Peter Leonard @MyWorks. Selling my SaaS to saas.group

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love brought to you by https://saas.group/ . I’m your host Anna Nadeina, Head of Growth for saas.group. In this episode #1, we are talking with Peter Leonard, the founder of MyWorks ( https://myworks.software/ ), an automation tool syncing your data between WooCommerce and QuickBooks. Peter shares his journey about getting into an “unsexy” business industry at a very young age, the importance of being in total synch with the customers, getting ready for an exit, and post-acquisition plans.

(0:00:01) – Successful Business With Peter Leonard

I spoke with Peter Leonard, founder of MyWorks that recently became a part of the saas.group. We discussed Peter’s background and his journey to founding his business, and how he was inspired to come up with an idea to integrate QuickBooks, accounting, CRMs, and inventory management. We also talked about the importance of listening to users and how Peter pivoted his dev team to build a product to solve the real-world problems users had. Finally, we also discussed the idea of competitor research and how Peter chose to just work on his own solution.

(0:04:41) – Building a User-Centric Software Product 

We discuss the process of building and launching the product. We discussed the importance of staying focused on objectives and taking user feedback seriously. We also discussed the timeline of development and launching the product, and how the team was able to prioritize features. Finally, we discussed the custom development services MyWorks offers to users with very specific workflows.

(0:09:17) – Building and Scaling an E-Commerce Platform

I discussed with Peter Leonard his experience validating and creating the pricing strategy for MyWorks. We explored the importance of offering one pricing tier to users, while competitors had multiple pricing boxes with different features and limitations. We also discussed the value of partnering with other platforms and scaling the sales team in order to meet customer needs. Peter shared how his team focused on building the product, as well as marketing and SEO, to achieve success and scale.

(0:17:06) – saas.group Acquires MyWorks 

Peter Leonard shares his experience of entertaining offers and the process of going through due diligence for an exit strategy for MyWorks sales products. He explains why he chose to partner with the saas.group instead of raising capital and his vision for the long-term growth of the company. Peter emphasizes the importance of finding a partner that values the same vision and treats the acquisition as a partnership.

(0:27:36) – Smooth Acquisition and Accelerated Growth 

Peter Leonard and I discuss the experience of his team being acquired and the transition process of becoming part of the saas.group. We explore the importance of the team staying together and how it was a dream come true scenario for them. Peter shares what the experience meant for him personally and how it allowed him to have more time to spend with his family. We consider the positive outcome of the acquisition and how it has enabled the team to grow, bring on additional resources and have plans to continue to grow their product. Peter reflects on the journey and the motivations that kept him going.

(0:35:40) – SaaS Founder Exit Advice 

Peter Leonard, the founder of MyWorks sales products, spoke about the considerations for an exit strategy. He shared his experience of determining the primary driving factor for his decision to exit, and how transparency helped to create a stable relationship with the acquiring company. Peter emphasized the importance of understanding one’s motivations and playing off of those when considering an exit. He also expressed his hopes for other small and medium-sized SaaS founders to have success with their products.