Lessons from my first exit

Overall reception of the writeup

• Many readers call the post exceptionally transparent and valuable for current and aspiring founders.
• Appreciation for concrete numbers, detailed process, and emotionally honest tone.
• Several readers say they’ve archived it for future reference when selling their own businesses.

Brokers, valuation, and deal structure

• 15% broker fee is viewed by some as very high; others note that sub‑$1M deals often carry high fees and low multiples.
• A 2.4× profit multiple is criticized as “low,” but others argue it’s normal given risk and size of the business.
• Some question using a broker at this scale; others point out the broker delivered a buyer that would have been hard to find independently.
• Clarification that smaller deals are typically asset sales, not entity sales.

Business structure, accounts, and liability

• Strong opinions that personal and business accounts (emails, cloud, banking) should be separated strictly and early.
• Pushback from others that in some jurisdictions opening entities/bank accounts for every idea is too costly and bureaucratic; some wait until ~$5k/month revenue.
• Discussion that even in an asset sale, contracts often create personal exposure; confusion over how limited liability really behaves in US LLCs.
• One commenter explains that asset purchases often include personal liability provisions because the company left behind can be an empty shell.

Entrepreneurship vs FAANG employment and risk

• Several compare the founder’s ~$920k over four years to FAANG comp: base might be similar, but total comp for senior engineers is framed as ~2× higher.
• Debate over whether entrepreneurship is “worth it” financially versus high-paying, increasingly remote employment.
• Others emphasize non-monetary benefits: autonomy, choosing projects, coworkers, location, and process.
• Some note that landing a $400k FAANG role is itself hard; for some, starting a business may be more realistic.
• One subthread distinguishes expected value from risk (variance), arguing you must weigh both downside and upside, not just the many failures.

Taxes and incentives

• Long back-and-forth on attitudes toward taxation in the US vs Europe, including tax havens and evasion.
• Small business owners describe significant legal tax advantages (e.g., pass-through deductions, flexible mix of salary vs distributions, QSBS), plus widespread but illegal expense fraud.
• Some argue entrepreneurs are already well rewarded by the tax code, complicating “tax the rich” slogans; others stress societal benefits of tax-funded services.

Operating and selling small businesses

• The founder now has one small API business, sold a tiny content site via Escrow.com, and is writing a book; prefers product revenue over consulting/speaking.
• On finding buyers without a broker: start with private networks and strategic buyers; only later go public, since visible “for sale” signals can reduce leverage and spook customers.
• Recommended resources: specific talks and books on bootstrapping and customer discovery; strong endorsement of creating small courses or educational products as a fast, low-risk way to learn entrepreneurship.
• Hiring lessons: initially used family help and Google Docs, then devs (in hindsight, should have hired customer support first), then moved to Notion and payroll services. US W‑2 compliance is described as painful; future preference is for models that avoid full employees.

Team communication and employee outcomes in a sale

• Tension around when to tell employees about a potential sale.
• The founder concludes they would, in future, signal that a sale is always possible but only inform the team once the deal is finalized, while still prioritizing buyers aligned with team interests.
• Some commenters feel this is better than typical practice but still unsatisfying; suggestions include equity, bonuses, or guaranteed post-sale employment to make exits clearly positive for employees.
• In this case, team members were part-time, had other income sources, and no healthcare through the business, which somewhat limited downside but didn’t eliminate it.

Competition, pricing, and support economics

• Discussion of ultra-cheap competing KVM devices.
• The founder notes a recurring pattern: low-cost competitors underestimate hidden costs (compliance, tariffs, insurance, returns, and especially high-touch technical support) and often disappear.
• Skepticism that sub-$100 hardware plus necessary support can be profitable long term.
• One proposal is to unbundle support as a paid add-on, but the founder argues customers would react badly (“pay to fix basic setup issues”) and might trigger returns/chargebacks.
• Philosophically, they prefer that vendors “feel the pain” of support to stay motivated to improve usability.
• Tariffs are described as unpredictable and painful both at component import and for end customers; attempts to prepay duties for customers (DDP) were unreliable.

Miscellaneous practical notes

• Tips surfaced include using a virtual/redirected business phone number and selling small web properties via online escrow.
• One subthread likens routine tax/expense fraud to speeding: illegal but common, with low perceived risk of enforcement, which shapes real-world behavior despite formal rules.