Ask HN: Have you ever bought a company to run yourself?

2 points by hazard 5 years ago | 3 comments
There are lots of websites out there for people to sell existing businesses, from SaaS companies to restaurants. It seems like buying and improving an existing business is a higher-cost, lower-risk alternative to founding a startup.

What's it like to buy an established business and try to improve it?

Was it profitable and worth the time and effort? Would you do it again?

  • raybon 5 years ago
    Very good question. I've been thinking about this for awhile. This is fairly common on the PE industry but I'm not aware of this happening in VC / startup world. OP, can you please post the links of websites that you mention list the SaaS companies please?
    • hazard 5 years ago
      You can just google 'buy a saas business' and there's at least a half-dozen places that come up. Flippa, FE international, Empire Flippers, etc
      • raybon 5 years ago
        Great thanks. If you make progress on this and are looking for business partners, please let me know and we can try to connect offline.