Bootstrapping to Billions E66: Six Month Acquisition to Exit of Simple SaaS
Buy SaaS with active users, verify usage and churn during diligence, then improve conversion and pricing before deciding whether to hold or sell.
- Use a buy box: target active traffic, a large free-user base, and founders ready to move on.
- Check real usage, code, support emails, cancellations, and revenue; move quickly only when the price supports your downside case.
- Test conversion changes, pricing, and higher-value customer segments; keep the asset listed to gauge buyer interest.
The interview gives a concrete acquisition-to-exit walkthrough, including diligence and monetization changes. · Best for: Operators considering buying, improving, and reselling small SaaS businesses.
Torey describes buying Seamless for Science, a niche AI literature-review product, on Acquire.com; improving its conversion and monetization; and selling it about six months later. He also discusses how the experience informed his current product, Linkify.
Background and buy box1:21
- After earlier startup attempts, Torey looked to acquire a business rather than start from zero.
- His buy box favored traffic, many free users, potential for higher-ticket sales, and founders ready to move on.
- He reviewed dozens of deals and made three to four offers before pursuing Seamless for Science.
Evaluating and closing the acquisition4:56
- The product had about 20,000 free users and just over 200 paying users; live usage and support after an outage suggested demand.
- He used an LOI and NDA, then checked the code, user activity, customer-support emails, cancellations, and revenue.
- Diligence took six days; the overall purchase took two to four weeks, using escrow and a transfer of code, documentation, and accounts.
Growing the product14:34
- The founders’ traffic came partly from a viral video on Bilibili and a listing on There's An AI For That.
- Torey added customer reviews and social-proof notifications to improve conversion.
- He raised the monthly price from $19 to $30 and removed the free plan; he said slightly more than 1% of free users converted after the change.
- He also pursued higher-value users, including researchers and smaller colleges; some institutional agreements brought in a few thousand dollars per month.
Relisting and exiting24:28
- He relisted the business soon after buying it, at roughly three times his purchase price, to gauge market interest while continuing to operate it.
- After six months, he chose to sell, citing fatigue with the student market and failed payments.
- The sale followed a similar LOI, diligence, purchase-agreement, escrow, and asset-transfer process on Acquire.com.
Applying the lessons to Linkify28:36
- After the exit, he took a break, did AI consulting, and started Linkify, an automated LinkedIn outreach product.
- He looks for existing markets where customers are dissatisfied rather than insisting on inventing a new category.
- He describes lead discovery, AI-generated outreach campaigns, voice notes, and rented real LinkedIn profiles as product features.
Step by step
- Define a buy box around your skills, budget, existing traffic, active users, and monetization potential.
- Review multiple listings and contact promising sellers promptly; agree on an LOI and NDA before diligence.
- Verify actual product usage, inspect code and customer-support history, test cancellation flows, and validate revenue.
- Use escrow and document the asset handoff, including code, API documentation, and relevant accounts.
- Improve the existing funnel with customer reviews and social proof; test pricing and free-to-paid conversion changes.
- Explore higher-value customer groups and institutional buyers, then reassess whether to keep operating or sell.
- If selling, present updated business information to buyers and complete diligence, agreement, escrow, and transfer.
Tools & resources mentioned
- Acquire.com — listing, deal communication, LOI templates, deal-stage tracking, and escrow workflow discussed.
- Stripe — payment account transferred during the acquisition handoff.
- Bilibili — Chinese video site where a video about the product reportedly brought traffic.
- There's An AI For That — AI-tool directory where the product reportedly ranked highly.
- Semantic Scholar — research-paper database the product used for semantic search.
- Linkify — Torey's current LinkedIn outreach software; discussed as his next venture.
Notes are AI-generated from the video's transcript and may miss nuance.