Ep 378: 50+ Buyers In 2 Months – The Micro-SaaS Exit Strategy Most Sellers Never Think To Use with Ovi Shekh

The reason I recommend everyone sell their startup is simple: you don’t get rich just by building a startup. You don’t get rich by creating one or even by being the owner of one. You only truly make money when you sell or exit the business. That’s the whole game.

I’m Jaryd Krause, host of the Buying Online Businesses Podcast. Today, I’m speaking with Ovi Schek, a 21-year-old entrepreneur and computer science student from Dhaka who has already exited two businesses.

During COVID, Ovi co-founded Get Grocery BD, an on-demand grocery delivery platform that was later acquired by Bipony in 2023. He then built Wisdomic AI, an AI-powered academic research tool that grew to more than 10,000 signups, 1,900 active users, and users across 50+ universities before being listed for sale on Acquire.com. Today, he’s building ArcLab AI and investing in small businesses, representing a new generation of acquisition-minded founders.

In this episode, we talk about how Ovi achieved his exits, how he valued a business without massive monthly recurring revenue, how he approached buyer conversations, and why he chose a buyer aligned with his vision over someone offering more money.

We also discuss what he learned from selling two businesses at such a young age, how he thinks about leverage, and why understanding your unfair advantage matters when building or acquiring companies.

If you listen to this podcast, chances are you want to acquire a business yourself. So do yourself a favor and dramatically reduce your risk of buying a lemon by downloading my due diligence framework. It’s the same framework I use with my clients. It has helped people make millions — and saved others millions. It’s completely free, and the link is in the description below.

Also, I’m actively looking to acquire businesses. I pay referral fees starting at $2,000 and up to anyone who refers me a qualified acquisition opportunity. If you or someone you know owns a business doing over $250K net profit per year and may be interested in exiting, send me a message or email me. I’m always happy to chat — no pressure involved.

Let’s dive into the podcast.

Ovi, welcome to the podcast — and congratulations on your exit as well.

You listed Wisdomic AI on Acquire.com and spoke with more than 50 buyers in a very short period of time. What was that experience like? Walk me through how you managed all those conversations simultaneously, what you learned from the process, and how you chose the right buyer.

“Thanks for having me.

Let me introduce myself a little bit. I’m Ovi from Dhaka. I’m still a computer science student at Daffodil International University, and I’ve been building things online since I was around 15 or 16 years old.

I became obsessed with the idea that you could build something from Bangladesh and sell it globally — to people in places like the United States or Canada.

Before Wisdomic AI, I built another company called Get Grocery BD, which we eventually sold to an e-commerce company in Bangladesh. That was my first exit.

With Wisdomic AI, though, we never intended to build it just to sell it. We were solving a real problem we personally experienced. In academic research, there’s something called a literature review, where researchers have to read huge numbers of papers to identify gaps and opportunities for new research. It’s incredibly manual and time-consuming.

We wanted to improve that process using AI.

One of the biggest reasons we eventually decided to sell was that most of the demand and research activity was happening in the United States, not Bangladesh. We felt someone with more resources and stronger networks in the U.S. could scale the platform further than we could locally.

At first, I didn’t want to sell. Wisdomic AI felt like my baby. But eventually, one of my friends suggested we list it on platforms like Flippa or Acquire.com just to see what interest we’d get.

So we listed it — and ended up receiving 52 inquiries from entrepreneurs around the world. Some wanted to acquire it, while others wanted to partner with us. Eventually, we sold the company because the buyer genuinely believed in our vision.”

So vision alignment was the biggest factor for you? You wanted someone who understood the mission and wanted to scale the company in the same direction?

“Exactly.”

Were there buyers offering more money who didn’t share that vision?

“Yes, actually. One buyer gave us a signed LOI, and after that, we received a higher offer. But the higher bidder wanted to scale the company very differently — mostly through aggressive performance marketing and strategies that didn’t really align with what we wanted the platform to become.

So we stayed with the original buyer because we believed they were the better long-term fit.”

I love that.

Now, Wisdomic AI had strong user traction — over 10,000 signups, 1,900 active users, and adoption across more than 50 universities — but it was still early-stage without massive revenue. How did you approach valuation conversations with buyers?

“Our startup was only eight months old, so we didn’t really have ARR yet — only MRR.

The acquirer mainly focused on our user base and retention. Researchers are very different from social media users. If they find a product they genuinely rely on, they tend to stick with it long term. That creates strong recurring revenue potential and lower churn.

That’s why the valuation conversation became less about current revenue and more about long-term retention and product-market fit.”

Were you comfortable sharing the financials publicly?

“We mostly sold institutional licenses worth around $9,000, while individual subscriptions were about $29 per month. We had around 300 paying individual users.

The institutional users were extremely active, while student users were more inconsistent depending on research cycles.”

And what multiple did you end up selling for?

“I’ve never really shared the exact number publicly. I usually joke that it was enough to buy half of a BMW M5.

I love BMWs — but honestly, I didn’t spend the money. My goal was always to use it toward studying abroad.”

That’s a smart investment.

You’ve now exited two very different businesses — a logistics marketplace and an AI SaaS company. What were the biggest differences between those exits, and what did you learn from the first one that helped you with the second?

“Before Get Grocery BD, I didn’t even realize companies acquired other companies.

During COVID, we built a logistics and grocery delivery platform because people couldn’t leave their homes during lockdowns. We also hired people who had lost jobs during the pandemic and gave them delivery work.

One interesting thing we built was a hub-and-spoke delivery system where one delivery driver would pass orders to another driver across regions. We developed custom software for that system.

Eventually, though, we realized logistics was extremely difficult and capital-intensive. Without outside funding, profitability was tough. So we decided to shut the company down.

Then the founder of Bipony reached out after finding me on Instagram. They loved our logistics software and acquired the technology.”

What made you realize you couldn’t scale Wisdomic AI further on your own?

“The biggest issue was funding.

I applied to Y Combinator eight times and got rejected every time. We received grants, but not actual investment funding.

To compete globally in scientific software, we needed serious capital. There are billion-dollar companies in this space already, and we simply didn’t have the resources from Bangladesh to scale at that level.

That’s why we believed someone in the United States with more resources could take the company much further.”

That’s incredibly self-aware. You recognized the limitations, protected the users, and ensured the product could continue growing under the right ownership instead of stagnating.

“Exactly.”

Now that you’ve gone through exits yourself, are you interested in acquiring businesses too?

“I don’t think investing is my strongest skill. I trust my own execution more than relying on other people’s execution.

But I did make a small strategic investment in a startup called Torobari.com, founded by a 16-year-old entrepreneur. It’s my first investment, so we’ll see how it goes.”

You also recently launched ArcLab AI. What are you building there?

“We’re basically an AI and software development agency. Since labor costs are lower in Bangladesh, we can build SaaS products and software for clients in the United States, Canada, and the Middle East.

Right now, we’re building a crypto exchange platform for a client based in Dubai. It includes crypto cards and stablecoin payment functionality.”

So the long-term plan is to continue building your agency while also studying abroad? “Exactly.”

Before we wrap up, what advice would you give to someone who has built a product but feels they can’t take it to the next level?

“Everyone has an unfair advantage.

For me, it was building products because I’m a computer science student and learned coding very young. Other people might have advantages in marketing, distribution, sales, or operations.

You need to identify your leverage.

Today, building software is easier than ever because of AI coding tools. The hard part is finding real problems worth solving and scaling products effectively.

And again, the reason I recommend selling startups is that you don’t truly make life-changing money by just building them. You make it through the exits.”

That’s the game.

One last question: what advice would you give founders preparing for an exit?

“Don’t try to build the perfect product first. Build an MVP.

Find co-founders with complementary skills. I focused on product development while my co-founder focused on marketing.

Acquirers and investors mainly care about product-market fit. The clearest indicators are user traction, retention, and churn rate. If those metrics are strong, you can negotiate very strong deals.”

Any final thoughts outside of business?

“Yes. Spend time with your family.

A lot of entrepreneurs think being productive means working nonstop. But eventually I realized that the time spent with people you love matters far more than another slide deck or another late-night working session.

Money can always be earned again. Time cannot.”

That’s incredibly wise — especially at your age.

Thanks so much for coming on the podcast. Where can people connect with you?

“I have a website called Opishek.com. You can find all my socials and contact details there.”

Awesome. Thanks again for coming on.

And to everyone listening — thanks for tuning in, and I’ll see you on the next episode.