Joe Speiser, partner at HamptonVC, discusses his micro-SaaS acquisition strategy and flipping an acquired Shopify application despite his aversion to platform risk.
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“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.”
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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…”
Joe SpeiserAug 16, 2022▶ 8:03Startup Acquisition Stories with Joe Speiser - Partner at HamptonVC
PredictionDidn’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. …”
Joe SpeiserAug 16, 2022▶ 20:32Startup Acquisition Stories with Joe Speiser - Partner at HamptonVC
AssertionSupported
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.”
Joe SpeiserAug 16, 2022▶ 5:41Startup Acquisition Stories with Joe Speiser - Partner at HamptonVC
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.”
Joe SpeiserAug 16, 2022▶ 9:42Startup Acquisition Stories with Joe Speiser - Partner at HamptonVC
Insight
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“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…”
Joe SpeiserAug 16, 2022▶ 10:30Startup Acquisition Stories with Joe Speiser - Partner at HamptonVC
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 …”
Joe SpeiserAug 16, 2022▶ 15:13Startup Acquisition Stories with Joe Speiser - Partner at HamptonVC
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