isn't a whole lot of information on them.
You will never be able to copy a business, period. You might attempt to copy their product, but even an attempt at copying a product will most likely fail.
That's true, but my reasoning is that they show validated ideas, with huge markets.
If you can scrape off a tiny chunk of that market for a side project, then it would be worth it right?
Try it and tell us.
Copying != easy.
None of the businesses listed on that website are unique. Regardless if you're copying one of those businesses or exploring something unique, the largest challenge you will have is validating the customer acquisition for the business.