Tech stack when buying a SaaS business as a side hustle

[richstone.io]

I’ve recently checked out some portals for buying SaaS businesses: Flippa, empire flippers, acquired.com, etc.

I really liked that acquire.com are kind of tech stack aware, so you see from the beginning the stack that the business uses.

I know that I should rather look at the business value, but for a side hustle one-person operation, buying something in a stack that you are not familiar with can be problematic. You might not be able to evaluate the technical mess you are buying and learning the new stack will be more expensive overall.

So my question is, are there more places like acquired.com where you can filter by tech stack, or places in general where you’ll find tech stack-specific offers?

How much weight do you put on the tech stack when making the choice?

 

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[Bounce Back]

There are typically not that many SAAS's for sale with good numbers that just asking the tech stack (if they don't list already) would take that much time.

If your just buying the code and you plan to do the development yourself I think its a valid concern (especially if their profit numbers were excluding development because the owner did it themselves). I don't think it should stop any competent programmer from a good deal though because unless its something really crazy stackoverflow, google, and chatgpt can get you pretty far. Even if its not your stack I think you would get a sense of if it was spaghetti code pretty easily if you should even be dabbling in acquiring code bases from a skill level.

 

[AceVentures]

Here are a few questions to think through to see if it helps your decision making process.

Have you thought through the value proposition of the business?

What problem do they solve?

Why is their solution valuable?

Is the value they deliver based on the technology they use?

Is it in complexity of the service's functions?

Is it because they solve a problem different than others do?

Or is it in any number of other variables which determine the viability of the business which are less dependent on the tech stack than the solution they offer.

Where is the value?

Imo if you can't procedurally think through what the software does, then you very likely will not know the value of what you're buying.

And if you do, the tech stack is irrelevant.

The tech stack is downstream of the software architecture, which is downstream of the problem they're solving and how they're selling it.

 

[richstone.io]

There are typically not that many SAAS's for sale with good numbers that just asking the tech stack (if they don't list already) would take that much time.

If your just buying the code and you plan to do the development yourself I think its a valid concern (especially if their profit numbers were excluding development because the owner did it themselves). I don't think it should stop any competent programmer from a good deal though because unless its something really crazy stackoverflow, google, and chatgpt can get you pretty far. Even if its not your stack I think you would get a sense of if it was spaghetti code pretty easily if you should even be dabbling in acquiring code bases from a skill level.

That's a fair point, good numbers are rare.

And you are right, looking at most code should be sensible enough. Worst case, one can get together with someone experienced in the stack for an hour from Upwork or codementor (might cost like a 100$).

And if you do, the tech stack is irrelevant.

Appreciate you laying out your thought process for buying! Are those questions you go through when doing so?

You mean the tech stack is irrelevant while evaluating the business, right? Ultimately, the tech stack and the code you buy, might have implications for your business codes etc.

 

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