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I exited my business for mid 7 figures - how can I help you do the same?

by Chris Myers

Hi Indie Hackers!

I've just joined the community here on the site, but have listened to just about every IndieHackers podcast episode ever produced. You all have been extremely inspiring to me and an important motivating factor in my journey as an entrepreneur!

My background is in cybersecurity and in 2017 I founded Snap Labs, a powerful infrastructure automation platform focused on cybersecurity training and R&D use cases, with my co-founder Barrett. About 18 months ago we went through the process of selling the business to another cybersecurity training provider, Immersive Labs, for a mid 7 figure deal. It's been a life changing experience! Now we help power cybersecurity training infrastructure for the fortune 2000 and major governments.

But... my favorite customers to work with have always been individuals and small businesses! Seeing the direct impact you can have on small companies and solopreneurs is extremely satisfying and fulfilling and I want to do more of that if I have the opportunity.

For now, I'm still working at Immersive Labs but have been buzzing with new ideas and am itching to start something new again as soon as it makes sense. I'd really like to double down on the amazing feeling of helping solo founders and small teams succeed and unlock their potential. So this post is primarily to pose a question to all you Indie Hackers out there...

How can I help your business take off?

What are the top two or three things holding you back from going full time, making enough revenue to get that key hire, or unlocking exit opportunities? Where do you need the most help?

Looking forward to your thoughts and engaging more on the forum here!

Cheers,

Chris Myers's avatarChris Myers
on January 12, 2023
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  1. 1

    Hi Chris ! Congrats on the sale.

    I sold my eComm Agency to PE. It was life changing. Not all sunshine and rainbows though. I decided to create https://www.getoutput.io/ to help other founders / owners get the perfect sale of their business.

    As a recent exited founder, would love your take on the biggest problems you saw in the process, and what tools would have made it better for you.

    ChrisBertulli's avatar ChrisBertulli
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    4 years ago
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  2. 1

    Hi Chris! I love your devotion to solo founders and thanks for offering to help. I'd love some advice on my new startup Pluto (https://www.pluto-card.com). Here are the main things holding me back.

    1. I'm at a loss of how to grow the startup. We're in the college student niche and I'm a college student so I thought this would be easy but it turns out it's much harder than I thought. What are some innovative ways to get my first 1000 users?
    2. How should I go about building an MVP? This is a fintech app so it's highly regulated and requires capital. What should my game plan be here?
    3. I'm not sure if my landing page is conveying the product clearly, not very confident about the design either.

    Thank you!

    aden's avatar aden
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    4 years ago
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    1. 1

      Fintech is tough! I don't have much experience in the space but I'll do my best.

      Getting your first 1000 users:

      • Hustle - if you're in college targeting college students, you should have lots of nearby potential customers! I think a classic "door to door" type approach might give you some luck.
      • Buy them - this would take some cash obviously, but giving your first customers $10 bucks free to start with could be pretty effective. That's how PayPal grew in the early days (still?)

      Building an MVP

      • As you say fintech is highly regulated and you'll be handling super sensitive details. I'd stick to existing banking/payment platforms like Stripe and Plaid
      • If you're going to need capital just for building (pay developers), I'd suggest finding another technical co-founder who can help you build the early stages of the product instead.

      Landing Page

      • I think it's pretty decent! I can definitely understand what you're offering at a glance. Design is a little "bold/in your face" for my taste but I'm also no designer :)

      Good luck to you!

      Chris Myers's avatar Chris Myers
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      4 years ago
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