General
Share and discuss tech, products, business, startups, or product recommendations
Start new thread
Sharath Kuruganty

I'm Sharath πŸ‘‹πŸΌ I sold a startup while hustling at a full-time job. AMA.

byβ€’
Hello there! I'm Sharath, founder, community builder, and content creator. Currently, I work at Threado as Head of Community, but in my free time, I build products, host a podcast, advise founders and help makers launch on Product Hunt! In the past, I built 15+ side projects using no-code tools and got the opportunity to work with prolific people like Naval Ravikant. I accidentally built a startup called Shoutout in my maker journey which grew to $30K ARR and eventually, I sold for 6 figures. All this happened when I was hustling at full-time jobs. As a startup operator, I got the opportunity to work for the most prominent brands in tech like Product Hunt, and On Deck where I nurtured community. Right now I’m tinkering with a couple of side-projects: - Blubi, a permanent home for your social content where you can use AI to remix it. - Next Step, a tight-knit community for first-time founders figuring out the next steps. I'm here to answer questions about SaaS, building in public, audience building, community, bootstrapping, no-code, and anything startups! AMA πŸ‘‡
75 views

Add a comment

Replies

Best
Deniz Sutaş
My question is about building a community for our SaaS users. (questions at the end fyi) We recently started gaining more users to our SaaS product Tamly, it is a LinkedIn automation tool for sales and business development teams. Although it is super simple once the users get a grip and complete a whole funnel even once (e.g. middle aged, less tech savvy sales people love it), connecting the user's LinkedIn and Tamly accounts for the first time could feel a bit complicated. So, we have a lot of new users come in, sign up, and leave soon after without executing their first funnel successfully. I want to create a community and enable instant communication between our users and myself. Our 'product champions' for example, never hesitate to give me a call any time and I actively help them with their campaigns and stuff. I want our new users to feel the same way and communicate with us. Now for the questions: 1) Is it weird for us to reach out to users on WhatsApp for a more sincere and instant communication? Consider the users provided their mobile number optionally, and so far we didn't have any adverse reactions. 2) I simply need to pinpoint the stage that users find ambiguous/challenging, to provide the right support at the right moment (and have them subscribe hopefully ;p). Would you have any other suggestions than user outreach? 3) I know utilizing Slack for such efforts is effective and am planning to do so. Which other channels would you recommend for community building?
Hossein Yazdi
Thanks for hosting AMA. Just curious to know how you've managed to sell your product. Was there any specific place, or did a buyer reach out to you directly, or else?
Nuno Reis
@hosseinyazdi Very interested in this too.
Sharath Kuruganty
@hosseinyazdi @nuno_ms_reis Answering here so you both will get my response. Micro Acquire is the best place to sell micro SaaS products. They have built a tight network of buyers. But in my case, I tweeted that I was looking for a new founder to take up and within a day I got a bunch of DMs - one of them was the buyer who I felt was a good fit.
Hossein Yazdi
@5harath Didn't know about Micro Aquire and that tweeting about product selling can actually work! Thanks for sharing Sharath! :)
Naren Bhandary
Hey Sharath, thanks for doing this. What is one piece of advice that you would have loved to be given when you started on your journey?
Sharath Kuruganty
@narenbhandary πŸ‘‹πŸΌ Ah that's a great question. There are many, but the most important one is not to lose any momentum - product-wise, mentally.
Naren Bhandary
@5harath Great answer, Sharath. When you get into a flow, you really need to ride it till the end.
Nuno Reis
What were the main reasons for you to sell and for the buyer to acquire it? Was it just the steady ARR, or did they think they could scale it themselves faster? Or just a product acquisition? Thanks for the AMA!
Sharath Kuruganty
@nuno_ms_reis We reached a point where we shipped 0 features and made 0 progress. But, thanks to my co-founder, who built a robust product and the idea has a self-marketing quality, we saw growth happening organically. It made me feel guilty since there was nothing I was doing. Also, I felt the need for someone who takes the product to the level. We decided, and the acquisition went smoothly.
Peyt Spencer Dewar
Congrats on your success! What does your schedule look like? Please break it down as much as possible.
Sharath Kuruganty
Thanks @psd Haha you are making me question my routines now. Hard to pinpoint but my usual days looks like this: 1. Deep work 2. Important habits like meditation, and journaling for 5-10mins 3. Dropping my son to daycare 4. Have limited meetings. 5. Dedicated work time for my full-time job 6. Dedicated work time for my side projects. 7 Past 6pm family time starts
Peyt Spencer Dewar
@5harath going to extract some of these for myself πŸ‘Œ
Maithreye Murali
What is your go to strategy after you come up with the idea for a project?
Sharath Kuruganty
@maithreyemurali18 Tweet and see how people react to it :)
Haha, maverick intro, thanks! Curious to hear more about how you ended up selling? Particularly: - How you got approached; - General process;
Sharath Kuruganty
@rawoyemi big compliment haha The decision was definitely a hard one to take. But you need to pick priorities and go with your reality. Regarding the process, look at acquire.com - the best place to sell businesses. In my case, I tweeted about it and a founder showed interest. But it didn't happen overnight. I had to go through many to find the right fit.
Clay Raterman
Your story is inspiring! What do you think is the best distribution channel for a brand new saas where the founder is tight on cash and has no personal brand???
Sharath Kuruganty
Glad to hear that @clay_raterman Best distribution channel - Launch multiple mini projects(that add value) on Product Hunt
Clay Raterman
@5harath mini launches is an awesome idea. I never thought about it like that
Amos John
What are the no-code tools you used? I'm trying to create my own as well.
Sharath Kuruganty
@amosyohanan man there are so many. Bubble, Carrd, Glide, Airtable, Softr etc
Amos John
@5harath Thnk you!
Akshay Rathod
Hey Sharath! How do you manage time? How do you even run a startup while doing full-time job? How we can do it too?
Sharath Kuruganty
@akshay_rathod2 It can be done with proper habits/routines from your end and support from your family. I did mostly late nights, weekends, and holidays. I also had a great co-founder who supported me in this. Lastly, the community played a big role in making it all happen.
123
Next
Last