Hey there,

Bootstrappers turned one this week! 🎂

Thanks for subscribing, reading, and supporting the publication for the past year. It means a lot to us. 

To celebrate, we’ve been tweeting updates from our earliest founder interviews. All are thriving, with triple-digit growth, new products, rebrands, family additions, and more. (One multimillion-dollar pizza-themed startup is even listed on MicroAcquire.)

I also thought you’d enjoy catching up with two special Bootstrappers alumni who recently got acquired in life-changing deals.

Check out their stories below. One day, we hope to feature your acquisition story here too. 🙏

Chris Roper

Managing Editor

These Former Bootstrappers Founders Reveal How They Got Acquired By Beatport Just 5 Years After Launch 

Most founders can only dream of a strategic acquisition, so when Derek Clark and Ed Brew of LabelRadar closed their deal with Beatport, they felt they’d achieved the impossible.

Derek and Ed never sought acquisition offers. They were happy as bootstrapped founders, enjoying the freedom to grow at their own pace and in any direction. But after a few successful years, they realized that without funding or strategic backing, they’d never scale.

LabelRadar’s strength was its community of up-and-coming recording artists. As the “Netflix for DJs,” Beatport wanted to build an artist community similar to LabelRadar’s. After a collaboration revealed their shared objectives, the two companies realized the benefits of a merger.

“The resources and mentorship you get at a company like Beatport are hard to replicate when you’re bootstrapping. If you want that kind of guidance as a founder, you have to recreate that with investors, advisors, or employees. At Beatport, we work with and under people who are truly world-class at what they do.”

Acquisition advice

1. Don’t forget to grow your business. Derek says that if you neglect your business while managing the acquisition, you’ll be worse off if the deal fails.

2. Create a data room. A folder or drive link with selective access would’ve saved Derek hours of preparing data manually after each conversation.

3. Consider staying on to learn from your acquirers. Derek and Ed stayed on as directors at Beatport to gain valuable experience under talented leadership.

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These Bootstrappers Founders Were Acquired By India’s Twilio Just 4 Years After Inception – Here’s Their Story

In 2021, after breaking the enterprise market with their chatbot, Cogno AI, Harshita Srivastava and Aman Goel sold it to Exotel, one of India’s largest telecoms companies.

Harshita Srivastava and Aman Goel built a modest chatbot in college that their professors loved. After convincing many of India’s banks to use it, the cofounders were approached by A91, a VC firm, to discuss acquisition. They said no, wanting to focus on growing the business first.

In 2021, two years later, A91 again asked if they’d sell. The firm had invested in Exotel and knew there was enough overlap in culture and objectives to justify an acquisition. Harshita and Aman felt they'd scaled the business as much as they could alone and accepted Exotel’s offer in 2021.

“Since joining Exotel, we’ve scaled to over 150 people plus 850 more in Exotel and Ameyo. Exotel is a series D funded company looking to IPO. I am excited that before the age of thirty, I not only have started a business from scratch, but I have seen it scale and maybe even go public.”

Acquisition advice

1. Keep your accounts tidy. Harshita was thankful their financials were squeaky clean because Exotel audited down to the last rupee during due diligence.

2. Hire a lawyer. Legal counsel helped the cofounders negotiate a purchase agreement that protected their rights during and after the acquisition.

3. Ensure you like your buyer. Harshita believes acquisitions are like marriages: You should like the people who buy your company or expect trouble later.

4. Network to find a strategic buyer. Aman met his future acquirer, the CEO of Exotel, at an event they’d attended to promote CognoAI.

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