Ask HN: Selling my startup ($50K ARR)
Selling my startup/side project ClientGrid.com, a legal CRM. Making $50K ARR. Contact sam@clientgrid.com.
Published in 2019, this chronicle by @sarmadbokhari details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing. Key verified financial milestone: $50K ARR.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Charging customers from day one acts as the ultimate filter for building software that solves genuine, high-urgency problems.
Keeping fixed overhead low and leveraging lean infrastructure allows founders to stay alive until market tailwinds kick in.
Small, repetitive improvements in customer retention and conversion rates yield massive returns over multi-year horizons.
Community Debate Themes:
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
CATEGORY Bootstrapping & MRR →
HISTORICAL ERA Cloud & Mobile Era (2014–2019)
COMMUNITY SCORE ★ 13 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 4 comments
This might be helpful for you: https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/selling_software_business
Why? How much? Tell us the story of how it came about and how it is going. If it was going perfectly and growing, odds you you wouldn't be selling, so what problems would need to be fixed if someone were to buy it?
Can you tell us a little about the tech stack? Also, I noticed the “beta” label. 50k ARR as a beta, why are you selling?
Use a broker. They do lots of these deals. Will be worth it.
See the link to patio11's essay for more.