

Ask HN: is there a marketplace for code bases, startups, etc.? - api

Let&#x27;s say you have a nearly turn-key startup ready to go with an interesting and working product, but something might be about to happen in your life that would mean you&#x27;d no longer be as interested in seeing it through.<p>Is there a marketplace for such things anywhere? Is there a place where entrepreneurs who have money and are looking for another thing to try might purchase such things and take them over, and where makers could sell them?<p>(Imagine the idea already has some level of market validation in the form of existing but inferior competitors.)
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ig1
Generally such businesses get sold directly by the owner approaching
interested parties (companies in the same space, competitors, etc.).

If they end up on a public market it generally means that no-one in that space
was interested in it, which is a huge negative flag (i.e. strong indication
it's a dud) which drives the price down so much it's often not worthwhile
doing the sale (i.e. handling the legal, accounting cost and processed aren't
worthwhile).

~~~
api
I'd thought about that, and wasn't sure if approaching a potential competitor
would look like an ultimatum and just piss them off. "Pay for this or I
release it and compete with you."

Of course (a) I guess that's business, and (b) if I were the competitor, had
the money, and wanted to get a leg up, I might actually be pleased. It would
depend on my position.

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jplewicke
There was a recent Sell HN thread where people were posting projects they
wanted to sell:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5803374](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5803374)
. Hopefully this will be a recurring monthly event, so you might be able to
put it up then,

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sharemywin
I'm assuming there is no users and/or revenue stream. So your talking about an
untested business plan, some intellectual property ie code, trademarks,
patents. I don't know of anything but I'd be interested to see. Yuo might
think about selling it as a service and white labeling the functionality.

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thesmileyone
[http://us.businessesforsale.com/us/search/Internet-
Businesse...](http://us.businessesforsale.com/us/search/Internet-Businesses-
for-sale)

That is the major one.

------
benologist
www.flippa.com

~~~
api
Flippa looks geared only toward web apps with web traffic, not other kinds of
things.

~~~
benologist
What is your startup?

~~~
api
Virtual distributed Ethernet.

It's about 95% of the way to being turn-key. I plan to move ahead and release,
but recent events in my life have called into question whether I have time to
truly take it all the way. So I've decided to explore other options just for
the hell of it.

