Startup Acquisition Stories Podcast With Jovan Meljevic, Founder of BountyHunter

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It's a pleasure to have you on the podcast, the founder of Bounty Hunter. For those of you that may not know you, do you want to give a brief introduction of yourself?

Yeah. Thank you Andrew. And I'm very happy to be a guest on your podcast and I want first of all to support all the people who building something build businesses to always keep, keep pushing. I am Joanne, founder of the Bounty Hunter agency and I recently sold the agency. We are acquire.com I had a very positive experience with the whole process from the initial listing of the business through the due diligence and the final closing. So yeah, awesome.

Well Javon, I'm excited to learn more about your whole journey, but let's start at the top. I want to hear what motivated you to start Bounty Hunter and where did you get started and just maybe we can go there and we'll walk all the way through the acquisition.

Yeah. Yeah. Cool. I'm. I'm coming from like service business. Like I. This is not my first agency. I'm. I started my first Travel agency in 2015 with a co founder and I actually leave this business after nine months or 10 months and there I learned one of the lessons about like co founders and co founding. So I'm coming more from this like a service service business rather than like product product businesses. And I think that people will all the service businesses always be required because people actually need services and need like a better experience, consultancy, etc.

Etc.

So this is my background and after 2015 when I leave this co the travel agency I started like new business which is some sort of like a portal and actually this is my first like business that I sold. I have no employees, etc.

Etc.

I'm the only one who've been employed there and I sold like successfully this business to some domestic company. This is very small acquisition and after that I was employed and work as a consultant and I decided in 2022 to start an agency who is that is strictly focused on the B2B SaaS vertical because I noticed that there is like a huge demand this like this industry. This industry B2B SaaS is like growing rapidly and there is a very shortage of people with a true experience in terms of the customer acquisition, customer retention, digital analytics, etc.

Etc.

So I started like to fill this. I wanted to fill this gap and to provide very comprehensive services for a B2B SaaS companies. So I started in August 2020 like already like four years ago. And the journey was like a really. It was a real journey first we as every like young agency we worked with the early stage B2B SaaS companies. The companies with like with a product market fit but in very, very early stages. And we did various things for these companies from like market research, running the SEO campaigns, paid ad campaigns, doing a customer support, doing in product analysis, you know, all of this stuff like in house marketing team. And that leads me to let's say to, to something to build like tailor made solutions for B2B SaaS companies. And our agency was run a boutique agency which that means we offer a really comprehensive sort of services for B2B SAS companies. Which means for some companies we did like a paid marketing and the customer acquisitions while for some other companies we work a lot on the product adoption strategies, feature adoptions, user onboarding, etc.

Etc.

So long story short, we started 2020 and I decided like to sell the business in late 2023 and this is where we are right now.

Awesome. I like marketing agencies because I'm a, I would say I'm a marketer by trade and so I enjoy everything that you just mentioned. I don't know if others do, but yeah. Okay, so you built the agency, you're. You have a lot of happy customers. What motivated you to sell the agency and think about getting acquired?

Yeah, yeah. Actually the, the main reason for selling this agency is try to like this is. Was not the typical acquisition and typical exit which means I stay within the company who acquired my company. So I, my intention there was like to grow this book of business more. Okay. And this acquisition was, was more strategic acquisition and not solely like some financial and so on acquisition. So what motivates me is a couple of factors. The first factor is like we built something great. But I like in every business I noticed that I need more support in like from, from the, like this back support in terms of the better logistics, better operations and so on. And I noticed that if we, if we go with, if I go with this space, okay definitely it will takes me like more years to build something and stand out. So I really wanted to like short that cycle, you know, and to you know, maybe not to grow faster but to like, you know, do something more strategic wise rather than like typical like financial wise. So my acquisition of my agency as I said is more like a strategic acquisition which is like some sort of the merger of, of another agency that has the B2B SaaS vertical clients there. So we bring our expertise, our people expertise, process expertise and all of these various things for, for that agency to like provide a Better, you know, better experience and better results for, for their clients and also keep our clients within the umbrella of that agency. So also there was some sort, I will be honest, of like plateau. That means we reached some momentum and I feel me as a founder and the rest of my team are in the good momentum to be the part of some, the law of some larger structure and fit in into this structure. Because with the previous model we, we go like a very slow, very slow because what we did actually we really tailored our services, our approach and everything for a client, which is not the most scalable way to grow your agency because the more time you invest, you have less time to allocate for other clients, etc.

Etc.

So either you should increase the price of your service and reduce the number of clients or maybe jeopardize your service. And I didn't want it like to go in any of these two. I really wanted to keep like, you know, the quality of service, the quality of strategy at the same level. I hope I explained this like.

Well you did, you did, you definitely did. Those are all great reasons to sell. I mean to be a part of something bigger, to have more resources to continue growing your business. That's a very common reason and a very smart reason in my opinion. So I have a question here. So you decide to sell, you have a great business on your hands. What was it like when you first listed on acquire.com was did we meet your expectations? Were you surprised when so many buyers reached out? What was your expectation for the first week and what happened?

Yeah, yeah, I will be honest, really honest with you. I didn't expect this amount of like requests, which means I've been prepared, which means I, before I listed I wanted like to provide a good experience for people, people. So that means I'm aware that they will see my listing, but they will request more information. So I like also design the journey when someone requests to see my agency to provide more information, with additional deck, to ask some questions, etc.

Etc.

But to be honest, I didn't expect this amount of like, especially when I listed within the first two or three weeks, this amount of like requests to sign the NDA, to see more, to hear more and within the like first two or three weeks, I don't remember. I think I've been with, I don't know, on maybe four to five serious calls with, with the prospective buyers. And to be honest, I didn't expect that because I know that people are not. I know, but I was, I was thinking that people are More, more interested in the product businesses such as software marketplaces and so on. And this is like a service business. But I didn't expect like this amount of like requests. And what also surprised me is the quality of the request. That means the people that really read everything my listing and really understand what it is and really like you know, approach with me like okay, we see there is something great and we want to talk you know seriously about this. So I can say that my first in within the first week the experience was like I didn't expect the amount of the request and as well this quality of requests.

So yeah, that's great to hear. I mean our main focus is definitely SaaS companies but we have a large buyer network that is interested in agencies like yours. So I'm not too surprised. But in terms of preparing for the acquisition, did you work with anyone on the acquire.com team or did you prepare anything in advance before you went live on the marketplace?

Yeah, actually what I did like I get in touch with the people who already did this like from my personal network and you know so on regarding to where the, where the acquire.com support and people really help me was in the due diligence phase and you know, contract and, and phases like more deeper phases of, of negotiation or, or selling the business. But I can say and suggest for all the people who want to list their business on acquire or to sell someone else is to really like prepare like get, get really prepared. Where acquire.com help me is actual your resources, your blog posts, your templates, etc.

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So I read a lot about you know, some, some things that I didn't know previously like you know, how what is the, I don't know, asset purchase agreements, what are the you know, other types of agreements, how the due diligence goes usually etc.

Etc.

So your resources I can say on the blog and on your website really help me and video resources to gain a better picture or how, how everything goes and to predict some steps.

Nice.

Yeah.

Full credit to the acquire team for creating all that.

Yeah, great. Yeah great, great content. Even I like some people have sent me the content. You know, I search from some content on your website but also when I search on the Google your content like really ranks higher. So I see your content organically which definitely says that like your content is useful because Google will not favorites this content.

Yeah, glad to hear it. So you list on the marketplace again you have a great business, you're prepared to meet with buyers and you end up getting a lot of Buyer requests it sounds like for your business. How did you determine the buyer that you ended up selling your business to was the right buyer to work with? Did they say yeah, this is. Did you guys get along? Yeah. What was it?

Yeah, this is, this is the great question. So I can see that in this like a process of getting in the relation first like earlier relationship with the buyers. I didn't follow like the like the common practices. What does it mean? So like get more people like to negotiate with how you can secure a better price. You know all of these like negotiate negotiate stuff. What I really looked for is first thing whether someone really like read what what I like what I said in my listing. So what I what is my like current challenges, what they want to achieve with an acquisition, etc.

Etc.

This is. That was my first criteria and the second criteria was a culture fit which is in this like strategic M and a merger and acquisitions very important. So I looked for like these factors and the thing is that the the buyer that acquired my agency was the person in this like let's say first cycle. So the person who that I get in touch in very very early stages. For example, I listed on Acquire maybe in November and I had a third meet first meeting with the buyer of Bounty Hunter in early December. And I do have. I I did have some other requests after that. So my journey wasn't that like when I get. When I was in touch with the buyer in like the first first touch with the buyer until we get into the some serious stage when the official like NDA is active. There was some. There was a people that still like came through me and requesting and wanted to get on a call with. With me. But I said to them really transparently look I'm in the really serious convers now with with a prospective buyer and we are really deep into this. My my like let's say my listing is just open because we didn't system didn't like do these things that we are under due diligence because we didn't like follow maybe the acquire.com system to press this due diligence button because we was very like both sides was very maybe busy with this. So my let's say I didn't follow this like usual practices. That means when I identified okay, this is I see the fit. This is the right buyer for me and this buyer see something else see the same thing from from his side. I really try to stick with this buyer along the journey and it seems that like that pays off.

Awesome. Yeah. I mean when you write down, you know what you're specifically looking for out of a buyer. Like you're clear about why you're selling, what you're looking for and you meet a buyer that matches that. That's a great reason to sell to that specific buyer. So well done. So now I'm wondering, you meet the buyer, you start to enter due diligence. How did that go? How was due diligence? How long did it last? Was there anything that yeah was maybe bumpy or was it smooth? How'd it go?

Yeah, the, the, the how I'm looking into the. As I said, this is not just financial moment and I think the, the people that also should look at this. It is what tells the buyer or investor if you will stay within the company will bring with. With himself. So it is, you should not look just at this financial perspective. Also if there is experience, some you know, additional logistics systems etc, etc I have a luck that I get in touch with very experienced buyer and my journey was that was they were also in the process of acquiring another agency. So they in parallel was acquiring like two agenc and I was lucky enough that I got in get in touch with very experienced buyer that, that person who knows what, what wants, how to run the business etc.

Etc.

And I think this is very important if you build some assets and you want this asset no matter if you do an exit or stay within, within the business to continue like to grow to you know, to exist. And I had a luck that I had a very experienced buyer and also other people that reach out to me that I like refused or said okay, right now I'm in really deep negotiation process. I feel that those buyers was also experienced by the questions they are asking, you know, etc.

Etc.

So I can say that like the community or how we can call the people who are buying the business there on acquirer.com it's like quite, quite good. It is like a quality people. Not someone who is like, you know, have the eyes balls and see okay, this business, I want to acquire this business. They really know the purpose of the acquisition. So yeah, that's long story short I think about, about my. Yeah, nice.

I'm glad it worked out. And then so you go through due diligence, you start to head towards close. Did you guys agree to any sort of transition period or you were going to stay on the business or did you leave the business right away? Are you still working at the business? What did that look like?

Yes, yes. Yeah yeah. This is one of my actually this is not the usual way but I like strictly like outlined in my, in my listing in description that I'm willing to stay within the business at least eight months at least to build this business, like to continue and to transfer the knowledge, the expertise, the processes, etc.

Etc.

And this is like like very good because the buyer like actually read this and like he saw that okay, this is with my long term goals as well and what is what, how, how the due diligence went or, or everything timeline, etc.

Etc.

I think we've been in a couple of months in, in the process of like you know, setting up the proper timeline, you know, transition period, etc.

Etc.

And I think that their momentum is really important. Which means when you are doing some like strategic acquisitions or strategic mergers, I think the momentum is really important on how the things will happen and when the things will will happen. So it seems that both sides search for this perfect momentum because the moment that after four or five five months. So that was like this is a six figure deal. Okay. And I like, I sold some stories that some people for seven figures, eight figures sold like sold their their like businesses within the much shorter time frame. But as I said this, this is like every business and every acquisition has like their own life cycle, their their own like nurture of all the things etc.

Etc.

So I think you should be really focused when you are selling something focus like on your acquisition of like the things that are happening like within your acquisition not necessarily follow this like a best practices. And because use cases can can be different for, for each business. And yeah we've been in like a four to five months in this sort of not just negotiation but setting up the timelines, due diligences, how we will transfer the assets, etc.

Etc.

And actually after four months we finish like all the transferring etc.

Etc.

Within the two weeks. So yeah, good to hear.

And so when it comes to transitions I I see all types in terms of length and you know, are you staying with the business? Are you exiting the business? Are you only doing part time, full time?

Yeah.

And typically surprisingly having stayed on with the company that acquired your business is pretty common for three, sometimes as long as two years depending on the size of the acquisition. So good job negotiating that too because it can help you find the right type of buyer or align what you're looking to accomplish during the acquisition with the buyer. So it also de risks acquisition as well. So a buyer is more confident maybe agreeing to your terms or the price of the acquisition if they know that you're going to be around to help with the transition and like you said, the knowledge transfer to make sure that everything stays intact. So nice job on that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I think this is really important because you know this like transparency and everything is really important to be like from the day one really transparent with, with the partner or whatever with the buyer. And I think you can be transparent of just when you are a 100 like sure that you know what you want and if you are, you know, not sure of what you want, the other side like will will notice this sooner or later. And also you will get confused especially when you are selling for a first time. You know, this is my first, first time I'm selling business so I really jumped into the like something new. I didn't know like almost anything about this and I learned a lot during this journey. But I really want to encourage people to like stick into this essential basis of the like be focused on, on your business, on, on your acquisition. You know, there is a different use cases, different people because also people will position. You know there is a different use cases, different people because also people will like search for some advice people who did this previously. And but as I said every use case is different and I think like doing an acquisition and staying within the business for some time or for a longer period of time is actually mutual win win. So I'm looking at like always like in a win win world is most commonly will pay offs for. For both sides on the long run.

Yeah, that's, that's great advice. And I guess for my next question, you've given a lot of great advice during this this discussion. But if you had to give maybe two, three pieces of advice to yourself or another entrepreneur looking to sell your business, what do you think that'd be?

Yeah, okay so my, as I said I maybe I I'm repeating this right now is like before when you want to sell the business you should be like 100 there no matter if you will exit after after this or or stay within the business after acquisition. Because selling the business is not an easy job. And if you are like not one 100% there, you know, maybe you will, you know, make some mistake and then maybe will not go into the way that you want or imagine it. So this is my first thing. The second thing is there is like a lot of of course product businesses are more or like more let's say attractive rather than the service businesses. I think it really depends the the of the type the person who you are but more people are going, like, thinking of like, you know, we will build some product. This product will work after one year from themselves. We will sit down and just, you know, wait for, For. For money to. To go. And I think that no matter if it's a product business or service business, it's very important for you to be in the business and to try to understand your business. And if you want to sell your business, that means you really need to understand your business from each perspective, how your business fits into the market, how you know who is your customer Persona, how you deliver your service, or how you, you know, build your product. I think this is very important to be like 100% in your. In your business. And I think I have no other advices except like, just, you know, be. Be there and be very, like, don't believe in yourself. Believe in your capabilities, in your knowledge and everything that you have and always try to play on the. On the long run.

Yeah, that's good advice. And I think what I really like about this conversation is how you outline what you specifically want from an acquisition. Because a lot of entrepreneurs don't do that. What they do is they let the buyer dictate the terms or the price or the transition period. And being really, really clear about what you want out of the acquisition is going to be obviously the fastest way for you to find a buyer that agrees with that and will go with an acquisition that aligns with the valuation terms, whatever may be most important to you. So it's really good.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think this is, as I said, very important, like when you, you know, because there is like the trending things and the things are like that. There is a buzz, the businesses, you know, etc. And most people are come. Okay, we hear some other great story, and maybe they have a really good business, very good potential within the business to build on the long run, but they are attracted with this hype and they just go and want to sell without like any preparation for it. But. And I think you should be prepared. And as you. And as you repeated and said, like, you really, you really need to. To. To state what you want out of this because other side will recognize this and def.

No, it's. It's the truth. And I've seen it a number of times in acquisitions, so can. Can't agree more. So as we wrap up this interview, Javon, is there. Is there anyone? I guess my last question would be, you know, you closed acquisition. It sounds like everything went great. You know, what are you. What are you Working on next building.

Yeah, yeah, building. I personally like the building building the stuff. So I will work on, on building uh, building uh, more uh, more strategies with this within this new book of business in this new business. So this is where I will be focused on, you know, try to expand, expand further expand because we did like as I said, strategic acquisition. Expand the, the current business. Expand the everything in this new environment and definitely provide better services, better strategy for, for a B2B SaaS clients but like within the different brand name.

Crazy here. Well Javon, if people want to reach out to you or learn more about your, your story, where can they find you online?

Yeah, of course LinkedIn is there. So my, my first name and surname is not that common. So Yovan Milovic or Milevic. However, uh, so LinkedIn and uh, I think this will be the main, main source because I'm mostly active on the LinkedIn.

Sounds good. I'll be sure to put that in the show notes. Well Javon, thanks again for joining the podcast and huge congrats on that edition.

Yeah, thank you Andrew. It was a really great experience within the acquirer.com and I will definitely recommend to everyone who is thinking about selling the businesses to visit your website, learn from your resources and everything and you know, definitely a place to be right there.

All right, cheers Yvonne.

Bye bye.