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Sharath Kuruganty

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

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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‘‡
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Hossein Yazdi
WebCurate.co
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
WebCurate.co
@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
Threado AI
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 :)
Nack AI
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
Columns
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
Columns
@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.
Othmane Khadri
Hey Sharath, well-done man sincerely. As you're jumping in Ai related product building, I am sure you'd like to keep an eye on Argil.ai. We're building a tool to render AI integration to your application seamless. You can build different workflows just with clicks. @5harath
Sharath Kuruganty
Thanks @othmane_khadri! Cool tool.
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