For the acquirer of SignHouse, this is what they’re getting:
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Product
- The eSignature product, of course, which is compliant with eSignature laws. I can consult at any given point in the future on this, as we’ve researched the hell out of it, so subject to my human limitations, I’ve researched as much as I found online regarding the topic.
- 2+ years worth of product development with what we believe is craftsmanship, high attention to detail, but subject to your interpretation: [https://lets.usesignhouse.com](https://lets.usesignhouse.comhttps://lets.usesignhouse.com).
- A clean codebase, very low amount of bugs, proven by the plethora of customers who buy, interact continuously with the product (self-serve) and do not contact us. Stack: Django (so Python), React + NextJS, Typescript
- Integrations with Zapier and Pabbly Connect. Since these are set up, it’s easy to connect to others e.g. Pipedream, Hubspot, Make.com, etc
- Mobile-ready - SignHouse has been built from day 1 with mobile responsiveness in mind. We wanted to be lean and not have to maintain iOS/Android/etc apps, so we’ve built every new feature with responsiveness in mind.
- Some advanced features e.g. the signing page is available in 30+ languages, documents can be password-protected, etc.
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Very lean operation:
- Low running costs/operating expenses (w/o developers): $[REDACTED]/mo. Domain has been paid for 5y in advance.
- Very reasonable customer support load, as people may ask questions in the early phases (if at all), but they mainly self-serve and interact with the product by themselves later on. We only hear about a % of the customers
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A stellar reputation:
- Capterra:
b. G2 (incl. a high performer badge):
c. TrustPilot:
d. Reviews from users e.g.
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User base:
- [REDACTED] total users. [REDACTED] purchases
- LTD customer are usually seen as a liability. With SignHouse, a product with a viral loop, we think LTD customers help achieve the ‘escape velocity of the viral loop’ faster. Combine that with low costs of running ($[REDACTED]/mo).
- By escape velocity I mean: there’s no point in having a good viral coefficient if the foundation is a low customer base. A minimum of a customer base has to be reached for that viral loop to truly kick in. Hence our decision to sell LTDs.
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Domain reputation:
- DR of 61 on ahrefs.
- Plenty of high-quality backlinks: 8 wikipedias + articles or news (not forum posts or etc) from e.g. Hubspot, Business Insider, Inc.com, Yahoo, USAToday, etc. Valuable for a properly-executed SEO strategy.
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Content:
- 900 to 1,000 clicks per day (as per GSC), but at its peak, 2k to 3.9k clicks per day. Can be brought back there.
- 337 blog posts, 124 “tools” pages, 46 “industries use case” pages, 38 comparison pages, 500 FAQs
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Sub-apps made for utility or for growth (users, leads) :
- 100+ contract templates, free to download, some adapted to specific countries (e.g. US, UK, Ireland, Australia, etc). Available in PDF, DOCX or G Docs format.
- An “editor in browser” sub-app - see example
- Online signature maker
- Separate sub-functions apps for PDFs e.g. merge PDF, rename PDF, convert, crop, etc. They exist as standalone apps on these pages for SEO+growth purposes. Our plan was to eventually merge these into SignHouse
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Emails: besides the user base, [REDACTED] emails from content marketing, [REDACTED] from lead magnets
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Maybe obvious to point out, but you are getting the time you would have taken to do all the previous if we were to start today from scratch: product, reviews and reputation, a head start in the eSignature space, 2 years
Reasons why you may not want to buy SignHouse
To be completely transparent and honest, this is what you don’t get OR why you may not want to acquire SignHouse:
- Profitability. As an acquirer, you may have to invest further in development - an aspect which is embedded in the price. Whether you choose to stay at cash flow the company (it’s profitable this way) or not (and invest either at breakeven/etc), I have to share this to be 100% transparent.
- Help base or documentation for how to use the product. We have articles there, but I believe they could be improved - which may further reduce customer support
- The Signhouse.com domain - see above.
- SEO hasn’t been in updated in some time. We believe there is a head start here (i.e. it’s not as if one is starting from ground 0), but it does need a refresh so as to signal to Google that the website is active