The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 18 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
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…”
ThriveCart Reached $1B GMV Selling Lifetime Deals Instead of Subscriptions
“The vast majority of their revenue is actually not SaaS. They had a SaaS product, but they sold it entirely one time. It was a lifetime license, and most people would think that's not a very good business, not a very good idea, but because they were monetizing…”
ThriveCart's Acquirer Publicly Announced the $35M Buyout as a Funding Round
“A thirty-five million dollar transaction the fund that acquired it, raised money, acquired Thrivecart as part of the deal, announced as a raise.”
Public Market Tech Downturns Do Not Affect $35M to $100M Acquisitions
“Public markets,
Yes, as a savvy founder, you should keep an eye on it, but it doesn't affect transactions at thirty five million dollars, or even a hundred million, to be completely honest.”
ThriveCart Processed Over $1B in Annual GMV at Exit
“Thrivecart at time of exit actually had over a billion dollars a year in GMV.”
ThriveCart's Buyer Tripled Revenue Just By Renegotiating Its Stripe Partnership
“My understanding is the buyer is about tripled revenue of the business by renegotiating a partnership agreement with Stripe.”
ThriveCart's Founder Chose Rapport Over Better Terms Among 11 Bids
“Out of, I think we had 11 offers on this business. Kevin was the one that won, and it wasn't necessarily because his terms were the best, it's because Josh liked Kevin.”
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…”
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.”
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.”
ThriveCart's Founder Paid Himself Over $1M Annually Before Selling
“He got to the stage. He was paying himself over a million dollars a year.”
Stripe's 100th Largest Partner Processes Roughly $1B Annually
“To be a top hundred partner of Stripe, The number a hundred process is about a billion a year. So the perspective they're about a top, top 100 strike partner.”
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%.”
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.”
PlanScope Sold for Around $100,000 via FE International
“It was a relatively small sale. It was around a 100,000 dollars.”