Episode 783 | Bootstrapping ScrapingBee to $5M ARR and an 8-Figure Exit

Startups For the Rest of Us

When is the right time to sell your profitable SaaS?

In this week's episode, Rob Walling talks with Pierre de Wulf, co-founder of ScrapingBee, about how they mostly bootstrapped their web scraping SaaS to $5 million ARR and an eight-figure all-cash exit. They explore the pivotal shift that took them from $7K MRR to nearly $1M ARR in just 15 months, what Pierre splurged on post-exit, and the emotional, legal, and strategic complexities of selling a company.

Topics we cover:

• (3:31) – Why they chose to sell
• (5:41) – Post-exit emotions and celebrations
• (9:57) – Lessons from failed startups before ScrapingBee
• (13:16) – From 8k to $1m ARR in 15 months
• (17:14) – Building a scalable SEO content engine
• (29:19) – Handling a major cease-and-desist

Links from the Show:

• MicroConf Connect
• MicroConf Talk by Pierre de Wulf
• The Java Web Scraping Handbook
• ScrapingBee Blog
• TinySeed
• Discretion Capital
• Pierre de Wulf (@PierreDeWulf) | X
• Pierre de Wulf | LinkedIn

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

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