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Feb 14, 2023 · 18m · startup-acquisition-stories

Startup Acquisition Stories with Minh-Phuc Tran, Founder of Queue.so

Minh-Phuc Tran · 10m spoken Andrew Gazdecki · 5m 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, host Andrew Gazdecki interviews solo developer Minh-Phuc Tran on how he built, scaled, and sold his Notion-integrated SaaS tool, Queue.so, on Acquire.com. Tran shares actionable insights on pricing micro-SaaS products, managing buyer outreach, executing two-day technical due diligence, and structuring staged asset handovers.

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 31.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Andrew as informed peer 3.2 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 0.2 Andrew pushing back 0.2
05100:0010:000:24–4:15 · Andrew as informed peer 2/10 Meet Minh-Phuc Tran, Founder of Queue.so The conversation is friendly and introductory as Minh-Phuc describes building Queue.so and how Notion platform risk caused him to lose interest in developing it. Andrew acts primarily as a supportive listener, validating Minh-Phuc's decision to sell.4:16–9:25 · Andrew as informed peer 5/10 Listing on Acquire.com and High Initial Demand Minh-Phuc shares his experience with an indie hacker backing out before finding a VC buyer who did pre-diligence. Andrew displays marketplace expertise by detailing how buyers utilize SEO tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush to conduct pre-call diligence.9:26–12:33 · Andrew as informed peer 5/10 Executing a Rapid Technical Due Diligence Process Minh-Phuc explains completing technical due diligence in two days and structuring asset transfers in multiple payment installments. Andrew demonstrates expertise by contrasting this with multi-month diligence norms and validating installment structures as effective risk mitigation.12:33–16:28 · Andrew as informed peer 3/10 Key Advice for Founders Selling SaaS on Acquire.com Minh-Phuc offers candid feedback criticizing tire-kicker buyers on Acquire.com who ask basic questions already answered in listings. Andrew briefly contextualizes buyer behavior before agreeing that asking listing-level questions indicates a low-quality buyer.16:29–17:19 · Andrew as informed peer 1/10 Future Endeavors and Building New Micro-SaaS Ventures A brief, amicable outro where Minh-Phuc shares his new SaaS projects (Nora, Daily, and a CMS) and social media handles, with Andrew providing standard closing pleasantries.0:24–4:15 · Guest teaching 2/10 Meet Minh-Phuc Tran, Founder of Queue.so The conversation is friendly and introductory as Minh-Phuc describes building Queue.so and how Notion platform risk caused him to lose interest in developing it. Andrew acts primarily as a supportive listener, validating Minh-Phuc's decision to sell.4:16–9:25 · Guest teaching 2/10 Listing on Acquire.com and High Initial Demand Minh-Phuc shares his experience with an indie hacker backing out before finding a VC buyer who did pre-diligence. Andrew displays marketplace expertise by detailing how buyers utilize SEO tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush to conduct pre-call diligence.9:26–12:33 · Guest teaching 2/10 Executing a Rapid Technical Due Diligence Process Minh-Phuc explains completing technical due diligence in two days and structuring asset transfers in multiple payment installments. Andrew demonstrates expertise by contrasting this with multi-month diligence norms and validating installment structures as effective risk mitigation.12:33–16:28 · Guest teaching 4/10 Key Advice for Founders Selling SaaS on Acquire.com Minh-Phuc offers candid feedback criticizing tire-kicker buyers on Acquire.com who ask basic questions already answered in listings. Andrew briefly contextualizes buyer behavior before agreeing that asking listing-level questions indicates a low-quality buyer.16:29–17:19 · Guest teaching 0/10 Future Endeavors and Building New Micro-SaaS Ventures A brief, amicable outro where Minh-Phuc shares his new SaaS projects (Nora, Daily, and a CMS) and social media handles, with Andrew providing standard closing pleasantries.0:24–4:15 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Meet Minh-Phuc Tran, Founder of Queue.so The conversation is friendly and introductory as Minh-Phuc describes building Queue.so and how Notion platform risk caused him to lose interest in developing it. Andrew acts primarily as a supportive listener, validating Minh-Phuc's decision to sell.4:16–9:25 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Listing on Acquire.com and High Initial Demand Minh-Phuc shares his experience with an indie hacker backing out before finding a VC buyer who did pre-diligence. Andrew displays marketplace expertise by detailing how buyers utilize SEO tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush to conduct pre-call diligence.9:26–12:33 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Executing a Rapid Technical Due Diligence Process Minh-Phuc explains completing technical due diligence in two days and structuring asset transfers in multiple payment installments. Andrew demonstrates expertise by contrasting this with multi-month diligence norms and validating installment structures as effective risk mitigation.12:33–16:28 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Key Advice for Founders Selling SaaS on Acquire.com Minh-Phuc offers candid feedback criticizing tire-kicker buyers on Acquire.com who ask basic questions already answered in listings. Andrew briefly contextualizes buyer behavior before agreeing that asking listing-level questions indicates a low-quality buyer.16:29–17:19 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Future Endeavors and Building New Micro-SaaS Ventures A brief, amicable outro where Minh-Phuc shares his new SaaS projects (Nora, Daily, and a CMS) and social media handles, with Andrew providing standard closing pleasantries.0:24–4:15 · Andrew pushing back 0/10 Meet Minh-Phuc Tran, Founder of Queue.so The conversation is friendly and introductory as Minh-Phuc describes building Queue.so and how Notion platform risk caused him to lose interest in developing it. Andrew acts primarily as a supportive listener, validating Minh-Phuc's decision to sell.4:16–9:25 · Andrew pushing back 0/10 Listing on Acquire.com and High Initial Demand Minh-Phuc shares his experience with an indie hacker backing out before finding a VC buyer who did pre-diligence. Andrew displays marketplace expertise by detailing how buyers utilize SEO tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush to conduct pre-call diligence.9:26–12:33 · Andrew pushing back 0/10 Executing a Rapid Technical Due Diligence Process Minh-Phuc explains completing technical due diligence in two days and structuring asset transfers in multiple payment installments. Andrew demonstrates expertise by contrasting this with multi-month diligence norms and validating installment structures as effective risk mitigation.12:33–16:28 · Andrew pushing back 1/10 Key Advice for Founders Selling SaaS on Acquire.com Minh-Phuc offers candid feedback criticizing tire-kicker buyers on Acquire.com who ask basic questions already answered in listings. Andrew briefly contextualizes buyer behavior before agreeing that asking listing-level questions indicates a low-quality buyer.16:29–17:19 · Andrew pushing back 0/10 Future Endeavors and Building New Micro-SaaS Ventures A brief, amicable outro where Minh-Phuc shares his new SaaS projects (Nora, Daily, and a CMS) and social media handles, with Andrew providing standard closing pleasantries.

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

0:00 · Andrew 20.8% · guest 79.2%0:00 · Andrew 20.8% · guest 79.2%3:00 · Andrew 32.6% · guest 67.4%3:00 · Andrew 32.6% · guest 67.4%6:00 · Andrew 24.1% · guest 75.9%6:00 · Andrew 24.1% · guest 75.9%9:00 · Andrew 41.2% · guest 58.8%9:00 · Andrew 41.2% · guest 58.8%12:00 · Andrew 43.4% · guest 56.6%12:00 · Andrew 43.4% · guest 56.6%15:00 · Andrew 33.3% · guest 66.7%15:00 · Andrew 33.3% · guest 66.7%18:00 · Andrew 2.3% · guest 97.7%18:00 · Andrew 2.3% · guest 97.7%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 15:04 Critique of lazy marketplace buyers

Minh-Phuc expresses direct frustration with buyers who fail to read basic profile details like MRR and tech stack before reaching out.

 Hardest push from Andrew ▶ 14:26 Host contextualizes high inquiry volume

Andrew gently moderates Minh-Phuc's criticism of unresponsive buyers by explaining the natural attrition that occurs during initial buyer discovery.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 15:04 Seller criteria for filtering out bad buyers

Minh-Phuc educates Andrew and listeners on how serious founders filter out low-effort buyer inquiries that ignore already published listing data.

 Andrew holds their own ▶ 8:42 Host breaks down pre-due diligence tooling

Andrew demonstrates industry expertise by explaining how sophisticated buyers leverage Ahrefs, SEMrush, and social mentions prior to initiating seller calls.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicAndrew as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementAndrew pushing backWhy
Meet Minh-Phuc Tran, Founder of Queue.so 2200 The conversation is friendly and introductory as Minh-Phuc describes building Queue.so and how Notion platform risk caused him to lose interest in developing it. Andrew acts primarily as a supportive listener, validating Minh-Phuc's decision to sell.
Listing on Acquire.com and High Initial Demand 5200 Minh-Phuc shares his experience with an indie hacker backing out before finding a VC buyer who did pre-diligence. Andrew displays marketplace expertise by detailing how buyers utilize SEO tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush to conduct pre-call diligence.
Executing a Rapid Technical Due Diligence Process 5200 Minh-Phuc explains completing technical due diligence in two days and structuring asset transfers in multiple payment installments. Andrew demonstrates expertise by contrasting this with multi-month diligence norms and validating installment structures as effective risk mitigation.
Key Advice for Founders Selling SaaS on Acquire.com 3411 Minh-Phuc offers candid feedback criticizing tire-kicker buyers on Acquire.com who ask basic questions already answered in listings. Andrew briefly contextualizes buyer behavior before agreeing that asking listing-level questions indicates a low-quality buyer.
Future Endeavors and Building New Micro-SaaS Ventures 1000 A brief, amicable outro where Minh-Phuc shares his new SaaS projects (Nora, Daily, and a CMS) and social media handles, with Andrew providing standard closing pleasantries.

Statements from this episode (8)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tran: Building in public on Twitter drove Queue.so's first customers
“Mostly mostly by building in public on Twitter. So back then I was just like tweeting about, I'm building this tool is help you to like scheduling tweets directly in Notion. And there's like a lot of people using Notion on Twitter and are excited to try a new …”
Minh-Phuc Tran Feb 14, 2023 ▶ 1:57
Disclosure
Tran: Platform friction with Notion prompted decision to sell Queue.so
“So I used to think that, like, I will spend most of my time working on Notion-specific products because, like, I did that for almost a year, and then a lot of people know about that, but then I did launch another product, and I had a little of an issue with No…”
Minh-Phuc Tran Feb 14, 2023 ▶ 2:32
Disclosure
Tran: Listed Queue.so at 7x to 8x ARR multiple on Acquire.com
“Like I needed to come up with the asking price, so like how much multiples of the ARR that I should ask for, and then I did a bunch of research, and then I asked a bunch of people, and then I come up with like seven or eight multiplies of the annual revenue, a…”
Minh-Phuc Tran Feb 14, 2023 ▶ 4:54
Insight
Gazdecki: Buyers who conduct upfront pre-diligence stand out to founders
“Ones that do pre due diligence. Cause there's a lot of ways to, You know, look at website traffic with tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush or just looking up your Twitter page and any mentions from happy customers, stuff like that, using the product. I think those ar…”
Andrew Gazdecki Feb 14, 2023 ▶ 8:45
Disclosure
Tran finished Queue.so due diligence in two days with one call
“For me, when like, I think it was, it's done within two days. Like, yeah, like we had only one. Yeah, we had only one con. And then I did one video recording and then that's it. So like the day after we just finished everything.”
Minh-Phuc Tran Feb 14, 2023 ▶ 10:43
Disclosure
Tran: Queue.so acquisition payments were split into staged asset installments
“We decided to break it into two payments, two installments. So the first half, he will pay, and then after I get that first half, I will transfer the assets of the company to him, and then The last half of the installment, we will point that into three differe…”
Minh-Phuc Tran Feb 14, 2023 ▶ 11:19
Insight
Tran: Serious startup buyers ask fewer questions upfront and research independently
“Only the one that, like, didn't really ask a lot are the ones that actually gonna be serious about the product. So usually they know, and they did their research”
Minh-Phuc Tran Feb 14, 2023 ▶ 13:43
Opinion
Tran: Many Acquire.com buyers lack clear purchase intent and waste founder time
“I think like mail acquire has a lot of buyers, but a lot of them also do not really know if they want to buy something or do not really know what they want to buy. So they just like try to ask every product and get as much information as they think they can.”
Minh-Phuc Tran Feb 14, 2023 ▶ 13:54
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