If you’re here, chances are you either have one or more startups or you’re thinking about building your first one. You’re probably here to uncover the big secret: how to sell a startup.
\ Let’s be real — creating your own product is about two things: first and main, making money, and second, self-realization.
\ This article will help you know how to sell your startup. I did it, and if I can, so can you.
\ When I started my journey as an entrepreneur, I read a lot of stories about founders who had successful exits, selling their startups for huge amounts of money. Honestly, I think that’s a dream many of us share.
\ But the reality is, not all of our startups take off — sometimes for all kinds of reasons.
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\ Just because your project doesn’t need you anymore doesn’t mean it doesn’t need someone.
\ I worked on my sold startup, SlideLab, for over two years. After that, it stayed online for a few years as a kind of “dead project.” I launched it with zero experience in startups.
\ At the time, we were just a small local production studio. But let’s not dive into that now. If you’re curious about my solo entrepreneur journey, check out my Telegram channel, “Aleks is working” where I share more about it.
\ So, my project sat for several years without visitors — basically dead weight. Were some new visitors, but not much. I decided to sell it and put together a list of all the platforms where I could do that.
\ I went to each platform, filled out their forms, sent any requested information, and then just waited. The whole process was completely free, of course.
\ After some time, I started receiving emails with NDA requests and questions from interested buyers.
At one point, I received an offer of $5,000 from SideProjectors, but I wanted more. Some people asked additional questions about my tech stack, business idea, audience, and similar details.
\ In the end, I sold my startup to a software development team. The buyer reached out to me via DM, and we chatted for a few hours to discuss the price. Once we agreed on a price, the buyer sent me a purchase agreement. We decided to split the payment into two parts: one payment upfront and the second after the product was transferred to the buyer’s server.
\ It was my first experience selling a product, but I found it surprisingly simple and easy. I believe this was because I build my business in public. I shared all reports, updates, and ideas about my products, and I’ve always been open-minded. When someone wants to buy your product, all they need to do is check your social media to make their decision.
\ It took 8 months from the moment I first published the sale. I can’t share all the details of the deal because, of course, I signed an NDA and other documents. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it’s enough for me to live as a solo entrepreneur in Thailand for a year. It gives me the freedom to continue being a solo entrepreneur and focus solely on my new products.
\ Now I’m working on my next product. It helps domain investors quickly access valuable expired domains. I find these domains by web scraping authoritative sources like Product Hunt, Medium, Forbes, and other popular websites.
FearsBefore I decided to sell my unused online presentation editor, I struggled with a lot of fears. Over time, I realized these fears are actually quite common among developers and startup owners.
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All of these fears are just in your mind.
BuyerNow, let’s look at it from a different perspective: the buyers.
Buyers have money, right? So why do they search for and buy startups?
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\ So, as you can see, buyers are ready to acquire your projects.
My offer aligned perfectly with one of their reasons. They needed a ready-to-use online editor and wanted to add some AI automation features to quickly test their hypothesis.
What else can you do to try and sell your project?Then I decided to write an article reviewing all the web platforms where you can sell your product, aiming to grab the attention of more people in tech. In the article, I also mentioned that I was selling my online presentation editor.
\ I published it everywhere I could for free:
\ I also made launch on Product Hunt and noticed that I want to sell it in the first comment.
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\ So, let’s summarize.
PriceIf you want to successfully sell your project, you need to set the right price. The right price is crucial — don’t be greedy, but also don’t undervalue your work. A low price can make your product seem less valuable.
Be onlineMake sure your project is always online. Renew your domain, hosting, and SSL certificates. I forgot about SSL initially, but the buyer asked me to fix it to review and test the product — and I’m thankful he did.
Detailed descriptionYour project description should be detailed and comprehensive. Include all relevant information about your project: social media pages, monthly visitors, features, successful or failed experiments, business ideas, and anything else that paints a full picture.
Be publicDon’t be afraid to be public and share everywhere that you’re selling your project.
\ I share more about the solo entrepreneur journey on my Telegram channel, including strategies, marketing and my real experiences in public. Subscribe if you want to learn more about online business.
\ Good luck with selling your project!
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