The Exchanges

Q it can take a lot of time, and a lot of deals fall through in due diligence, just because emotions are high, people are tense, and you're sharing sensitive information about your business, so again, glad it all went smoothly, so we got to the end of it. And speaking of the end of it, I'm now curious, did you do anything to celebrate the acquisition when it first closed?

A Uh, yeah, I just went to a restaurant with, uh, with my wife, And, uh, you know, I think, uh, it, it's really, it's hard to tell when the deal actually closes. So, I mean, then there is this date when you sign, and you're obviously very happy about it, and, you know, it's like, you see this confetti at, uh, acquire.com, and it, it all sounds great, but the money, you know, you know, the money is still not in your account, and you're like, okay, is this actually happening? Uh, because I'm not gonna believe it until the money gets to my account, and then we were arranging the transfer. I think, uh, yeah, it really hit me when the, uh, the money was transferred in a few tranches. When the first biggest tranche, uh, got into my account, I'm like, poof, okay. Now I think I can celebrate. I was slightly exhausted from everything and feel, even after the transfer, I, I felt a bit of responsibility. I didn't want to just, you know, get off the grid. Um, I, I wanted to make sure that the, uh, asset transfer goes, uh, smoothly too. So, yeah, but I certainly took some time to celebrate with my wife. I went to a restaurant, and then I'm also a part of this, um, startup founder in the hacker community called Hackagoo. Uh, so, uh, I, Yeah, we meet up once per week, and we hack together, and we discuss our products, and make the demos, and, uh, yeah, I just bought some, you know, donuts, and,…

AI assessment note: “yeah, I just went to a restaurant with, uh, with my wife”

Q me. So I want to know, um, a little bit more about, we're going to back up a little bit in terms of, uh, you know, Matt from our M&A advisory team. Can you tell me a little bit more? How much did he help you? What specifically did he tell you that was maybe surprising or was there anything you did where you felt was instrumental to getting acquired?

A Um, yeah, I think, um, I think just generally having an advisor by your side, uh, it just helps you to feel more, uh, safe or secure, um, about going through this whole process, because obviously there are some things you don't know how to handle, and well, you can use trapgpt to ask for it, uh, which I also did. Uh, but you know, just having a person who understands the process, um, by your side, it's, it's really helpful. So I think there were two, um, two major, uh, infliction points where I needed mapped out. First one was the listing. And obviously you're wondering, I had this idea, oh, I'm gonna make the listing really, really, you know, I'm not gonna Put too many materials to the listing, and then, you know, kind of make it, if you want to know more, just reach out and, you know, I'm gonna share more info about our company. And, um, Matt said, well, that's, that's not the way to do it.

AI assessment note: “First one was the listing... And, um, Matt said, well, that's, that's not the way”

Q the acquisition. So you found a great buyer. Everything seems like it's going as planned. You're comfortable moving forward. The buyer's excited to move forward. You signed a letter of intent, and then you start moving into a Um, due diligence. Was there any surprises in due diligence? Was it as tediously thought? Was it easy, smooth, long, short? Like, how did, how did that part of the acquisition go?

A Yeah, uh, well, I, I don't think there were any surprises really. Uh, I knew from the start that it's kind of a long and tedious process. Uh, it didn't happen overnight. Um, I think, uh, no surprises, but one thing I can tell you is just, um, during due diligence, you kind of, maybe as a founder, you yourself, you see, You know, business for what it is. Because sometimes as a founder, you know, it's our, um, it's our child, it's our project, and we care about it. So sometimes, you know, we just say, oh, my, you know, my child is the best. He's the smartest, and, you know, the prettiest, and whatever. But during the business, you're like, you, maybe for the first time, you, you look at the things, and you're like, oh, so, These are my cohorts, and here is my churn, and seriously, here are the wrong numbers, and I mean, obviously, we didn't try to hide anything, so I was just collecting loads of data, and I was like, huh, okay, uh, this is slightly painful, uh, you know, so we are not as great as I thought we would be, but it is what it is, so. Just going through this and collecting a lot of analytics and statistics and financials. Yeah, it was, it took a while and, um, well, complicated, uh, a little bit, but really no surprises. And, um, I mean, overall, it wasn't so bad. I think it really depends on the acquire with, with another guys who ended up not buying, uh, Sidekick. Yea…

AI assessment note: “I don't think there were any surprises really.”

Q of my, my two final questions, um, I'll start with, um, you know, advice for other entrepreneurs. So I think there's probably going to be some entrepreneurs listening to this, but might be interested in selling your business. And given that you've gone through an acquisition process, if you could rewind the tape or give three pieces of advice to someone looking to sell their business, what would it be?

A Um, yeah, I think, well, it's easy really. So with, with acquire.com, you can just, uh, first one, you can just make a listing, you know, post it and, uh, See if you've got some interesting offers. So it's not a one-way road, right? So you can always, if you don't get an offer that you like, that suits you, then you don't have to make this happen. So the, the whole listing process, it can take, I don't know, a day or two, if you, depending on how detailed you want to get. So if you are curious, About getting acquired, just go make a listing on acquired.com and that's it. Um, and then, but, but the, the next thing is if you actually want to make it happen, you know, after you see that, oh, there are some people interested, so I, I made the price and, you know, it kind of seems it might work. Then when you're moving to the next step, the actual acquisition, You gotta realize that it, it, it's gonna take time. So it's not like just posting in there. It's not gonna happen if you don't work on it. So I would advise to actually dedicate some time working on it. Uh, I think that should be your, uh, primarily think your, the first thing you're doing. So something you devote the most time. Two is the acquisition process. So if you are serious, just spend some time to talk to the potential buyers, prepare all the documents, financials, the acquisition, etc. And the third one advice I wou…

AI assessment note: “first one, you can just make a listing... next thing... And the third one advice”

Q was the right buyer to work with? Was there something about this individual that stood out? Was it the highest price? Was it the best terms? How did you make sure that you were working with a buyer that would obviously make you an offer, but then be the right one to move forward and do due diligence and all that fun stuff so you can actually close the acquisition?

A Um, well, so back then I really had two offers and I was negotiating with both of them. Uh, they were fine. I can say I was really happy about the offer. I mean, it was a good offer, but there were some things to be considered. So one of the acquirers wanted me and my co-founder, Igor, um, to stay in the company after we got acquired for another year. This is kind of, you know, typical, but we weren't really happy about that. Um, there was no connection with our acquirer really, and we've spent multiple calls. We were having daily calls discussing the, um, the deal and going through some due diligence, and, um, this was just very tedious, and it didn't feel right, you know, so we were discussing the smallest, smallest details. There was no feeling like, oh, we will Find an understanding later. This is fine. So later, this investor from New York, uh, reaches out and he tells me, like, hey, I'm super interested. So the thing is, I was so deep in the acquisition process with other two, uh, potential acquirers. I stopped replying to new messages, uh, on acquire.com. So this guy, he reached out on acquire. And I didn't reply to him, so he reached out to my LinkedIn. I think that he sent me a message on Twitter, and then he went to customer support chat, and he just like, hey, like, where is this guy? I need to talk to Victor. So he was, you know, he was really, uh, trying to make it…

AI assessment note: “He really wanted to talk, uh, and I'm like, look”

Q Nice. Were you surprised to learn that we had a team of M&A advisors that would help you every step of the way when you're selling your business?

A Um, yeah, it was, uh, when Matt, I think Matt reached out and told me, hey, let's have a call. Uh, that was super helpful. Actually, um, um, previously, I, I already, uh, Published my other startup on what was micro acquired back then. And, uh, it was, I mean, the product went a long way, uh, moving from micro acquired to acquire, and like a lot of things changed. It was a bit more complicated back then. There were no M&A advisors, I believe, and the last time the acquisition fell through, so it didn't happen. And now, yeah, having, having met, um, Being able to answer all the questions and help me with the listing, help me, um, make everything, everything really, you know, stand out and the, to, to package the, uh, product, begin the company. Yeah, it helped a lot. And, uh, we kept in touch during the whole acquisition process. We had another follow up call when I started getting offers. So yeah, that was really, really helpful.

AI assessment note: “There were no M&A advisors, I believe, and the last time the acquisition fell through”

Q So things are going good. You got, you pivoted over to a business model that, or excuse me, you were starting to solve a problem that, uh, addressed a lot of customers pain points and that started really taking off. You got paying customers. It sounded like things were going, you know, really good. What made you, um, consider selling the business or what motivated you to sell the business?

A Um, well, also it wasn't, uh, really good from the start. I mean, we pivoted and, um, it started generating some MRR. Uh, I think at the beginning from, from the relaunch of Sidekick, it was like seven, eight subscribers, and then it started growing. Well, at least You know, it was something, um, and then it was, like, kind of going, growing slowly, but then, um, I think we also launched in a very good time, uh, because Sidekick was launched three, uh, ChatGPT and three stable diffusion and all the AI Hiveway, and so one day, um, I mean, my customer support chat Inbox was almost always empty, you know, maybe one message per day. Uh, but then one day I wake up to something like, I don't know, 25 sales and hundred messages in my customer support inbox, and I was like, what's happening? Uh, I, I couldn't really understand what, what's going on. And it turned out then that one famous tech YouTuber, uh, made a video about some AI products, and Sidekick was one of them. Um, and, um, yeah, this basically started this huge growth spike, and then another tech YouTuber, I, I assume they follow each other, and they're, like, friends. He also made a video about Sidekick. Next thing I know, uh, it's trending on TikTok, and I see all these videos, like, these five AI tools are gonna change your lives. Uh, yeah, and we just received this huge, uh, wave, and that, that really helped us grow. U…

AI assessment note: “coming back to your question, um, what made me sell later”

Q you to work on it, and they're going to be super excited about it. That's a good time to think about acquisition. So kudos to you on the timing. In terms of, okay, you listed business on acquire.com. Buyers start reaching out to you. What was your initial expectation when you listed the business? And were you kind of surprised to have so many buyers reach out to you initially?

A Um, first thing, uh, thank you, uh, for the goodest, and I just wanted to say goodest to you, too, because really, I think, like, five, seven years ago or so, there really was not, there weren't too many options for a startup founder who wants to sell, uh, the startup, uh, you know, like, so, okay, now, I guess we're kind of spoiled, uh, because there is acquire.com, uh, When you can just say, oh, I'm tired to working on this thing. Maybe I just list on acquire and I see, you know, if I get any offers, but at five to seven years ago, well, go figure, ah, you acquired, well, okay, good luck. You just, you either go bankrupt or you keep growing. So, ah, thanks to you for the opportunity to have, ah, such a place where we can list, ah, our products. Thank you from all the founders.

AI assessment note: “thanks to you for the opportunity to have, ah, such a place”