How to Build a Profitable SaaS in 6 Months and Sell it in 5 Days

How to Build a Profitable SaaS in 6 Months and Sell it in 5 Days

Author: Acquire.com September 25, 2024 Duration: 20:49

Software businesses can be immensely profitable in very little time. But they can also die just as quickly.


Software engineer Mark Jivko built Go index me!, a tool that speeds up Google page indexing, in six months for a bit of extra cash. He grew it to over 150 regular customers and thousands of dollars in sales in under a year.


But Mark knew building an app that only relied on the Google APIs was playing with fire. It could all be demolished with a keystroke during a system update. He wanted to sell while he was ahead so that he could move onto another project he was more passionate about.


Mark had previously sold a business on Acquire.com and knew he’d find the buyer he was looking for there. He sold Go index me! in one week under the tutelage of his buyer, an eight-time serial startup acquirer who DM’d him almost immediately.


Now Mark is gearing up for a new project to help founders using social media for product distribution to avoid platform addiction.


Tune in to this SASP with Mark and Andrew as they discuss:

  • Mark’s trick to do escrows faster
  • The questions you should never answer from buyers before going under LOI
  • Why Mark knew he was going to sell his tool from the beginning
  • How Mark plans to help founders who use social media reduce their addictions to the platforms
  • And read our writeup of Mark’s story here.


Mark is just getting started and you can follow him below:



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

Startup Acquisition Stories
Podcast Episodes
Startup Acquisition Stories With Eric Pacifici of SMB Law Group [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:46
What are the three biggest mistakes SME buyers make when choosing an M&A lawyer? M&A professional Eric Pacifici says new buyers often pick lawyers who: Aren’t entrepreneurial Bill hourly rather than flat rate Don’t have…
Startup Acquisition Stories With Jeel Patel, Founder of InvoiceOwl [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:28
Jeel Patel and his father built InvoiceOwl, an online invoicing tool for tradesmen like plumbers after Jeel noticed his family’s landscaper using an inefficient paper invoicing system. Three years later, they sold the co…