The Exchanges

Q Nice. How did, so how did you get into this? So, you know, there's a lot of people buying, um, you know, SaaS businesses today, but you're kind of like one of the OGs that was, that was doing this before. I think everyone else jumped in. Um, uh, how did you get started? And if possible, maybe what was the first acquisition and how did it go?

A Yeah, sure. So a lot of people may know me from my blog called WPBeginner, where we create helpful WordPress tutorials to help, you know, non-techie people make their websites, and that's how we got started. We saw, and we were working with so many different plugins and SaaS companies, um, and we always had unique insights to share with those software developers and founders, and then, um, one day decided that I think we can do a better job at that with the insights that we had. Um, first acquisition, uh, was a slider and photography solution, Soliloquy and Envira Gallery, um, and they focused primarily on the WordPress market. Um, I founded, uh, through basically the co-founder or founder of that company ended up becoming my co-founder in OptedMonster. Um, his name is Thomas Griffin, and, um, he He approached me at a word camp, which is like, you know, WordPress specific conferences. Um, I believe it was in Atlanta. And he said, I see that you promote competitor X. I am building a killer of that product. And I said, okay, well, whenever you're done and ready, come, come talk to me, uh, and we'll help you promote it. And, um, and then he disappeared. He launched the product. And then, you know, I mean, I never, I forgot. And then we later reconnected and Um, ended up, uh, rolling that business, and that, that kind of gave it a start, and then since then, um, we've been doing qu…

AI assessment note: “first acquisition, uh, was a slider and photography solution, Soliloquy and Envira Gallery”

Q also I'm, you know, assuming you've worked with a lot of founders that, you know, you kind of have to, you know, explain how the acquisition process goes. So, um, I'm just curious, what's your, like, favorite acquisition? Because you've created, you know, life-changing outcomes for some entrepreneurs. Is there one that, like, kind of sticks out that, uh, you know, you, just your favorite acquisition? That's really broad, but.

A Yeah, that's, that's a tough one. You know, we've been doing acquisitions for quite some time now, um, and we've had, Just about every single one have turned out quite well. Um, I would say the one, one of the ones that we recently did about beginning of 2020 was called All-in-One SEO. Um, and I was, I'm, I'm still very, very excited about that, um, because we use that tool internally on all of our businesses. Um, just the innovation that the team has been able to do since the acquisition is quite exciting. Um, and what's coming next is very, very exciting as well. So I wouldn't say it's my, like, you know, favorite is tough, but I would say this is the one I'm super excited about, uh, that we've done in maybe in the last two years or so.

AI assessment note: “one of the ones that we recently did about beginning of 2020 was called All-in-One SEO”

Q So we're moving into, you know, 20, 22. Um, the year's just flown by. It's already April. Um, but there's a lot of founders looking to sell their business, and I know you, you know, probably look at a lot of businesses. Um, if you had to give just, you know, one or two pieces of advice to founders looking to, uh, potentially get acquired, uh, what would that be?

A Um, you know, I've been on the founder, I'm a founder myself, so I've gone through this journey myself a few times, and I'll say to one, know exactly what you're looking for, right? Oftentimes when founders enter this selling cycle, they're still unsure about, do they want a clean exit? Do they want, uh, and are now terms where they want to stay around for three years and so on. Like, you know, don't, like, don't have a dis-debate. I know what you're really looking for in life. Otherwise, keep holding, hold on to your business. Don't sell it. Um, if you're unsure. So, uh, that's my number one advice is to know what you really, really want. Um, and I think that ends up being a, uh, better life, life decision long-term.

AI assessment note: “one, know exactly what you're looking for, right?”

Q know you alluded to, you know, specific focus on, uh, WordPress, but can you dive a little bit more into that? Like, you know, if you had to, maybe this is kind of a, uh, A harder question, but what's like a perfect fit for AwesomeMotive? You could just like, this is a, you know, the exact startup I want to acquire, size, market type, what would that look like?

A Sure. So, you know, we look at a value chain. We have many different solutions that provide, you know, across the different value chain journey for the user from landing pages to analytics to forms and so on. So we look at this user journey and see where the gaps are. Um, for us, the perfect acquisition and software is something that fits along this line because one of our strengths is, uh, Is, is the side of our sheer network at this point. Um, so that, that for us is, is above and beyond anything, um, you know, in, in terms of what we look for, um, in terms of how we evaluate that, that, you know, is, is fairly standard. Um, you know, we look at where, where the revenue is, where the EBITDA is, what's your growth rate year over year, what's your churn? You know, those standard metrics are, are what we're using, but, For us, it has to be a fit into our portfolio. We're not just going to go out of our way and buy something of the, you know, completely this end of the spectrum. That's a software that might just only be serving. 30 enterprise customers.

AI assessment note: “the perfect acquisition and software is something that fits along this line”