Getting Acquired by Andrew Gazdecki, published in 2022 by MicroAcquire (the startup marketplace he founded, later renamed Acquire.com), is the story of how a young founder with little money built a software company and sold it. Gazdecki started Bizness Apps, a tool that let small businesses make their own mobile apps, grew it to more than 100 employees and sold it to a private equity firm at 29. The book turns that path into advice for founders who want an exit of their own.
What is Getting Acquired about?
The book follows the company in order. It opens with Gazdecki starting out as a student with almost no budget, selling hard and learning marketing on the go. It moves through the growth years, when he had to hire and lead a large team without ever having held a regular job himself. Then comes the scare: Apple changed an App Store rule in a way that threatened template-built apps, which was exactly what his customers made. He describes the fight to get the rule softened and the lesson he took from it about platform risk.
The final part covers the sale. Gazdecki explains how he found a buyer, how due diligence felt from the inside, which mistakes nearly cost him the deal and what life looked like after the money arrived. He is candid about the personal side: the strange emptiness after an exit, questions of identity and the shift from operator to someone with time on his hands.
What sets the book apart is its scale. Most exit stories involve venture-backed companies selling for hundreds of millions. This one is about a modest software business, the kind thousands of founders run, and it argues that such companies can and should plan for a sale.
What are the main lessons for founders?
- Build something a buyer can run. If the company depends on you for sales, product and every big decision, a buyer sees risk. Document processes and hand off roles early.
- Keep your books clean. Buyers look at recurring revenue, churn and margins first. Tidy monthly accounts make due diligence faster and protect your price.
- Watch your platform risk. Relying on one app store, marketplace or ad channel means one policy change can wipe you out. Diversify before you are forced to.
- Know that small exits are real. A profitable company with steady recurring income attracts private equity firms, strategic buyers and individual acquirers.
- Plan for life after. Decide in advance what you want to do with your time and money, so the sale feels like a next step instead of a void.
Who should read Getting Acquired?
This book suits founders of bootstrapped or lightly funded software companies, especially subscription businesses, who expect to sell within the next few years. It also helps first-time founders who want a realistic picture of building a company with no connections or capital. The writing is direct and quick to read.
Founders of venture-backed companies chasing a large exit will find more structure in other books. Readers outside software will need to adapt the numbers and buyer types to their own sector.
How do you put Getting Acquired to work this week?
- Write down every task only you can do today. Pick two and document them so someone else could take over next month.
- Pull your last 12 months of revenue, churn and costs into one sheet, the way a buyer would want to see them.
- List every outside platform your business depends on and rate how badly a policy change would hurt you.
To spot gaps in your company before you plan an exit, the free Startup checklist tool on Fe/male Switch gives you a structured list to work through.
Where does Getting Acquired fall short?
The book is one founder’s story, so its advice comes from a single deal. It says little about valuation methods, deal structures such as earn-outs, or legal terms in a purchase agreement. It also comes from the founder of a marketplace that earns money from company sales, so its enthusiasm for selling is not neutral. For a more systematic, buyer-side view of acquisitions, read Exit Path, and for the terms you will meet in any investment or sale, read Venture Deals.