Look For This When Acquiring Startups, It Could Triple the Resale

Look For This When Acquiring Startups, It Could Triple the Resale

Author: Acquire.com December 19, 2024 Duration: 12:07

After building and selling one of the first ChatGPT plagiarism checkers on the market in 2024, Tomer Tarsky decided to search Acquire.com for another project in the edtech AI space. He found a promising business, grew it for seven months, and sold it for three times the purchase price.


The business Tomer stumbled across was called Seamless For Science. It was an AI literature review generator with 20,000 free users. While it didn’t make much money, its users were extremely active and would immediately complain if the service went down even for a day.


After acquiring the business (which was built in a development language Tomer didn’t know), all he had to do was adjust the homepage copy and up the prices. Immediately, he earned $2,000 more in MRR despite some churn.


“I knew if just one percent of those free users converted, we would have a lot more money,” he says.


However, Tomer soon reached the limits of improvements he could make without hiring a developer. He’d already decided he wanted to expand outside of edtech, so Tomer returned to Acquire.com and sold it for three times what he bought it for within a few days.


Tune into Tomer’s podcast with Andrew Gazdecki post-acquisition as they discuss:

  • Why Tomer thinks it’s easier to double ARR on a $3k startup than a $30k startup 💹.
  • How Tomer recommends other founders look for good startup buys on Acquire.com 🔍.
    • Why Tomer thinks you should beware of buyers who won’t get on the phone 📲.


  • Tomer is just getting started and you can follow him here:


    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
    Why Clear Execution Made This Acquisition a Sure Thing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 17:36
    Zach Simmons did not approach acquisition as a shortcut. He approached it as a shift in risk.After building companies from scratch, he understood how uncertain the early stages can be. Validation takes time, traction tak…
    How Building in Public Turned Trust Into a Clean Exit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 21:58
    Maxime Berger built BlogBuster in public long before he tried to sell it.With no audience at first, he showed up daily and shared the work as it happened. That consistency created trust before the product ever launched a…
    From Zero to a Business Ready to Sell [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 15:10
    Arman Iranpour and Matt Aleali built Appraiva with a clear goal: make the business work before trying to scale it.Instead of chasing growth early, they focused on solving one problem well and building a product buyers co…
    Why Waiting Made This Startup Actually Worth Selling [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 26:04
    Samuel Abebe almost sold SpeakerSplit too early, but waiting turned it into a business that buyers actually wanted.Instead of cashing out fast, Samuel focused on building predictable revenue, operational clarity, and a s…
    Why Buyers Wanted THIS Design Business [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 26:20
    Eddie Lobanovskiy, David Kovalev, and Phil Goodwin didn’t grow a design agency through hype.They built a subscription design business around systems, clarity, and predictable delivery, and that’s what attracted buyers.Af…
    The Playbook Behind 18 Startup Acquisitions [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 21:30
    Stewart Faught has built and sold 18 software companies without venture funding or hype.His path demonstrates how simple tools, focused verticals, and repeatable systems can create tangible outcomes.By focusing on local…
    How This Bootstrapped App Got a Fast, Clean Exit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 27:08
    Seun Oshinaike built Street Tag, a fitness app that turned daily walks into friendly competition and community impact, to make movement fun again.Without VC funding or shortcuts, he grew Street Tag across the UK, proving…
    The 48-Hour Rescue That Turned Into a Profitable Acquisition [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 19:54
    When a startup shut down overnight, Jesse Tinsley saw an opportunity. In less than 48 hours, he transformed a company that had gone dormant into a profitable and growing business.His founder story demonstrates how swift…
    One Simple Habit Made This Startup Easy to Sell [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 21:39
    Growing fast isn’t the only way to succeed. For Jordan Richards, staying consistent was what made his exit possible.His founder story shows how discipline and documentation can turn a small agency into a clean, profitabl…
    From Two Small Projects to Profitable Exits on Acquire.com [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 16:44
    Running small projects may not be glamorous. But for Thomas Ulman, it was the smartest way to scale and sell. His founder story shows how improving what already works can lead to clean, profitable exits.He took over Wait…