Why Selling a Profitable Startup Was The Best Move

Why Selling a Profitable Startup Was The Best Move

Author: Acquire.com August 18, 2025 Duration: 14:41

JJ Englert didn’t start in SEO. He built Trade Backlinks, a profitable SEO marketplace for buying and selling backlinks safely and transparently.


He launched it lean, listened to user feedback, and kept adding features that mattered: automated link tracking, performance analytics, and verified member checks. The platform became the go-to in its niche.


When the excitement to keep building faded, JJ prepared for a clean exit. Organized financials, documented processes, and a business that ran without him meant buyers could move fast.


He listed on Acquire.com. Verified buyers, streamlined communication, and a short due diligence window led to a fast, fair deal, fully on his terms.


In this episode, JJ shares:

  • How early preparation made the sale easier

  • Why losing passion can be the right signal to sell

    • How Acquire.com tools sped up the deal


    3 lessons from JJ’s exit:

    1. Preparation builds trust and shortens deals
    2. Passion impacts performance more than you think
    3. The right platform can connect you with serious buyers fast.


    Whether you’re building to keep or selling to move on, JJ’s story shows that preparation, clarity, and timing make all the difference.


    Follow JJ's Journey:

    LinkedIn

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    Youtube




  • 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
    Are You Selling an Asset or Selling a Job? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 19:40
    If Ian Fourie could give two pieces of advice to founders selling their SaaS startups, he’d say: Register your business in only one country Start pushing founder responsibilities to employees as soon as you canIan sold h…
    How Gabby Rosen Flipped a Newsletter for 18x in Under a Year [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 16:12
    What does it take to sell a startup for almost 20 times what you paid for it?Gabriella (Gabby) Rosen says it comes down to three things:Having an unfair advantage when you buyListing on Acquire.com for slightly less than…
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    Duration: 29:23
    While working full-time as a pharmaceutical sales rep, Bobby Dimovski noticed that medical professionals were: Always looking for new ways to grow their business. Usually 10 years behind on marketing trends. Hard to acce…
    Look For This When Acquiring Startups, It Could Triple the Resale [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    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…
    Turning Your Weakest Skill into an Acquire’d Startup [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

    Duration: 16:58
    Are you a developer who’s bad at email marketing? Ironically, you may be in a great position to build the next big email marketing tool. Onur Genes wanted to promote his software development agency but couldn’t write goo…