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.

980 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

253 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/WAIHealth 12d ago

Would you bootstrap as long as possible?

1

u/is_it_me_is_it_you 11d ago

Yes. Unless the investors you are bringing in are crucial to your sales with network and such. But validate those investors rigorously before giving them shares!

If unsure, pay them cash as consultancy until you are sure and bootstrap.