Startup Acquisition Stories

If Johann Sathianathen could give two key pieces of advice to founders who want to sell a startup fast, he’d say:Build and sell early—even while working full-timeReinvest stable income to accelerate your startup runwayJohann Sathianathen was just 20 years old when he made his first bootstrapped exit, selling his startup Jars Global through Acquire.com. Before that, he dropped out of college, became the youngest full-time software engineer at Cisco, and used his salary to fund a small team and launch multiple startup projects.Jars began as a side hustle focused on competitive intelligence for e-commerce businesses. As traction grew, Johann listed it on Acquire.com. The selling process was smooth, the deal closed quickly, and Johann walked away with both capital and momentum to go full-time on his founder journey.But for Johann, selling Jars was just the beginning. He believes that a portfolio founder approach reduces risk and multiplies opportunity. By building multiple SaaS startups with lean teams, he maximized his chances of success—and today, he’s scaling a growing portfolio, focused on solving real problems and moving fast.Tune in to the Acquire podcast with Andrew Gazdecki and Johann Sathianathen to discover:How Johann built and sold his startup while still a teenagerWhy becoming a "portfolio founder" changes everythingHow to leverage your salary to bootstrap and scale fasterWhat happens emotionally and financially after your first startup exitJohann is just getting started, and you can follow his journey below.LinkedIn

If Luka Pecavar could give three pieces of advice to founders building and selling micro-SaaS products, he’d say:Build simple tools that solve a specific problemListen to user feedback early and oftenEven small apps can attract serious buyersLuka built a simple but powerful image comparison app called Before and After for the Wix App Market. What started as a weekend side project quickly evolved into a revenue-generating micro-SaaS with thousands of installs. No venture capital, no large team, just clean code and real user traction.When the time came to sell, Luka listed the app on Acquire.com and closed a seamless deal with a buyer who valued the app’s clean architecture and consistent performance.Now he’s using the experience as a springboard into new projects and sharing exactly how he did it.In this episode of the Acquire Podcast with Andrew Gazdecki, Luka Pecavar breaks down:How he launched a profitable micro-SaaS inside the Wix ecosystemWhy app marketplaces like Wix and Shopify are untapped opportunities for indie hackersWhat to expect during a micro-acquisition, from listing to negotiationKey lessons from bootstrapping, scaling, and exiting a niche SaaS productIf you’re building, scaling, or thinking about selling a micro-SaaS, this episode is a must-listen.Follow Luka’s next steps:LinkedIn

When Abdulla Abdurazzoqov Reflects on Selling His SaaS Startup, He Offers These Takeaways:Build organic traffic early with free toolsChoose peace of mind over uncertaintyA strong Product Hunt launch can drive your first paying users fastAbdulla built AIHumanize.com as a solo founder and sold it within just nine months for a six-figure deal on Acquire.com. His platform helped users rewrite AI-generated content to sound more human and bypass AI detectors—attracting a surprising customer base of students and lawyers.The decision to sell came from a desire for financial stability and less stress, especially as he supported his family full-time. Listing on Acquire.com brought over 30 NDAs in the first few days, and after a smooth diligence process, he found the right buyer who understood both the niche and the tech stack.Today, Abdulla is working full-time on his next project: DetectingAI.com, which identifies whether content was generated by AI, already serving over 250,000 users.Tune into the Acquire podcast with Andrew Gazdecki and Abdulla as they discuss: ► How Abdulla built and sold his SaaS in under a year ► Launch strategies that convert free users into paying ones ► What to expect emotionally and financially after an exitFollow Abdulla's journey through the link below:LinkedInFacebook

What does it take to sell a music software startup and walk away with a life-changing payout?Emmett Cooke says it comes down to four things:1. Leveraging existing relationships to acquire your first customers2. Building a product that solves a real pain point but also requires a cultural shift3. Choosing the right buyer who shares your vision4. Selling at the right time, when burnout starts to set inEmmett originally founded his music software company using his experience with e-commerce in music. With a pre-existing contact list, he contacted companies and offereda solution to their customer support problems, solving issues around downloads, emails, and data privacy concerns. Slowly, word of mouth helped grow the business, and Emmet scaled it to over 100 B2B clients and around 360,000 B2C users.But as the business grew, Emmett realized he was losing energy. Between the challenges of managing a growing company, his expanding family, and the stress of providing a service people depended on, he realized it was time to sell. A favorable tax break in Ireland made it the right time to sell.Emmett worked with an M&A advisor, listed the business, and was soon overwhelmed with offers. He chose the buyer who shared his vision, and the deal was closed with an upfront payment, which was crucial for tax reasons.In his conversation with Andrew Gazdecki, Emmett shares insights on:• How leveraging your existing network can help you land your first customers• The challenges of shifting culture in an industry and how to overcome resistance• Why it’s important to sell when you start feeling burnt out, even if the business is still growing• How the negotiation process unfolded, with offers from different industriesEmmett’s journey is far from over, and you can continue following hisprogress through the link below:⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠

What happens when you finda product with massive potential, but the marketing and growth aren’t there yet? If you’re Sanjana, you acquire it, grow it, and turn it into a success. In this episode, Sanjana shares his journey of acquiring CopyCopter, an AI-powered video generation tool. When he took over, the business was at $800 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR). He quickly scaled it to $32,000 in MRR—30x growth. Sanjana discusses the strategies he used to grow it, including Meta ads, influencer campaigns, and platform improvements. He also walks us through his acquisition process, including negotiations, due diligence, and why he had to sell the business due to liquidity issues. Tune in for valuable insights on acquiring and scaling startups, and learn how Sanjana turned Copycopter into a profitable business in record time. Sanjana’s Insights Include:► How he recognized the opportunity in Copycopter and why he jumped on it.► The marketing strategies that helped him scale the product from $800 MRR to $32,000 MRR.► The importance of optimizing ads and having proper tracking in place for better ROI.► Key tips for anyone considering acquiring a startup or growing an existing one.Sanjana shares valuable insights for anyone looking to buy, grow, or sell their own business. Follow Sanjana's journey and stay updated on his next venture!▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬Be sure tosubscribe to see the newest acquisition stories every Tuesday and gain the knowledge to buy or sell your own online business → https://youtube.com/@acquiredotcom?sub_confirmation=1Want more stories? Access the past 50+ acquisition stories here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/startup-acquisition-stories-podcast/ Thinking aboutselling your own startup? The number one question is always 'how much can I sell for' and we've got the answers in our biannual valuation multiples reportshere → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/acquire-coms-acquisition-multiples-report/ Thinking about buying a startup? Sign up for a free buyer account and browse all the live listings. Upgrade only when you find the right one that fits your acquisition criteria to engage. Get Started → https://acquire.com/buyers/▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬Follow the Guest: Sanjana Bandara ► https://x.com/sanjanabandarahttps://x.com/sanjanabandarahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjananuwan/?originalSubdomain=ae► https://www.instagram.com/sajja.eth/► https://copycopter.ai/ (SOLD) Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki ► https://twitter.com/agazdecki​► https://www.linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/​► https://acquire.com FollowAcquire.com ► https://twitter.com/acquiredotcom► https://www.linkedin.com/company/acquiredotcom► https://www.tiktok.com/@acquiredotcom▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬About Acquire.com:Acquire.com is the largest and most active acquisition marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Acquire.com is the highest rated platform for both ease and quickness to match buyers and sellers.  We cater to all types of online, revenue-generating businesses while producing the highest success rates for SaaS and eCommerce/DTC businesses in the M&A industry.Join over 350,000 entrepreneurs making life-changing connections and deals every day.

If Ian Fourie could give two pieces of advice to founders selling their SaaS startups, he’d say: Register your business in only one country Start pushing founder responsibilities to employees as soon as you canIan sold his online corporate training startup, Pluto LMS, on Acquire.com fast (in just two weeks). However, he thinks he would have been even quicker had he addressed these points. Pluto LMS almost didn’t happen. It was a project started on a whim when Ian realized schools spent a lot more on their facilities than their material. He saw online education as inevitable and built an online platform for a client in the UK. Pluto had customers but it didn’t seem like it was going anywhere. That all changed during Covid as schools and corporations raced to the internet to see how they could conduct business online.Between 2020 and 2025 Ian grew his team to five employees and brought in a range of clients. Finally, he decided to sell on Acquire when his health started to worry him.Now Ian is working as a consultant for his acquirer for a year while he finds his next project.Tune into the Acquire podcast with Andrew Gazdecki and Ian and listen to them discuss: How he found his first clients. The advantages of selling alongside a professional advisor. How you can make your business seem more like an asset and less like a job.Ian is just getting started and you can follow him on his journey below: LinkedIn

What does it take to sell a startup for almost 20 times what you paid for it?Gabriella (Gabby) Rosen says it comes down to three things:Having an unfair advantage when you buyListing on Acquire.com for slightly less than it’s worth when you sellUnderselling the product in the listing when you sellGabby originally acquired her newsletter Nomad Cloud while working as a partner at an email outreach startup called EOC. When she spotted the digital nomad newsletter on Acquire.com, she knew it was a perfect fit for her expertise.Using EOC’s tools for highly-targeted email outreach, Gabby and her business partners at EOC turned thousands of keyword searchers into active readers of Nomad Cloud. They also systemized content creation with the help of an assistant and ChatGPT. Soon it was bringing in thousands of dollars a month.But her email startup was growing quickly too. Enough that Gabby couldn’t justify splitting her time between two businesses. She moved to sell Nomad Cloud on Acquire.com. With the help of Acquire’s acquisition manager Robbie, she flipped the business for 18 times what she paid for it.Tune into Gabriella Rosen’s chat with Andrew Gazdecki as they discuss:🚀 Gabby’s thoughts on how to flip startups on Acquire.com.📩 Why newsletters are underrated assets for acquisition.💡 The systems Gabby used to bring in buyers willing to pay twice her asking price.

Kamil Zowczac, founder of Copycopter, an AI-driven social media video generation tool, shares his rollercoaster journey from nearly going broke to a successful acquisition. He details his self-taught coding adventure in Bali and how a viral moment on TikTok changed the game. Faced with financial pressures, Kamil discusses the challenges of startup marketing and the pivotal decision to sell. He reflects on using Acquire.com, revealing valuable lessons in preparation and buyer engagement for anyone considering a sale. Now, he's back to building and thriving!

Founder Sukhpal Saini thinks you should consider offering lifetime subscriptions (at least for a time). He knows because he built a Shopify interface for Stripe that just couldn’t hold down recurring customers. Called Reetail, Sukhpal operated the application for two years and got consistent users. The problem was they all were selling products in relatively low volumes. It was hard for them to justify subscribing to his platform. As Sukhpal’s other side business, Engyne began to grow, he also had less and less time to dedicate to Reetail. Feeling like he’d given all he could to the product, he decided to sell in the best place he knew: Acquire.com. Sukhpal says his experience on Acquire.com was extremely straightforward. His buyer offered him the exact price he was looking for and paid all in cash.  Post-acquisition, Sukhpal shared how he got his sale to go off without a hitch, including: Creating multiple accounts for all his paid software, to facilitate an easy handoff Creating a clear list of why buyers should be interested in your product Setting aside a transition period to over all elements of your business with the buyer The tradeoffs of lifetime vs. subscription-based business models The advantages of including a “Risks and Limitations” component in your listing. Tune in by clicking the image above! Sukhpal is just getting started and you can find follow his journey below: Engyne (his new project) LinkedIn

While working full-time as a pharmaceutical sales rep, Bobby Dimovski noticed that medical professionals were: Always looking for new ways to grow their business. Usually 10 years behind on marketing trends. Hard to access (unless you were a pharmaceutical sales rep). Armed with this information and wanting to save for his kids’ college fund, Bobby founded a healthcare-industry marketing agency, 4MJ Social, in 2014.  He started by upselling his medical clients on marketing services like SEO and Facebook business profiles. Over 14 years, he expanded into a multi-client, full-service healthcare marketing agency doing web design, PPC, social media, and everything in between. Then a family member began suffering health issues. Bobby couldn’t put in the time to keep the business going. Rather than diminish his salary by hiring new management, Bobby wanted to unlock some extra cash from his decade-plus of work so he could take an extended break without worrying about money. Acquire.com had everything Bobby needed to find the right buyer for his business. Working with Acquisition Manager Ky Pratt, Bobby sourced the perfect buyer who understood his business and was willing to carry on his vision. The deal nearly fell apart when the financier pulled out, but Ky managed to keep all parties working together, and within a week, everyone was happy.  Tune in to this episode of Startup Acquisition Stories Podcast to hear Andrew and Bobby discuss: Why Bobby spent four years pursuing one of his largest clients (and what it took to land the deal). Why Bobby thinks all founders should ponder their seller financing limits before acquisition. Why always being completely transparent about your business attracts the best buyers. Bobby is just getting started and you can follow his journey on LinkedIn below: LinkedIn