3 Indie Hackers who sold their company and how they did it
The fun of building a company is in the journey — yet it’s always satisfying to celebrate a win in the end.
At They Got Acquired, we share stories of 6- and 7-figure exits.
Several of the entrepreneurs we've covered shared their journey on Indie Hackers before exiting their company.
So here are 3 Indie Hackers who sold their company, and and how they did it 👇
1. Makerpad
Ben Tossell founded this community around learning no-code tools in 2019. He sold it two years later to Zapier, after connecting with the CEO serendipitously on Twitter.
Tossell was on the Indie Hackers podcast in 2019 to share how he created a $200K side project without writing code, and then again in 2021, talking about Makerpad’s acquisition.
Stats at a glance for Makerpad’s acquisition:
2. Marketfly
These founders were teens when they launched a digital marketing agency, then pivoted to SaaS. Aakruti Desai and Veeraj Mehta were inspired during the pandemic to turn their services into a social and content-driven customer relationship platform that helped businesses leverage social channels.
They shared on Indie Hackers how the company made $10K MRR as an MVP — and went on to sell for 6 figures the following year.
Here’s the deal on this acquisition:
3. Wavve
This SaaS, which repurposed audio content into short videos for social media, was meant to help founders Baird Hall and Nick Fogle build a different business. But it turned out to be a winner all on its own.
Fogle did an AMA on Indie Hackers about building the company, which they sold to Calm Capital in 2021.
Here’s what this deal looked like:
If you’re keen to learn more about how to sell your business, we offer a free report showcasing 21 companies that sold in 2021 for 6 or 7 figures.
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Thanks for sharing! I'd love if you all did an article about the part that's always put me off from selling, the transferring of assets. My typical SaaS's all have like 10 services attached (database, hosting, analytics, billing, etc.) most with my credit card attached, and most don't have a built in way to transfer to someone (or even remove your payment info).
This is a great idea. I'll add it to our queue and aim to publish it in the next 6 months! Appreciate it.
I so needed this to help fuel me. Seeing other people succeed is really inspirational!
seeing a playbook or an example of a potential outcome helps you fight the doubts in your mind
inspire 👍
Love it! Super impressive to see how small these teams are. Really shows that you don't need a dozen people to make a meaningful exit.
Absolutely. I especially love the lean-team-big-revenue stories.
Thanks for sharing this, Alexis. These stories are always so inspiring! I am curious to know how TGA helps/works with founders. I am doing some research on the bootstrapped founder's journey and these anecdotes are really helpful!
Thanks for asking! Two ways we help:
Sharing stories of entrepreneurs who have sold, so we can see what it looks like
Offering how-to resources for entrepreneurs who want to sell, including free advisory calls
Getting our newsletter is the best way to get everything in your inbox: http://theygotacquired.com/newsletter
That sounds great, I'll definitely check it out. Really appreciate the work TGA is doing to highlight other avenues than those that are always in the media. Gamechanger!
I hope to add some value to founders through the tool that I am building as well because I strongly believe that solopreneurs need not go solo, always :)