Startup Sphere Weekly #45

A newsletter selling for $23,000. Also, an SEO tool selling for $202,000.

Author

Vlad Verba
November 15, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Hey, it’s Vlad.

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

Sorry for the late newsletter (again lol). I was busy doing some small redesigning to provide a better reading experience. I’d love to know what you think ⤵️

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Thanks again for reading Startup Sphere, I hope you learn something new this week ⤵️

Weekly Rundown

Newsletter about ads that work

Asking Price: $23,000
TTM Revenue: $47,400
TTM Profit: $6,120

The business for sale is called Growth Catalyst Club, a newsletter that curates the best ads on the internet and the principles that make them work.

I am generally a big fan of newsletters (lol duh I’m writing one right now). I think this specific newsletter is a good example of a profitable niche targeting a valuable audience.

Based on the numbers, I think growth is primarily driven through Facebook ads. The newsletter makes an average of $3,950/month but also spends $3,440 on expenses. Even with growth through Facebook, the open rate is excellent, at 49%.

It seems like the current owner also uses the newsletter as a way to cross-promote his Facebook Ads agency, which is a great way to get clients.

*****

Online courses for creatives

Asking Price: $50,000
TTM Revenue: $12,000
TTM Profit: $9,000

The business for sale is a collection of courses made to help creatives monetize their passion. The business is built on Thinkific and features over 20 courses on how creatives can improve their skills and grow their business across a variety of niches (art, photography, music, design).

The info product space is extremely profitable, and multiple online entrepreneurs have grown their info businesses to a very large scale. You can even see it in this specific business, where the customer lifetime value is $300. This gives you room to run ads and experiment with acquisition channels.

I’d be interested if someone could acquire this business and build it up using their personal brand.

*****

SEO tool for creating content

Asking Price: $202,000
TTM Revenue: $60,000
TTM Profit: $55,000

The business for sale is a WordPress plugin that helps users automate content and improve their SEO strategy. The main feature revolves around creating thousands of local landing pages for a business.

I often talk about how I like it when a business is built on top of an existing platform. This allows you to build on something that already works. It also makes your ideal client easier to reach, since you know where they spend their time.

Most of the sales for this plugin come from one-time payments from AppSumo. So I think there is an opportunity to expand to other channels like Facebook Ads. I also think cold outreach can be effective here.

Cast Your Vote

Which business would you acquire?

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Last week’s results: 100% of voters chose the travel newsletter for discounted flights as the best business to acquire. Read last week’s newsletter here.

Micro Acquisitions

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That’s all for this week! If you’re looking for your next venture, make sure to check out my database of 50,000 profitable business ideas at VentureHub.

As always, if you have any feedback, just reply to this email and I’ll get back to you.

— Vlad