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They Just Killed My $1.8 Million Startup
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- So, I just went to the website for my software company, the company I built from the ground up…and the website is not working.
In fact, the website has been down for over 2 months!
This is a story that needs to be told…a warning if you will of what can happen to your company after you build…and then sell it.
Oh, and I sold my business for $1.8 million. So, the fact that they are just letting this business die is insane to me.
This is the story of Long Tail Pro.
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Have you ever sold a business? What happened to it? Oh, be sure to like the video and subscribe to the channel!
Sold it and bought it back for €1.
Yes, and the buyer did nothing with it ... and I've been watching it die and yes it is painful to watch.
built and sold a 5 website portfolio for 6 figure exit back in 2022. Started them after finding your blog in like 2014!
Both owners kept the business. One small website and one kdp business! Both still up 3 years later.
Bro buy it back, simple
I remember purchasing LTP back in the day for a lifetime license, only to find the software was made inoperable less than a year after purchase.
Bummer!
@@niche-pursuitsyep same here. Knew it would happen once he sold out. You’ve got to catch these things and use them before they get too popular or else private equity comes in and destroys things.
I bought LTP lifetime. Thanks for being a sellout, manlet.
Okay
The software was clunky at best. RIP.
RIP.
Woah.
I wouldn’t sell a business making $50000 a month, not even for 1.8 billion.
Wow, I thought this is related to Google's HCU, but that's brutal to watch and must feel terrible for you. But I don't think your community holds you accountable for that. Wired Investors was a super reputable buyer for the business.
Yeah, its been a crazy experience to go through. Kinda hard to fathom buying a business like this and then just letting it die. Very hard to watch.
I t went downhill after you sold it , it kept getting slower and slower and I stopped using it.
Makes sense
If they are just letting it die, why not offer to buy it back on the cheap?
I bought a life membership to this when you had it, then they cut me off.
:(
I am sorry to hear about this! Especially when you build a startup business and make it successful and then sell it believing you sell it to the right company and they will continue to grow it.
That's definitely the expectation.
"I can't believe they killed my startup"😢
It was my favorite long tail search tool back in the day.
Yep!
man, I have never heard you sound this sad. I have always known you as a happy chilly man!! I feel so bad.
Is there any chance you can buy Long Tail Pro? if any, you should acquire it again, I think.
Yeah, its heartbreaking! Its been a slow occurrence though. I've seen the train wreck happening for a couple of years now. There is a chance I could buy back Long Tail Pro, but its in the middle of legal proceedings...and I honestly don't know if I want to buy it back in its current condition.
You really think he only has one mood? Like a successful person can’t ever be sad or disappointed? Lol come on Spencer been at this for over a decade and he has always been chill and pretty transparent. Because he’s keeping it real about this story even more respect.
You need to buy back the business for like $5k, and rebuild it.
Its tempting. Would cost more than that...but also not sure I want another project.
@@niche-pursuits There are multiple cases of where a founder has bought back their business for around $1 after the buyer destroyed the business ... make them an offer of $1, plus 10% of the profits
Sad to hear, I had a lifetime license, even though I wasn't really using it, could have been nice if I got back into IM, loved the idea behind it, you did a great job and it's not your fault, sad things turned this way..would definitely be nice to buy it back and revive it if possible to buy it for pretty "cheap", make LTP great again ! 😂🔥 oh by the way..I just remembered about longtail university ? What happend to that project
Long Tail University was created in like 2015 and never updated.
Maybe Google would render tools like this not effective anyway even if it was still around. If you can't get search positions, what's the point in all the algo updates?
Well, someone is getting serp positions...
@@niche-pursuits Yes, the BIG brands favored by Google get the top page listings but not the little niche guys because they are like little leaches to the Giant Google who sells ad positions to its preferred buyers of those positions once able to be had by the small niche blogger through its relevant content. But as we are realizing small niche sites are no longer reaping positions in all the EEAT and good content practices. Remember... Google is not a search engine. It's an Ad agency. If you don't believe that... look it up.
As soon as they got rid of the desktop app I stopped using LTP. It was never as good when it got sold IMO
Yeah, it was great back in the day.
A similar thing happened with my online biz too. I don’t get it ! Plus, my biz is still online, but site content is stale and there are no updates.
that's brutal.
Yeah, not fun.
Been a customer since LTP first came out.
Just finding out about all of this now.
LTP was never the same since you first sold it.
Thanks for buying LTP so many years ago! Kinda crazy what's happened.
You should just buy it back and grow it again.
Maybe so
A crazy story of incompetence 🤦♂️
Yep
Tell him you'll buy it back for 5k lol
Yeah, I should...haha
Congratulations on the sale of your project. I used it many times.
Awesome! Thank you!
I stopped using LTP when you sold it. I like you and your products together :)
Yeah :)
My theory is it was purchased by the competition and they simply killed it
Nah
I thought you were going to say Google killed it because they've destroyed SEO
Nope
I believe the new owner is a Billionaire who just don’t cares about his/her $1.8M Investment 😃
Nope. He's someone without much money left at this point.
Why not by it back because it will be on fire sale and you will get first priority as a minority shareholder. I am sure you have more experience now on running businesses.
That's an option.
it's called a "tax loss carry forward". Same game Elon played to a tee paying $44B for twitter, losing 67% of it's value practically overnight, like driving a new car off the car lot. That said, I'm a Warrior og and I didn't know that was you who built that.
Kinda crazy you didn't know I built it...but as long as you heard of it, my job was done.
LTP changed after you were gone. The lizard was gone. The personal touch was missing.
It was all downhill once they removed the lizard. I was gonna do a whole rant about them changing the logo and the lizard...
@@niche-pursuits Yeah man why they changed the logo. We associated ourselves with the logo.
Till 2018, it was atleast useable. I think everybody copied the difficulty score from LTP.
Does the software still work though
I don't think so.
@@niche-pursuits No, my account does not appear to work.
Curious why you sold your business for such a low price. I mean it's like 3x annual earnings
Multiples were lower back then.
Multiples are bonkers now.
@@niche-pursuits That's crazy! It was an awesome tool back in the day.
buy it back for 50k and sell it again
Who knows!
Can you buy back Long Tail Pro?
Possibly, but not sure I want a broken tool. Lots of work.
Ohh those dudes at wire investors seemed super shady.
They had a lot going on.
@@niche-pursuits just seemed like they were running some offshore cayman islands sort of business lol all good - say less though you did your best.
I just found this out. why and how? I'm surprised. I'm sad :(
Yeah... 😢
It's sad to see this happened to a beloved marketing tool!
Yep!
Do you still have most of the money or it's all used up?
I invested it very well. Its grown.
Buy it back piss cheap ;)
Catch and Kill? Are they competitors?
No, they are not.
Sorry about that
Me too.
I assumed "They" meant Google 😂
Always sad to see something you built die, but at least you cashed out at its peak!
me too heheh
Nah...but I can see why you might think that
Buy it back for 0.8 million.
I'm not sure I'm looking to take on another project.
@@niche-pursuits yeah was joking. get it dirt cheap, work on it a bit, resell :D
That's just sad.
Yeah, definitely sad
Buy it back for pennies and make it into something great
We will see how everything plays out.
I've wondered over the years why this went to Shi#, all makes sense...
Yeah, that's what happened.
So, you got paid in full? If yes, it's just a psychological reflection
I've received all the money I was owed, minus about $15kish.
Then just let it go its way. You did a great job
Ya I paid for LTP!
Nice.
Shit happens. companies come and go. And since you sold it, although I can understand it hurts, you can't complain about it.
Yeah, I suppose that makes sense.
I doubt it hurts. that's business. he got paid.
@@billyscorner2232 yes, my thoughts exactly
I can understand why it hurts. Our work isn't just about money. It is about doing something meaningful in the world, leaving things a little better than we found them. There is a sense of wanting to birth a company and then place it with an adoptive family who can take it to the next level. But there are no guarantees that adoptive family won't be neglectful.
So what's the moral of your ordeal for all of us?
"Never, ever sell what you created with love. Automate and maybe stop expanding but never sell unless you can absolutely no longer continue."
I wouldn't agree with that. There's many nuances here.