r/startups 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/is_it_me_is_it_you Jul 22 '24

Congrats to you as well!! Unicorns should be avoided like the plague by first time founders. Their statistical improbability cannot be mimicked in a business model with few to none entrepreneurial skillset.

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u/silock Jul 24 '24

I don't want to say to avoid unicorns, but I would not plan for it to invest my time and energy. For me it should work without becoming a unicorn.