The Business Inquirer #050
In this week's issue, I highlight eight listings including a GovTech bid capture platform, a Twitter micro-SaaS, and an in-office review platform for doctors.
The Business Inquirer covers the most interesting tech-enabled business acquisition opportunities. Written for entrepreneurs, search funds, investors, and business owners. It’s completely free and you’re guaranteed to learn something new.
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Hello Friends!
In this week’s issue:
🛒 eCommerce - 0 listings
☁ SaaS - 7 listings
🕸 Content/Marketplace/Service - 1 listing
🛠 Tools & Resources
The Business Inquirer is brought to you by DueDilio. DueDilio is the fastest growing platform connecting business buyers and private investors with quality, pre-vetted due diligence service providers. DueDilio clients include individuals, search funds, independent sponsors, private investors, and SMBs requiring diligence on deals that are < $25M in transaction value.
🛒 eCommerce
☁ SaaS
Targeted Twitter Ads - $10k
For sale is micro-SaaS called KiteList. With KiteList you can easily search for Twitter lists and automatically export all their subscribers & members. Then you can directly upload the data to Twitter Ads and use it to build incredibly targeted marketing campaigns.
I’m not a subscriber to Tiny Acquisitions so I can’t see any metrics.
✔ What I Like
I like this from a user perspective. I see a few great use cases. I’ll probably subscribe to this and play around with it. You can get it on AppSumo for $89. I think Twitter ads are an underutelized channel compared to FB, Google, etc. Here’s a good article on Twitter ads. I bet you can negotiate the price here.
❓ Questions & Concerns
It’s a young micro-SaaS so valuation is always a difficult task. I don’t know the revenue & profit numbers but perhaps $10k is a decent ask.
You can view the listing on Tiny Acquisitions.
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Supply Chain Automation - Open to Offers
For sale is a 3-year-old AI-powered supply chain automation SaaS. Clients include terminals, warehousing facilities, storage facilities, shipping companies, and trucking companies. It’s a startup with revenue but no profits. Investors backed out at the last minute.
Competitors: Orbita, Visy Lase
7-person team
30-Day Revenue: $28k; TTM Revenue: $152k
✔ What I Like
I like the supply chain space in general. I think there are a lot of tailwinds that should be positive for this industry including reshoring of manufacturing. This is clearly an early stage startup but there’s some traction.
❓ Questions & Concerns
Operating for 3+ years, a team of 7, no profit, and investors backed out. A lot of questions about the business model. I’d want to understand all the challenges that this startup is facing. Where are funds being deployed?
You can view the listing on MicroAcquire.
— — — —
WordPress Plugins & Extensions - $1.2M
For sale is an 8-year-old software business that has a portfolio of 80+ premium WordPress plugins and extensions.
65k lifetime customers; 4.6/5.0 rating; 28k e-mail list;
Avg Monthly Page Views: $57k; Unique Visitors: 20k
Avg monthly revenue: $40k; Profit: $24k; Margin: 60%
TTM Revenue: $444k; Profit: $269k; Margin: 61%
Asking: $1.2M; Multiple: 4.45x
✔ What I Like
Long operating history. Large portfolio of plugins. WordPress is still one of the most popular CMS systems even though Webflow is getting all the buzz. Nice margins.
❓ Questions & Concerns
A lot of questions about this business. There is a disconnect between the listing and the actual numbers. The listing mentions all metrics are up while actual data is showing all metrics declining. Have to do a lot of diligence around the website traffic as it’s mostly coming from India, Pakistan, Brazil. Where are clients coming from? What types of contracts are in place? What’s the churn? Is there a lot of concentration in one particular plugin? This one is for someone who is already in the WordPress ecosystem and knows this space. Valuation seems aggressive.
You can view this listing on Flippa.
— — — —
Review Platform for Doctors - Open to Offers
For sale is a 2-year-old trust management platform that helps doctors by collecting and sharing in-office reviews.
Competitors: SwellCX, BirdEye
Tech: PHP, AWS, Twillo
Bootstrapped
30-Day Revenue: $8.5k; Profit: $8k; Margin: 94%
TTM Revenue: $75k; Profit: $70k; Margin: 93%
Asking: Open to Offers
✔ What I Like
I like niche SaaS. Great margins. Nice traction. Solo founder bootstrapped business. Sounds like it can work not just for doctors but in other areas as well. Below I copied a recent post from the Trends group that highlights the opportunity in helping doctors manage their finances and business. I think this could be an interesting product that addresses that need.
❓ Questions & Concerns
The listing mentions that this has been a part-time venture. Is there a marketing or business plan in place? How does customer acquisition look and what’s the CAC?
You can view this listing on MicroAcquire.
— — — —
CRM - Open to Offers
For sale is a 3.5-year-old state-of-the-art CRM SaaS.
Competitors: SalesForce, Hubspot
Tech Stack: MERN
20-person team
30-Day Revenue: $600k; Profit: $100k; Margin: 17%
TTM Revenue: $6M; Profit: $1M; Margin: 17%
Asking: $6M; Multiple: 6.00x
✔ What I Like
No one needs to educate the market about what a CRM is or does. This one has some operating history, nice traction. Large team already in place. A lot of large competitors to learn from. This seller gets it…
❓ Questions & Concerns
I’d want to understand the differentiation between this product and the thousands of other CRM solutions out there. Does this focus on a specific niche? Would like to see a higher margin for a SaaS business. How do you scale this?
You can view this listing on MicroAcquire.
— — — —
Sales & Conversion Suite - $250k
For sale is a 9-year-old sales and conversion suite of products that help sellers and buyers. This is a carve-out from a larger business. Interesting listing.
Competitors: Yotpo, Hubspot Marketing Hub, Kangaroo
$133k ARR; 4-person team
30-Day Revenue: $6k; Profit: $5k; Margin: 83%
TTM Revenue: $110k; Profit: $93k; Margin: 85%
Asking: $250k; Multiple: 2.69x (4.17x est)
✔ What I Like
Detailed listing that lays out the case that this is a distressed asset sale. Could be an opportunity for someone to pick up an undervalued piece of a business. Sellers raised $4M and used $2M of that to build up this business. COVID had a severe negative impact.
❓ Questions & Concerns
Carve-outs can be complicated. What’s the right valuation to put on this business? Very competitive space.
You can view this listing on MicroAcquire.
— — — —
Shopify Plugins - $120k
For sale is a 2.5-year-old SaaS that provides e-commerce plugins for Shopify. The app lets you easily run sales campaigns and apply discounts on bulk products.
30-Day Revenue: $4,200; Profit: $4,100; Margin: 98%
TTM Revenue: $47.5k; Profit: $47k; Margin: 99%
Asking: $120k; Multiple: 2.55x
✔ What I Like
Valuation seems reasonable. Demand for Shopify apps is only growing. This one seems to have nice margins and good traction.
❓ Questions & Concerns
How does this compare against competitors? Are there any pricing levers to pull? Can Shopify just build this into their system?
You can view this listing on MicroAcquire.
🕸 Content/Marketplace/Service
GovTech Bid Capture Platform - Open to Offers
For sale is a 2-year-old bid capture and management platform that handles everything pre-contract and tries to disrupt the world of government contracting.
Competitors: Bid Lab, GDIC
Consultation & fixed rate pricing; 4-person team;
30-Day Revenue: $40k; Profit: $15k; Margin: 38%
TTM Revenue: $400k; Profit: $180k; Margin: 45%
Asking: Open to Offers
✔ What I Like
GovTech is an interesting niche and I haven’t seen too many solutions come up for sale in the space. Typically these are lucrative contracts so I have to assume that clients would be willing to pay a hefty price for any solution that helps them win.
❓ Questions & Concerns
This is a business most similar to an Agency. Looks to be labor-intensive and not fully automated. How easy is it to hire? I’d want to understand the recurring revenue component. What’s the customer acquisition model?
You can view the listing on MicroAcquire.
🛠 Tools & Resources
These are tools & resources that I personally use. They may contain affiliate links so I’ll get a few shekels if you sign-up.
ProjectionHub - Access to 50+ CPA-developed financial projection templates. 25% discount.
PrivSource - Deal aggregator for lower and middle-market listings.
Logology - Best automated logo & brand identity tool I’ve come across.
DeepBench - Access a cutting-edge expert network. $200 discount.
OpenPhone - The best business phone solution that I have found. $20 credit.
Eloquens - Knowledge marketplace. I’ve bought a few guides and templates here.
Deal Flow Scout - peer-to-peer deal flow exchange. Free, open, transparent.
That’s all for this issue of The Business Inquirer!
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