Getting Acquired: How I Built and Sold My SaaS Startup

by Andrew Gazdecki

Andrew Gazdecki knows startups. He founded Bizness Apps as a broke, twenty-something entrepreneur and sold it to a private equity firm before the age of thirty—after going head-to-head with Apple over a blanket App Store policy that threatened to ruin him.

He’s been a growth consultant for several more multimillion-dollar startups. His companies have been featured in TechCrunch more than a dozen times.

Now, he shares his remarkable story in Getting Acquired: How I Built and Sold My SaaS Startup. Follow Gazdecki’s journey: starting a company at the age of twenty-one and hiring, then leading, over one hundred employees without any real work experience of his own.

This honest, personal look behind the scenes reveals both his successes and his mistakes as he labored to build a compelling brand story and catalyze growth on a shoestring budget, almost lost everything, and finally sold the company for millions at the age of twenty-nine.

Genres: Business, Startup, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Nonfiction, Biography

214 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 11, 2022

Reviews

[Edvins Antonovs · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a relatively good book about Andrew's story full of ups and downs. I think it can be used as a great learning experience for other entrepreneurs, especially for those who focus on SaaS type of products.

I think what makes this book even more valuable, is the number of resources shared on entrepreneurship, growth and acquisition.

[Kevin Collett · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked about this book:

- it’s a very lean book.

- Andrew comes across really well.

- the first part of the book is his story of being a business founder and leader.

- the second part offers real world, easy to understand and implement, advice to run / sell your business better.

[T. Laane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will give this book one of my ultimate compliment: I MUST read it again. The first 70% of the book was about his own journey, and the last 30% is full of details what can go wrong on an exit. This is the part i definitely have to read again when making exit plans myself - even if years ahead.
One of the greatest thoughts from this book is that no matter what business you have - the STORY is the one that sells your company, not features or the product. What is Your GREAT story that needs to be forwarder from one person to the other? People buy 95% based on emotions. This motivated to write my own twist into our pitch deck. In my case, it's the Robin Hood calling me, helping for the small low-tech companies in a manner that nobody seems to be doing, yet something that needs to be done. So I must do it.

[Dave Applegate · Rating 2 out of 5]

1) Getting Acquired was concise, fun to read and well written.
2) Gazdecki is the CEO of Acquired.com this book felt like a very well-executed content piece to attract people to buy / sell a business on his marketplace. It didn't feel like somebody trying to write something to really move the collective business knowledge base forward.
3) There was some great business advice riddled throughout. I loved his points on Story.

[LeoQuiroa · Rating 5 out of 5]

People are born with some talent, Andrew's is on building companies. Every chapter is like pearls in an ocean of "how to build a SaaS company" literature. Probably the most inspiring book about building a company that I have ever read. His experiences, struggles, fights, victories, thoughts seem so easy to digest that I literally could not stop reading for a week straight.

[Esben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really enjoyable book and had a wonderful personal narrative of the whole startup experience and the things to think about along the way towards getting acquired. Additionally, it brings wisdom from the post acquisition perspective on how to properly manage personal life as an entrepreneur.

[Asim Ghaffar · Rating 4 out of 5]

at least 4 stars

This deserves at least 4 stars. The initial 70% details his journey of creating and selling a startup with minimal financial backing, which is particularly impressive given he accomplished it in his 20s.

The final 30% provides insights into acquisitions, with some chapters being decent and others being incredibly informative, teaching me numerous new concepts.

[BW Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic book

Loved the book and the journey. It has been great to watch the company grow and to learn more about Andrew’s journey to where he is now. Keep up the amazing work

[tzvi raviv · Rating 4 out of 5]

the 2nd part is better

The first part is poor to rich story. The 2nd part is more relevant to saas business builders. Can add more resources.

[Colin Keeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool to hear Andrew's story in the first part. The second part has more actionable advice.

[Maikel Kletsel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great and easy read! I really like the mix of biogoraphy and useful advice

[Tomek Sobolewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story, and a lot of exciting concepts about saas acquisition, I'd definitely come back to this book.

[Lily Raya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Changed my life

[Mr DS · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read although lacked a little depth around how the various successes were executed and details of the challenges.

[Bertram Wittrock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty entertaining but lacked a bit of substance for me personally

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Fun to read and lots of solid insights.

[Jonathan Rintala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed how the author out the story telling first, weaving in advice and insights; instead of the usual business book letting occasional real-life anecdotes support their suggested (and VERY unique) frameworks.

The book was an easy read, with lots of great nuggets. Both on the topic of bootstrapping vs vc, but also a ton of value on building a company, entrepreneurship and growing a SaaS. Nicely structured so the last half, consisting of more practical advice about the actual acquisition process, was separate.

To me, some things stood out:
- the ideas on friendly and personal leadership
- using story telling as your (main) lever of growth
- most ideas are already occupied with solutions, so don’t wait for the perfectly novel idea, instead build something better, find holes in competing solutions, and use competition as a means to scale and differentiate
- treat competition nicely
- customer success and making customers happy is everything
- bootstrapping and having customers as your investor can force you into making the right decisions and priorities
- use “transparency sales” - buyers make informed decisions so be open with flaws and competing solutions
- maximize for your own goals of exit rather than get caught up in endless fundraising
- keep an open and sound mind in terms of preparing for the right acquisition

[Jinay Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a great resource but I realized I'm already familiar with a lot of the advice through exposure to extensive amount of business podcasts. I heard Andrew speak on many podcasts and knew about his story but this book added more colour to that. If you're starting out, I'd highly recommend choosing this book. Otherwise it's better to invest your time elsewhere.

After watching hundreds of hours of business content, these 3 videos capture the essence of what I've learned. Watch these so you can skip all that hard work. If you liked Andrew's book, you'll also find these valuable:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otbnC...
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIAbN...
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkXt3...