Bootstrap, Fundraise or Exit?
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How Laurits Just flipped VC interest into an acquisition by Flipp
This week, I sit down with Laurits Just, founder of Bits For Digits. He shares how he built, bootstrapped, and sold his startup, a marketplace for partial business acquisitions, and why he chose to exit instead of raising venture capital.
What you can expect:
ABOUT LAURITS JUST
Laurits Just is the co-founder and co-CEO of BitsForDigits, a marketplace for partial and full business acquisitions. With a background in finance, he worked at BlackRock and Rocket Internet in London before launching his startup. Holding three degrees—including a Master of Science from the London School of Economics—Laurits specialized in digital innovation, AI applications, and distributed ledger platforms.
After leaving BlackRock, he co-founded BitsForDigits with a mission to provide liquidity solutions for self-funded business owners. Inspired by a blog post on Jeff Bezos' investment in Basecamp, he and his co-founder built a platform that made secondary transactions more accessible. After scaling the business to profitability, they ultimately exited to Flippa, where Laurits now leads Flippa Invest, helping founders secure funding beyond traditional VC.
Connect with Laurits:
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Let's Connect:
What’s inside: How Laurits Just built and sold Bits for Digits, why many founders feel stuck between bootstrapping and VC, and how Flippa Invest creates a “fourth option” for growth capital that aligns with sustainable, profitable businesses.
Keywords: Bootstrapping Partial Exit Marketplace Flippa Invest Accredited Investors Founder Outcomes Alternative Funding
Jason Kirby: Hey, everyone, welcome back to the show today. Today we have Laurits Just with us today, former founder of Bits for Digits and now currently operating with Flippa Invest. Welcome to the show.
Laurits Just: Thank you so much, Jason. Happy to be here.
Jason Kirby: Let's go straight into it. What was Bits for Digits?
Laurits Just: Yeah, Bits for Digits was a partial acquisition marketplace. So you've heard of full acquisition marketplaces like Flippa or others. And we were taking a different approach in that some founders were looking to sell a piece of their business in a secondary, but weren't interested perhaps in selling all of it. And that was the initial concept for Bits for Digits and what we did for a few years before also allowing full acquisitions, but we can get into that.
Jason Kirby: So why did you end up starting Bits for Digits? And did you raise money? Did you bootstrap?
Laurits Just: We bootstrapped it and we started Bits for Digits actually after being inspired by a blog post by a guy, David Heinemeyer Hansson, DHH, as he's also known as, who's the CTO and co-founder of 37signals, including Basecamp. The blog post was basically about how he and Jason, his co-founder, sold a minority stake to Jeff Bezos in a secondary. And so we were like, well, not everyone has Jeff Bezos on speed dial. Maybe we should create a place for primarily SaaS founders to do the same thing with high net worth individuals or strategics. So that's what we did.
Jason Kirby: Pretty interesting inspiration story. Ultimately, how far did you take Bits for Digits before you ended up selling it to Flippa?
Laurits Just: So we got to a point of profitability, first and foremost. And I mean, for the first year, we were basically using our savings, which we had saved up working corporate jobs. But then we also got a bit of funding in Berlin in Germany, where we founded it. But we got to a place where we had word of mouth, which was important because that helped kind of relieve some of the direct sales that we were doing, outreach and all of that. And to a point where we could safely assure founders that they were going to get a bunch of negotiations started when they listed on the platform, which wasn't the case in the beginning. In the beginning, it was very like crickets. So it's tough to get a two-sided marketplace started.
Jason Kirby: So when these founders come on, how did you go about… yeah, let's talk about that problem in terms of the two-sided marketplace, getting buyers to be aware that they could buy interest in these companies. How did you find the buyers?
Laurits Just: Actually, buyers—if you have supply—buyers have no issue. Basically, we had a subscription business model where they would pay to get the contact details of the founders. So founders would list anonymously, a bit like MicroAcquire/Acquire. And then to get their contact details, we would charge a subscription and they could chat with them on the platform as well as take it offline. That was the initial monetization before we introduced a success fee. So buyers, especially when you cater to the more sophisticated buyers, i.e., private equities and institutional investors, they know about partial buyouts, both minority and majority deals. And so for them, there was no education really needed. But actually, on the sell side was our big learning for us, was how few people had read that blog post. So we actually had to do quite a lot of education on the sell side.
Jason Kirby: So when it comes to the buyer side, like, you know, it's one thing for buyers to be educated and know what they want to do in terms of transactions, but how do you make them aware that you existed? What channels did you approach? How did you approach them?
Laurits Just: So on the sell side, Twitter was amazing. This was before Elon acquired and took private Twitter, now known as X. But we were really riding the wave of… we were basically messaging a lot of people directly because back then inboxes were very accessible. You could DM pretty much anyone except maybe famous people. Some had their DMs closed. But I actually reached out to DHH himself before we started via Twitter. We got on a Zoom call for an hour—he took time to speak with us about the deal he made with Jeff, just so that we knew the mechanics and how we could replicate it for others. So yeah, Twitter was a great acquisition tool on the sell side. And then on the buy side, LinkedIn was far more efficient and also email outreach. We actually did that on both sides of the marketplace.
Jason Kirby: So pretty low cost ways to go out and acquire—just targeted customer outreach. And then ultimately you're at a point where you're growing, you're profitable—and what made you decide to sell to Flippa? Did they hunt you down and put a proposal in front of you? Did you run a process? Being that you help companies sell, what made you decide to sell?
Laurits Just: Blake Hutchison, the CEO of Flippa, had actually taken notice of us even before we officially launched. He was one of the early users of Bits for Digits around September 2021. So when he signed up, we were taken aback—also a little scared, like, was he going to copy us? But then actually the one who announced they were going to copy us was Andrew Gazdecki from Acquire, who on Twitter announced partial sales as a feature but never did. Blake already had us on the radar, and then we got an offer from another competitor. We decided to browse who else was interested in acquiring Bits for Digits because we were at a crossroads: we had started hitting revenue, gotten to profitability, and ran very lean—at the height we had like nine or ten employees, half interns. We could either remain a boutique bootstrapped business or take VC up on an offer and shoot for the moon. We’d spoken with almost a hundred VCs. Early on, VCs chased us to ask if we were raising; we weren’t. We wanted to hit revenue and get traction first. Then the markets dipped in mid-2022. By 2023 we could still raise, but on terms similar to “idea-stage.” So it was: continue bootstrapping, raise and try to level up, or exit. VC money comes with downsides as well as upsides. Bootstrapping too; perhaps I don’t have the temper for it. I wanted either to go to the next level or exit. We didn’t catch any huge external wave; it was hard labor—reputation, marketing, sales—very engaged in customer acquisition. We got some word of mouth toward the end, but it remained work.
Jason Kirby: Thank—
Laurits Just: By the way, we didn’t just do direct outreach. We did a bunch of events and meetups in Berlin and London. Indie Hackers was a great community for us. It was acquired by Stripe and then later let go; but it was good for us, along with a few other online communities—we got a good following going.
Jason Kirby: You touched on something I deal with founders all the time: the three doors—exit, raise, bootstrap. Each has different flavors and requirements. I find it fascinating you clearly laid that out and recognized those options, plus the self-reflection on strings attached to bootstrapping or VC. You chose exit. In that process—you mentioned they approached you, then you shopped around. Talk about that process.
Laurits Just: We had one competitor reach out and we met with them. They drew up a good cash exit—nice—but it was just an LOI. We decided to take our own advice and approach more. We actually listed our own business, which drew attention, but it’s hard to list a business like ours without spilling the beans—it’s niche. So we did a quick tap on the shoulder to folks we were connected with on LinkedIn, including Blake from Flippa, and that led to serious talks with Flippa.
Jason Kirby: Okay, so Flippa didn’t approach you. Someone else did; that sparked outreach to Flippa—whom you knew—and they jumped on it.
Laurits Just: Exactly, yeah.
Jason Kirby: Comment for our audience: know your users—who’s listening and following you—and keep them up to date when opportunities arise.
Laurits Just: Yeah, for sure. If you can, because you’re limited to your connections, you can broadcast or DM a few hundred people—or broadcast to 500,000 people if you’re listed on a marketplace like Flippa. If you are exiting and want maximum offers in the door, there’s no good alternative to a platform like that. But you can start with direct competitors and ask them.
Jason Kirby: So effectively it was a strategic exit for you. Out of curiosity, when you approached them—something I do with founders is, “I don’t want to sound desperate; please buy me”—how did you approach?
Laurits Just: It was easy not to seem desperate when we weren’t. Having a cash LOI was good ammunition. My co-founder and I weren’t settled on selling; we had an offer without asking and were contemplating it versus the other two doors: VC funding or continuing to bootstrap. Bootstrapping is a slow grind. We didn’t catch a big wave; it was hard work—building reputation, marketing, sales, events, and community. We hoped for a break that never really came. You can grind it out or raise and accelerate. For me, the exit became a pretty good option after speaking with Blake as well.
Jason Kirby: First step is always build a business desirable to investors or buyers. Then understand the options. That mental process founders go through—left, right, middle—what’s best for me. Now, what you’re doing at Flippa Invest as we talk about capital strategy is an option for our audience: venture gets the media and sex appeal, but there are many more options. Honestly, I know more bootstrapped founders who sold and are happier than venture-backed founders still grinding. Let’s talk about timing—when it happened and plan post-acquisition; where you are now.
Laurits Just: We put pen to paper in December 2023, one of the last business days of the year. I took a break for the first quarter—almost the first two quarters—of 2024, then joined Flippa late spring/early summer. I needed to get my bearings, did some traveling after almost three years with my head down. At Flippa, my role is to head up a new business unit. Flippa is the world’s biggest platform to buy and sell online businesses (since 2009), 2M+ registered buyers, hundreds of thousands of owners, ~6,000 businesses listed at any time. M&A is the lifeblood, and they wanted to expand into fundraising. Many founders come to Flippa for valuation but aren’t ready to sell—maybe they want to grow into a bigger valuation. We have so many buyers; a subset are accredited investors eligible to buy unlisted securities. That lets us solicit them with offerings: here’s a business raising capital; invest and get ownership on the upside. Flippa Invest is the product I was hired to launch and grow—designing it with product and sales, leveraging our buyer base and accredited subset to offer business owners a way to raise growth capital.
Laurits Just (cont’d): We have ~75,000 accredited investors (recently ~78,000) comprising mostly exited founders and current operators, plus family offices and private equity. We don’t have VCs. Our investors don’t expect the next Uber or DoorDash; they often prefer modest, fair returns and sometimes dividends. That’s where Flippa Invest differs from platforms like AngelList that cater to Silicon Valley investors looking for moonshots. For founders like me, this would’ve been a fourth option aligned with our aspirations. If you get a $20–50M exit offer, a VC might block it as it won’t return their fund; our investors are more aligned with founders who may want to take such exits—or enjoy distributions.
Jason Kirby: This is why it’s fascinating to present founders this alternative. VCs are easy to find, so founders chase the wrong people and waste time. For Flippa Invest or partial sale, can you give examples of the type of companies and size—the average transaction—what you’re expecting?
Laurits Just: We have a few requirements: post-revenue with growing revenues. We don’t fix a monthly revenue band because SaaS vs e-commerce margins differ. It de-risks for investors: there’s traction and a business. It’s not pre-seed to turn an idea into an MVP. With revenue, the upside may be more capped than a moonshot, but the downside is also reduced. On funding targets, as we launch we support $50,000 to $1,000,000 rounds (we’ll increase later). We’d rather under-promise and over-deliver than list huge rounds that collect cobwebs—we want to fill what launches. Example: a $2.1M ARR cybersecurity SaaS raising ~$300k (with room for oversubscription). Another doing ~$100k–$150k a year raising ~$250k. Another raising $1M. We especially like first-time raisers close to profitability; once profitable, they may never need to raise again, which our investor community likes.
Jason Kirby: Putting on a buyer’s hat: I want to invest 50k–100k for dividends or equity appreciation. I like cybersecurity SaaS and see the $2.1M ARR option. Who sets the price?
Laurits Just: We’re not investment advisors or lawyers; we don’t appraise or set price. We have a legal partner to help with term sheets and structure, but founders bring valuation/terms. We reserve the right to decline outlandish offerings to protect the marketplace and both sides.
Jason Kirby: This is why I appreciate your model—still founder choice. On some traditional crowdfunding platforms, I see “raising $2M on a $50M valuation” with little basis; retail investors don’t know better. It’s almost no dilution but a bad investment decision.
Laurits Just: Great example—we wouldn’t have them on our platform. I’m also talking to many Y Combinator founders. Some become moonshots—VC has a purpose. Others shoot for the stars and land on the moon—still fantastic businesses—and some will raise on Flippa Invest but at sensible valuations. Traction clarifies reality: growth rate, market size, proof in the pudding. Flippa Invest fills a gap for buyers who want exposure without operating the business—invest passively. As a founder, I’d have loved investors aligned with my aspirations. Few businesses are decacorns; we didn’t believe Bits for Digits was one, and we came to terms with that—so VC dollars didn’t fit the conviction required.
Jason Kirby: Completely fair. Most founders need that realization. There’s a mindset of being the next Steve Jobs/Uber/DoorDash—but you also need a great business, team, and money. I love exposing founders to Flippa Invest, debt, different forms of equity, or selling and moving on—consider opportunity cost.
Laurits Just: There’s risk in creating something new—that’s what I tried with Bits for Digits, and now with Flippa Invest. It’s early days; I’m bullish because we have a big investor base and founder interest. Given Flippa’s scale, it’s the right incubator.
Jason Kirby: Do you foresee a feedback loop: raise $250k on Flippa Invest, then sell the company a few years later on Flippa?
Laurits Just: Absolutely—a flywheel. We can serve businesses across growth and exit.
Jason Kirby: What does it cost for founders to consider?
Laurits Just: We have a $3,500 launch fee to bring your round to market in front of ~78,000 accredited investors and help you prepare. Even if you don’t hit the target, you can still talk to investors and take smaller checks; relationships persist. If you do raise: 2.5% per-investor processing without an SPV; or 4% platform/SPV fee if using our Sidecar-managed SPV.
Jason Kirby: That’s reasonable and market. If listeners want to learn more about you or Flippa Invest, where do they go?
Laurits Just: Go to flippa.com/invest. That’s where Flippa Invest lives and where you can apply. We have a screening process—a call, look at your deck and P&L—to ensure fit before onboarding.
Jason Kirby: Awesome. Laurits, it’s been a pleasure—thanks for sharing your journey and this funding option for founders.
Laurits Just: Thank you so much, Jason. It’s been fun.
Jason Kirby: All right, let’s wrap.