#StartupDilemma #SellingOrExpanding #HelpNeeded
Hey guys, I need your advice! 🤔
So, my startup is in the music industry, helping record labels track metrics and sales on streaming platforms. Sales are great, but I’m feeling overwhelmed. Here’s why:
– Too much work, not enough help
– Devs are slow to fix bugs
– Three buyout firms want to buy my startup 🤯
Now, I’m torn between selling to the highest bidder, hiring better devs, or getting a co-founder. What would you do in my situation? Any advice on what steps I should take next? Share your insights below! 🌟
What’s the name of it?
I’m not an expert but reading this, I would say sell it.
Sell and make a new one
The types of developers that can fix bugs are usually completely different than the kind that build from 0. They may not and never be motivated to do it
And it may not be fixable — the foundation may be rocky and the bugs may multiple ad infinitum without rebuilding the entire system with more skill and a better base
As a non-technical person you have no hope of ever knowing which is true, so you have to sell now
Next one get a technical co-founder who knows what’s going on
Had a friend in a similar situation before… offers were from some fairly well-known firms and he structured it as an acquihire.
Spent three years getting a really solid salary and having access to all the resources an early stage startup doesn’t.
The next startup he did was much smoother (easier access to funding and easier time hiring) since:
1) He had successfully exited a previous startup
2) Had a well know company on his CV
3) Built up domain specific relationships (both rank & file and management level in the main industry, not the startup/VC side) that were difficult to make as an unknown startup founder.
Ultimately only you are able to make a decision, but I’ve seen it work out well personally.
Just make sure you go in with reasonable expectations (worst case, you get paid for selling the company and no additional strings attached) and don’t expect to be the final decision-maker going forward.
Sounds like you feel overwhelmed, pressure and stress is building and the sense you don’t have a strong enough bench to support your company growth and standards?
What would a great outcome look like for you here?
Even from this little blurb I know you should sell it.
You’re tired, the firm needs fresh blood, and you have an amazing offer. Sell it, take a well earned vacation, then on to the next adventure!
I’m a tech founder of my own sites, but I’m not good at sales & marketing. Before this, during my career, I would often turnaround bad/buggy code into correct and more understandable code.
I know everyone’s telling you to sell, and that’s fine if you do, but I’ve dm’d you if you want a partner strong on the tech side. I can typically pick up new tech quickly, but it helps if your tech stack is one I already know.
Don’t sell! You’ve already come this far. Take a break, go on a vacation and come back reenergised and approach it with a fresh mind. If it’s something you still don’t wanna do then look at selling.
Don’t sell it. You’re obviously tired from bearing the workload.
I think this situation is clear as day. If you are making profits and getting amazing bids for your startup, it is an indication of a green light. What appears to be a major problem here are the devs.
I’ve been in this similar situation where a friend thought his startup was going down only to realize the problem was the people he hired. You need new, dedicated and flexible devs who can attend to situations on time and take the work load off you.
I could recommend this company called RocketDevs to you. They make technical hiring easy for you and their devs are pre-vetted.and affordable.
I also don’t think you need a co-founder. The person may not be able to match what you need and will still take your company shares
I will go ahead and sale it. Even if you hire a new co-founder the ramp up time for him/ her and a new support team would not be worth it. I have worked with multiple startups in similar situations and people who stuck around mostly ended up bailing with much less
Giving up is easy , taking ti from here will be a bold step.
Poeple typically sells at bad time , when the bad time is other than dev not performing.
Find a better dev team , or hire people in contract basic, give them per-bug-fix incentive.
Also list down all the features or unresolved-bug , and let the contract guys finish at least 30-40 percent in a sprint mode.Later gradully solve the other bugs.
I am not judging you but , i think you can manage it well ,and overcome this.
but anyway lets know about what your startup do? what kind of tech-stack you are using , that way people can provide detailed suggestion and help you figure out something.
Thanks.
![gif](giphy|3o6ozomjwcQJpdz5p6|downsized)
bug-fixing dev here. Send me a dm.
Honestly, if the buyout offers are solid and you’re feeling burnt out, selling might be the smartest move. No shame in that. Take some time to recharge and then decide what’s next. Sometimes walking away is the best way to win
First of all, you must surround yourself with positive people. Second, are you burned out?
Ask for help, or change something, that would be my way to go.
Do you still have the passion for the industry? What motivates you? Is it solving the problem or an interest in music/labels?
If you need to address bugs do you really need ‘devs’? As in plural not singular. If there is a ton of new feature development to be done thats different but perhaps focusing on stability first, reduce overheads, increase profitability and use that to drive growth if you still have the passion.
Sounds like you are tired and just need a sounding board, and I think the headaches the devs are causing you might be clouding your judgement. Eat the elephant one bite at a time….
What on earth is a buyout firm?
If you’re just burnt out and need solid technical help – check your DM’s, I’d love to help you out.
If you feel that the startup has run it’s course, and you’re getting life changing money, there’s no shame it taking it!
So sad but not surprising to see so many “sell and start something new” comments.
There’s nothing wrong selling, taking a break and figuring out what you want or don’t want to do next.
If you believe 100% you can increase profit in the next couple of year and reduce your workload, then keep it. If it’s going to add more stress to your life, just sell and take a break for a while. You did it once, you can do it again, your health and well-being is more important. However, I do think you can improve this by working with the right people, if you can automate your workflow and get better devs, that’s also an option to consider. If the people you have now aren’t doing their work, it’s better to replace them. Also, it’s important to have someone with you who have dev experience and can manage anyone in this area, I’ve seen a lot of startup founders struggle to deliver a good product, or simply have to manage a lot of things only because their devs are not competent enough or because they trust them too much to provide the best work.
As developer and a musician, SELL!
The music industry is going through another disruption, probably as bad as the Napster days. Except this time it’s with A.I. Since your not a tech person there could be some serious code debt happening. Just sell it, take a vacation and try another industry for the next startup.
If you do sell don’t take stock options as payment. They could water them down and make them worth nothing.
Sell if the offer is good. No questions about it.
If you think you can make it bigger with new devs and some outcome based partnership just focus on that. Knowing very well you will sell in a year or so but ofcourse at a better price.
Make sure it’s actually a life changing amount, I’ve sold multiple for amounts I regret years later.
Seeking a strong technical co-founder or CTO perhaps?
Sell sell sell sell sell.
The difference between $0 and $1M is a lot bigger than the difference between $1M and $5M.
I went through this same situation. Built a company that grew so fast we couldn’t hire enough people in time, maintain all the books etc and keep track of all the financials. Working 15 hours a day, every day. Tried to sell but never could find a buyer. Eventually let my partner take it and I walked away. I hope you can figure out a better solution. Hiring good people makes all the difference. You probably should find someone to manage it and then you can be less involved.
I’m not going to tell you what to do one way or the other, but I think you’re getting some heavy selection bias when reading co-founder horror stories on this sub.
YC more or less demands that companies have a cofounders or at least intend to add a cofounder through their program before they’ll accept a company. Cofounders are your partner and confidant. No one in you company is in a position to empathize with what you’re experiencing because they report to you, they work for you, and they are looking to you for leadership and confidence. And no one outside the company is familiar enough with what’s happening to be the other side of a hard conversation.
A good cofounder would support you when you were in the depths of startup despair, and you’d support them when they were. They’d be there to give you time for self-care and metal health and you’d be there for them for the same. They would bring new perspectives and new opportunities to grow the business, to streamline broken processes, and other such concerns.
At a certain point, the complexity is just too much for one person. I think you’ve well crossed that point. You cannot do it all on your own. That’s not a failure. In fact, that’s a very clear marker of success: you’ve built a business that is more successful than you are able to manage all alone.
The trick is, you want a cofounder who is an actual, real, professional. Not your buddy or your brother in law. Someone who brings something very specific to the table, who understands companies at this stage, and who you can trust and work closely with. Then put a standard vesting schedule in place just in case.
Cash out and do something new, take partial equity if you want to see it evolve
Hi OP, have you thought about offering services similar to those of other industries? You might have to tweak it a bit though…..just my two cents…
Sell it
I am in a similar situation currently. I’m not you, but I’d take the offer if I were you, looking through it with my own lens.
I know firsthand how it is *so* tiring and taxing to try to push a business along if the team isn’t as excited or on board as you, especially when you have a vision but don’t have a way to execute against it. It is difficult to find and hire devs to do the work correctly — my experience, at least, and I get more and more frustrated every time an advisor or outsider says “well, just hire more developers to fix all the problems” as if it’s as simple as going to the developer orchard and picking the nicest one off the developer tree.
Maybe with your pile of money and some time off you can come back to your next venture (or not! I know I wouldn’t own a business again!) refreshed and inspired with lessons learned from your current startup.
(Again, this opinion is heavily influenced and biased by my own experiences!)
Usually when a buyout firm is buying a company, they either already have an asset/platform they want to fold it into, or they want the management team to stay in and grow it. This would also typically be reflected in the deals in terms of how much equity you roll forward vs getting cashed out.
I would consider your offers carefully with this in mind and try to have conversations with the buyout firms where you explore these issues carefully.
If they think you are out of gas, and were planning on your staying on as the long-term CEO, their offers might dry up. If they already have a platform or were planning on replacing you anyway, you can probably work out a transition plan that works for both of you.
No offense, but you haven’t made any bull case for staying on and your whole setup makes me skeptical you really have that much interest in your business. Hopefully this is all real and you get a deal done.
In a similar situation. Out of interest, did you approach the firms interested in buying it or did they approach you? I’d love to know where to find a buyer for my startup
This might a great time to de-risk. This will give you peace of mind for your next adventure or it might even set you up for life. Depending on the amount you will receive.
I am curious on how you went about getting bids. Did you consult a broker to get these bids?
>it’s a one-in-a-lifetime offer
A lot of advice here, and I’ll throw my 2 cents in (about what it is worth!).
A great opportunity for an exit is what many founders are looking for. Not all, and that might not be you.
If you are running a business because you love it, and can’t imagine doing anything else, then stick it out. However, that doesn’t sound like the case as you feeling overwhelmed and burned out.
If the exit is truly life-changing, that’s hard to pass up. The beauty of that situation is that it gives you options to do what you want for the next stage of your life. I’ve yet to hear a founder that had a great exit say that they wished they hadn’t done it.
One thing that you might be able to do is to “have your cake and eat it too”, meaning, you might be in a position to keep some equity, maybe run it for x years, and then transition to something else later. I have a client that is in that position, and the PE firm that is buying them wants to retain the management for 5 years, at least. They want the team that got them there. Everyone is going to win.
Then, you can hire the right team to extend your platform, assuming the buying firm is wanting to invest in your company. It’s the best of both scenarios.
Of course, that might not be the case. They could just buy you, and want you and your team to go away and they’ll take the ball and run with it.
From the post I feel you aren’t satisfied with the offers at hand, else would have been a no Brainer given the circumstance outlined.
I am looking to become a cto in (more) companies and when I read your story halfway I thought: how can it be too much work? Sounds like a saas platform so you just sit back and relax as the money machine does its work. Sounds like you need a new platform and migrate there. I am open to talk. Would be such a waste not to grow it if you see the potential.
Sell and move on.
I feel you. And deep down you already know what to do.