How I Sold My Bible App Company
In this 2016 acquisition retrospective, @reuven reflects on the journey of bootstrapping and successfully selling their business.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Unsolicited buyer inquiries versus running a deliberate auction process require very different negotiation leverage.
Bootstrapping for years without external capital provides extreme freedom, but exits are often triggered by energy depletion as much as financial gain.
Retaining ownership of code and operations creates pride, but transitioning to an acquirer requires letting go of absolute autonomy.
Community Debate Themes:
Hacker News peers debated transaction structures (cash vs earnout), founder tax strategies, and life after liquidating a long-term indie asset.
CATEGORY Startup Exits →
HISTORICAL ERA Cloud & Mobile Era (2014–2019)
COMMUNITY SCORE ★ 422 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 130 comments
I sold my company (Verrus PayByPhone.com ) several years ago and so much of this resonates with me. Thanks to the author for his candid sharing. It was cathartic to read, even.
This. The hardest part for me and my cofounders was keeping the business operating, and growing, while spending what seemed like full time on the "distraction" of a sale process with several potential buyers.
Yet, in the end:
Amen and congrats to you!
There is a ton of opportunity in the christian media industry with huge markets. I hope more christian developers get involved and start making stuff that would help believers, missionaries, churches, etc. There are so many things to disrupt. For those that are interested and want encouragement or help finding ideas. I found a christian startup slack community http://thirdpathinitiative.com/christian-startup-community and there is also a really cool hackathon organization http://codeforthekingdom.org
``` The joy of Streak, and the fact that they work remotely, is that I could see them forwarding my email to each other.
You’ll see in the map below that it was opened in multiple locations, multiple times.
It’s like sending a text to someone you’re interested in after a date, and knowing that they’re talking to their friends about how to respond. They’re interested. This doesn’t always work obviously, but it gave me a ton of confidence in the moment.
``` Interesting... Tracking people opening your app. I assume this tracking using a hidden image in the email?
Trevor here, creator of the Spanish Bible app.
IkmoIkmo got this spot on in his/her comment.
Biggest two mistakes people are making in this thread:
1. $100k was revenue, not profit.
2. I get capital gains rates on the sale, versus ordinary income rates.
(If you didn't know about #2 you should probably sign up for my accounting and tax course for freelancers and entrepreneurs: http://trevormckendrick.com/accounting-course-for-entrepreneurs-and-freelancers/)
I don't see how any small time hacker agrees to any indemnification. It's not as if you could even if you wanted to even defend a small lawsuit (I don't know how much they paid him). So what's the point. If you are afraid of being sued, buy yourself insurance. You are a large company, that's something you can do. And it will actually provide you protection rather than a contract which I can not possibly fulfill.