What is the best place to sell a newly built or launched SaaS (0 revenue)?

Rufai

Rufai

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I am in need of some money and decided to sell my new SaaS software that I just launched. I do not really want to sell it though, as I spent 20-hour days building this tool for months and I have a lot of plans for it.

I have already submitted the listing on Investors Club and SideProjectors and am waiting for review or approval. I am also thinking of posting in Facebook groups, as I have previously sold content sites there, but when I visited the groups, they all seemed abandoned with no activity.

Where do you think the best places are to sell these kinds of businesses, as most broker platforms have minimum revenue requirements? Also, how can I determine how much it is worth?
 
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@Rufai if you have zero revenue, valuation is going to be tough. most brokers use a multiple of monthly revenue, so with no traction you are basically just selling the code and the IP. usually those go for like $1k to $5k max on places like microns.io or flippa unless the tech is super unique.

have you looked at acquire.com? they have a pre-revenue section. also might be worth posting on twitter if you have any sort of network there, the build in public crowd buys these sometimes.

tbh if you spent months on it and actually want to keep it, maybe look for a marketing partner instead of selling? you will probably regret selling a project you worked 20 hour days on for pennies just because you need quick cash right now. I sold a scraper tool last year for way too cheap because I was broke and still regret it.
 
I've used Acquire before for a previous project. Solid platform, smooth transaction, but agree with ricketycricket, your valuation will be limited due to being pre-revenue
 
ricketycricket said:
@Rufai if you have zero revenue, valuation is going to be tough. most brokers use a multiple of monthly revenue, so with no traction you are basically just selling the code and the IP. usually those go for like $1k to $5k max on places like microns.io or flippa unless the tech is super unique.

have you looked at acquire.com? they have a pre-revenue section. also might be worth posting on twitter if you have any sort of network there, the build in public crowd buys these sometimes.
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Yes, I submitted it yesterday and today I received an email that it has been approved for the marketplace.
ricketycricket said:
tbh if you spent months on it and actually want to keep it, maybe look for a marketing partner instead of selling? you will probably regret selling a project you worked 20 hour days on for pennies just because you need quick cash right now. I sold a scraper tool last year for way too cheap because I was broke and still regret it.
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I also considered that. The problem is that there are no experienced marketers in my network to bring in as a partner. I even tried posting in the JV section but with no success. However, I could do it my self and already have a plan for that. I'm even bringing in some interns to help me with some aspects of the project including development, AI engineering, data engineering, and some aspects of the marketing too so that I can focus on marketing and promotion.

Rxign said:
I've used Acquire before for a previous project. Solid platform, smooth transaction, but agree with ricketycricket, your valuation will be limited due to being pre-revenue
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Drake Agency said:
Try checking out acquire.com; it has a good platform and convenient transactions.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it out.
 
if you actually need quick cash but want to keep the tool, why not run a quick lifetime deal campaign instead of selling the whole thing? launching a self-hosted LTD on some facebook groups or product hunt can bring in a few thousand bucks in a week or two if the tool actually works. it gives you the cash injection you need right now and you get to keep the business.

also, just a heads up on the interns... managing a team of interns for dev, AI, and marketing is going to eat up all your time. managing people is a full-time job and you will prolly end up doing less actual marketing than before. since you got approved on acquire, maybe just list it with a high asking price to see what happens, but meanwhile try to get just 2 or 3 paying users yourself. even a tiny bit of MRR changes the valuation game completely.
 
SMM Junction said:
run a quick lifetime deal
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This is a good idea, never thought about it. Thanks for that
SMM Junction said:
managing a team of interns for dev, AI, and marketing is going to eat up all your time. managing people is a full-time job and you will prolly end up doing less actual marketing than before.
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You are right and the fact that they will mostly not have previous experience means that I'll have to be there to guide them and monitor their work all the time
 
the LTD idea is solid but be careful where you run it. those abandoned fb groups wont do anything for you, you need an actual audience. appsumo has a marketplace but their cut is brutal and approval takes forever for unknown tools. honestly your own twitter/X presence or a small launch on something like dealify or saasmantra might convert better if the tool solves a clear pain.

one thing nobody mentioned... even just standing up a basic landing page with a stripe checkout and getting 3-4 real sales does two things at once. gives you the cash and proves traction so if you DO end up listing later, you're not selling at pre revenue rates anymore. couple hundred MRR can swing valuation way more than people expect.

and yeah the interns thing... i'd hold off till you have some money coming in. unpaid or cheap help that needs constant hand holding is gonna cost you more in time than it saves right now. focus on getting paid first, scale the team after.
 
@Rufai if you actually want to keep this thing, do not sell it pre-revenue. You will get pennies for months of hard work. @SMM Junction is right about the interns too, they will just drain your time and you will end up being a manager instead of actually marketing.

Since you need cash fast, forget the big LTD platforms like AppSumo for now because their review process takes weeks and they take a massive cut anyway. Just set up a simple Stripe billing link, scrape a list of potential users from Twitter or LinkedIn, and cold DM them with a heavy discount for a lifetime deal. i did this with a niche automation tool last year when I was short on cash... sent about 40 DMs a day and closed 6 buyers in a week.

It gives you the quick money you need right now, plus you get real users giving you feedback without giving up ownership of your code. Once you have even 5 paying users, your valuation on Acquire will double anyway if you still decide to sell later.
 
Rankings Daily said:
@Rufai if you actually want to keep this thing, do not sell it pre-revenue. You will get pennies for months of hard work. @SMM Junction is right about the interns too, they will just drain your time and you will end up being a manager instead of actually marketing.

Since you need cash fast, forget the big LTD platforms like AppSumo for now because their review process takes weeks and they take a massive cut anyway. Just set up a simple Stripe billing link, scrape a list of potential users from Twitter or LinkedIn, and cold DM them with a heavy discount for a lifetime deal. i did this with a niche automation tool last year when I was short on cash... sent about 40 DMs a day and closed 6 buyers in a week.

It gives you the quick money you need right now, plus you get real users giving you feedback without giving up ownership of your code. Once you have even 5 paying users, your valuation on Acquire will double anyway if you still decide to sell later.
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Thanks for the suggestion. Did you manually scrape users or you used tools?
 
Depends on what it is? If its something less 'messy'...Try Amazon aws marketplace. If you something else, youll need to bascially market yourself and get creative with it.
 
I'd also post it on Acquire.com and Indie Hackers. If revenue is still low, the value is mostly in the product, users, and traction, not just the idea. Hopefully you can find a buyer who sees the potential.
 
@Rufai for scraping linkedin you can use apollo, their free tier gives you enough leads to start with. or use phantombuster to scrape members of specific facebook groups or twitter threads where your target audience hangs out. doing it manually is fine for the first 10 or 20 to get a feel of the pitch but you want to automate the export. once you have the list just upload it to a cold email tool or do the dms. if you just get 5 people to pay you 50 bucks on a lifetime deal you get some quick cash and you don't have to sell your baby on acquire for pennies... definitely worth trying before you give up the equity.
 
If you want to skip the learning curve with tools like phantombuster, just grab a free chrome extension like Instant Data Scraper. search linkedin or twitter for your target keywords, run the extension, and you have a clean list in like two minutes.

another fast way is searching reddit for people complaining about the exact problem your tool solves. use google search operators like site:reddit.com "your keyword" plus phrases like "how do i" or "is there a tool for". then just dm those users directly. it takes some manual effort but the conversion is usually way higher because they actually have the pain point right now. definitely worth a shot before you sell your hard work for next to nothing on acquire...
 
I hear you, it's always hard to sell something you put so much time into.
The best places currently for early stage SaaS with little to no revenue are,,

MicroAcquire (very popular for small SaaS),, Acquire.com
 
yeah those scraping tools are fine but don't spend three days setting up phantombuster or apollo if you need cash this week. honestly just go to your main competitor's social media accounts, look at who is complaining in their replies, and message them directly. keep the pitch dead simple... just say you saw their post, you built an alternative that fixes that specific issue, and offer a cheap lifetime license. it is grindy but it actually works to get those first 5-10 sales. and definitely skip the interns for now, managing people who don't know what they are doing is a massive time sink when you should be hustling for revenue.
 
Forget the interns for now, managing people who don't know what they are doing is a massive headache and will just eat up your coding time. if you need fast cash this week, the competitor scraping advice is gold. another quick way is using builtwith... just look up a competitor that has a paid tool, export the list of sites using them, and filter for the smaller sites that probably hate paying high monthly fees. then shoot them a simple email offering your tool as a cheaper alternative. you don't need fancy scrapers for this, just some hustle and a basic stripe link. if you get even 5 people on a cheap lifetime deal you'll have enough cash to breathe and you won't have to sell your baby on acquire for pennies.
 
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