They Got Acquired - This was a gamble

October 22, 2024
​Read on web​

Can a business idea work if you’re too early to market?

This one did… but it was a bumpy road.

Superstorm Sandy was an event Elisa Wood would never forget.

The huge, destructive hurricane in 2012 left millions on the East Coast without power – but not everyone. “There were massive power outages everywhere, except for a few bright lights here and there, where universities and hospitals and airports had power,” Wood recalled.

How did those places keep the lights on? She discovered it’s because they were powered by microgrids: small-scale electrical networks that generate their own power and operate independently of the bigger power grid. They typically use solar power and/or natural gas generators.

Wood and two partners would go on to launch an online publication in this niche called Microgrid Knowledge. They were ahead of their time – maybe a little too ahead of their time.

Over and over, Wood found herself answering the same question: “What’s a microgrid?”

But eventually the microgrid market grew, with more customers and companies jumping on board, which meant more readers – and more sponsors – for their media brand.

By the time microgrids became a $30-billion-a-year industry, Wood and her partners sold Microgrid Knowledge to online publishing house Endeavor Business Media for 7 figures.

Here’s our story on how it happened:

​They launched a content site about a market before it even existed – and the gamble paid off​

Sponsored by

Is now a good time to sell your agency?

I attended this webinar live, and they shared ideas all marketing agency owners should know. So I asked Punctuation to make it available for you on demand, and they agreed! — Lexi, founder of TGA

Punctuation, an M&A advisory that positions and sells creative and marketing agencies, is offering a free webinar on the state of the market.

You'll gain insight into:

• What the current M&A market is like for agencies
• Trends happening right now amongst sellers and buyers
• Practical things you can do now to prepare to sell your agency for top dollar later

Here's a slide from the webinar to give you a taste of what it covers:

Punctuation specializes in valuing and bringing to market marketing firms with $1M to $10M in revenue. They've facilitated 400+ transactions over the past two decades.

Behind the business (of TGA)

Something I’ve been hesitant to admit but shared on LinkedIn recently:

I built our M&A platform myself.

I’m reluctant to share this because I’m afraid it makes us look small. But so many good things have come out of getting my hands dirty.

Truthfully, this was never my plan.

When I envisioned They Got Acquired offering a database of comps, I figured I’d hire a tech team to build it, just as we've built a research team to collect the data.

But as I fleshed out the project brief, I began exploring tools that make it possible to build interfaces on top of Airtable, where we keep our data.

And I realized that no-code tools are so far along now that I could lean on them for our build, relying on a coach rather than a development team.

At first, I told myself it wasn’t a good use of my time to build this myself. But once I started tinkering with the tools, I got hit with another surprise.

Not only was it possible for me to build what we needed, but I actually enjoyed getting more deeply involved.

This felt counter to what I consider my strengths. I’m operationally minded, and good at putting the pieces in place so my team can do great work. I don’t think of myself as an indie hacker or creator; I’m more of an operator.

But once I got into Softr, I discovered I loved bringing this idea to life. It was so satisfying to turn all of our insight into a user-friendly platform that could drive real outcomes for sellers, buyers and advisors.

A few magical things happened because I built our platform with my own hands:

✨ Buyers came to the forefront.

Our original idea was to focus on comps, because that’s what I wished I had when I sold my business.

But since we don’t anonymize our data, we can also see who the buyers are. So I ended up featuring buyers in the product.

Our buyer profiles, it turns out, are a big draw. You can use our filters to identify good-fit buyers, see what they’ve acquired previously, and lean on the contact information we provide to reach out to those buyers directly.

✨ We can meet requests quickly.

When we have an idea for a new feature, I know whether it’s possible to add using our current tool stack, and how easy or hard it might be.

For example, one user wanted to filter by deals where we know the sale multiple. I was able to quickly roll that out for them.

✨ I’m having fun.

When things are enjoyable, we stick with them longer. Giving myself permission to do what’s fun helps me get through the challenging parts.

In the end, this was the right move for us. But sometimes, when potential customers ask questions, I still find myself saying:

“Let me check with our tech team on that.”

See you next time,

Lexi Grant
Founder & CEO
​They Got Acquired​

​

​

P.S. If you read to the bottom of this email and got something out of it, would you reply and let me know? Feedback from readers keeps us going.​