Startup Sphere Weekly #17

Welcome back to another edition of Startup Sphere - a weekly 5-minute digest about online businesses selling for life-changing amounts of money.

I recently started an Instagram page where I’ll be talking more about businesses currently for sale. I’d appreciate it if you could drop me a follow. I’m just starting out so it’s still pretty rough, but I’m looking for all the feedback I can get. Thanks all!

Btw - I recently came across Sunday Money, a newsletter with 10 weekly tips about money, investing, and finance. You can check it out and subscribe here 👇

Now, let’s get into this week’s listings 👀

Shopify upsell app

Asking Price: $654,000
TTM Revenue: $192,000
TTM Profit: $174,000

Building in the Shopify ecosystem is extremely competitive, but can be lucrative if done correctly. This business is an example of that.

The business for sale is a Shopify upsell app. The app is designed to streamline the checkout process for Shopify store owners while helping increase store revenue and average order value.

The listing mentions that the business doesn’t do any paid advertising, acquiring most of its customers through the Shopify app store. Since the company was founded 5 years ago, it has a history in the Shopify store and thus a high ranking.

I think this business is a great opportunity for someone looking to enter the Shopify app space, but didn’t hop on the Shopify wave early enough.

With that being said, the space is extremely competitive and Shopify is known to copy successful apps and release them under the Shopify branding.

👉 View the listing here

AI Spotify playlist generator

Asking Price: $280,000
TTM Revenue: $113,000
TTM Profit: $92,000

This is a personal pain point that I’ve been experiencing recently, so I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this business listing.

The business for sale is an AI Spotify playlist generator. Users are able to generate a personalized playlist based on thoughts or feelings. This app helps users discover new genres, songs, and artists.

The listing also mentions something that caught my eye - a lot of the users are DJs, store owners, and other business professionals looking to accomplish their music needs. This is an interesting angle, showing this business has some B2B potential.

I think this is a dangerous business to be in if Spotify introduces a feature similar to this in their official app. Personally, I can see that being a possibility since a large part of Spotify’s app is the “discover“ feature.

Playlistable is an example of a competitor.

👉 View the listing here

Pet care services marketplace

Asking Price: $1.4 million
TTM Revenue: $481,000
TTM Profit: $40,000

This business listing is quite unique - it is a pet care marketplace. The business offers services for pet owner’s needs. This includes anything from grooming to dog walking to dog training.

People love their pets and are always willing to spend extra money on them. Because of this, I believe the business will have a steady flow of customers. It also opens up the possibility for repeat customers if they enjoy the service.

I also think a business like this has the opportunity to expand into physical products. Pet owners are always willing to spend money on new gadgets and tools that make their lives easier.

Unfortunately, the company margins are very slim. Last month the company made $42,000 in revenue but only took home $4,000 in profit. This also means the sale price is high, at 35x profit.

Competitors include Zigly, Heads Up For Tails, and Supertails.

👉 View the listing here

Best of startup Twitter (X)

Isaac is seeing crazy success with his local newsletter (link)

You can get a list of 106,000 Chrome extensions with their name, description, rating, etc (link)

David shared a cool business idea that he doesn’t have time to build (link)

Cast your vote

Last week’s poll:

Results:

🥇 [40%]: 🍔 Mobile app that scans food & tracks nutrition
🥇 [40%]: 🧑‍🎓 Online test prep platform
🥉 [20%]: 🚗 Car tracking and security solution

Subscriber feedback:

I hope you enjoyed this week’s rundown. I do have a quick favor to ask. Every week I spend a couple of hours writing this newsletter for free. Can you do me a huge favor and forward this email to 1 person interested in startups and business? Thank you as always for the support 🙏

— Vlad Verba
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