Jan 24, 2023 · 44m · startup-acquisition-stories
Startup Acquisition Stories with Sam Lillicrap, Founder of Alignr
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this double-interview episode of Startup Acquisition Stories, host Andrew Gazdecki speaks with Alignr founder Sam Lillicrap and Fork Equity founder Ryan Culp about their respective journeys building, acquiring, scaling, and successfully exiting software products on Acquire.com.
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 22.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Andrew as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 3.2 Guest disagreement 0.3 Andrew pushing back 0.6
speaking balance: gold is Andrew, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 43:00 Ryan playfully dismisses MasterClass suggestion
When Andrew suggests Ryan bring a V2 of his course to MasterClass, Ryan playfully retorts 'give me a break'.
Hardest push from Andrew ▶ 31:42 Andrew corrects BuildSell30 origin misconceptionAndrew immediately interrupts and clarifies that MicroAcquire had nothing to do with creating the BuildSell30 challenge other than providing sponsorship.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 35:53 Ryan contextualizes branding overlap via simultaneous discoveryRyan articulates the scientific phenomenon of multiple discovery to explain how both founders independently created 'micro' acquisition businesses and matched color palettes around the same time.
Andrew holds their own ▶ 6:37 Andrew provides marketplace listing best practicesAndrew demonstrates domain expertise by outlining why creating a comprehensive Loom video answering common buyer questions builds trust and speeds up deals on Acquire.com.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Andrew as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Andrew pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Lillicrap's Early Design Background and Entrepreneurial Spark | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Andrew invites Sam to share his early background in UX/UI design. Sam recounts dropping out of college and building an app during an unpaid internship that sold for $250k without him receiving a cut, which Andrew reacts to with humor. | |
| The Conceptualization and Technical Design of Alignr | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Sam explains the posture detection mechanics of Alignr and the asset transfer process using Loom. Andrew contributes practical advice on recording Loom walkthroughs prior to listing to preempt buyer questions and establish credibility. | |
| Acquisition Advice: Design Value and Banking Preparation | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Sam shares key learnings, including warning your bank ahead of large escrow transfers and focusing on Web3 UX friction. Andrew relates by mentioning his own experience founding a crypto company. | |
| Sam Lillicrap Outro and Acquire.com Platform Summary | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Sam provides his contact details before transitioning into promotional voiceovers and the intro to Ryan Culp's interview. | |
| Ryan Culp's First Acquisition and Solstice Equity Partners | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Ryan details how working at a VC fund led to his first acquisition of a Shopify app under the joke entity Solstice Equity Partners. The conversation is collaborative storytelling. | |
| Fork Equity Acquisition Criteria and Solo Founder SaaS | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | Ryan outlines his thesis of buying solo-founder Ruby on Rails SaaS apps to avoid high-touch sales meetings. Andrew humorously recalls Ryan's early request for a tech-stack filter on MicroAcquire. | |
| Case Study: Scaling and Exiting Shopify App CrossSell | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Ryan walks through the CrossSell acquisition, explaining how deep Shopify ecosystem familiarity allowed his team to run the app with minimal daily intervention before exiting to SureSwift. | |
| MicroAcquire Deals and the BuildSell30 Challenge | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | Ryan mentions MicroAcquire helping produce the BuildSell30 hackathon, prompting Andrew to clarify that MicroAcquire merely sponsored it rather than initiated it. Ryan then details flipping a rapid NFT Discord tracker project. | |
| The MicroAcquisitions Course and Accidental Brand Parallels | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Both playfully clear the air about the simultaneous creation of MicroAcquire and microacquisitions.com, noting coincidental shared purple branding and simultaneous discovery. |
Statements from this episode (16)
Company Sold App Built by Unpaid Intern for $250K
“And I made an app for this company and two months after I left, they sold it for a quarter of a million.”
Lillicrap Received First Alignr LOIs Within Four Months of Listing
“I put it up and I think within sort of maybe three to four months, I got the first LOIs.”
Gazdecki: Loom Videos on Startup Listings Build Essential Buyer Trust
“One tip for those listening that I've seen work really effectively is kind of recording like a loom as you go live on MicroQuire, just kind of going over the tech stack, common questions, because most buyers have the same questions, like, how are you finding y…”
Lillicrap: Founders Must Notify Banks Before Receiving Acquisition Payouts
“I would actually make sure that you tell your bank before you're going to do the acquisition that you're going to do the acquisition. That's something I didn't do. And it actually sort of backfired and they were kind of like asking questions. Where's the, wher…”
Lillicrap: Web3's Hardest UX Hurdle Is Educating Users on Seed Phrases
“Honestly, the hardest problem is, is getting people to understand like what cryptography is and why you have these kind of like, you know, these seed words, which are effectively you, let's say your password for your keys. Getting them to really understand why…”
Culp: Software Companies Don't Have to Be High-Stress Venture Startups
“Just because you write code doesn't mean it has to be a startup. It doesn't mean it has to be stressful. It can just be a technology company.”
Ryan Culp's Fork Equity Has Completed 10 to 12 Acquisitions
“Maybe 10 or 12. I think total deals like 20. We've started things that we've then sold. So that was like a deal, but not an acquisition because we were the creator and the seller. And then we've done things where we bought it and resold it. We've bought things…”
Culp's Ideal Target: Part-Time Solo-Founder Apps Built in Ruby on Rails
“My wishlist is something that is run currently by one person part-time built in Ruby on Rails.”
Culp: Customer support can kill lifestyle software businesses
“Customer support can be the ultimate killer if you're trying to build or buy lifestyle applications.”
Fork Equity Avoids High-Touch Sales in Favor of Self-Serve Products
“So for that reason, for my temperament, we avoid businesses that require high touch sales processes. We only are interested in businesses where people sign up and pretty much figure out how to use the product. On their own.”
Culp: Never wrote code or answered support tickets while running CrossSell
“With Crossell, what I really liked about it is that I, and I'll admit this publicly for the first time right now, I never wrote a single line of code. And I think I never replied to a single customer support ticket.”
Fork Equity Rebuilt CrossSell in Ruby on Rails With Zero Downtime
“We were able to rebuild the app from scratch in rails with zero downtime.”
Culp Built and Sold NFT Tracker App for $1,750 Within Hours
“I built an app. That was an NFT tracker that would let you publish sales to, like, a Discord channel... Within seconds, maybe just a couple minutes of listing, I got a few messages, and within a couple hours, the money was in the bank, and it was done at, like…”
Culp: Best Acquisition Deals Are Unlisted and Require Cold Outreach
“You always have to keep your deal flow sources. I would say agnostic. You have to be willing to look under every nook and cranny to find something. And sometimes the best deal is never going to be listed anywhere. It's going to be the right time, the right pla…”
Culp Generated $10K in One Day by DMing Twitter Engagers
“I made a landing page that of course accepted money. And after I made that landing page, I DMed every single person who hit like on the first tweet. And I said, Hey, you liked my tweet or you replied and said you would buy it. Here you go. And it worked. I thi…”