Startup Sphere Weekly #11

Hey y’all, welcome back to another edition of Startup Sphere. I’m excited to share this week’s business listings, so let’s dive into it.

It seems like most readers enjoyed the scheduling software for cleaning businesses, which was my personal pick as well. The bamboo bedding e-commerce store didn’t get any votes at all, which I found interesting, since I thought people would appreciate its position in a unique market. As always, don’t forget to vote in today’s poll, at the bottom of this newsletter.

Let’s get into this week’s business listings.

Platform offering cleaning services for homes

Asking Price: $300,000
Monthly Revenue: $5,000
Monthly Profit: $1,000

As most of you already know, I’m a sucker for businesses that bring tech & automation to an existing, established industry. And this is no different. This business is a platform that connects homeowners with dedicated professionals for home cleaning and garden maintenance services.

I like this idea because it’s a win-win for all parties involved. Homeowners have an easy way to find workers, backed by reviews. Workers can get and complete more jobs, thus making more money. And the business connects these two parties, likely taking a small middleman fee.

I’ve recently been reading about the difficulties of starting a marketplace, because of the chicken or the egg problem. If you don’t have buyers, sellers won’t come. And if you don’t have sellers, buyers won’t come. This is what makes buying an existing marketplace more attractive since the heavy lifting to get it started is done for you.

TaskRabbit, which has been getting very popular recently, is an example of a competitor. Another competitor is Webel.

👉 View the listing here

Conversion-focused website design agency for startups

Asking Price: $113,000
Monthly Revenue: $8,750
Monthly Profit: $7,000

I know this is just another agency, but I thought the positioning of the business was worth exploring. The business offers website design and development for startups.

I think the positioning of this agency is interesting since it offers conversion-focused results. I think this is something that would set this agency apart from a sea of others. If you can offer some sort of guarantee that your work will make a business more money, it’s much easier to sign clients.

Competitors include Halo Lab and Pikolab.

👉 View the listing here

Part-time coding boot camp for adults

Asking Price: $219,000
Monthly Revenue: $6,000
Monthly Profit: $5,000

The business for sale is an in-person coding boot camp.

I like the mission behind this business: allowing adults to make a career switch into the notoriously difficult and lucrative tech industry. I have a friend who joined a coding boot camp and now has a successful software engineering career, so I know it works.

I’m not sure of the exact financials of starting a coding boot camp from scratch, but I can imagine there are a lot of upfront costs. Everything from finding a space to building a curriculum to hiring instructors. I think this is a great business to buy for someone interested in the space.

This business was founded in May 2015, so it has a very solid foundation in the space.

The space is very hot, so there is a long list of competitors: Nucamp, Thinkful, Hack Reactor, and General Assembly. Remember, just because there are a lot of competitors, that doesn’t mean the market is too saturated. The opposite actually, means the business model works.

👉 View the listing here

Weekly Poll

I’m torn between the cleaning services platform and the coding boot camp. If I had to pick one, I would lean towards the boot camp. I think it’s a great opportunity to help people with a career change. Vote for your favorite business and I’ll feature the results in next week’s edition!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s business listings. Reply to this email with any suggestions, recommendations, and feedback. All responses go to my personal inbox so I’ll respond. Till next week!

— Vlad Verba

Let’s connect on Twitter & LinkedIn