Microns - How to buy your first side project

Ilya Novohatskyi

Hey guys.

This week many people joined the newsletter. So I would like to introduce myself in two words.

I’m Ilya startup founder from Ukraine 🇺🇦 For four years, I worked as a front-end developer for different companies. When COVID-19 started, my boss fired me, and I started my front-end agency Quanti Coders. After two years of hustling, we reached $15k per month in revenue.

Scaling agency became cumbersome, and I delegated most of the work to start another company.

After some research, I decided to tackle marketplace. I realized there is no friendly way for bootstrapped founders to sell their micro-startups. So that’s how Microns was born.

One year later, we helped 30 founders sell their projects with a total amount of $200k in transactions. It is a challenging journey, and Microns isn’t profitable yet, but I believe it’ll pay off.

Okay, let’s return to the newsletter.

This week I want to experiment with a new format called Growth advice, where I share a marketing channel that helped me somehow grow Microns or another business. Would love to hear your feedback.

Besides this, I prepared a renewed article about buying your first side project, which should be interesting for you.

Photo by Yvon Hoogers on Unsplash

👋 Welcome

Welcome to the 61 new people joining this week.

Let me know what you think of your first issue. Replying helps Google realize it’s not spam.

Prefer Twitter? Drop me a DM here.

Now let’s crack on with the newsletter ☕️

🌱 Growth advice

Every startup founder should have a Twitter profile. It is a great distribution channel to grow your audience and project.

Unlike LinkedIn, Twitter is much more engaging, based on my experience, and could give you loyal customers if you provide value to others.

Transparency and consistency are very important for this social media. Still, you can see results if you dedicate at least 20 minutes daily.

I spent one year organically growing from zero to thousand followers by engaging with others and tweeting (not regularly). But in any case, I found our early Microns customers from Twitter, and they’re so loyal and helpful that I can’t imagine.

So I definitely will double down on this social media even if Elon introduces an $8 subscription. Twitter is a small but friendly place for bootstrapped founders.

Next step: create a Twitter account, learn how to grow your audience, and start engaging.

P.S. Let me know if you like this kind of content.

📈 Monthly update

This month was one of the hardest for us. We’ve got some churn, and acquisition costs increased drastically. This is because of the economic situation in the world.

Interesting fact that we published less than 50% of submitted startups because we want to keep the quality of the listings high.

Ilya Novohatskyi 🇺🇦

@ilyanovohatskyi

Monthly update for Microns 🚀

😊 3,738 newsletter subscribers
🎉 201 new subscribers
👀 48.2% average open rate
🎯 7.6% average click rate
💰 108 premium members
💸 10 new premium members
🚗 21 startups submitted
📌 9 startups published
📈 2.4k users visited the website https://t.co/ECYKvcpshP

11:12 AM - 3 Nov 2022

Anyway, I expected this because the previous year’s trend was similar, so we need to keep doing our job.

🧵 How to buy your first startup

This week I updated our post about buying your first startup. This version has more helpful information for entrepreneurs starting their way into the acquisition world.

I covered the basic things you need to complete your first transaction successfully and confidently. From contacting seller to due diligence and payments. I hope it will be useful for beginners.

How to Buy Your First Side Project

There are so many benefits to buying a side project. You’ll learn something new and your small business could be of value to members of your community. Here are the steps to buying a profitable side project.

www.microns.io

📰 Looking for new owners

Free tools you can start using without signing up

Signup Free Tools Database

$141 in Revenue
Business model: Sponsorships
1,100 newsletter subscribers
Target audience: Developers
Built with Next.js and Airtable
Founded in 2022
Growth advice: Improve SEO and introduce paid tiers

🔥 Asking Price: $3,000

Find where your car is parked easily

Parked Car Locator App

$1,300 in Annual Revenue
Business model: Advertisements
75,000 downloads and 400+ daily active users
Target audience: Drivers
Built with Nativa Android and Firebase
Founded in 2012
Growth advice: Promote product in supermarkets and parking

🔥 Asking Price: $11,000

Easily create mobile and web apps without code

No-Code Mobile App Creator

$32,000 in Annual Revenue
Business model: Lifetime deals and Subscriptions
851 paid customers
Target audience: Small businesses and Startups
Built with AngularJS, Toast and Firebase
Founded in 2017
Growth advice: Focus on social media and SEO

🔥 Asking Price: $24,000

💡 Wisdom from subscriber

Tom J

@tomjacquesson

We grew our SaaS from $0 to $1,668,000 ARR in 12 months.

And we're not geniuses.

It all comes down to having the right approach.

Let me unravel each major step we took: https://t.co/qqFXBb7hgu

6:22 PM - 19 Aug 2022

💌 Share with a friend

If you found value in reading this issue, please share it with your friend.

Stay awesome,

Ilya Novohatskyi

Did you enjoy this issue? Yes No

Ilya Novohatskyi @ilyanovohatskyi

Microns is a newsletter where you will find your next startup to buy.

Every Thursday, you will get an email with a few micro-startups for sale, a helpful column about running a company, and insights from my businesses.

Join 3,500+ entrepreneurs and investors looking for their next acquisition.

In order to unsubscribe, click here.

If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.

Created with Revue by Twitter.

30 N Gould St Ste R Sheridan, WY 82801

Microns - How to buy your first side project

Older messages

Grow your marketplace into community

Almost 80% of buyers are looking for profitable Micro-SaaS

Stickers in exchange for a small survey

We sold four startups with GMV of over $33,000 in September

Earn 50% for every referred buyer - the highest rate in the niche

You Might Also Like

Boring Strategy, Remote Nomad Jobs, GenFuse AI, Mochi Video AI, Notepad Online, and more

💥 Make 2025 The Best Year of Your Life - CreatorBoom

🚀 This holiday, learn from the best & transform 2025

🗞 What's New: AI video editing is coming to Instagram

[CEI] Chrome Extension Ideas #171

Top angel investors in the U.S.

🎁 🎄 HO HO HO! Here's the ultimate gift for your business journey

Biggest rounds of 2024

The Corner Office & Low Exp 👩‍💼

🗞 ICYMI: insights on o3, AI job disruption, marketing on Bluesky