At What Point Did You Sell Your Website?

coredev

coredev

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I was in my 20s and I got an offer for $25k for my website. I thought about it for like 5 seconds and agreed. I didn't even have that much to my name and was thrilled. Looking back - I don't regret selling the website.

I'm now on the wrong side of 30 and I have an offer on my site for $300k. I'm struggling to decide if I should just keep building it or sell it.

PROS
I do have ideas to execute / know how to expand current website.
I have other ideas for a few other websites.

CONS
Business is risk/reward. It's dog eat dog and bigger dog could push me out.
Will I still be able to execute on another idea to this level or be filled with regret on what could have been?

Any tips / thoughts are appreciated.

At what point do you decide to sell your website or decide not to sell it?
 
To be honest, it all depends on you & your business.

If $300k doesn't affect your life because your current business numbers are high and you know how to grow the site, sure, do it.

If this is your biggest earner, your traffic comes mainly from Google and $300k is a lot for you, sell it. So many things can go wrong with an online business: Google deciding to fuck you up, affiliate programs deciding to change rates, display ad companies banning you/deeming your traffic not as valuable for them, getting hacked, etc, etc

Unless you have a established business with a diversified portfolio, take the money. You can set aside $250k and grow a new site with the other $50k.
 
Questions to think about:
  • Is this my only form of cash flow?
  • If so, can I live on the post-tax, post-broker money while still spending some to build the next set of projects?
  • Am I confident in my skills that I can replace the cash flow if starting with a chunk of cash? Can I do it fast enough before I run out of my war chest money?
  • Am I at risk of my organic traffic falling apart from a Google update?
  • How much of my revenue depends on this organic traffic?
  • How much would the sale alter my life in a good way?
  • Assuming I'll get 30x - 36x monthly profit, will this website thrive for that long if I don't sell?
  • Am I sick of this project yet? Do I have other stuff I'm more interested in working on?
  • Is this offer actually within the 30x - 36x range or am I getting low-balled?
  • Can I grow this site past where I'm at now and get an even larger lump sum with a broker later or the same buyer?
  • How quickly can that growth be had? Is it fast enough that it negates the risk of holding too long?
  • Do I want the big win, the bragging rights, and the glory of victory?
  • Can I stomach starting over and letting go of my attachment to this project?
  • Can I have less attachment to the next project and outsource as much as possible for rapid growth?
I think all of that will help you think about things more clearly and maybe guide you to an obviously right answer.

I've sold a bunch of projects at low revenue and medium revenue. They were easy decisions because they were just cash flow to me. I no longer cared about them and wanted rid of the mental bandwidth they ate up.

The projects I'm working on now have a set number where I'd be willing to sell. Each land so that I can walk away with a million bucks per sale. But when I reach those numbers I'll be looking at the risk of holding versus the growth potential, for each project separately. I can already tell you now that one is a much larger pain in the ass for about half the revenue potential, so I may let that one go sooner for less to grow the better one.
 
I got two offers for one of my sites in January, both around $100.000 which I turned down. I'd probably accept today, because now I have other sites.

I've since seen new competitors move into my niche, so earnings in that niche have declined. Rates got cut as well.
 
bernard said:
I got two offers for one of my sites in January, both around $100.000 which I turned down. I'd probably accept today, because now I have other sites.
Click to expand...

That’s the thing, everyone wants to hit the “highest possible exit” without knowing the future. It is like the people that say “I am going to wait till the bottom to invest in a stock” during a decline, How in the world can you tell the future?

Could anyone have imagined this Kung Flu virus decimating economies? No. You can’t get wealthy off of one transaction. You get wealthy off of multiple transactions over years. As long as you were taking a salary or profits off the table weekly, monthly or whatever you don’t have to maximize or squeeze every penny.

It’s the same with business owners. If they were taking a nice healthy salary for years when it is time to sell you don’t need to squeeze ever penny. But if you weren’t taking a salary you’ll try to get max ROI and then the buyer will walk away. I know people still talking about “oh yeah I turned down 5 figures for this domain name, so make me an offer Similar.” Motherfucker you screwed up. It may have been worth it to that buyer, but not me.

“Alway, always, ALWAYS take the cash.” Take the motherfucking cash!! Covid-20 could be around the corner.

—

With regarding to OP’s situation- it really comes down to is selling a part of your short or long term goal. Where do you see yourself in 5 years, 10, 20 etc. If this project is a part of your long term goal don’t sell.

Starting a new business from scratch is a lot more work. “It’s easier to buy revenue than generate it.”

The guy buying your site is buying a revenue source that he can grow. StartinG from scratch is a bitch, cause you don’t know if you’ll be as successful. But if your business goals was to flip businesses than sell and take the cash.

It all comes down to your long term goals and gut instincts.

Question: “Are you playing to win or playing not to lose?” Playing not to lose means minimizing risk. Playing to win means making leaps and knowing your brain is capable of conquering the hills and mountains to come.

“Wrong side of 30” sounds like it ain’t in you kid. Sell and pack it up and go home. I know Amazon is hiring...

I personally would take the money, cause there are a ton of other opportunities knocking at my door daily that I turn down cause time is limited. But if you don’t have opportunities knocking on your door... don’t sell. You have to have a plan of what you are going to do next.
 
coredev said:
I was in my 20s and I got an offer for $25k for my website. I thought about it for like 5 seconds and agreed. I didn't even have that much to my name and was thrilled. Looking back - I don't regret selling the website.

I'm now on the wrong side of 30 and I have an offer on my site for $300k. I'm struggling to decide if I should just keep building it or sell it.

PROS
I do have ideas to execute / know how to expand current website.
I have other ideas for a few other websites.

CONS
Business is risk/reward. It's dog eat dog and bigger dog could push me out.
Will I still be able to execute on another idea to this level or be filled with regret on what could have been?

Any tips / thoughts are appreciated.

At what point do you decide to sell your website or decide not to sell it?
Click to expand...
Sell

Liquidity events generate their own form of momentum and will alter your life experience and opportunities. Being young and liquid is fun.
 
Whenever I hit a plateau (or I think that I've hit a plateau) - I start thinking about selling and maximizing the ROI on my time/money. This usually happens if there's no movement in rev/traffic after 3-5 months w/o the seasonality factor or anything like that.

I, personally, am in a pretty solid situation right now, so there's no need to sell. But, I'm thinking about selling one of my low(ish) six-figures site and redeploying that capital to a 4-5 $50k acquisitions with a grow&flip in 12 months mindset.

It all comes down to your personal preference and war chest status.
 
It all comes down to risk.

If you sold it for $300k, the buyer grows it then sells it for a million in a years time, would you be disappointed?

If you decide not to sell and get wiped out in the next update/pandemic/world war and your valuation is now $10k, would you be disappointed?

I know what situation would disappoint me more.

With the first situation, you have lost your cash flow but now have a healthy bank balance to replace it with other businesses and still have lots left over.

With the second situation you have lost your cash flow AND your business.

Think about which situation would be the worst for you. Maybe you have enough cash in the bank and other revenue sources that it would be worth the risk to grow the site. If not, I would sell 100%.
 
Cash Builder said:
If you sold it for $300k, the buyer grows it then sells it for a million in a years time, would you be disappointed?
Click to expand...

This is the one that baffles me. If the seller had the skills to get it to a million than he would have. He didn’t have the skills or contacts and someone else did therefore they were able to take it further.

There should never be regret when you sell to someone that’s exploded it. In fact you should be able to learn from them so your next business can see similar results.

If people learn to worry about their own plate versus what’s on someone else’s they would be a lot happier in life.
 
CCarter said:
This is the one that baffles me. If the seller had the skills to get it to a million than he would have. He didn’t have the skills or contacts and someone else did therefore they were able to take it further.

There should never be regret when you sell to someone that’s exploded it. In fact you should be able to learn from them so your next business can see similar results.

If people learn to worry about their own plate versus what’s on someone else’s they would be a lot happier in life.
Click to expand...

Yeah that was my point, You would be a lot more disappointed with the second scenario where you would lose everything.

Much better to sell for a high price and let someone else take on the risk of growing it.
 
The reason I didn't sell was because of taxes and because I owe the government a hefty sum.

If I sold the site at 100k and liquidated for personal income, it would leave me around 50K. If I then wanted to buy car worth 50K, then 20% of that would be VAT. Tax on cars are 100% of the value. Take the VAT, that's 40K, remove the tax, that's 20K.

That means, in real life, a site sold for 100k would give me a Toyota Corolla. That's the actual exchange rate in a high tax country.

If I kept it in business, I would pay 25% corporate tax pr. year, 40% on dividends and it's capped.

High tax countries encourage growth and investing back in business over personal consumption. If I had lived somewhere with 10% tax, the decision to sell would be much easier.
 
A lot of really good and various viewpoints here.

mrodriguez27 said:
It all depends on you & your business.
Click to expand...

Cash Builder said:
It all comes down to risk.
Click to expand...

This one too:
JamaicanMoose said:
$300,000 is a lot of money.
Click to expand...

It is. That's why I was struggling to decide.

The checklist by Ryuzaki was nice. Lots of points to consider. This related to me:

CCarter said:
If the seller had the skills to get it to a million than he would have.
Click to expand...

This was a lightswitch moment for me. The site I mentioned I sold for 25k... I tried every which way I could to try to get it to earn more for 3 years and couldn't figure it out. Why? I didn't have the skills to get that site to earn more. I hit a plateau, then sold it. The new owner thinks he can push forward where I couldn't.

The site I have a 300k offer on, revenue has been steadily increasing month after month. I can continue to grow it.

I have a large list that needs done including features to be added and marketing avenues to explore. Only 20% of the overall SaaS is done.

What I'm going to do is keep building and if revenue numbers stay the same for 3 consecutive months, then I'll explore selling it again.
 
The internet is a perpetual dynamic digial landscape. What works today, might literally change tomorrow. There is no problem with selling, but multiple variables matter. What's the niche? What's the source of traffic? How are you monetized? You might be sitting on millions of dollars, and not even know it. If you're not comfortable answering those questions publically, then shoot me a pm.
 
Tavin said:
The internet is a perpetual dynamic digial landscape. What works today, might literally change tomorrow. There is no problem with selling, but multiple variables matter. What's the niche? What's the source of traffic? How are you monetized? You might be sitting on millions of dollars, and not even know it. If you're not comfortable answering those questions publically, then shoot me a pm.
Click to expand...
Could you please do a reboot of your old posts for 2020 here on Buso. Doesn't have to be so detailed. Some important points. What is the trend. Where do you see it going in 2021 etc.
Would be a great help to the community at large.
Hope you are doing great brother.
 
I'm in the process of selling my main site now. I am satisfied with the sum agreed upon, but as it's a larger site with different plugins etc, it's probably going to take a while to get finalized. I find that stressful.

I also should probably lawyer up?
 
bernard said:
I also should probably lawyer up?
Click to expand...

If you aren't using a reputable broker that has contracts and lawyers on retainer, I would definitely have one draw up a contract for you. If it's an international sale it's going to be tougher to chase down though if a problem occurs.
 
Ryuzaki said:
If you aren't using a reputable broker that has contracts and lawyers on retainer, I would definitely have one draw up a contract for you. If it's an international sale it's going to be tougher to chase down though if a problem occurs.
Click to expand...

I am, hopefully, selling to a major agency here, and I know the owners (online) through 10 years. It's one of the reasons I want to sell to them. They have a long track record on display as being legit.

It's still a lot of money, so I guess I still need a lawyer. I think they might draw up a contract draft though.

In any case, the sale could probably take some time.
 
bernard said:
I am, hopefully, selling to a major agency here, and I know the owners (online) through 10 years. It's one of the reasons I want to sell to them. They have a long track record on display as being legit.

It's still a lot of money, so I guess I still need a lawyer. I think they might draw up a contract draft though.

In any case, the sale could probably take some time.
Click to expand...

Always have your own lawyer review any contract before you sign it. Congratulations on the sale!
 
bernard said:
I think they might draw up a contract draft though.
Click to expand...

Ummm...: “The party that draws up the contract wins.” - Dan Peña

You need to set terms, otherwise they are dictating terms and you are playing defense. If you are ever given opportunity ALWAYS have your lawyers draw up the contract, in fact insist on it. They will think they are saving on legal fees, meanwhile you are gaining all the power and home court advantage.
 
@bernard we have an internal APA we use for all our clients at Investors Club. Drop me a PM and I'll send you the draft

Edit: I'll only send the draft to Bernard, please don't spam my inbox because I won't reply.
 
Been a year so I wanted to update this:

The right way to decide if you are deciding to sell your site or not:

CCarter said:
I personally would take the money, cause there are a ton of other opportunities knocking at my door daily that I turn down cause time is limited. But if you don’t have opportunities knocking on your door... don’t sell. You have to have a plan of what you are going to do next.
Click to expand...

The revenue has been steady and slow growth. Broker told me last month the site is now worth $325k. The reason for the slow growth is I had to go back and make large changes to the SaaS that allows me to scale. This is the "plan of what you are going to do next" @CCarter mentioned. This, after 1 year, is finally getting rolled out and gives me what I believe is the best chance for site growth.

At this point - I still do not have an answer to "What's next?" if I do sell. I don't have better opportunities at this point.

Full steam ahead.
 
I have a few questions about selling a site and figured it would make sense to keep this all in one place rather than start a new post. (Feel free to move it if that makes more sense).

I was about to list a site on Flippa, but wanted to see if anyone here had ideas for how to explore the possibility of selling say half the site and staying involved moving forward (if its even possible, I just thought it might make sense). I think there are still some decent opportunities because its an affiliate site, but could be much more profitable by launching a SAAS or service model in addition to affiliate. I think there are simple solutions that could be offered and that's what has me interested in looking for something more like a partnership. Is there any site or marketplace that would be better suited for something like that. Its making about $200 a month so that might limit options.

I sent a quick email to the company I'm an affiliate with and their competitors too to see if they might be interested in purchase or partner.

In general how long does it take to go from the auction ending, through escrow, to the time where you actually get payment? (Early in the year I promised the wife, I'd sell a site before Christmas, so I'm trying to make that happen.)

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
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