r/InsideAcquisitions

I’m thinking about creating a thread on here teaching how to buy businesses and sell it to the employees through ESOP financing. The employees owns the company 100% in 7 - 10 years and you make a nice profit from the transaction.

We are a real company doing this and have successfully closed 3 of these this year and I think these could be a market for showing others how to do this.

I’m not selling anything and there is no course. Im just looking for feedback if this is something that would be interesting.

Built a nutritionist SaaS called BiteTally from India over the last year. I started by targeting independent nutritionists, but after a lot of outreach I found myself speaking with people around NCAA Div 2 and Div 3 programs in the US, where many schools have limited or no dedicated nutrition support.The feedback was surprisingly positive. But the problem was never the product. It was almost always pricing.
I'm at the point where I'm wondering whether I should keep pushing or whether someone closer to the market could take it further than I can.

Has anyone here sold a small SaaS business before?Not a massive exit — just a niche product with a real use case

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Something I keep running into on listings. Seller has a number in their head, usually ARR based, probably something a broker told them or a comp they saw on Flippa two years ago. Buyer has a completely different model running in the background. Neither side puts it on the table early and it wastes everyone's time.

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Here's what actually shifted since the peak.

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What 2021/2022 looked like

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- 5x to 6x ARR multiples without much pushback

- Growth was the only metric anyone underwrote on

- Cheap money everywhere, buyers scared of missing out

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That era is done. Sellers are still showing up with 2022 comps.

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What buyers are actually looking at now

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1. Rule of 40 comes before revenue**

- A business growing 40% with negative margins scores a 30

- A business growing 20% with 25% margins scores a 45

- The second one gets the better multiple, every time

- Sellers who lead with top line growth without touching margin are signaling they don't understand how their business is being priced

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2. NRR matters more than new customer growth**

- Are existing customers expanding or leaving?

- 110% NRR with flat new customer growth beats 30% new customer growth with 85% NRR

- Buyers model the floor. Sellers pitch the ceiling.

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3. Owner dependency is a silent multiple killer**

- Founder on every customer call? Discount.

- Founder wrote all the code and handles support personally? Discount.

- If the business stops when the founder stops, that's not a business. That's a job with recurring revenue stapled to it.

- Most sellers don't see this coming until the LOI lands

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The bottom line

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Sellers are anchored to ARR multiples from a market that no longer exists. Buyers are underwriting on Rule of 40, NRR, churn cohorts, and owner dependency. The spread between those two worldviews is where deals die or close at a number the seller didn't expect.

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The market repriced. The listings didn't get the memo.

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For anyone who's been at the table recently, what's the metric that's actually moved the valuation conversation the most?