They Got Acquired - How we saved $2,343

September 6, 2022
​Read on web​

As listeners have flocked to podcasts, podcasting has become big business.

And as these three companies discovered on their way to acquisition, so is serving podcasters.

The companies we’ve covered in the story below all cultivated a business focused on addressing podcasters’ needs.

One’s a newsletter, another is a platform for monetizing podcasts, and yet another is a software for podcast production.

🎙 3 companies that served podcasters on their way to an exit​

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Behind the business

From the beginning, my goal has been to break profitable by the end of 2022.

What I mean by that: bring in enough revenue to cover our expenses. I don't expect to pay myself by EOY, or recoup the money I've invested in the brand; that's a goal for the future. By EOY, I simple want the brand to pay for itself.

Two things happened in August that got us closer to profitable:

1. We had our first month with two revenue streams. This felt like a big step forward; that diversification makes the business stronger.

Our two revenue streams are: sponsorships, where brands pay to access our audience, and broker referrals, where M&A brokers pay us a commission when they help an entrepreneur we referred to them sell a business.

We have two more revenue streams planned: our reports and access to our database of acquisitions. So by this time next year, we should benefit from four revenue streams.

2. I decreased our expenses. I tend to focus on revenue generation over minimizing expenses. But I had an ah-ha moment this month that it would be easier to reach profitable by the end of the year if our expenses were lower. (Sounds obvious, but I find most ah-ha moments are!)

This felt like a good opportunity to rein in our expenses; they tend to balloon if I don't take time every once in a while to intentionally cull what we spend. I suspect this happens with every business, but I've found it particularly true for content businesses, because content is expensive to create.

One specific step I took to do this: culling the ever-growing list of software tools we use to grow the business.

In addition to nixing or downgrading a few of our tools, I moved to annual subscriptions for tools I feel confident we'll continue to need — when that change came with a discount.

Tools I moved to annual subscriptions:

• ​Ahrefs, for SEO
• ​AirTable, for data
• ​Calendly, for calendar bookings
• ​ConvertKit, for sending this newsletter
• ​MiniExtensions, for configuring AirTable
• ​ProBackup, for backing up AirTable
• ​Twist, for internal communication

Even some Substack subscriptions come with a discount for committing to an annual plan, so I made that move for the newsletter I find most helpful, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter.

These changes resulted in a savings of $2,343 over the course of the year, which works out to about $200/month. This exercise turned out to be surprisingly satisfying!

See you next time,

Lexi Grant
Founder & CEO
​They Got Acquired​
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P.S. Are you active on Indie Hackers? We pulled three examples of entrepreneurs who shared their journey on Indie Hackers and went on to sell their companies.

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Our mission is to redefine startup success by showcasing companies that sell for $100K-$50M. Learn more about us or follow us on Twitter.

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