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Dirk Sahlmer

Partner, FE International · 1 appearance on the record.

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investorexecutivefounderauthorengineerLinkedIn ↗saas.wtf ↗

After transitioning from mechanical engineering and founding a SaaS startup, Sahlmer spent nearly six years leading deal origination at serial acquirer saas.group, helping close roughly 20 acquisitions. Today, he advises tech founders on sell-side exit processes at FE International and authors the SaaS analysis newsletter saas.wtf.

7statements → 4claims → 1claims resolved → 3.86/5average certainty → 1/5average debate potential →

1 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 3 not checkable as stated how the 4 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

4 assertions · 3 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 4 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 1 is resolved, and 3 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Dirk argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Sahlmer: SaaS Group Has Acquired Seven Businesses
“So in the meantime, we've acquired seven businesses.”
Dirk Sahlmer Apr 19, 2022 ▶ 2:45 Startup Acquisition Stories with Dirk Sahlmer - M&A Manager at saas.group

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Dirk Sahlmer on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Dirk Sahlmer said on Startup Acquisition Stories that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Disclosure
Sahlmer: saas.group targets horizontal software companies with $1M to $10M ARR
“So, so our focus is on, on businesses between one to ten million ARR. So that's our revenue sweet spot. Apart from that, we are looking for more horizontal businesses rather than vertical niche businesses. But apart from that, we are very open to different kin…”
Dirk Sahlmer Apr 19, 2022 ▶ 3:05 Startup Acquisition Stories with Dirk Sahlmer - M&A Manager at saas.group
Disclosure
Sahlmer: SaaS Group allows founders to sell 100% or phased majority
“With us, they have all of the flexibility so they can decide whether they want to sell a hundred percent or maybe a majority first and the rest down the road. So we, yeah we structured the deal as it fits best for the founder's life situation and preferences”
Dirk Sahlmer Apr 19, 2022 ▶ 5:36 Startup Acquisition Stories with Dirk Sahlmer - M&A Manager at saas.group
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sahlmer: Bootstrapped SaaS companies were historically too small for traditional PE
“And back then there were not many options for them because often these businesses are too small for, or were too small for strategic acquirers or traditional private equity firms.”
Dirk Sahlmer Apr 19, 2022 ▶ 1:13 Startup Acquisition Stories with Dirk Sahlmer - M&A Manager at saas.group
Assertion Supported
Sahlmer: SaaS Group Has Acquired Seven Businesses
“So in the meantime, we've acquired seven businesses.”
Dirk Sahlmer Apr 19, 2022 ▶ 2:45 Startup Acquisition Stories with Dirk Sahlmer - M&A Manager at saas.group
Disclosure
Sahlmer: saas.group prefers targets where ambitious founders remain post-acquisition
“I mean, we prefer if founders stay on board, at least for a certain period post transaction. So the perfect target would probably be a founder that is still ambitious, but identified some bottlenecks or yeah, sees that his or her skillset is somewhat limited, …”
Dirk Sahlmer Apr 19, 2022 ▶ 4:23 Startup Acquisition Stories with Dirk Sahlmer - M&A Manager at saas.group
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sahlmer: saas.group acquired Rewardful 18 months after their initial conversation
“I mean, the latest one is, for example, a Rewardful. I really liked the two founders, and it was one of my first conversations I had when I started my job at SAS Group. And we acquired them one and a half years later.”
Dirk Sahlmer Apr 19, 2022 ▶ 8:39 Startup Acquisition Stories with Dirk Sahlmer - M&A Manager at saas.group
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sahlmer: saas.group executed almost all its pandemic-era acquisitions entirely over Zoom
“Also with Git Tower I think this was the only founder I met in person because when I started my job the pandemic hit us. So all of the companies we acquired in the meantime were over Zoom.”
Dirk Sahlmer Apr 19, 2022 ▶ 9:03 Startup Acquisition Stories with Dirk Sahlmer - M&A Manager at saas.group

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Startup Acquisition Stories with Dirk Sahlmer - M&A Manager at saas.group Apr 19, 2022 8m
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