Acquire Academy/Acquire.com Academy - How to Buy, Grow, and Sell Startups

  • Free

How to Buy, Grow, and Sell Startups

  • Course
  • 60 Lessons

A course by Ryan Kulp, founder of Fomo.com and partner at Fork Equity, a micro PE fund.

What you'll learn

How to Buy, Grow, and Sell Startups is a comprehensive lecture series that teaches entrepreneurs to build a portfolio of cash generating assets.

How to source

Identifying the perfect business for your skill set is hard. I'll show you how to build, scale, and optimize deal flow to maximize options and not settle.

How to negotiate

Finding a project is only half the battle -- now you have to agree on price and terms. Use my battle-tested legal templates and email scripts to get the best deal.

How to grow

You closed a deal -- congrats! Now you need to scale it to achieve a healthy return on your investment. I'll help you become a lean operator and build a 100 day marketing plan.

Featured transactions

Announcements for life-changing deals we've done since 2016.

Notify (Shopify app, rebranded to Fomo, acquired by Relay Commerce)
Lobiloo
(florist SaaS, acquired by Fable Flower Farms)
Color My Slime (ecommerce store)
Cookie Consent (GDPR regulation plugin)
Built with Shopify (ecommerce interview resource)
Refurther (Fomo strategic competitor)
Conversion Booster (Fomo strategic competitor)
Merge Freeze (GitHub plugin for developers, sold on Acquire.com)
GetReviews (Feedback tool for Amazon sellers, bought on Acquire.com)

Education for every step of the acquisition process

1. Thesis

Analyze your skills, form a target acquisition (size, industry, etc), and learn to form a legal entity.

2. Sourcing

Build a pipeline of inbound, outbound, and referral deal flow. Includes email scripts, evaluation strategy, and financial markers.

3. Negotiation and dilligence

Case studies of our own deals, financial forecast modeling templates, valuation strategies, diligence checklist, and $3,000 worth of legal templates.

4. Financing and closing

Techniques to fund and structure your deals for maximum returns, from tax strategy (taught by a CPA) to same-day asset transfer and investor management.

5. Relaunch and scale

Learn to operate a multi-company portfolio without losing sleep. Identify power users, build a go-to-market plan, file IP, and re-invest.

6. Exit strategy

Determine whether to flip or "hold forever" for optimal returns. Streamline operations to shift investments from active to passive. Increase the intrinsic value of your projects with competitive differentiation.

Alumni Testimonials

Read more reviews here.
Great course! I'm a "starter" and I enjoy building tech products. This course changed my perspective and I'm now looking forward to apply the knowledge in the course to acquire micro SaaS out there.

Mike Rubini

10/10 useful material. Great information for anyone who wants to be their own boss!

Sam Cohen

The content of this course was extremely valuable and actionable. I especially liked the content order, how it walks you through the whole process. 10/10.

Scott Finney

This course was probably worth 5-10x the price... the scorecards and pipeline management resources will save you HOURS and help you avoid financial mistakes... basically a fast-track for getting to a place where I feel confident about evaluating prospects and making solid offers.

James Sowers

Love the course. Ryan put in a ton of effort to organize all his experience in a structured way to easily follow. He also generously shared his paid templates and other artifacts. For a small price I could leverage Ryan's wealthy knowledge. What a stupid ROI :-)

Sateesh Kumar

Overall really solid content and great course! It will help my decision making going forward as I will eventually have a micro PE fund of my own. Deal structuring and financial leverage were highlights of the course to me.

Kimia Hamidi

About Ryan Kulp

I've been sharing everything I know since 2012 when I started my first blog. Since then I've written 100s of essays on growth, product, and leadership, and founded or worked at dozens of tech companies.

Although originally by accident, buying and growing small companies has become my entire career strategy.
Notify to Fomo case study

Case Study - Fomo

In 2016 I bought Notify. We scaled 600%+ to over $100,000 per month recurring revenue, thousands of customers, and a patent. In 2022 it was acquired by Relay commerce.
Lobiloo acquisition case study

Case Study - Lobiloo

In 2018 I bought Lobiloo, a floral invoicing tool. We grew it 2x, automated customer support, and sold it to Fable Flower Farms.
Cross Sell Shopify acquisition

Case Study - Cross Sell

In 2017 I bought Cross Sell with debt, cash, and sweat equity. We rebuilt it from scratch, doubled pricing, grew 155%, and sold it to Sureswift Capital.

Curriculum

Skip years of learning the Hard Way with timeless lessons by seasoned PE operators.

Module 1 - Getting Started (Updated)

Learn why buying is better than building, and set up your entity with a targeted thesis.

Welcome to the Micro PE course!
[Case Study] Moving resources from low yield to high yield
Why buy vs build
How to choose a niche
Creating your investment thesis
Setting up an umbrella company (USA)
Setting up an umbrella company (Australia)
Setting up an umbrella company (Canada)
Deal process overview

Module 2 - Sourcing (Updated)

Build a deal flow machine - automate leads, systematically manage timelines, and build a reputation.

Dealflow pipeline tracker
Registering as a buyer on Acquire.com
Customizing acquisition search filters on Acquire.com
Getting instant deal alerts on Acquire.com
Sending a letter of intent on Acquire.com
Lead outreach and followup
[Bonus] Email scripts for seller outreach
Develop a reputation for speed
Identifying red flags
Why Startups Choose to Sell on Acquire.com

Module 3 - Negotiations and Diligence (Updated)

Determine a valuation, research the competition, and de-risk the opportunity before making a final decision.

[Case Study] Negotiation teardown
How to value a small company
Qualitative deal analysis
Quantitative deal analysis
[Bonus] Ecom vs SaaS vs Content Due Diligence
How to value ecommerce apps - Part 1
How to value ecommerce apps - Part 2
Getting legal work done without lawyers
Deal analysis templates

Module 4 - Financing and Closing (Updated)

Creative ways to fund your acquisition and experience a smooth transfer of assets.

Strategies to fund your deal
How to use financial leverage
Getting an SBA loan
Brokers, escrow, and trust
Setting up a post-transfer support package
Tax strategies for your new entity
Creating a Day 0 Roadmap
Managing investors

Module 5 - Relaunch and Scale (Updated)

Clean up ship, exploit the best opportunities, and become a domain expert.

Portfolio conventions and organization
Create a customer soundboard
Relaunch Step 1: Makeover
Relaunch Step 2: Add Value
Over-investing during relaunch
Relaunch Step 3 - go to market
Developing a 90 day marketing plan
Introduction to working with developer talent
Developer terminology
Writing technical specs
Introduction to data modeling
ERD creation
Introduction to Wireframing
Hiring developers
Negotiating with developers
Managing, scaling, and retaining developer talent
Anatomy of a patent

Module 6 - Exit Strategy (Updated)

Extract maximum value through a "hold forever" or "flip" strategy, and the required steps to achieve either.

Deciding whether to hold or flip your asset
Turning active investments into passive investments
Fending off competition
Niche content acquisition - DIY homebrewing
Acquiring two products in 60 days
Making your company sellable
4 Lessons from a sale gone bad