Built a Profitable Startup and Got Acquired at Just 18

Built a Profitable Startup and Got Acquired at Just 18

Author: Acquire.com June 3, 2025 Duration: 19:26

At just 18 years old, Siyabend Özdemir bootstrapped and sold Gen PPT, an AI-powered presentation generator used by students, marketers, and solopreneurs across the globe.


What started as a school-night experiment turned into a viral hit driven by indie hacker hustle, programmatic SEO, and a killer demo shared on X. Siyabend listed the business on Acquire.com and closed a smooth acquisition just days later.


In this episode, he shares how he built, scaled, and exited Gen PPT and what comes next for a founder just getting started.


You’ll learn:

► How Siyabend validated the idea using a real SEO dataset ► Why building in public on X was key to early growth

► What made Acquire.com the best fit for a solo founder exit ► How he handled burnout, due diligence, and buyer negotiation

► What to do after your first big win, including gold bars and Range Rovers


3 takeaways from Siyabend’s exit:

  1. Organize everything—docs, access, financials—for a fast handoff
  2. Structure your business and taxes early, even if you're young
  3. Use the right platform to streamline the acquisition process


Whether you’re 18 or 38, bootstrapping solo or building in public, this conversation is proof that you can build something valuable and sell it on your terms.


Listen now to hear how Siyabend pulled off his first exit and what he’s building next.


Follow Siyabend on LinkedIn



Behind every successful startup acquisition, there's a story-a complex mix of strategy, emotion, and paperwork that rarely gets discussed openly. Startup Acquisition Stories, from the team at Acquire.com, pulls back the curtain on those real-world transactions. Each episode features founders and entrepreneurs who have personally navigated the process of selling or buying a business through their platform. You'll hear them recount the nuanced decisions that don't make it into press releases: the challenging conversations around valuation, the subtle art of vetting the opposite party, and the critical, often overlooked, steps after the handshake. This podcast digs into the practicalities of due diligence, structuring terms, and managing the transfer of assets, all the way through to escrow and the crucial post-deal transition. It’s a grounded, detail-oriented look at the mechanics of a business exit or expansion, straight from the people who’ve lived it. For anyone curious about the actual path to a deal, beyond the theory, this series offers a rare archive of lived experience and hard-won advice.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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