My Five Figure Exit
Ever struggled to launch a project? Felt like you're part of the "unlucky" group? I felt that way too. Up until a year ago, I couldn't count on both hands how many projects I'd launched that faded out. I was stuck wondering why, never knowing the true reason for my failures.
This last year has been a whirlwind - it's opened my eyes and made me realise why they failed. My motivation has also come from my father, who sold a portion of his company for £56 million roughly 2 years ago. I've always wanted to build my own career without piggybacking off his success.
I'm Charlie, a 20-year-old developer from London who has been programming since I was 12. I've always loved it and started because I wanted to be self-dependant - developers can be very expensive.
How It Started
In January 2020, I started working as a full-time web developer 5-6 days per week. While I loved my job, I wanted to do my own thing and build a side project. A buddy reached out in early March and mentioned that other game tracking platforms were lacking. This gave me incentive - I loved building websites and dealing with data.
This project involved aggregating data from the game's publicly accessible datasheet, retaining it minute-by-minute in my own database. At one point, we were dealing with more than 90 million rows. As you can imagine, this became a strain and we needed to implement server-side caching.
Platform Growth and Generating Revenue
The platform grew 100% organically through SEO by utilising specific keywords commonly searched. We used two commonly googled terms in our domain. This, paired with a .com, allowed us to appear #1 for those keywords.
We also used Ahrefs to view where we placed for various keywords. It has paid plans, but the free plan worked fine for our usage. It also shows competitors and what keywords they perform better in.
We had huge reach thanks to word of mouth, with multiple influencers recording videos about our platform. They gained hundreds of thousands of views, and we gained exposure. By this point, we had lots of traffic but remained free to use.
I was recommended to use Google AdSense. From prior experience, I didn't think it made more than pennies - I was wrong. After integrating it, we were bringing in solid 3 figures per month. This allowed us to cover our $200/month hosting and have additional income for community giveaways - I always wanted to reward everyone in return.
Protecting Our Users' Privacy
As time went on, we read countless articles about shady practices Google was performing, especially with their free analytics platform. We heard about Fathom Analytics, a paid platform that cared about privacy and vowed not to sell analytics data. The service is amazing, the team is friendly, and I highly recommend them.
Our next move was removing Google AdSense. Many advertising platforms violate user privacy for targeted ads. However, our community was gamers - we knew this. We spent time researching other businesses that would interest potential visitors. We offered top and bottom placements throughout the site, using the average market CPM (cost per thousand views) and sold placements for around $3,250 a month.
How I Sold the Business
I listed it for sale on MicroAcquire - a platform for smaller bootstrapped businesses to be discovered by potential buyers. To list, you answer 30 questions ranging from why you're selling, how much it generates, your asking price, and future ideas.
While I had lots of genuine interest from those who saw potential, I also received messages from time-wasters. I'd be asked for "more information" but information on what? Upon replying to ask, I got no further messages. All the information needed was in the listing.
However, after countless Zoom meetings and back-and-forth discussions, we negotiated a suitable 5-figure price and the deal was complete after 3 weeks. I can't describe the feeling of being rewarded after having family members and friends who felt sitting at my computer was a "waste of time."
What I've Learned
Keep going and don't give up. You will go through countless projects that may fail, but each one provides experience for the next. Focus on the core of your project, not the money - I realised this the hard way. Your project will be of lesser quality otherwise.
I realised my lack of motivation after launching projects was solely because I focused on money first. I overestimated and expected it to generate, yet never gave it enough time to grow. The project I just sold was aimed at being free because I had a steady income - I just wanted something fun to do outside my day job.
The key takeaway? Focus on developing your project and making it the best it can be, not the revenue aspect. By focusing on the core, you'll unlock opportunities to implement paid additions later.
In the process of selling my business, I've learned a lot about the questions involved, the data needed, and pitching future ideas to potential investors.
This is only the start for me. My next goal is to develop a holiday booking platform with the hope of selling it for 6-7 figures. If this article helped, I'd love to know - feel free to tweet me @heychazza.