5 Simple Steps to Get a Bootstrapped SaaS Acquired

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I'm here with Rich, the founder of Jet Designs. Rich, how you doing today?

Good. How are you Andrew?

Doing good. Hey, for those that may not know you, do you want to give just a brief introduction? Result?

Yeah, my name is Rich. I'm the founder of Jet Studios and within Jet Studios we built on scale Jet Designs which is the business I got acquired on acquired.com. yeah, my background is in growth marketing, advertising, creative strategy. So that's kind of how everything led to starting with Jet Designs.

Love it. Well, for those that may not know Jet Designs, what it do a prominent solve.

Yeah. So I'd say our whole like tagline or slogan is like Netflix for design. But if you're like familiar with like Design Pickle or like Superside, it's like a design of the service. But the I would say what we did differently was really focus on early stage textures. So from pre C to like series A, series B, that was kind of like our sweet spot and we're able to provide the most value.

Nice. I love that. I love those types of businesses. Like a product ties agency essentially.

Exactly. Yeah. So it's. Yeah, it's been interesting, it's been good and. Yeah, right on.

Tell me how'd you get your first customers? You just do like cold outreach.

Yeah. The whole idea with this is when my, my friend who started he raised like a pre seed round and he said hey like we're looking for find. I know you in the past you worked with like different designers like overseas. Like can you, can we just pay you instead like us going through the hiring process and spending like 6,000 to $10,000 per month for like an SF based fund. So that's kind of how it started. And we like really leveraged my friends, you know for the portfolio and just, just everything testimonials and then one thing led to another and then using that just my background like I mentioned being growth marketing. We ran some ads, Facebook and Instagram that was really good as well as outbound LinkedIn email. Just reaching out to recently companies. That was kind of our. Our main two. Two main channels.

Nice. What was the hardest part about running that business? Was it did anybody send you like a thousand design requests or anything like that?

Like. Exactly.

So what's the toughest part?

That's a great point. Like I think on the operational side it is super. We had to really like I think initially the hardest part was like finding out our icp like I mentioned precede to series A B startups. That was a little after when we used to just take any tech startup wanted to work with us, but the problem was they'd work with us for let's say a month or two and really essentially milk us out in terms of requesting a ton of different designs. And at the time we had a money back guarantee for the first month. So they would use, use this for like three weeks, almost like a month and like a few days before they like cancel. So that really sucked and I don't think I'd recommend other companies. That was pretty hard. But other than that. Yeah. Finding good talent obviously is difficult, but I think once you have a few business owners, you know, they have their own network and they invite their friends to like, hey, working, you know, I love working at Jet Designs and stuff and just like ramping them up was pretty straightforward.

Nice. What was like the most common design request? Was it like sales collateral, marketing collateral, homepage changes? What did you see?

Yeah, so it was, it was a mix of like UI ux. So I think that the startups that really stayed with us the longest and are still clients, you know, for the over, over a year now, they really need help on the iterative stuff. So if they're building like a SaaS, you know, it's not just like a one off thing like a landing page or a website, you need that constant change. So that was really good. And obviously marketing collateral. So like social posts for LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. So I would say those two categories for sure.

Nice. That sounds like a great business. You get, you know, service revenue but it's recurring. So you have some pretty predictability in the business which makes it easier to scale and so on and so forth. Let me ask you this, it sounds like things were going really well. You had product market fit, you had some awesome clients. What made you decide to sell the business?

Yeah, so again like this was like the first time really scaling like a team hiring and just setting up systems in place. So it was great to get to that, you know, zero to one phase essentially. But it was just like reflecting and then making, thinking about first of all like, am I, is this something that I want years from, years from? I love Jet Designs and everything I've learned I'm like, okay. Especially with like AI and everything going on. I wanted to at least try, try and see what we could build based off of what I learned from. So that was one reason. And then I guess this ties in with like just finding like the right person. So someone experienced who actually scaled something like this before, who wanted to see kind of like you'll grow me type of thing. So that was another reason. Yeah.

Nice. I think those are smart reasons to sell. Like if you, you know, have something bigger that you want to go after or the business has reached a certain point where maybe bringing someone else in could take it farther. I see that all the time. I think those are awesome reasons to sell. But you list on acquire.com what did the first week look like? How many buyers reached out? What were your expectations? How did that go?

I mean I loved every part of it. I thought it was like super easy, seamless I would say Andrew and you and your team, are you set up with like the templates for like the data room? That was like a game changer and then same with like other resources. So I think that was great. And then you know, just the inbound that I got with just so many different people, like PE firms and then like solo founders as well as like established like actual agencies, like marketing agencies that wanted to you know, expand to like design services and stuff. So it was really cool to see like a mix of like different people and how like jet designs could help. So it was like, it was like the oh like this is actually happening moment and you know, your platform made it super like seamless and easy for us.

Great to hear. What, what acquisition experience did you have before acquire.com? did you have any understanding of the process or.

Yeah, so I don't know. On my free time I always look, I always like looking at like you know, different founders, like building different things and they list on like other, other sites like flip by desk. And then I sometimes go through a buyer and, and it just seemed like the choir was the best place to go just from like all of the reviews. And then even a friend who sold through escrow process was simple. So that was like the main reason I didn't have any position and experience. It was just going through your guys resources and like listening to all of your webinars and you're reading your post. So that's like. That was like amazing.

Right on. Love to hear it. Well tell me, so the winning buyer, how did you end up choosing to work with him? Was offer great. Did you guys get along on a certain level? What made you say hey, this is the person I want to sell my business to?

Yeah. So had a bunch of different calls with like amazing vendors and they'd say it's like really tough to choose and I think it's like a good problem to have. But the final thing was like hey, I ended up getting like, two good offers. I chose the other person because of just the conversations that we. It was like a instant click, I guess, from first. First chat, we were really just already, like, discussing, like, next steps and different, like, growth ideas. So it felt like a natural conversation. Whereas some of them, if they felt a little, like, transactional, it was just like, show me the numbers, that type of thing. So I think that was. That was it. And we just really went well, so I don't know. Yeah, that was. It was like a gut feeling with. With the offer. So.

Yeah, Right on. How was the escrow process? How was the transition over to the new buyer? Tell me about that.

Yeah, so escrow was super, super easy, super seamless. You guys set up amazing job with the whole ship and seeing the whole steps, like, hey, it's the buyer's turn, or it's the seller's turn now to do xyz. I was like, so, so easy. And even during the whole, you know, due diligence, you guys have AI generated tasks. So that was really good. And, you know, it just helped both of us, myself being the seller and then the buyer just, like, get what everyone needs, and it made it super simple. So, yeah, 10 out of 10. Yeah.

Right on. Did you work out any sort of transition with the buyer, meaning you'll help out for six months or less than that, or a couple hours a week? What did that look like?

Yeah, so that is. It's three weeks for sure. And then after that, it's like for every week, additional week, it's like, you know, additional pay type of thing. So I think it worked out, and it incentivizes both of us to do a great job in the first three weeks, get up to date, all that stuff. But if we. If he does need support, I'm there. And yeah, the goal is to kind of, like, make sure that everything is working well for him, and then, like, any other ideas that he wants to test out while I'm here, I'm happy to help. So I think, yeah, negotiating that early on was really, really key.

Nice. Did you let all buyers know that you were open to providing a transition service, or was this just something you negotiated with the one buyer?

Yeah, so this was. I. I put it in the listing, like, hey, I. I'm willing to do like, three to four weeks, and then additional, we can talk about that. So I just felt like it was right just because it's not like a simple square. You can just kind of like, plug and play. So I wanted to really make sure the next Owner was set up for success.

Yeah, it's a great way to get more offers too because you're de risking the acquisition opportunity for buyers. The last thing, you know, the biggest fear for every buyer is, you know, I'm going to acquire this business now know how to run it. The founder is going to leave. So clearly stating up front like, hey, I'll be around, I'll help you. Doesn't necessarily have to be a lot of time, even just a couple hours a week can make all the difference.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I think you even mentioned that in some of your like resources to really just be in their shoes. Right. And then see what's going to make them make their life easier. So that's what I tried to do 100%.

If you were speaking to another founder and they were looking to sell their business, what do you think? Three pieces of advice you give to them?

I think starting off with one would be just like make sure your data room is, is clean. Like I mentioned, use the templates and then start really early, like earlier than you think you need to. Just because like a lot of things just keeping everything organized, I think it's, it's like good for you as well. It's like even if you don't end up selling everything organized. So before going through this whole like position stuff, I didn't really set up data room that well. But knowing now like yeah, like it's, it's like a no brainer and then just leverage a lot of the acquire assets and like templates and even like the PNL templates. And that was like amazing. This is all tied together but the sops, like I think written sops are great but like recording like looms, I think that was really great for all my team members and contractors to say, hey, like also the buyer, like show them, you know, everything's in written form plus like video form, you can just refer to it whenever you'd like. And it's like visual so it's super easy.

I love that advice, especially recording the videos. That is such a huge difference between businesses with, you know, little to no information. And a business ad outlines the product and how marketing works and support works and all the processes that alone can save you so much time and medium and buyers that also get more offers. You did a great job with everything all the way between businesses with, you know, little to no information. And a business ad outlines the product and how marketing works and support works and all the processes that alone can save you. So close.

That's okay.

Yeah. Much time and medium and buyers and also get more offers. You did a great job with everything. Yeah. Help you with those additional businesses, for sure.

Oh, oh, yeah. I meant like on the, on the side of like two other advices I think would be like, you know, the second one being just like user.com just for like the different reasons. Like the advisor Kai was great. And then even like your support team had, you know, they're probably annoyed. That's a lot of questions. And yeah, you guys were like, really quick to respond. That was always amazing. On the third side, I think like there was like a quote, something like, you know, any deal is better than like a strikeout or something like that. And that was like, hey, like, I think that was. That's true. And a lot of. I think I see listings on there where vendors want to get obviously the maximum they can. But also being realistic and saying like, okay, what's actually fair for both. Both parties. And you mentioned that too in your webinars. Those are the three.

Right on. Again, those are two additional great pieces of advice for founders. The second one, leading on, you know, experts with guidance and just experience going through the process. That's what we're here for. You know, I'm glad, glad the support team was helpful. That's what we do all day long. Because acquisitions can be confusing, you know, and they can be stressful. So anything we can do to help and then absolutely the resources, that's why we made them. So glad it all worked out, man.

Yeah, thanks to you guys.

Right on. Well, what are you building next? What's next for you?

Yeah, so I think I take maybe a few weeks off just to kind of just like explore, like type of thing. But yeah, just to kind of just like explore. Other than that, been working on, been. Been vibe coding a bit and just working on Chrome Extension. So this one's for basically like crypto traders. And essentially, you know, a lot of my friends and people, they spend a lot of time on like trading view like hours looking at charts. But with this Chrome Extension, you just take a screenshot of the chart that you're looking at and you can with like chat GPT like AI bottles. You can just chat with the actual chart and like it's like, you know, kind of like a really super smart crypto buddy. Right. Living right in your browser. So yeah, just been kind of playing around with that. Getting the V1 reviewed right now by the Chrome web store. So it's been. Yeah, it's been fun. Just exploring.

Right on. Well, Rich, if people want to follow along, hear more of your journey online. Where can they find you?

Yeah, I'd say LinkedIn. LinkedIn is just like Rich. Rich Yoon. That's my name. So you can just search for me there. Or like LinkedIn. Rich XJ.

Right on. Well, Rich, you're a legend. Congrats again on the acquisition. And maybe we'll see you back again with an even bigger success story.

Exactly. Appreciate it, Andrew.

Cheers.

Take care.