The Business Inquirer #054
In this issue, I highlight seven listings including a resume builder, furniture drop shipping, and education platform for teachers and students.
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 - 1 listing
☁ SaaS - 5 listings
🕸 Content/Marketplace/Service - 1 listing
🛠 Tools & Resources
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🛒 eCommerce
Home Furniture Dropship - $1.6M
For sale is an 18-year-old drop shipping business selling unique home decor products imported from Poland and Czech Republic.
$250 AOV; 200k SKUs; 10% repeat clients; 14k monthly visitors;
Amazon is 70% of sales; 20% is Walmart + Houzz; 10% is Shopify;
TTM Revenue: $3M; Profit: $392k; Margin: 13%
Asking: $1.6M; Multiple: 3.83x
✔ What I Like
A lot of operating history. I like the dropship model as it’s very asset-light. Listing mentions that the products are unique and hard to find. I like that there are multiple sales channels and some diversification. High AOV. Margin isn’t horrible for dropshipping. Evergreen niche.
❓ Questions & Concerns
How are the logistics handled? Has there been any impact by the current environment? I’d want to understand why there are 200k SKUs as it seems like a lot to manage. How has the business been impacted by increasing advertising costs? Are the manufacturing partners reliable? I typically see dropship businesses sell for 1.5x-2.5x. Is the higher valuation justified?
You can view the listing on Website Closers.
☁ SaaS
WordPress Plugin to Protect Assets - $1.3M
For sale is a 4-year-old WordPress plugin that allows users to protect their digital assets, products, and content.
Competitors: Passster, Barn2 Protected Categories, Hide My Site
Freemium, paid add-ons, annual subscription, and lifetime licenses
+1.2k new active users each month;
TTM Revenue: $429k; Profit: $390k; Margin: 91%
Asking: $1.3M; Multiple: 3.33x
✔ What I Like
Good operating history. Great margin. Valuation isn’t crazy. WordPress is still one of the most popular CMS systems. Listing makes it seem like the tech is rock solid and only marketing is required to scale. Maybe some easy wins by adjusting pricing.
❓ Questions & Concerns
Very competitive space. I’d want to understand why clients use this solution compared to a competing product. What tech expertise is required to maintain this? How are customers acquired and what’s the CAC? Are there any partnerships or affiliate deals in place?
You can view the listing on MicroAcquire.
————
Accounting & Business App Hosting for SMBs - $1.2M
For sale is a 3-year-old SaaS that brings business and accounting applications into the cloud to increase productivity and collaboration. Owner has another startup that’s been funded and he needs to exit this before the end of the year.
Competitors: Right Networks, SwizzNet, Ace Cloud Hosting
1-person bootstrapped business
TTM Revenue: $428k; Profit: $293k; Margin: 68%
Asking: $1.2M; Multiple: 4.10x
✔ What I Like
Impressive numbers for a one-person side business. Some operating history. Founded and operated by one person who also runs another SaaS so there may be some easy wins if a team comes in that has experience in this space. Great margins. Valuation isn’t crazy. Could be a great acquisition for someone with similar client base. Listing makes it seem like there’s some urgency for the seller to exit the business.
❓ Questions & Concerns
How easy is the tech stack to maintain? What do the client support tickets look like? Any SOPs? How does the sales process and onboarding look? Is there a specific industry that this solution focuses on? Any client concentration risk?
You can view the listing on MicroAcquire.
— — — —
Facebook Group Lead Gen - $2M
For sale is a 2.5-year-old SaaS that helps and converts new Facebook Group members into leads by adding them into an e-mail marketing software. Owner is running 10 SaaS at the same time and wants to exit this one.
Competitors: Group Convert
TTM Revenue: $296k; Profit: $284k; Margin: 96%;
Asking: $2M; Multiple: 7.04x;
✔ What I Like
Interesting product idea. I can see how this type of product could be extremely helpful for someone building a community around a product or vice-versa. There’s some decent traction. Nice margins. Competitor only has 23 reviews.
❓ Questions & Concerns
I’d want to understand the legal area of this product. Does it violate any Facebook rules? With such a high margin, they’re clearly not spending money on advertising so how are users acquired? Is this a browser extension like Group Convert? Multiple seems high if the new owner still has to figure out a sales funnel and customer acquisition strategy.
You can view this listing on MicroAcquire.
— — — —
Resume Builder - Open to Offers
For sale is a 3-year-old micro-SaaS that builds and provides resume templates. Seller looking for the right offer.
Competitors: Resumebuild, Novoresume, Zety, Canva
Strong SEO position w/ top 3 ranking for “resume maker”; 100k unique users/month;
20k remote job newsletter subscribers
TTM Revenue: $14k; Profit: $13k; Margin: 93%
Asking: Open to Offers
✔ What I Like
It’s an interesting space with an evergreen niche. I bought a business in this space and sold it not too long ago. I’ve always wondered if there’s any consolidation play here. It’s a very fragmented industry. I like the strong SEO position and the large e-mail list. Nice margins but guessing there’s not much marketing spend. 100k unique users is a nice user base. Could be a nice pickup for the right price.
❓ Questions & Concerns
A lot of competition in this space. Low barriers to entry. Not clear how you differentiate. Has the newsletter been monetized? How many free users convert into paid? Where does the recurring revenue come from? What’s the churn? What upkeep is required for tech? Very high CPC with a lot of competition. Not sure how motivated the seller is.
You can view this listing on MicroAcquire.
— — — —
Referral Program - $35k
For sale is a 6-year-old B2B SaaS that allows users to quickly launch a referral program with a simple step-by-step configuration tool.
Competitors: GrowSurf, InviteBox, FriendBuy
TTM Revenue: $12k; Profit: $10.2k; Margin: 85%
Asking: $35k; Multiple: 3.43x
✔ What I Like
As paid-advertising costs go up, businesses are looking for more customer acquisition channels. Referral programs are a great, cost-effective way to win clients. Referral programs are not all the same and can be customized for a specific niche. This could be an interesting solution.
❓ Questions & Concerns
What has prevented this business from scaling over the last 6-years? How is it differentiated from competitors? Does it focus on a niche? How’s the tech stack? What do clients like and dislike about it?
You can view this listing on MicroAcquire.
🕸 Content/Marketplace/Service
Education Platform - $8.5M
For sale is a 5-year-old education platform that offers teachers an easy way to transform their printable materials into online, interactive exercises for students.
45M unique visitors/month; 2M registered teachers; 4M registered students; 2 million shared resources;
All income has come from advertising; Launching subscriptions in Jan 2022;
TTM Revenue: $1.6M; Profit: $1.4M; Margin: 88%;
Asking: $8.5M; Multiple: 6.07x
✔ What I Like
A lot of operating history. Strong SEO position and traffic numbers. Built-in flywheel of new users generating more content and improving SEO position. Plan to expand revenue by launching subscriptions which will diversify the revenue stream. Opportunities to add additional products and services to the audience. Great margins.
❓ Questions & Concerns
Why haven’t paid subscriptions been introduced previously? What were the numbers before COVID? Is there a risk that this is all COVID driven? Is all traffic organic or is there some paid marketing? What are the expenses for this business? No copyright issues with the content? There’s a risk that transitioning the model to paid can negatively impact the business. Any competition?
You can view the listing on BizBuySell.
🛠 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.
BizNexus - Proprietary deal flow, deal aggregator, and exit prep.
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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