Selling My Bootstrapped SaaS Business (2017)
Published in 2019, this chronicle by @blackdogie details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Charging customers from day one acts as the ultimate filter for building software that solves genuine, high-urgency problems.
Keeping fixed overhead low and leveraging lean infrastructure allows founders to stay alive until market tailwinds kick in.
Small, repetitive improvements in customer retention and conversion rates yield massive returns over multi-year horizons.
Community Debate Themes:
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
CATEGORY Bootstrapping & MRR →
HISTORICAL ERA Cloud & Mobile Era (2014–2019)
COMMUNITY SCORE 328 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 74 comments
We recently sold our bootstrapped SaaS to SureSwift Capital as well.
It took us less than two years from founding to exit. I write about it at https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/from-founding-to-exit-in-two-years-the-feedbackpanda-story/ ↗ . Danielle, my Co-founder, and I did an interview at https://www.sureswiftcapital.com/blog/bootstrapped-saas-founders-sell-business/ ↗ as well. Both articles give some insight into the process of selling the company and how we got it to that point.
Our experience was very positive. We had structured our business to be as sellable as possible, even when we didn't intend to sell it. Having documentation and automation in place at every corner made the due diligence and transition phases a joy.
I see a lot of people in the comments here asking for valuation and structural information. In researching the process before we sold, I had the same questions, and never really found reliable answers. It seems that every transaction is inherently unique. All numbers we throw around, MRR, EBITDA, multipliers, they are thrown out of the window once you look at the actual business, it's internal workings and dependencies.
My suggestion for fellow SaaS bootstrappers who want to sell their business: make sure you can hand it over easily, make sure you are not required (to remain part of the operations), make sure your infrastructure is either easily migrated or well-documented.
You will want to negotiate, as value is in the eye of the beholder.
I am currently writing at length about this whole process. I'll release it on the blog before the end of the month.
For anyone interested in perhaps purchasing a side project to pursue your very own SaaS, take a look at a project that I've been running on the side - SideProjectors
https://www.sideprojectors.com ↗
Lot of interests in the past few years around "indie makers" and "life style businesses" and "side hustles" have attracted quite a few interesting projects to be posted on my site. It's been cool to see these projects being exchanged.
Great read, highly recommended.
I especially liked this paragraph:
The absolute most important factor in getting a great deal in a sale is not having to sell. All of the work here happens well before the sale. Craft your business in a way that you would be perfectly happy to run it indefinitely. Get your work/life balance in order and your stress level under control. Go into a sale process with the idea that if you don’t get exactly the offer you want, you are 100% willing to just wait it out and run your business for another year.
One problem with bootstrapping is that the founders carry all the risk.
The alternatives, i.e. selling equity for capital, usually means the founders mitigate some of that risk. For example their salaries would not come completely from their own capital anymore.
I think that's important to keep in mind. Bootstrapping is not the optimal solution for everyone. If you fail, you pay dearly, especially in opportunity costs, but many also touch their savings or their families' money.
Emphasis mine, but that's why I love reading about these things. It seems somewhat realistic compared to moving to silicon valley and doing the VC fueled rocket ride.