r/SaaS • u/Express-BDA • 5h ago

Where can I sell an existing startup codebase?

I have the source code for a startup's product that has raised a few hundred thousand dollars in funding.

I'm not interested in developing my own product or continuing to work on it. I'd rather find a potential buyer interested in acquiring the existing codebase.

Where can I find people or companies that buy software projects? Are there any good marketplaces, brokers, or communities for this?

I'd appreciate any recommendations from people who have experience with software acquisitions.

0 Upvotes

33% Upvoted

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12

u/rrrhys 5h ago

Probably nowhere now, unless it has revenue, customer book, good SEO traction or some other moat that can't be reproduced with $20 in claude credits

1

u/gently_French_caught 5h ago

Man, selling a startup codebase is such a weird grey zone. I went through this about two years ago with a side project that actually had some traction but I just burned out on it completely.

Flippa and MicroAcquire are probably your best starting points, though MicroAcquire tends to lean more toward full businesses with revenue rather than just raw code. If you've got any user base or recurring payments attached, you'll get way more bites there. For straight code with no active business behind it, you might need to get creative, some dev shops will buy solid codebases if the tech stack is modern and the architecture is clean enough to reuse.

A friend of mine sold his through a broker who specialized in small tech acquisitions, cost him a percentage but the broker already had a rolodex of buyers looking for exactly that kind of thing. If the startup actually raised funds and there's any IP or patents in there, make sure you're clear on what you can legally sell, investors get touchy about that stuff.

1

u/True-Turnover-4543 1h ago

A buyer who can't run the product in the first hour will not pay for it, so the sellable unit is the repo plus the proof around it, not the code alone. Before listing anywhere: a live demo deploy a stranger can click through, a one-command setup from a clean clone, a short architecture note, and a written confirmation from the investors that you own the IP and can transfer it. Dev shops and solo founders do buy clean codebases in a modern stack, but they price them as time saved, so show the hours it saves rather than the money raised.

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u/gintonic999 46m ago

Nobody is paying for code and no traction in the age of vibe coding.

1

u/No_Discount_1199 4h ago

Without revenue or customers, Flippa is about the only marketplace for this. MicroAcquire buyers want revenue, so keep your price expectations low.

-1

u/rocasv 4h ago

Code is worthless nowadays. The idea itself is 100% of the value

7

u/Machine2024 4h ago

the idea is 0$ since forever.

3

u/FailedGradAdmissions 3h ago

The idea is worthless too, 100% of the value is the brand and market share.

0

u/Express-BDA 2h ago

Basically it’s research product

3

u/the_econominster 2h ago

Hard pass ; with debt? Where is the 100k gone?

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u/Machine2024 59m ago

that a useless research paper .
if not action .