FE International

11 statements across 3 episodes · 2 bullish · 0 bearish · 2 people on the record · first statement Jun 3, 2016 by Thomas Smale · said 14 times in 6 episodes since 2016 · across every show →

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brought up most by Nathan Latka (8), Kevin Peterson (3), Thomas Smale (2), Neil Patel (1)

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Everything said about FE International, oldest first

Jun 3, 2016
Disclosure
FE International took a 15% commission on the $100,000 PlanScope sale
“Yeah, so we charge 15 cents. We take, well, around 15,000 off that.”
Thomas Smale Jun 3, 2016 ▶ 11:02 You Won't Believe How He's Sold 350 Businesses in 6 Years, EP 254: Thomas Smale
Jun 3, 2016
Assertion Not checkable as stated
FE International generated around $1.5M in commissions in 2015
“I was around 1.5 million in commissions.”
Thomas Smale Jun 3, 2016 ▶ 12:31 You Won't Believe How He's Sold 350 Businesses in 6 Years, EP 254: Thomas Smale
Jun 3, 2016
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
PlanScope Sold for Around $100,000 via FE International
“It was a relatively small sale. It was around a 100,000 dollars.”
Thomas Smale Jun 3, 2016 ▶ 8:42 You Won't Believe How He's Sold 350 Businesses in 6 Years, EP 254: Thomas Smale
Jun 3, 2016 neutral
Insight
Sub-$500K SaaS businesses average 7% to 12% monthly churn
“Yeah, we usually see between seven and 12 would be the average we see for something in the maybe like half a million or below asking price range.”
Thomas Smale Jun 3, 2016 ▶ 10:49 You Won't Believe How He's Sold 350 Businesses in 6 Years, EP 254: Thomas Smale
Jun 3, 2016 neutral
Disclosure
FE International closed over 350 deals, averaging 80 annually
“We've done just over 350 now coming up to 400 deals. So kind of number moves, moves quite consistently upwards. So we do in the last 12 months, we did about 80 deals. So we do about one and a half deals a week.”
Thomas Smale Jun 3, 2016 ▶ 2:26 You Won't Believe How He's Sold 350 Businesses in 6 Years, EP 254: Thomas Smale
Jun 3, 2016 neutral
Insight
Low owner involvement increases SaaS valuation multiples, says Smale
“So a owner working 40 hours a week, who's a very technical owner who does all the programming themselves. That business is going to be worth Less in terms of multiple than a business where the owner works five hours a week and they're not doing anything techni…”
Thomas Smale Jun 3, 2016 ▶ 4:43 You Won't Believe How He's Sold 350 Businesses in 6 Years, EP 254: Thomas Smale
Jun 3, 2016 neutral
Insight
SaaS businesses below $1M ARR sell on net profit, not revenue
“So that will definitely apply where a business is doing over a million ARR, but on smaller businesses we deal with, so our average deal size is around 250,000. For deals at that level, there just isn't the scale, so buyers don't tend to pay a multiple of reven…”
Thomas Smale Jun 3, 2016 ▶ 6:18 You Won't Believe How He's Sold 350 Businesses in 6 Years, EP 254: Thomas Smale
May 17, 2023
Disclosure
Patel: NP Digital Acquired AnswerThePublic for $8.6M at $1M–$1.2M EBITDA
“Answer the public. We recently bought this company for 8.6 million, funny enough, from FE International that had a booth. And they were only doing one, 1.2 million in EBITDA, so we overpaid for it.”
Neil Patel May 17, 2023 ▶ 5:52 A New Way to Think About SaaS: How to Build a 9-Figure Company by Giving Software Away For Free
Jul 3, 2023 positive
Assertion Supported
ThriveCart Exited for $35M With a Team of Only Four People
“So even at exit, he only had a team of four people. Very small team.”
Thomas Smale Jul 3, 2023 ▶ 3:07 Lessons From $1bn in Exits: Behind The Scenes of the ThriveCart Exit
Jul 3, 2023 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
ThriveCart Settled for 70% Upfront Cash After Its Acquirer Offered 20%
“The seller wanted a hundred percent cash, buyer wanted 20%. We met somewhere in the middle at 70%.”
Thomas Smale Jul 3, 2023 ▶ 17:52 Lessons From $1bn in Exits: Behind The Scenes of the ThriveCart Exit
Jul 3, 2023 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
ThriveCart Processed Over $1B in Annual GMV at Exit
“Thrivecart at time of exit actually had over a billion dollars a year in GMV.”
Thomas Smale Jul 3, 2023 ▶ 8:20 Lessons From $1bn in Exits: Behind The Scenes of the ThriveCart Exit
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