Frequent guest co-host @freyfogle has questions. Lots of questions. About why I acquired Saber Feedback, what the acquisition process was like, and what plans I have for Saber Feedback in the coming months.
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@SteveMcLeod Thanks for this episode. Really interesting. I’m a bit puzzled about your valuation of sabrefeedback.
If I understand correctly, the purchase price was about:
purchase price = (MRR - hosting etc.) * 36
I think this is a fair valuation for a SaaS which one bootstrapper runs.
However in the podcast, you mention that you won’t do much work, and let other people handle most work on sabrefeedback. that means you have to pay these other people.
So, in my mind, the valuation for you looks different than the above one:
purchase price = (MRR - hosting etc. - people cost) * X
with X unknown (at least for us). This X will be much larger than 36.
Given that there is reasonable MRR, the cash flow looks like no problem, but I was wondering about the time frame you have to “earn back” the principal.
The issue I try to raise is that the valuation of a business can be substantially different, depending on how you look at it.
It is a good question. The “earn back” timeframe is highly dependent on whether I can get Saber Feedback growing again.
I didn’t state it explicitly in the podcast episode, but for a while at least I’m investing all the earnings from Saber Feedback back into making it better. For the next few months, that will be almost solely on rescuing the marketing.
If I didn’t already have another product, and hence an income stream, then perhaps I’d be more cautious and work alone on Saber Feedback to reduce expenses.
@SteveMcLeod Saber is the product I wish I had bought 
- I followed @mattbearman and hist blog too. Just listened to the episode by the way.
Its certainly that great little SaaS that has oodles of potential if you can find a couple of niches to push it into. To be honest we almost used it at Campaign Monitor for bug bashes. I just couldnt get the company credit card to do it.
We could have ended up in a bidding war! Glad I avoided that. 
To be honest we almost used it at Campaign Monitor for bug bashes.
I like hearing that. It makes me optimistic.