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XO Capital - Field Notes

XO Capital - Field...
Everything I've learned about buying small software businesses over the past 4 years 💡 We started out buying 1 business for $25k in 2020. Our deals are now around $1M - $2M purchase...
2 months ago
47
2 months ago
💡 We started out buying 1 business for $25k in 2020. Our deals are now around $1M - $2M purchase price. So my notes below relate to a mostly linear path from $25k to ~$2M. XO has been a tough ride. We had some wins, some losses and overall haven&
XO Capital - Field...
Getting Smaller To Get Bigger 💡 We have another fresh round of capital to deploy into 1 business at up to $1.8M purchase price....
4 months ago
26
4 months ago
💡 We have another fresh round of capital to deploy into 1 business at up to $1.8M purchase price. Must be b2b SaaS, low customer concentration, 80%+ gross margins, 50k+ MRR. If you have a tip, pass it along! We're underway with xo 2.0. That means,
XO Capital - Field...
How to 10x an acquisition I'm going to break down how we more than 10x-ed ScreenshotAPI and why this acquisition worked when...
5 months ago
32
5 months ago
I'm going to break down how we more than 10x-ed ScreenshotAPI and why this acquisition worked when others didn't. Not everything here is generalizable, but I'll pull out what worked well from our first interactions with the seller to the deal closing a few
XO Capital - Field...
We 10x-ed screenshotapi.net and sold it Before we jump in, I was on a pod talking through content, acquisitions, etc: This exit is bitter...
5 months ago
24
5 months ago
Before we jump in, I was on a pod talking through content, acquisitions, etc: This exit is bitter sweet. Screenshot was our first ever acquisition. We 10x-ed it, and it is really the reason XO exists today. If this first acquisition hadn't gone well, I think I would
XO Capital - Field...
Acquisition #12 - Onsched We've been a little quiet over here as we start rolling out XO 2.0, using outside capital instead of...
6 months ago
25
6 months ago
We've been a little quiet over here as we start rolling out XO 2.0, using outside capital instead of our own cash to acquire larger businesses. It's taken a bit of time from deal #11 to #12. We didn't buy anything for 9
XO Capital - Field...
Distribution As part of UCLA's MBA program, I've had the opportunity to sit in on some VC pitches. It's been a...
10 months ago
10
10 months ago
As part of UCLA's MBA program, I've had the opportunity to sit in on some VC pitches. It's been a while since I've stepped back and looked at the broader startup ecosystem. My head has been in the micro saas space for
XO Capital - Field...
v2 XO V1 concluded with 10 acquisitions and 1 "fund". The V1 "conclusion" is really a line in the sand...
10 months ago
7
10 months ago
XO V1 concluded with 10 acquisitions and 1 "fund". The V1 "conclusion" is really a line in the sand but it feels right as we continue to offload assets to focus on larger deals using outside capital. This will transition us into v2 which we'
XO Capital - Field...
What business are you really in? I spoke with an entrepreneur recently who, after 5 years of running a successful and growing...
11 months ago
11
11 months ago
I spoke with an entrepreneur recently who, after 5 years of running a successful and growing business, said "After 5 years I finally know the real business we're in.". It means they outwardly do X but on the inside the hard part is Y. As an
XO Capital - Field...
Consolidating Our Portfolio 💡 We've finally rolled out a small community of folks interested in acquiring saas businesses. The...
11 months ago
9
11 months ago
💡 We've finally rolled out a small community of folks interested in acquiring saas businesses. The first few weeks of it have been a delight. It's the highlight of my week chatting with other people interested in this space. Join us! https://notes.xo.capital/community/
XO Capital - Field...
Moving To A Paid Community I've been debating / delaying this moment for 3 years. They say to build a business these days, one...
11 months ago
11
11 months ago
I've been debating / delaying this moment for 3 years. They say to build a business these days, one smart way to do it is build a community first. We do have a community. It's on discord. It's been useless for all but the past
XO Capital - Field...
Our First Community Call This week Danny jumped on a live Twitter Spaces with me. We talked about: When to "quit" XO...
a year ago
9
a year ago
This week Danny jumped on a live Twitter Spaces with me. We talked about: When to "quit" XO community, courses, Motivations for picking a startup idea Decision making differences between short holds and longer holds.
XO Capital - Field...
493.5% ROI - Exiting Sheet.Best 💡 Side note. To build our community up a bit, we're putting a cohort together to help 5 people buy...
a year ago
11
a year ago
💡 Side note. To build our community up a bit, we're putting a cohort together to help 5 people buy their first saas company. If this one is successful and we can add some value, we'll do another one! Jump in our discord to stay informed!
XO Capital - Field...
Deal Structures A couple of people have asked about deal structures so here are a few we commonly use for buying...
a year ago
15
a year ago
A couple of people have asked about deal structures so here are a few we commonly use for buying micro saas companies. All Cash Pretty straight forward. You do all cash. Usually it's 100% into escrow.com and release maybe 50% before asset transfer and 50% after asset
XO Capital - Field...
Fresh Cheddar Couple of announcements: We've got some fresh cheddar! We just got access to up to $2M to deploy....
a year ago
7
a year ago
Couple of announcements: We've got some fresh cheddar! We just got access to up to $2M to deploy. We're looking for 1-2 businesses: b2b saas $30k+ MRR This is about 2x what we've already deployed so far which is a big deal. We will
XO Capital - Field...
2023 sucked 2023 was a tough year for us. A pure grind. What worked: The business model Our Team Raising $ +...
a year ago
7
a year ago
2023 was a tough year for us. A pure grind. What worked: The business model Our Team Raising $ + deploying it What didn't work: Growth was tough We got bit by platform risk Too many small portfolio companies is death by a thousand cuts We have two relatively passive
XO Capital - Field...
2023 In Review 2023 was a tough year. It started out with a bang (high expectations, everything going right) and...
a year ago
9
a year ago
2023 was a tough year. It started out with a bang (high expectations, everything going right) and ended with a whimper for us. The zero interest rate environment really came down hard on a few products like Cold Email Studio and now that the AI craze is cooling off, we&