Startup Acquisition Stories with Dani Parra ibanez and Drilon Sqn, Founder of TrustApps

Startup Acquisition Stories with Dani Parra ibanez and Drilon Sqn, Founder of TrustApps

Author: Acquire.com January 30, 2024 Duration: 24:53

Working a nine-to-five can be a great launchpad for a successful SaaS application. Just ask Belgian founders Dani Ibanez and Drilon Sqn. Using their industry experience, they created a review application for Shopify called TrustReviews and sold it for six figures. Dani and Drilon look similar (and even finish each other's sentences) but they've pursued very different careers. Drilon is a software engineer and a cybersecurity consultant for the Belgian government. Dani worked in ecommerce marketing, advertising, and media buying for a handful of big-name clients. When they started brainstorming products to build together, Dani remembered his problems with product review apps from his marketing days. Many review platforms were two years behind on features like video reviews, for example. They built their own application and grew it rapidly through word of mouth and listening to customer feedback. They were proud of TrustReviews but when they got wind of a real-estate flip opportunity in Belgium, TrustReviews was the product they owned that was most easily sellable. They hopped on Acquire unsure they could actually sell TrustReviews but ended up closing the six-figure deal in a staggering two weeks. They walked away with more than enough to close their real estate deal. Listen to their talk with Andrew post acquisition as they discuss: ► Why you shouldn’t grow a Shopify app too quickly ► What to do with a windfall of money. ► The best parts of the Acquire.com Escrow.com integration ► A key feature they added to their website that boosted sales ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Be sure to subscribe to see the newest acquisition stories every Tuesday and gain the knowledge to buy or sell your own online business → https://youtube.com/@acquiredotcom?sub_confirmation=1 Want more stories? Access the past 50+ acquisition stories here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/startup-acquisition-stories-podcast/ Thinking about selling your own startup? The number one question is always 'how much can I sell for' and we've got the answers in our biannual valuation multiples reports here → https://blog.acquire.com/tag/acquire-coms-acquisition-multiples-report/ Thinking about buying a startup? Sign up for a free buyer account and browse all the live listings. Upgrade only when you find the right one that fits your acquisition criteria to engage. Get Started → https://acquire.com/buyers/ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Follow the Guest: Dani Parra Ibanez and Drilon Sqn


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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
From a Real Problem to a SaaS Product Buyers Wanted [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:20
Jacob Miller didn’t set out to build a SaaS product. He was running a home services business when a shift in how customers search started to affect lead flow in a real way.Instead of relying on agencies, he built his own…
A Profitable E-commerce Brand Built for Acquisition [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:17
Charles Kenny built a profitable e-commerce brand after solving a recovery problem he experienced firsthand. The product worked, customers were buying, and the business ran cleanly.Still, as the brand matured, one limit…
The Listing Fix That Led Utilize to a Successful Exit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:31
Jatin Arora spent six years building Utilize and reached a point most founders recognize: the product worked, customers were happy, and growth was steady.But when he and co-founder Sameer Sanagala decided to sell, the fi…
How One Acquisition Solved a Critical Growth Bottleneck [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:50
Joel Graber built Modern Outbound from zero and watched the same problem show up across every client: design bottlenecks he could not solve. Building a service from scratch meant years of hiring, finding product-market f…
Bootstrapped, Profitable, and Acquired in Four Days [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 12:28
Customer support software is one of the most crowded SaaS categories out there. Intercom, Crisp, and dozens of others have been around for years. Building something new in that space and actually finding customers takes…
How Usage-Based Pricing Led to a Seven-Figure Exit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:30
Jeremy Redman didn't set out to build a team. TaskMagic began as a no-code browser automation tool built to eliminate repetitive tasks. While it solved a real problem, it also revealed early limits.Rather than stopping t…
How a Simple Academic Tool Became an Acquired Startup [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:02
Ovi Shekh didn’t set out to build a startup. Wisdomic AI began as a practical response to an academic challenge, where literature review work demanded time, structure, and careful organization.The first version was inten…
Valuable, But Not Truly Scalable [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:30
Hugo Pereira didn’t build Ritmoo chasing hypergrowth. The product emerged from real operating experience inside scale-ups, where goal management often looked structured but repeatedly failed in execution.Ritmoo was desig…
How Pre-Revenue Startups Became Repeat Exits [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 15:36
Faizan Muhhamad didn’t build software to scale teams or chase traction. He built products to work, transfer cleanly, and make sense to the right buyer from day one.By treating software as a transferable asset, Faizan bui…
Why Local Habits and Simple Tech Created a Perfect Exit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:03
Renata Raya didn’t chase a complex tech idea. She solved a simple problem: cart abandonment in Latin America.By building GoRecover around WhatsApp instead of email, she achieved a 20% recovery rate and created a stable,…