What happens when you buy a SaaS business for $5,000… only to discover the deal comes with a $12,000 security bill, a mountain of technical work, and a newborn baby? Andrew Kamphey was the number one user of Pigeon, a tiny SaaS app built inside Gmail that he genuinely loved. Then the founder announced he was shutting it down. So Andrew bought it. There was just one problem. The business was already making $0. And within days of sending the $5,000 payment, Andrew found out he was about to become a dad. A week later, his son was born prematurely and spent three days in the NICU. Meanwhile, Andrew was waking up every few hours to care for his newborn and sometimes restart the servers. Then came the $12,000 Google-required penetration test. What started as a tiny acquisition quickly became a crash course in what actually happens after you buy an online business. Technical headaches. Unexpected costs. Customer recovery. Infrastructure. And the reality that owning a business isn't always about growth charts and big wins. Sometimes it's just figuring out which fire to put out next. But Andrew didn't walk away empty-handed. After roughly six months, he had reduced the infrastructure costs, brought back paying users, improved the product, and eventually sold Pigeon for just over $30,000. And that's only part of the story. Andrew has also built and sold an industry newsletter with 15,000 subscribers, experimented with strategic acquisitions, and built Better Sheets into a business around Google Sheets, tools, templates, tutorials, and some seriously unconventional products. In this episode, Jaryd sits down with Andrew to unpack what his strangest acquisition taught him about buying businesses with little capital, why strategic value can matter more than traditional valuation multiples, what makes a small online business worth acquiring, and why simply asking an owner if they'd sell can open doors you never expected. Because sometimes the best acquisition isn't the one with the biggest revenue. It's the one you actually know how to make better. 🎧 Hit play - this is what a $5K SaaS acquisition, a $12K surprise bill, and a newborn baby can teach you about buying online businesses. Episode Highlights 02:11 – Why Andrew Bought a SaaS He Was the #1 User Of After the Founder Announced It Was Shutting Down 05:12 – The $5K Acquisition With $0 Revenue: Why Traditional Valuation Multiples Didn't Make Sense 06:49 – The $12K Google Pen Test Nobody Expected: How One Compliance Cost Nearly Made the Tiny SaaS Impossible to Run 10:41 – From Acquisition to Fatherhood: How Andrew Found Out He Was Becoming a Dad 2 Days After Buying the Business 13:06 – The 6-Month Turnaround: Cutting Server Costs, Bringing Back Paying Users, and Selling the SaaS for $30K+ 20:41 – Why Andrew Keeps Building Weird Side Projects That Don't Make Money Yet - And Why That's Still Valuable 24:57 – The $36K Newsletter Exit: How a 15K, Subscriber Industry Audience Became a Strategic Acquisition Worth 3X Revenue Key Takeaways ➥ Strategic value can beat revenue. Andrew bought Pigeon for $5K because he was its #1 user and understood its potential, even though it had $0 revenue. ➥ Cheap deals can hide expensive problems. The $5K purchase came with a $12K Google pen test, technical issues, and ongoing infrastructure costs. ➥ Ownership means owning every problem. Servers, security, APIs, compliance, and unexpected fires became Andrew's responsibility after the acquisition. ➥ Energy and focus matter more than time. Andrew eventually understood why the original owner walked away: sometimes another opportunity simply deserves your attention more. ➥ Small acquisitions can still create real returns. After about six months of improvements and cost-cutting, Andrew sold Pigeon for $30K+. ➥ Buy where you have an advantage. Knowing the product, customer, or market deeply can reveal opportunities that traditional numbers miss. ➥ Sometimes the best deal starts with asking. Andrew found opportunities through relationships, Twitter, and direct outreach,not just acquisition marketplaces. About Andrew Kamphey Andrew Kamphey is the founder of Better Sheets, a Google Sheets tools and training platform he built in 24 hours and grew into a 4,000+ member business. A serial acquirer, Andrew has bought and exited multiple digital products, including Pigeon, an email CRM he rescued from shutdown and later resold on MicroAcquire. With a background spanning cruise ships, LA television, and indie newsletters, Andrew brings a scrappy, buyer-first approach to building a portfolio of small, profitable online assets. Connect with Andrew Kamphey ➥ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkamphey/ ➥ https://bettersheets.co/ Resource Links ➥ Connect with Jaryd here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarydkrause ➥ FREE Download the Due Diligence Framework - https://buyingonlinebusinesses.com/freeresources/➥ Buying Online Businesses Website - https://buyingonlinebusinesses.com ➥ Online Business Due Diligence Services - https://buyingonlinebusinesses.com/duediligence Buy & Sell Online Businesses Here (Top Website Brokers We Use) 🔥 ➥ Empire Flippers - https://bit.ly/3RtyMkE ➥ Flippa - https://bit.ly/3wGa8r5 ➥ Motion Invest - https://bit.ly/3YmJAmO➥ Investors Club - https://bit.ly/3ZpgioR *This post may contain affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site/posts at no additional cost to you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
