
I'm selling my bootstrapped SaaS project. Currently doing $2500 MRR and growing - andycloke
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BwBZUhgTLJTIXPV6GhC4ihBodlmjdJ0lH_vW9xoKxKA/edit?usp=sharing
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andycloke
Hi HN,

I've bootstrapped my SaaS tool Influence Grid
([https://www.influencegrid.com](https://www.influencegrid.com)) since
December 2019. It's a TikTok influencer search engine used by marketing
agencies, consumer brands etc.

I'm looking to sell and thought this doc might be interesting to other HN folk
as it goes into how I've built and grown the project, and why I'm selling.

Any questions or offers, let me know! andy@influencegrid.com

~~~
didgeoridoo
How many hours per week have you personally had to put into sales, management,
and support? $2500/mo would look great if the answer is “barely any”, less so
if the answer is “basically a full time job”. Where are you on that spectrum?

~~~
andycloke
Support is an hour or two a week.

Sales and management has varied a lot as I’ve got more and less interested in
the project, but a few hours a week.

I’ve been working full time somewhere else whilst building this.

As with any side project it’s been as much about learning (SEO, marketing,
customer development) as the financial returns!

------
blackrock
It sounds risky to build your business on top of someone else’s business.

Do you even have legal authorization to access TikTok’s data, and customer
base?

For an example, PadMapper built their rental search website on top of
Craigslist, a few years back. It was actually quite nice at the time. And
then, Craigslist shut them down with a cease-and-desist order.

~~~
andycloke
Of course it’s a risk, but as an indie hacker making my first business, being
able to build on another platform that’s blowing up has serious benefits in
terms of getting traction.

I doubt they care at $2500 MRR lol

~~~
tuesday20
Is the data scraped? What is the tech stack?

~~~
andycloke
Yes

Backend: TypeScript, Node, Postgres, Apollo Server, TypeORM

Frontend: TypeScript, React, Apollo Client, Razzle.js/ After.js (just for SSR)

Deployed on Heroku

More details in the link

------
oonny
genuine question: how is this different than the official creator marketplace
from TikTok?
[https://creatormarketplace.tiktok.com/](https://creatormarketplace.tiktok.com/)
I'm in the influencer space. Why would I pay you when I get the same thing for
free from Tiktok?

~~~
vaughnegut
I'm sketchy on details, but in the posting the author mentions that the
creator marketplace is opt in, so there's (comparatively) few people on there.

------
jefecoon
Hi Andy, Former founder, now investment banker here.

Sorry to hear you're not interested in continuing the business moving forward.
Btw, if you really want to sell, probably best to work on this answer [ e.g. I
love other things > i hate this ].

My quick take: \- $2500/mo MRR in ~6mo is nice validation of the opportunity.
A natural question would be "are you interested in pursuing this as an actual
business, and becoming a startup founder?" You should expect this question
from any & every potential acquirer. Btw, I'd coach you that "i don't love
this space" isn't best answer; try "i find this super interesting, but I love
XYZ and that's where my heart is..." Follow-up question: would you join us as
a developer on this for 12 months?"

\- You'll be viewed as "side hustle," not pre-seed startup. By that i mean to
say you're level of 'completeness' and value will be categorized this way.
This will make it challenging for a buyer to consider you an 'acqui-hire'
level target, e.g. the old adage "$1M / developer" type acqui-hire valuation
some co's use for buying teams.

\- I think you're most likely acquirers will be influencer marketplace and/or
related mktg / agency / services firms [ e.g. Hypr, Traacker, similar ].
They're the independent alternatives to TikTok, Snap, whomever's own features
in this area.

\- Scraping will be considered a fundamental risk, e.g. "does your current
usage fully abide TikTok Terms of Use?" Do they offer an API? If so, why
aren't you using it? How at risk is your scraping of being cut off by TT in
the future? Have you spoken with a TT biz dev person about this? See 'ckdarby'
comment on friend's Insta business getting C&D ltr from FB legal; very hard
for you to be acquired if you have any of this risk.

\- Valuation: you're super early stage; sorry, i'm not super familiar with
valuation around side-hustle projects so I'd google this a bit to see if there
are nice precedent / comparables.

\- Classic mba style valuation rules-of-thumb, for later stage / at scale
businesses: 6.5-7.5x EBITDA. Fairly standard business school valuation rule-
of-thumb, e.g. if you were at scale business being considered by private
equity buyers they'd start their valuation & waterfall model around here.

Finally, congratulations -- this is a fantastic side-hustle. You may be able
to find a way to get a deal closed, especially if you're willing to go with
the code-base to help it land, migrate off scraping to API, etc.

J

~~~
andycloke
Hi J,

Thanks for all the feedback!

Not sure I totally get your point about my reason for selling. Are you saying
I should or shouldn't say my heart's not in it? That's the genuine reason and
I've always built in the open and been transparent about my business/ goals.

My primary motivation now is starting another SaaS project like this one, but
in a niche that I'm more interested in. At the moment I think that's B2B lead
gen or SEO.

Obviously very different beasts to this - mature industries etc but things
I've developed an interest in by doing this more opportunist project. So I'm
100% not looking for an acquire-hire!

Happy to be viewed as a side hustle. That's basically what it has been until
very recently.

Yes, those are the main people I'm speaking to at the moment. Also Indie
Hacker types.

Agree, if it wasn't for the fact it relies on scraping this thing would be
worth 5 x much as I've suggested in the doc. I'd say this is very hard to
value, even looking at historical multiples on Flippa etc.

Please don't mention MBAs!

~~~
jefecoon
"Not sure I totally get your point about my reason for selling. Are you saying
I should or shouldn't say my heart's not in it? That's the genuine reason and
I've always built in the open and been transparent about my business/ goals."
=> Just phrasing. Say you love something else more than this; saying you don't
want to do it has negative connotations. Again, just semantics, but they can
seriously influence likelihood of deal & valuation...

Happy hunting!

~~~
andycloke
Ah I see what you mean, thanks!

