AI sped up this founder’s race toward sale

February 20, 2024
​Read on web​

When ChatGPT came out, content agency founder Mark Whitman was scaling Contentellect’s team to prepare for a sale.

The unwelcome AI wildcard prompted Whitman to accelerate his efforts and sell his agency in April to Onfolio Holdings, which acquires online businesses from independent entrepreneurs.

The price was $850,000, about 1x his annual revenue and 2.5x EBITDA.

Highlights of this story:

• Whitman spent 18 months assembling a team of 11 employees and 40 freelance writers.
• He scaled by offering content services to SEO and other digital companies, not just SaaS businesses.
• He said he didn’t have the energy to pivot after AI was introduced – and wanted to move away from running a content agency.
• At the time of sale, Contentellect had about 60 active customers, a third of whom were on recurring revenue plans.

See our full story about the deal, and how the new owner views AI:

​Worried about the rise of artificial intelligence, he sold an SEO content agency for $850,000​

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Behind the Business (of TGA)

Last week I wrote about hitting the easy button on a project. That post led to a big ah-ha moment...

I talk to a lot of founders who are thinking about selling. These are free calls where we talk through possible next steps, how to maximize their sale price, and which advisors might be a good fit for their business.

At the same time, I regularly hear from buyers who are looking to connect with founders who want to sell.

For a long while, I've been looking for a way to give founders access to these buyers, while keeping founder anonymity intact.

While talking it out with a friend, we came up with the idea of spinning off a newsletter for buyers that features companies where the founder is thinking about selling.

Here's how it would work:

1. With the founder's approval, we'd send a newsletter that shares a brief, vague description of the company — i.e. healthcare SaaS with 10 employees doing $2 million in ARR — but does not name the business, so the founder can put out feelers while remaining anonymous.

2. Interested buyers could raise their hand and say, I'd like to be introduced to that founder to learn more.

3. The founder could accept or decline intro opportunities — we'd tell them who wants an intro, and only make the connection if the founder wants it.

We'd fund the project by charging buyers a subscription fee, so it can be free for sellers. Since it's a paid product, the list of buyers who see it would be relatively small, offering them a real advantage.

I've already heard from a handful founders who are open to being featured. None of those companies have been listed for sale yet, so buyers would get a true first look.

👉🏼 If you're a founder who's open to putting out feelers this way, reply to this newsletter and let me know.

👉🏼 If you're a buyer who wants these leads, press reply and give me that feedback so we can justify the project.

See you next time,

Lexi Grant
Founder & CEO
​They Got Acquired​