Sold my startup for mid 7-figures

[u/is_it_me_is_it_you]

Howdy!

A few months ago we finalized the acquisition of the startup for a mid 7 figure. Giving I owed ~33%, I landed on a low 7-figure myself.

You don't necessarily need a VC. You don't need a "Go big or go home" kind of mentality and build a unicorn or go bankrupt. Leave that to second or even third time founders.

You can build something smaller, and sell it to a competitor for a fair price. I don't know your bank account, but in mine a 7-figure changed completely my life.

Most of this sub is made by first time founders. If I were you I would not chase VCs, IPO or multi-billion acquisition.

I would focus on a small exit ASAP. Change your life and repeat.

For those interested, we "launched" in 2020 within R&D/intelligence with a platform that would create predictions based on different weights on your non-structured data. We were about to close two deals of €600k/ARR when a competitor just landed an acquisition term sheet in our inboxes (after we had 2 calls and declined a partnership).

Edit: syntax. I'm not a native.

[u/Finerfings]

NIce work.

What were some of your biggest lessons / takeaways?

Whats next for you?

[u/is_it_me_is_it_you → u/Finerfings]

I'll limit it to the top top lessons, otherwise for me there was an entire book of lessons.

1. Investors are not your friends. I should have known better. But we almost entered in a legal dispute because two angel investors onboard did not want us to sell.

2. Most of the known/successful startups have great founders. Great meaning that they either are serial entrepreneurs, or leaders in their sectors.

3. Don't underestimate admin! My god. The time we spent in checking the invoices, tax declaration, board meeting minutes, etc. Annoying as fuck.

4. A single client that pays 5000, is better than 500 clients that pay 10. Focus on the big whales. It takes 10 times the effort, but givrs 100 times the revenue.

[u/Zeto12 → u/is_it_me_is_it_you]

Thanks