Thomas Smale – How to Build an App You Can Sell – MicroConf Europe 2014

The MicroConf Europe 2014 Hub Page has notes on all the talks and additional information.

Website: FEInternational.com
Twitter: @thomassmale
Slides: here

• Having an exit plan is an insurance – in case you NEED to move on
• You should always be prepared to sell your business
• Looks can be deceiving – a lot of work is hidden beneath the surface
  • Support
  • Complexity
  • Diversity
  • Owner Responsibility
• Be proactive instead of reactive
• unsellable business: old business with a lot of support and few sales
• Rational investors won’t pay for “known” potential
• Recurring beats one-time sales
• lessons from successful sales: 
  • know your metrics
  • stable or growing MRR
  • evergreen niche
  • Track record
  • Helpful owner
• What does the average buyer want? 
  • Month-on-month increasing MRR
  • Upwardly trending niche
  • Outsourced support
  • Documented production roadmaps/codebase
  • Transferability
    • separate PayPal/Stripe/Mailchimp/etc accounts

-Christoph