IndieRails Colin Keeley - How/Why to buy or sell a business
In this episode we go full send on the business side of IndieRails and explore with Colin how buying/selling a small SAAS works (as small as a couple of hundred MRR to 5m ARR) and the differences in building a company and buying.
Colin shares his knowledge and experience in going from many startup attempts to now buying multiple established software companies through his holding company Verne.
IndiePE.com (courses)
ColinKeeley.com (writing)
Verne (holding company)
Scout, Ottomatik and Blinksale
5:40 - Seller Financing
8:40 - Selling a business
9:02 - Why buy vs build?
11:15 - Are you a starter or a scaler?
12:30 - Getting experience running a saas as a developer
13:34 - Buying/Selling example breakdown
15:00 - ROI on buying a business (double your money slide)
15:50 - Brokers and Marketplaces acquire.com
16:05 - How to make your company attractive to PE
17:25 - How much cash would you need to buy a business?
18:23 - SBA Loans
18:45 - How to raise money?
19:40 - Constellation Software
20:55 - Partial / Minority Equity
21:30 - Due diligence
21:54 - How do you find a partner?
22:40 - Andrew Wilkinson & Chris Sparling
23:50 - Due diligence on the deal side (course & community)
24:30 - Working in an industry that you know. “All software tastes like chicken.”
25:30 - Game plan after acquisition
27:55 - Customer trust: in brand or person/founder?
30:10 - Marketing and Using Twitter
31:00 - https://typefully.com/ (writing threads)
31:45 - Promotional channels
32:45 - What should you be building right now?