Citesure · B2C · fake citation checker for students
Answer a big startup's creator DM by offering to sell them your app
CEO call the next day; acqui-hire closed 4-5 months later
Workedexit-ma
What they did
Citesure solved a narrow slice (fake citations) of the problem Jenni AI solves, so Jenni understood it instantly. Jenni's account DMed the Citesure Instagram (which showed clips of a friend) to recruit the 'creator'; Matt replied with an eyes emoji offering 'one better' if they wanted an acquisition, saying Jenni had been an inspiration. The CEO offered a call right away; they spoke the next day and he made a first offer on that call. Closing took 4-5 months of lawyers and UK tax work. Advice: pick the acquirer on the founder and culture you'd learn from, not the product.
What happened
Acquired by Jenni AI (an acqui-hire); Matt now runs Jenni's UGC program.
- Stage
- Exit
- Effort
- 4-5 months from first DM to close
In their words
The Superwall Podcast · Matt Gittleson - Our app makes $750k/mo thanks to this UGC strategy“I've drilled down, exactly like you say, on a really specific element of it that they a problem they really understand, a solution they understand, and it makes it much easier to have that conversation.”
“On on that very first call when we spoke, David kind of made the first offer, which was different in February”
Related topics
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