They Got Acquired - 1-year anniversary 🎈

Your Brand Here 🤔

February 7, 2023
​Read on web​

Today is They Got Acquired's first birthday!

That's right, we launched one year ago.

As with most startup journeys, it has been a year of ups and downs.

Before I share some learnings...

We wouldn't be here without YOU! Thank you for your encouragement, your feedback, and for telling your friends about They Got Acquired. 🙏

Biggest wins from the last year

🥂 Overall direction

On the whole, I’m happy with how far we’ve come and what lies ahead for this company.

This internal knowing that we’re on the right track is what drives me forward. Even when I have moments of self-doubt about pieces of this puzzle, I am confident about the company as a whole.

This is a big deal, because a year ago when we launched, I considered They Got Acquired as an experiment.

The more we’ve learned about our community and what you need, the more I know we're on the right track.

🥂 People we've helped

If I look at what’s most fulfilling about what we’re building, it’s supporting entrepreneurs.

In just a year, we have helped thousands of founders understand and think through the sale process. I've personally talked with 88 founders looking to sell and helped them take next steps.

I see a huge opportunity to demystify the sale process, and the reports we're launching in the coming months will continue to move this mission forward.

What was hard

The last year hasn't been all fuzzies and rainbows. Here's what has challenged me most:

👎 Adjusting expectations

The hardest part about the last year for me personally has been keeping expectations around growth and progress reasonable, given I’m still doing a lot of the work myself.

This early grind is typical for a bootstrapped founder; it takes a while to put the foundations in place that will generate revenue, and you have to do most everything yourself until you have the money to hire other people. You know what that's like, right?

👎 Profitability

We fell short of my big goal of bringing in enough revenue to cover expenses (not including my salary) by the end of the year.

But we did bring in $83,000 in revenue this year, plus an $80,000 grant — pretty darn good for Year 1 of a bootstrapped business.

👎 All the un-done

We achieved so much this year… and yet there are still things we didn’t get to, like the second season of our podcast.

Some days I feel like we didn’t do enough. On others, I know ruthless prioritization has fueled our success.

Overall, this is all a great launch pad for Year 2. I'm so excited about what's ahead.

💡 If you're interested in the full annual review covering Year 1 of They Got Acquired, you can read that here.

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Behind the business

It's tough to cram an entire year into an infographic, but here's our best shot:

While numbers are nice, real people are better.

If you enjoy our work—and especially if you've never responded before—please reply and say hi. I'd love to hear from you.

See you next time,

Lexi Grant
Founder & CEO
​They Got Acquired​
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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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