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We acquire or create online products (often in SaaS) and work on growing them through code, design, and marketing.
Our portfolio
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Smaller products (few users or no revenue)
Product name | Short description | URL |
Temper | Customer satisfaction | |
Maspeak | Language learning | |
Pollbagel | Quick poll maker | |
HeyCrowd | Social polling app | |
Woozis | People directories, org charts |
FAQ
What kind of businesses are you looking to acquire ? 🎯
Our current sweet spot is software products, generally in SaaS, around the 3-10k MRR range. Preferably international. If you’re an indie developer looking to sell one of those, please reach out ! If you have something that’s a bit different (marketplace, mobile app) or outside that revenue range, let’s chat soon.
Who are you and what led you to this ? 🍱
I’m Emmanuel Bellity (LinkedIn - Twitter). I live in Paris and I’ve been working in startups, as an entrepreneur or as an operator since 2010. Before that I worked a couple years in finance. Both these worlds seemed disconnected to me for a long time. Sure, VCs are investing in startups, but hands off the wheel, and not with an operating hat.
In 2016, I acquired my first website, PopSurvey. I loved to combine the thrill of a tiny M&A deal, with the indie maker side of things of having to take over & actually do the work on this product. Surprise : it was really hard 😅. And while I got my money back over time, it was mostly a great learning experience. I repeated the experience a couple times as a side hustle, and in 2018, I joined SureSwift Capital, a fund which acquires bootstrapped SaaS businesses at a much bigger scale. Awesome experience ! And the realization that this is a performing and inspiring model.
I went on to work as a Product Leader in two other startups in the 4 years that followed, but this stayed in the back of my mind : I wanted to go back to that space, with my own angle (smaller, independent, creative, product-led). Fast-forward to the summer of 2022, following the birth of our second baby 🐣, and thanks the unclear decision process of an exhausted mind : here comes Bento !
So you’re a startup studio ? 🦄
Not really. We don’t incubate projects/teams with the goal of either finding a unicorn that can go on, spin-off and raise VC rounds or go bust. Instead, we’re looking to build a diversified portfolio or profitable products, sometimes in niche markets. We’d like to keep iterating on and growing these products internally. We may also work on creative/exploratory projects with no immediate business outcome.
Is this a roll-up, a build-up, or a clever way to flip businesses ? 👔
No, you’re overthinking this. It’s not a cold financial play... First priority is to work on a variety of products, whether acquired or created internally, and to enjoy the day-to-day of building & growing them. All while making profits. Buy & hold with recurring revenue and endless learnings for 30 years would be perfectly fine.
I’d like to understand the space better. Any resources ? 📖
Here are a few good articles about this ecosystem (trends, small funds, bigger funds, marketplaces, brokers…)
Are you hiring ? 🎨
Yes ! We’re mostly looking for contractors, part-time employees or interns in the following positions :
- Full-stack Ruby on Rails developers
- Product Designers
- Growth marketers
- M&A analyst
Full-remote, any timezone is ok. Entrepreneurial spirit & intellectual curiosity to jump from one product to another is a strong bonus.
Can I invest ? 🤑
It’s a bit early to say and there are many viable ways to structure the financing side of such a weird multi-product holding company. If you’re an investor, we’d love to discuss those options with you just to get feedback.
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⇒ eb@bento.fyi
