How to sell a business for under $1M

I think we need to differentiate between selling a product and selling a business.

These tiny marketplaces are about selling your product. Your code.

Bigger marketplaces are usually about selling your BUSINESS. So your code plus the sum of your marketing activities, existing customers, etc.

“There was one founder who wanted to sell his product for less than $5,000, maybe even lower than $3,000,” Campbell recalls. “He got a deal, and at the last minute, he decided — hey, I want to grow this thing. He saw the buyer’s interest and realized how valuable his business was. Within ten months, he went from zero revenue to $9,000 a month, just because he changed his mind.”

If this isn't the ultimate product validation, I don't know what is.

Acquisition marketplaces can be a headache - bidders backing out or more likely, no interest at all -which is exactly why you have so many developers sitting on multiple projects and NOT selling them. These success stories are more often than not about good timing and the right niche.

flippa sold $600 million of theses businesses

Nice this is great. I've heard a lot about MicroAcquire, Empire Flippers, and Flippa but haven't ever used them. One friend said they just got a lot of spam and lowball offers but after about 6 months, sold their business on one of these marketplaces.

A great resource for founders that are looking to sell a business for less that $1M: https://theygotacquired.com/category/resources/ They have stories on companies that have done it, and talk to M&A pros about a wide variety of the sales process and things to consider.

I'm on the other side of this coin. I'd like to buy a product and try my hand at growing it. It would be a way for me to practice my marketing chops, and I could learn how to code while I'm at it.

It seems like the ideal way to learn. Sure, I could go to bootcamps or watch youtube tutorials about general coding forever, but I'd rather just get my hands dirty and learn what I need to learn when i need to learn it. Anybody else doing this?

Of course, the problem is the cash investment and the risk involved. But with marketplaces like the ones listed in the article, I figure I could probably get a decent, no-revenue product for $5k or so. Sounds like a fun challenge 😀

I'm always interested in how much businesses sell for. So I found this piece particularly interesting: Some businesses list between $10,000 and $100,000, and they’re usually making between $1,000 and $5,000 a month,” says Campbell. “Those that list less than $10,000 are typically making lower than $500. And some are even pre-revenue.”

There are so many indie hackers that have given up on products and projects that were essentially complete, but pre-revenue. This could be a good avenue for them.

Nice Idea