Field guides for founders.
Plain answers to the questions founders ask before a sale: who buys, how value is set, how the process runs and what happens after.
- Guide 1
Who buys a small SaaS business?
Field guide
The buyer types for a SaaS business with $5k–$20k in monthly recurring revenue, and how to choose between them.
Who buys a small SaaS business?: Read - Guide 2
Where to sell a SaaS at $5k–$20k MRR
Field guide
The sale paths for a SaaS business with $60k–$240k in annual recurring revenue, what to prepare, and what to check first.
Where to sell a SaaS at $5k–$20k MRR: Read - Guide 3
What Playbook Media buys
Field guide
Our search profile, the four software categories, the patterns we like and the reasons we pass.
What Playbook Media buys: Read - Guide 4
What makes software durable
Field guide
The signs that a small software business will keep its customers for years, and how to test them.
What makes software durable: Read - Guide 5
Selling without a broker
Field guide
When a direct sale works, what a broker adds, and the advisers you still need without one.
Selling without a broker: Read - Guide 6
What long-term ownership means
Field guide
How a long-term owner differs from a fund with a resale date, and what long-term ownership does not promise.
What long-term ownership means: Read - Guide 7
Buyers that hold for the long term
Field guide
How to tell whether a buyer will keep your software business, with the questions that reveal it.
Buyers that hold for the long term: Read - Guide 8
Buyers that protect customers
Field guide
How to judge whether a buyer will protect your customers and your team after a sale.
Buyers that protect customers: Read - Guide 9
How a small SaaS is valued
Field guide
How small SaaS businesses are priced, what moves the number and how to compare offers by what you receive.
How a small SaaS is valued: Read - Guide 10
What happens after the sale
Field guide
What changes and what stays the same for the product, customers, people and founder after a small software sale.
What happens after the sale: Read - Guide 11
Founder transition after a sale
Field guide
The three common founder paths after selling a software business, and what to settle before you sign.
Founder transition after a sale: Read - Guide 12
The operator’s glossary
Field guide
Plain definitions of the revenue, profit, deal, diligence and transition terms in a small software sale.
The operator’s glossary: Read
End of field guides