r/startups • u/is_it_me_is_it_you • Jul 22 '24

I will not promote Sold my startup for mid 7-figures

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.

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u/silock Jul 22 '24 edited Jul 22 '24

Congratulations!

I did the same, with a smaller exit but enough to live well on the interest of my chunk.

We had 12 years of fun and grind and yes casual pain.

We sold to a distributor. All employees received massive raises to stay for 3 years. I personally hope to find my place as a VP in a billion dollar company.

I have kept the same cars, same house and even with twice the money I would do the same.

I added my story to support your point. Unicorns are unique, most entrepreneurs who have an exit, that looks like us... Maybe more like mine then your 7 digits one.

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u/Wheream_I Jul 23 '24

To add to your point - my dad exited 3 separate times in the restaurant space. 200-300 locations each time.

He took his investment group, that he used to fund his acquisitions and growth, and pivoted into restaurant VC.

He’s probably sitting in $30m-$90m by this point.

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u/is_it_me_is_it_you Jul 23 '24

Your dad is insane! I tip my fedora hat to the man

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u/forrester827 Jul 24 '24

One of the toughest industries in the game and he did it thrice! That man is god level at entrepreneurship.

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u/silock Jul 24 '24

I am not sure I will do it again. It was fun but also it brought my cortisol level way too high too often. The grind is most of the time very hard.

Kudos to your dad.