Insight
One-star software reviews signal distressed opportunities with easy operational fixes
“I also tend to look at the overall reviews for each company and the more negative the reviews are from customers, the more likely I'm going to be interested. I know that sounds really perverse. It doesn't make a lot of sense to a lot of people, but it has to b…”
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Startups that raised $40M will sell for $1M-$2M within 12 months
“And then the other thing I'm looking for is I'm waiting for that like company that raised 30, forty million dollars and now burned through it all, but built an amazing piece of tech to go and micro acquire and sell for a million or two. Like, It's inevitable. …”
Assertion Supported
LittleThings generated $70M revenue before Facebook algorithm changes destroyed it
“We were doing, you know, 60, seventy million a year in revenue. And then Facebook just dropped the hammer on us one day and kind of destroyed our business, which was my point with like Shopify.”
Disclosure
Speiser handles his own acquisition legal work without using lawyers
“I don't have a lawyer that does any of this. I do all the legal myself. It's not terribly complicated when I could use your forms off your site, and we all agreed to not touch them and mark them up.”
Insight
Fast all-cash offers can win micro-SaaS acquisitions at lower purchase prices
“I don't need an SBA loan, which slows things down pretty dramatically. So I can offer them a low ball offer, but all cash all up front within like 48 hours. Right? So for people who've been sitting there for a while trying to sell their SAS, that's really attr…”
Insight
Founders usually sell because their skills can no longer grow the company
“Everyone always says the same thing about why they're selling. Which is kind of like, you can see through it, like, oh, you know, I want to do something else. I'm bored of this, which I get, and it could be honest, but more times than not, it's for a specific …”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Almost every startup pitching Speiser is seeking emergency bridge funding
“I do a bunch of angel investing and every, almost every single contact that has reached out has asked for like a bridge round or some sort of emergency, you know, cash infusion. They're all looking at somewhere between six and eight months of runway before the…”
Insight
Speiser: Partner with Ramp and Brex to source distressed startup acquisitions
“No, what I would do is like to elephant hunt again, I would contact like ramp and Brex, Because they see everyone's bank account, they see the debt, right? They know who's about to go under and who's not, and it's in their best interest to not lose money. I do…”
Disclosure
Speiser sold Brax for over a 10x return in 18 months
“We ended up selling it for over 10 times what we paid.”
Disclosure
Speiser doubled his investment flipping a Shopify app in six months
“We ended up holding that one for six months and doubling our money, which I didn't like the space. I don't like being reliant on one platform.”
Assertion Contradicted
LittleThings built 50 million Facebook followers before the platform revoked distribution
“I had like, fifty million followers on Facebook at one point, right? But they were rented, and Facebook decided to take them back, right?”
Disclosure
Speiser bought his first software business for six figures, exiting for seven
“The first business we bought for low six figures and sold for seven figures.”
Assertion Supported
Enduring Ventures acquired Hawaii's only motorcycle rental business
“He bought like a Harley Davidson rental company in Hawaii, like the only motorcycle rental company in Hawaii, right? So he has monopoly on all motorcycles, if you want to rent one in the entire, on the entire island, and it just prints money.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
The Hustle founder Sam Parr receives 500 Twitter direct messages per day
“You need someone who's, you know, successful, but not, like, celebrity successful. Otherwise, their DMs are probably flooded. Like, Sam, Sam Parr, who I was just talking to a couple minutes ago before we got on this, he said he gets 500 DMs a day.”
