The Exchanges

Q Nice. What was the hardest part about running that business? Was it Did anybody send you like a thousand design requests or anything like that?

A Exactly. That's a great point. Like, I think on the operational side, it is super, we had to really like, um, I think initially the hardest part was like finding out, like I mentioned, three C to series A, B startups. That was a little faster, but we, we used to just, you know, just take any, any tech startup wanted to work with us. But the problem was they'd work with us for like, let's say a month or two and really like, you know, essentially like milk us out in terms of like requesting a ton of different designs. At the time we had a money back guarantee for the first one. So they would, Use us for like three weeks, almost like a month and like a few days before they'd like cancel. So that really sucked. And, um, I don't think I'd recommend other founders. That was pretty hard, but other than that, yeah, finding good selling, um, obviously it's difficult, but I think once you have a few good designers, you know, they have their own network and they invite their friends. They're like, Hey, working, you know, I love working at Jet Designs and stuff and just like wrapping up was pretty straightforward.

AI assessment note: “initially the hardest part was... milk us out in terms of like requesting a ton”

Q 100%. If you were speaking to another founder and they were looking to sell their business, what do you think three pieces of advice you'd give to them?

A I think starting off with one, um, would be just, like, make sure your data room is, um, is, is clean. Like I mentioned, use the templates, um, and then start really early, like, earlier than you think you need to, just because, like, a lot of things, just keeping everything organized. I think it's, it's, like, good for you as well. It's, like, even if you don't end up selling it, like, everything organized. Going through this whole like position. I didn't really set up a data room that well, but knowing now, like, yeah, like it's, it's like a no player. Um, and then just leverage a lot of the buyer, um, assets and like templates and even like the PNL templates. I was like, amazing. This is all tied together. But the SOPs, like I think written SOPs are great, but like recording like looms, I think that was really great for all my, all my team members and contractors to say, hey, like also the buyer, like show them, you know, everything's in written form plus like video form. You can just refer to it whenever you'd like, and it's like visual. So it's super easy.

AI assessment note: “starting off with one, um, would be just, like, make sure your data room is”

Q Right on. Love to hear it. Well, tell me, so the winning buyer, how did you, uh, end up choosing to work with him? Was the offer great? Did you guys get along on a certain level? Um, what made you say, hey, this is the person I want to sell my business to?

A Yeah, so I had a bunch of different calls with, like, amazing vendors, and they, I'd say it's, like, really tough to choose, and I think it's, like, a good problem to have, but the final thing was, like, hey, I ended up getting, like, two good offers, and, like, I chose the other person because of just the conversations that we had. It was, like, a instant, like, I guess, from first We were really just already, like, discussing, like, next steps and, um, different, like, prose ideas, so it felt like a natural conversation, whereas some of them, they felt a little, like, transactional. It was just, like, show me the numbers. So, I think that was, that was it, and we just really played well, so, I don't know, yeah, that was kind of it. It was, like, a gut feeling, um, with, with the offer, so.

AI assessment note: “I chose the other person because of just the conversations that we had.”

Q Nice. That sounds like a great business. You get, you know, service revenue, but it's recurring. So you have some predictability in the business, which makes it easier to scale and then so on and so forth. Um, let me ask you this. It sounds like things were going really well. You had product market fit, you had some awesome clients. What made you decide to sell the business?

A Yeah, so again, like this was like the first time really scaling like a team hiring and just setting up systems in place. So it was great to get to that zero to one phase essentially, but. It was just like reflecting, and I'm thinking about, first of all, like, am I, is this something that I wanted to work for years from? I love that this man's and everything I've learned. I'm like, okay, especially with like, AI and everything going on, I wanted to at least try, try and see what we could You could build based on what I learned from. So that was one reason. And then, um, I guess this idea is finding like the right person. So someone experienced, um, actually scaled something like this before, wanted to see it kind of like no pro me type of thing. So that was another reason. Yeah.

AI assessment note: “I wanted to at least try, try and see what we could You could build”

Q you know, have something bigger that you want to go after, or the business has reached a certain point where Maybe bringing someone else in could take it farther. I see that all the time. I think those are awesome reasons to, to sell. Um, but you list on acquire.com. What did the first week look like? How many buyers reached out? What were your expectations? How did that go?

A I mean, I loved every part of it. I think it was, like, super easy, seamless. I would say, Andrew, you and your team already set up with, like, the templates for, like, the data room. That was, like, a game changer. And the same with, like, other, other resources. So I think that was great. And then, you know, just the inbound that I got with Just so many different people, like PE firms, and then, like, solo founders, as well as, like, um, established, like, actual agencies, like, marketing agencies that wanted to, you know, expand to, like, design services and stuff, so it was really cool to see, like, a mix of, like, different people and how, like, Jet Designs could help, so it was like, it was like, oh, like, this is actually an opening moment, and, you know, your platform made it, um, super, like, seamless and easy for us.

AI assessment note: “just the inbound that I got with Just so many different people, like PE firms”

Q Great to hear. What, uh, what acquisition experience did you have before acquire.com? Did you have any understanding of the process or?

A Yeah, so, I don't know, on my free time, I always look, I always like looking at, like, you know, different founders, like, um, building different things, and they list on, like, other, um, other sites, like Flip, I guess, and then I sometimes go through acquire, and it just seemed like acquire was the, the best place to So, uh, just from like all of the reviews, and then even a friend who sold through, like, the process was simple. So, that was the main reason. I didn't have any, you know, position, not any experience. It was just, just going through your guys' resources, and like listening to all of your, like, webinars, and you're, you're reading your posts. So, that's like, that was like amazing.

AI assessment note: “I didn't have any, you know, position, not any experience.”