This Founder Sold His Startup, Bought it Back for Pennies, and Resold it on Acquire.com for 5 Figures

This Founder Sold His Startup, Bought it Back for Pennies, and Resold it on Acquire.com for 5 Figures

Author: Acquire.com March 5, 2024 Duration: 31:50

If someone told you they did what you just read in this title, you’d probably think they’d committed a crime.


But Qayyum Rajan’s good fortune was a surprise twist of fate.


Early in 2023, Qayyum sold his business, ESG Analytics, to a private equity firm. But, his acquirer ran out of money and offered the business back to him for next to nothing a few months later.


Qayyum got back in the driver's seat of his startup, spent $10,000 to redesign its website, and then listed it on Acquire.com for another sale.


ESG Analytics was popular with buyers. Its clients were mid-level private equity firms and portfolio managers who needed to evaluate environmental social good (ESG) performance across large numbers of businesses.


No other tool provided affordable ESG industry reports at the time. Within days of listing on Acquire, Qayyam was pitting a handful of small PE buyers against each other in a bidding war.


He finally sold for five figures, spent 20 percent on a vacation for himself and his wife, and set the other 80 percent aside for savings.


Post-acquisition, listen to Qayyum’s Startup Acquisition Stories Podcast episode with Andrew as they discuss:

  • The huge ESG industry problem Qayyum capitalized on
  • The advantages of selling a business multiple times
  • What founders need to do to increase their sale valuation
  • Why future sellers need to be extra careful when applying for a business credit card


Qayyum is just getting started and you can follow him on his journey here:


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Follow the Guest: Qayyum Raja

Follow the Host: Andrew Gazdecki -

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About Acquire.com:

Acquire.com is the largest and most active acquisition marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Acquire.com is the highest rated platform for both ease and quickness to match buyers and sellers.

We cater to all types of online, revenue-generating businesses while producing the highest success rates for SaaS and eCommerce/DTC businesses in the M&A industry. Join over 350,000 entrepreneurs making life-changing connections and deals everyday.


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
How To Sell a Bootstrapped SaaS in 7 Days With No Earn-Out [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:29
Omar Zouhair didn’t build PageCrafter to flip it. He built it to fix a bottleneck in his own team. But once it worked, he listed it on Acquire.com with no expectations.Seven days later, the deal was done. All cash. No ea…
How He Acquired an EdTech SaaS and 10x’d Its Revenue [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:33
Chanakya Yerneni didn’t want another promotion. He wanted freedom—and the chance to build something of his own.After a decade in enterprise SaaS, he quit corporate, browsed Acquire.com, and bought a small AI grading tool…
Built a Profitable Startup and Got Acquired at Just 18 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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 i…
From Side Hustle to Clean Exit in 30 Days [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:03
Christopher Schwab didn’t build Inova Local to chase scale. He built it to solve a real problem: how to support home service businesses with reliable, high-quality remote admin help.What started as a side project quickly…
The Lean SaaS Exit: PLG, Profitability, and a Strategic Acquisition [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:11
What started as a side project during business school became a profitable, product-led SaaS used by finance teams, and was successfully acquired through Acquire.com.In this episode, Trevor Lee, founder of Genius Sheets,…
Zero Funding, One Buyer, and a Clean SaaS Exit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:54
If Christopher Lier could give three key pieces of advice to SaaS founders planning an exit, they would be:Build a focused product that solves a specific problemBe fully transparent during the acquisition processNever se…
Inside a Bootstrapped Exit: How Johann Sold Jars on Acquire.com [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 12:45
If Johann Sathianathen could give two key pieces of advice to founders who want to sell a startup fast, he’d say:Build and sell early—even while working full-timeReinvest stable income to accelerate your startup runwayJo…
Bootstrapped, Built, Sold: Luka’s Micro-SaaS Exit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:05
If Luka Pecavar could give three pieces of advice to founders building and selling micro-SaaS products, he’d say:Build simple tools that solve a specific problemListen to user feedback early and oftenEven small apps can…
Built. Sold. Free. A Startup Exit in Just 9 Months [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 9:25
When Abdulla Abdurazzoqov Reflects on Selling His SaaS Startup, He Offers These Takeaways:Build organic traffic early with free toolsChoose peace of mind over uncertaintyA strong Product Hunt launch can drive your first…