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Sharath Kuruganty

I'm Sharath ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผ I sold a startup while hustling at a full-time job. AMA.

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Hello there! I'm Sharath, founder, community builder, and content creator. Currently, I work at Threado as Head of Community, but in my free time, I build products, host a podcast, advise founders and help makers launch on Product Hunt! In the past, I built 15+ side projects using no-code tools and got the opportunity to work with prolific people like Naval Ravikant. I accidentally built a startup called Shoutout in my maker journey which grew to $30K ARR and eventually, I sold for 6 figures. All this happened when I was hustling at full-time jobs. As a startup operator, I got the opportunity to work for the most prominent brands in tech like Product Hunt, and On Deck where I nurtured community. Right now Iโ€™m tinkering with a couple of side-projects: - Blubi, a permanent home for your social content where you can use AI to remix it. - Next Step, a tight-knit community for first-time founders figuring out the next steps. I'm here to answer questions about SaaS, building in public, audience building, community, bootstrapping, no-code, and anything startups! AMA ๐Ÿ‘‡

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Maithreye Murali
What is your go to strategy after you come up with the idea for a project?
Hossein Yazdi
Thanks for hosting AMA. Just curious to know how you've managed to sell your product. Was there any specific place, or did a buyer reach out to you directly, or else?
Sharath Kuruganty
@hosseinyazdi @nuno_ms_reis Answering here so you both will get my response. Micro Acquire is the best place to sell micro SaaS products. They have built a tight network of buyers. But in my case, I tweeted that I was looking for a new founder to take up and within a day I got a bunch of DMs - one of them was the buyer who I felt was a good fit.
Hossein Yazdi
@5harath Didn't know about Micro Aquire and that tweeting about product selling can actually work! Thanks for sharing Sharath! :)
Naren Bhandary
Hey Sharath, thanks for doing this. What is one piece of advice that you would have loved to be given when you started on your journey?
Sharath Kuruganty
@narenbhandary ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผ Ah that's a great question. There are many, but the most important one is not to lose any momentum - product-wise, mentally.
Nuno Reis
What were the main reasons for you to sell and for the buyer to acquire it? Was it just the steady ARR, or did they think they could scale it themselves faster? Or just a product acquisition? Thanks for the AMA!
Sharath Kuruganty
@nuno_ms_reis We reached a point where we shipped 0 features and made 0 progress. But, thanks to my co-founder, who built a robust product and the idea has a self-marketing quality, we saw growth happening organically. It made me feel guilty since there was nothing I was doing. Also, I felt the need for someone who takes the product to the level. We decided, and the acquisition went smoothly.
Peyt Spencer Dewar
Congrats on your success! What does your schedule look like? Please break it down as much as possible.
Sharath Kuruganty
Thanks @psd Haha you are making me question my routines now. Hard to pinpoint but my usual days looks like this: 1. Deep work 2. Important habits like meditation, and journaling for 5-10mins 3. Dropping my son to daycare 4. Have limited meetings. 5. Dedicated work time for my full-time job 6. Dedicated work time for my side projects. 7 Past 6pm family time starts
Haha, maverick intro, thanks! Curious to hear more about how you ended up selling? Particularly: - How you got approached; - General process;
Sharath Kuruganty
@rawoyemi big compliment haha The decision was definitely a hard one to take. But you need to pick priorities and go with your reality. Regarding the process, look at acquire.com - the best place to sell businesses. In my case, I tweeted about it and a founder showed interest. But it didn't happen overnight. I had to go through many to find the right fit.
Clay Raterman
Your story is inspiring! What do you think is the best distribution channel for a brand new saas where the founder is tight on cash and has no personal brand???
Sharath Kuruganty
Glad to hear that @clay_raterman Best distribution channel - Launch multiple mini projects(that add value) on Product Hunt
Amos John
What are the no-code tools you used? I'm trying to create my own as well.
Akshay Rathod
Hey Sharath! How do you manage time? How do you even run a startup while doing full-time job? How we can do it too?
Sharath Kuruganty
@akshay_rathod2 It can be done with proper habits/routines from your end and support from your family. I did mostly late nights, weekends, and holidays. I also had a great co-founder who supported me in this. Lastly, the community played a big role in making it all happen.
Othmane Khadri
Hey Sharath, well-done man sincerely. As you're jumping in Ai related product building, I am sure you'd like to keep an eye on Argil.ai. We're building a tool to render AI integration to your application seamless. You can build different workflows just with clicks. @5harath
Raiyan Yahya
Do you have a newsletter ? What ideas can you give for some trying to provide value and get a larger audience.
Sharath Kuruganty
@raiyanyahya that's something I wanted to do this year. It's on my radar. I got a good name too - Sharath's Cliff Notes :) Check it out: https://5harath.substack.com Newsletters are a great way but I might not be the right one to advice here. But I would also actively tweet and interact on Twitter.
Akshat Jain
Hey Sharath - Was Shoutout still based on no-code infrastructure when you sold it?
David J. Kim
Hi Sharath, thanks for doing this AMA. What side project are you most passionate about right now? Next Step looks super interesting.
Sharath Kuruganty
@between_team Hey David. I'm super excited about blubi.ai for two reasons: 1. I'm building for myself. Hopefully, find people like me who can use it. 2. I'm excited to create a platform that helps content creators create content without worrying about the platform.
Andrรฉ J
Love the tinkering mentality. What particular attributes show up when you feel your on to something while tinkering?
Aldo Petruzzelli
what would you suggest we do as a two sided marketplace with limited to no marketing resource to find a scalable channel of acquisition as fast as possible (with users on the waitlist pre-launch)?
Sharath Kuruganty
@aldo_petruzzelli It seems like you want things fast with less effort - in my experience, that's like finding a bigfoot sitting in a city. It's not real lol Not to be rude but you have to put in the work and play the long game. Some advice: 1. Figure out supply and demand for your marketplace. 2. Start building in public - solves marketing and needs $0 to spend on. 3. Use Twitter as your distribution channel. 4. Launch the product and get some revenue. 5. Be impatient with actions and patient with results.
Rashid Khasanov
Which no-code tools you think are the best to build side-projects? I am a non-technical founder myself and I want to try no-code to build my next app. Thanks
Sharath Kuruganty
@rashid_khasanov depends on the idea you have. - Bubble is good for building a platform - Softr is good for curation projects - Glide is good for mobile projects - Carrd is good for launching and validating ideas
Michael Cho
With so many side projects (15+!) - how do you decide what to share/feature on your social media?
Sharath Kuruganty
@michael_cho1 All my projects are executed one after the other. Best to focus on one thing at a time so you get to give your best.
Richard Gao
Love seeing some smaller startups get sold. We always hear about the million dollar sales, but these are great as well
Mei
Where did you sell your start-up and how did you navigate discussions around pricing?
Sharath Kuruganty
@thisismeihere the interest came from Twitter. It would be best to have clarity on what you want - that decides how discussions will go. We wanted a specific number, and we crafted a story supporting it.
Svitlana Palamarchuk
Hi Sharath, This is really inspiring to hear! Juggling a full-time job with side projects is no small feat, and achieving such success is truly commendable. I'm particularly interested in your experience with no-code tools. Could you share a bit about how these tools have helped in your startup journey, especially when it comes to prototyping and iterating quickly? Also, how did you manage your time between your full-time job and your side projects? Any tips or strategies you'd recommend for those of us trying to balance a similar load?
Sharath Kuruganty
Thanks for the kind word @svitlana_palamarchuk Idea validation - Used Carrd to build the landing page MVP validation - Used Bubble to build the first MVP They massively helped me move fast. And the community supported me when I got stuck. I wrote a thread on some tips to balance a full-time job and side projects: https://twitter.com/5harath/stat...