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Eric OwensThe app market that sets the price for a bootstrapped subscription app or a mid-sized ad-supported utility has a consistent shape. Certain things get paid up for, certain things get discounted well past what founders expect, and the reasons are durable. Here is that shape from the sell-side of the table.
Eric OwensA composite from the sell-side table: a subscription app with strong revenue, most of it on annual plans that had not yet come up for renewal, two very different offers, and the six months of unglamorous work that turned an unknown into a number a buyer would pay cash for.
Eric OwensMost app founders start preparing for a sale the day a buyer emails. Here is the list to have finished before that first conversation, in the order diligence will ask for it: money, data, ownership, dependencies, and the story.
Eric OwensA financial buyer prices your app on the cash flow it produces. A strategic buyer prices it on what it does to their numbers. Understanding that difference is what tells a founder where the premium can come from, and what it costs to chase it.