- It's web-based, and architected as a SaaS solution
- There is huge market potential for the product
- I don't have the resources to sell or market it. We bootstrapped it and are short on cash atm.
- I think our business model is faulty and we need to find a suitable buyer to transform it into a profitable product/service.
If it's generating USD $10,000 or more in MRR, then you can try listing if on ExitRound but based on your description, I think a sale at this moment is unlikely. Acquisitions like the one you're dreaming are either motivated by the book of business or an engineering team. Code is thrown away and product discontinued. So the idea that a business is going to buy you to fix the problems of the product is unrealistic.
Happy to talk to you to help you determine if the business is potentially salvageable.
Have you considered seeking investment instead (or already tried)? If it isn't already a profitable business with good revenue, investment seems more likely than a reasonable acquisition. Angel investors are expecting to take risks and it sounds like your product is still in the risky stage.
The unfortunate misconception about SaaS apps is that the value is in the code. It rarely is.
With the arrival of cloud computing, and languages like Ruby on Rails (and even PHP these days) that can quickly build an app from re-usable 3rd party code, the app itself has almost no value unless you’ve found a way to achieve something technically that few others could.
A SaaS company’s value is therefore primarily in it’s
- Team – a good team of engineers can be acqui-hired while a good founding team will often be easy VC bait.
- Users – even if they’ve not yet been monetized.
- Cashflow – even if the company hasn’t yet reach profitability
The reality is, without at least one of these three things, you have nothing.
Buyers who would pay for your idea, could quite easily pay the same amount for the development of what you already have minus the flaws.
If you believe the product is solid, but you’re pre monetization with a good idea and bad business model, then my best advice would be to develop the business model first. Do a search for interviews by Jason Cohen and Eric Reis. They’re the best speaker I know on the topic of customer development and how to find what works.
Best of luck.
It may seem surprising at first that the valuation results are influenced by your need for business valuation. Business valuation is a process of measuring business worth. In addition to valuing the individual business assets and liabilities, the method can be helpful when allocating the business purchase price across the individual business assets, as part of the asset purchase agreement. Market based business valuation methods focus on estimating business value by examining the business sale transaction data available from the actual marketplace. Comparative transactions involving private companies that closely resemble the subject business. Selling price to business earnings such as net income, SDCF, EBITDA, or net cash flow. Each pricing multiple is a ratio of the likely business selling price divided by the respective economic performance value. So, for instance, the selling price to revenue multiple is calculated by dividing the business selling price by business revenue.
You can read more here: https://www.valuadder.com/valuationguide/business-valuation-five-steps.html
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
