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
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Alan Li Co-founder of Moxa [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 26:08
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Alan Li Co-founder of Moxa Follow the Guest: Alan Li - ► https://linkedin.com/in/alan-li-711a8629 ► https://twitter.com/alanliberkeley Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki - ► https://twitter…
    Startup Acquisition Stories with JM Sanchez Co-founder of Studia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 37:47
    Startup Acquisition Stories with JM Sanchez Co-founder of Studia Follow the Guest: JM Sanchez - ► https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmsanchezbarbera/ ► https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-korneev/ (Partner) ► https://www.stu…
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Mark Spera, Co-founder of GrowthBar [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 29:40
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Mark Spera, Co-founder of GrowthBar Follow the Guest: Mark Spera - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-spera-90a62322 https://www.linkedin.com/in/hailey-friedman-44897734 (Hailey Friedman (C…
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Josh Kim, Founder of The Cubby [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 53:03
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Josh Kim, Founder of The Cubby Follow the Guest: Josh Kim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshjiwonkim/ https://thecubby.com/ (SOLD) Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki - https://twitter.com/a…
    Startup Acquisition Stories with JK Molina, Co-founder of Tweet Hunter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 48:50
    Startup Acquisition Stories with JK Molina, Co-founder of Tweet Hunter Follow the Guest: JK Molina ► https://twitter.com/OneJKMolina ► https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkmolina/ ► https://tweethunter.io/ (Sold) Follow the Hos…
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Moustaid Ayoub, Founder of Fastdok [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 26:16
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Ayoub Moustaid, Founder of Fastdok Follow the Guest: Ayoub Moustaid - https://twitter.com/mstdayoub https://www.linkedin.com/in/moustaidayoub/ https://www.fastdok.com/ (Sold) Follow the H…
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Jeff Richards, Founder of Rayneta [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 27:29
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Jeff Richards, Founder of Rayneta Follow the Guest: Jeff Richards - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreyscottrichards/ https://twitter.com/notjeffrichards https://www.linkedin.com/in/britt…
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Alex Rainey, Founder of MyAskAI.com [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 34:32
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Alex Rainey, Founder of MyAskAI.com Learn How to Sell Your SaaS From a Founder with 3x Sold Follow the Guest: Alex Rainey - ► https://twitter.com/RaineyAllDay ► https://www.linkedin.com/i…
    Startup Acquisition Stories with Noah Bragg, Founder of Potion.so [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 28:04
    From #BuildinPublic to Selling His SaaS for $300,000 Follow the Guest: Noah Bragg - ► https://twitter.com/noahwbragg ► https://www.linkedin.com/in/noahbragg/ ► https://supportman.io/ (Sold on Acquire.com) ► https://potio…