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Oct 1, 2025 · 16m · startup-acquisition-stories

How a College Shopify App Project Turned Into a Profitable Exit

Andrew Gazdecki · 3m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of Startup Acquisition Stories, serial entrepreneur Tanmay details how he developed Edify from a college class project into a monetized Shopify application and navigated its successful acquisition on Acquire.com before launching his next AI venture.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Andrew holds 25% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Andrew as informed peer 2.5 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 0.2 Andrew pushing back 0.0
05100:0010:000:24–2:32 · Andrew as informed peer 1/10 Meet Tanmay: From TCU Graduate to Serial SaaS Founder Gazdecki opens with friendly introductory questions about Edify. Tanmay explains the founding background, detailing the specific Shopify order backdating problem his friend encountered.2:32–4:36 · Andrew as informed peer 2/10 Organic App Store Growth and Transitioning to Monetization Gazdecki inquires into app store dynamics and freemium conversion rates. Tanmay breaks down conversion percentages and explains how introducing a customer-facing module increased support load.4:37–7:17 · Andrew as informed peer 2/10 App Marketing via Shopify Ads and Community Forums Gazdecki asks about acquisition channels and the motivation to sell. Tanmay outlines answering merchant queries on Shopify forums as a high-ROI distribution channel before moving on to new AI projects.7:18–10:18 · Andrew as informed peer 3/10 Pre-Sale Preparation and Asset Management Strategy Tanmay explains the necessity of cataloging and checking off dozens of digital assets when preparing for sale. Gazdecki echoes this from a marketplace operator standpoint.10:19–13:15 · Andrew as informed peer 4/10 Navigating 21-Day Due Diligence and Metric Tracking Tanmay shares lessons from a 21-day due diligence phase, advising founders to consolidate cloud infrastructure on a single master email. Gazdecki strongly validates this based on platform data.13:16–15:44 · Andrew as informed peer 3/10 Acquisition Advice: Peer Consultation and Deal Velocity Tanmay briefly seeks clarification on the audience context before emphasizing deal velocity and peer consultation. Gazdecki reinforces the classic adage that time kills deals.0:24–2:32 · Guest teaching 2/10 Meet Tanmay: From TCU Graduate to Serial SaaS Founder Gazdecki opens with friendly introductory questions about Edify. Tanmay explains the founding background, detailing the specific Shopify order backdating problem his friend encountered.2:32–4:36 · Guest teaching 2/10 Organic App Store Growth and Transitioning to Monetization Gazdecki inquires into app store dynamics and freemium conversion rates. Tanmay breaks down conversion percentages and explains how introducing a customer-facing module increased support load.4:37–7:17 · Guest teaching 1/10 App Marketing via Shopify Ads and Community Forums Gazdecki asks about acquisition channels and the motivation to sell. Tanmay outlines answering merchant queries on Shopify forums as a high-ROI distribution channel before moving on to new AI projects.7:18–10:18 · Guest teaching 2/10 Pre-Sale Preparation and Asset Management Strategy Tanmay explains the necessity of cataloging and checking off dozens of digital assets when preparing for sale. Gazdecki echoes this from a marketplace operator standpoint.10:19–13:15 · Guest teaching 3/10 Navigating 21-Day Due Diligence and Metric Tracking Tanmay shares lessons from a 21-day due diligence phase, advising founders to consolidate cloud infrastructure on a single master email. Gazdecki strongly validates this based on platform data.13:16–15:44 · Guest teaching 2/10 Acquisition Advice: Peer Consultation and Deal Velocity Tanmay briefly seeks clarification on the audience context before emphasizing deal velocity and peer consultation. Gazdecki reinforces the classic adage that time kills deals.0:24–2:32 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Meet Tanmay: From TCU Graduate to Serial SaaS Founder Gazdecki opens with friendly introductory questions about Edify. Tanmay explains the founding background, detailing the specific Shopify order backdating problem his friend encountered.2:32–4:36 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Organic App Store Growth and Transitioning to Monetization Gazdecki inquires into app store dynamics and freemium conversion rates. Tanmay breaks down conversion percentages and explains how introducing a customer-facing module increased support load.4:37–7:17 · Guest disagreement 0/10 App Marketing via Shopify Ads and Community Forums Gazdecki asks about acquisition channels and the motivation to sell. Tanmay outlines answering merchant queries on Shopify forums as a high-ROI distribution channel before moving on to new AI projects.7:18–10:18 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Pre-Sale Preparation and Asset Management Strategy Tanmay explains the necessity of cataloging and checking off dozens of digital assets when preparing for sale. Gazdecki echoes this from a marketplace operator standpoint.10:19–13:15 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Navigating 21-Day Due Diligence and Metric Tracking Tanmay shares lessons from a 21-day due diligence phase, advising founders to consolidate cloud infrastructure on a single master email. Gazdecki strongly validates this based on platform data.13:16–15:44 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Acquisition Advice: Peer Consultation and Deal Velocity Tanmay briefly seeks clarification on the audience context before emphasizing deal velocity and peer consultation. Gazdecki reinforces the classic adage that time kills deals.0:24–2:32 · Andrew pushing back 0/10 Meet Tanmay: From TCU Graduate to Serial SaaS Founder Gazdecki opens with friendly introductory questions about Edify. Tanmay explains the founding background, detailing the specific Shopify order backdating problem his friend encountered.2:32–4:36 · Andrew pushing back 0/10 Organic App Store Growth and Transitioning to Monetization Gazdecki inquires into app store dynamics and freemium conversion rates. Tanmay breaks down conversion percentages and explains how introducing a customer-facing module increased support load.4:37–7:17 · Andrew pushing back 0/10 App Marketing via Shopify Ads and Community Forums Gazdecki asks about acquisition channels and the motivation to sell. Tanmay outlines answering merchant queries on Shopify forums as a high-ROI distribution channel before moving on to new AI projects.7:18–10:18 · Andrew pushing back 0/10 Pre-Sale Preparation and Asset Management Strategy Tanmay explains the necessity of cataloging and checking off dozens of digital assets when preparing for sale. Gazdecki echoes this from a marketplace operator standpoint.10:19–13:15 · Andrew pushing back 0/10 Navigating 21-Day Due Diligence and Metric Tracking Tanmay shares lessons from a 21-day due diligence phase, advising founders to consolidate cloud infrastructure on a single master email. Gazdecki strongly validates this based on platform data.13:16–15:44 · Andrew pushing back 0/10 Acquisition Advice: Peer Consultation and Deal Velocity Tanmay briefly seeks clarification on the audience context before emphasizing deal velocity and peer consultation. Gazdecki reinforces the classic adage that time kills deals.

speaking balance: gold is Andrew, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Andrew 18.3% · guest 81.7%0:00 · Andrew 18.3% · guest 81.7%3:00 · Andrew 27.6% · guest 72.4%3:00 · Andrew 27.6% · guest 72.4%6:00 · Andrew 32.4% · guest 67.6%6:00 · Andrew 32.4% · guest 67.6%9:00 · Andrew 16.2% · guest 83.8%9:00 · Andrew 16.2% · guest 83.8%12:00 · Andrew 30.8% · guest 69.2%12:00 · Andrew 30.8% · guest 69.2%15:00 · Andrew 24.7% · guest 75.3%15:00 · Andrew 24.7% · guest 75.3%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:22 Tanmay halts prompt to clarify target persona

In an exceptionally cordial interview, Tanmay gently halts Gazdecki's broad question to clarify whether the advice is aimed at early-stage builders or founders ready to exit.

 Hardest push from Andrew ▶ 13:30 Host clarifies broad scope of founder advice

Gazdecki steers the open-ended query back to general acquisition takeaways rather than narrowing into a specific founder lifecycle phase.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:57 Practical infrastructure transfer advice for founders

Tanmay delivers a structured breakdown of concrete due diligence pitfalls, including the risk of mixed cloud credentials and Shopify metric blind spots.

 Andrew holds their own ▶ 11:58 Gazdecki reinforces credential separation from platform experience

Gazdecki steps in with marketplace authority to confirm how often founders complicate acquisitions by entangling multiple startups in one AWS account.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicAndrew as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementAndrew pushing backWhy
Meet Tanmay: From TCU Graduate to Serial SaaS Founder 1200 Gazdecki opens with friendly introductory questions about Edify. Tanmay explains the founding background, detailing the specific Shopify order backdating problem his friend encountered.
Organic App Store Growth and Transitioning to Monetization 2200 Gazdecki inquires into app store dynamics and freemium conversion rates. Tanmay breaks down conversion percentages and explains how introducing a customer-facing module increased support load.
App Marketing via Shopify Ads and Community Forums 2100 Gazdecki asks about acquisition channels and the motivation to sell. Tanmay outlines answering merchant queries on Shopify forums as a high-ROI distribution channel before moving on to new AI projects.
Pre-Sale Preparation and Asset Management Strategy 3200 Tanmay explains the necessity of cataloging and checking off dozens of digital assets when preparing for sale. Gazdecki echoes this from a marketplace operator standpoint.
Navigating 21-Day Due Diligence and Metric Tracking 4300 Tanmay shares lessons from a 21-day due diligence phase, advising founders to consolidate cloud infrastructure on a single master email. Gazdecki strongly validates this based on platform data.
Acquisition Advice: Peer Consultation and Deal Velocity 3210 Tanmay briefly seeks clarification on the audience context before emphasizing deal velocity and peer consultation. Gazdecki reinforces the classic adage that time kills deals.

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