I'm Sharath ππΌ I sold a startup while hustling at a full-time job. AMA.
Sharath Kuruganty
58 replies
Hello there! I'm Sharath, founder, community builder, and content creator. Currently, I work at Threado as Head of Community, but in my free time, I build products, host a podcast, advise founders and help makers launch on Product Hunt!
In the past, I built 15+ side projects using no-code tools and got the opportunity to work with prolific people like Naval Ravikant. I accidentally built a startup called Shoutout in my maker journey which grew to $30K ARR and eventually, I sold for 6 figures. All this happened when I was hustling at full-time jobs. As a startup operator, I got the opportunity to work for the most prominent brands in tech like Product Hunt, and On Deck where I nurtured community.
Right now Iβm tinkering with a couple of side-projects:
- Blubi, a permanent home for your social content where you can use AI to remix it.
- Next Step, a tight-knit community for first-time founders figuring out the next steps.
I'm here to answer questions about SaaS, building in public, audience building, community, bootstrapping, no-code, and anything startups!
AMA π
Replies
Hossein Yazdi@hosseinyazdi
Thanks for hosting AMA. Just curious to know how you've managed to sell your product. Was there any specific place, or did a buyer reach out to you directly, or else?
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@hosseinyazdi @nuno_ms_reis Answering here so you both will get my response.
Micro Acquire is the best place to sell micro SaaS products. They have built a tight network of buyers. But in my case, I tweeted that I was looking for a new founder to take up and within a day I got a bunch of DMs - one of them was the buyer who I felt was a good fit.
What is your go to strategy after you come up with the idea for a project?
What were the main reasons for you to sell and for the buyer to acquire it?
Was it just the steady ARR, or did they think they could scale it themselves faster? Or just a product acquisition?
Thanks for the AMA!
@nuno_ms_reis We reached a point where we shipped 0 features and made 0 progress. But, thanks to my co-founder, who built a robust product and the idea has a self-marketing quality, we saw growth happening organically.
It made me feel guilty since there was nothing I was doing. Also, I felt the need for someone who takes the product to the level. We decided, and the acquisition went smoothly.
Do you have a newsletter ? What ideas can you give for some trying to provide value and get a larger audience.
@raiyanyahya that's something I wanted to do this year. It's on my radar. I got a good name too - Sharath's Cliff Notes :) Check it out: https://5harath.substack.com
Newsletters are a great way but I might not be the right one to advice here. But I would also actively tweet and interact on Twitter.
Hey Sharath - Was Shoutout still based on no-code infrastructure when you sold it?
Hi Sharath, thanks for doing this AMA. What side project are you most passionate about right now? Next Step looks super interesting.
@between_team Hey David. I'm super excited about blubi.ai for two reasons:
1. I'm building for myself. Hopefully, find people like me who can use it.
2. I'm excited to create a platform that helps content creators create content without worrying about the platform.
Launching soon!
Love the tinkering mentality. What particular attributes show up when you feel your on to something while tinkering?
waiting for this : tight-knit community for first-time founders figuring out the next steps.
Haha, maverick intro, thanks!
Curious to hear more about how you ended up selling? Particularly:
- How you got approached;
- General process;
@rawoyemi big compliment haha
The decision was definitely a hard one to take. But you need to pick priorities and go with your reality.
Regarding the process, look at acquire.com - the best place to sell businesses. In my case, I tweeted about it and a founder showed interest. But it didn't happen overnight. I had to go through many to find the right fit.
what would you suggest we do as a two sided marketplace with limited to no marketing resource to find a scalable channel of acquisition as fast as possible (with users on the waitlist pre-launch)?
@aldo_petruzzelli It seems like you want things fast with less effort - in my experience, that's like finding a bigfoot sitting in a city. It's not real lol
Not to be rude but you have to put in the work and play the long game.
Some advice:
1. Figure out supply and demand for your marketplace.
2. Start building in public - solves marketing and needs $0 to spend on.
3. Use Twitter as your distribution channel.
4. Launch the product and get some revenue.
5. Be impatient with actions and patient with results.
Which no-code tools you think are the best to build side-projects?
I am a non-technical founder myself and I want to try no-code to build my next app. Thanks
@rashid_khasanov depends on the idea you have.
- Bubble is good for building a platform
- Softr is good for curation projects
- Glide is good for mobile projects
- Carrd is good for launching and validating ideas
Hey Sharath, thanks for doing this. What is one piece of advice that you would have loved to be given when you started on your journey?
@narenbhandary ππΌ Ah that's a great question.
There are many, but the most important one is not to lose any momentum - product-wise, mentally.
With so many side projects (15+!) - how do you decide what to share/feature on your social media?
@michael_cho1 All my projects are executed one after the other. Best to focus on one thing at a time so you get to give your best.
Love seeing some smaller startups get sold. We always hear about the million dollar sales, but these are great as well
Your story is inspiring! What do you think is the best distribution channel for a brand new saas where the founder is tight on cash and has no personal brand???
Glad to hear that @clay_raterman
Best distribution channel - Launch multiple mini projects(that add value) on Product Hunt
Congrats on your success! What does your schedule look like? Please break it down as much as possible.
Thanks @psd
Haha you are making me question my routines now. Hard to pinpoint but my usual days looks like this:
1. Deep work
2. Important habits like meditation, and journaling for 5-10mins
3. Dropping my son to daycare
4. Have limited meetings.
5. Dedicated work time for my full-time job
6. Dedicated work time for my side projects.
7 Past 6pm family time starts
Where did you sell your start-up and how did you navigate discussions around pricing?
@thisismeihere the interest came from Twitter. It would be best to have clarity on what you want - that decides how discussions will go. We wanted a specific number, and we crafted a story supporting it.
My question is about building a community for our SaaS users. (questions at the end fyi)
We recently started gaining more users to our SaaS product Tamly, it is a LinkedIn automation tool for sales and business development teams.
Although it is super simple once the users get a grip and complete a whole funnel even once (e.g. middle aged, less tech savvy sales people love it), connecting the user's LinkedIn and Tamly accounts for the first time could feel a bit complicated.
So, we have a lot of new users come in, sign up, and leave soon after without executing their first funnel successfully. I want to create a community and enable instant communication between our users and myself. Our 'product champions' for example, never hesitate to give me a call any time and I actively help them with their campaigns and stuff. I want our new users to feel the same way and communicate with us.
Now for the questions:
1) Is it weird for us to reach out to users on WhatsApp for a more sincere and instant communication? Consider the users provided their mobile number optionally, and so far we didn't have any adverse reactions.
2) I simply need to pinpoint the stage that users find ambiguous/challenging, to provide the right support at the right moment (and have them subscribe hopefully ;p). Would you have any other suggestions than user outreach?
3) I know utilizing Slack for such efforts is effective and am planning to do so. Which other channels would you recommend for community building?
Would you do it again? I mean, don't you think it would be better to run a business and increase its value over time?
@busmark_w_nika Of course I will, and I'm building again :)
In my situation, the reality demanded to move on. I'm also sure that I won't stop. I always believe your best idea is yet to come.