Build, buy,
and grow.
Whether we start a product from a blank page or take over one someone else built, the job stays the same: understand what customers pay for, cut what they don't, and make the business run without heroics.
Build
We start products where we see a customer problem worth solving and a business that can run cleanly from the first day. Copilot101 is the first company we built this way.
We build in markets we know, around problems we have seen firsthand. If we have not watched a customer lose time or money to a problem, we are guessing at it, and guessing is an expensive way to start a company.
Running cleanly from the first day comes down to support and delivery. Support is planned before launch. Delivery is documented and repeatable, so the product reaches every customer the same way and never depends on one person remembering how it works.
Copilot101 has not launched yet, and building it has already taught us two things. Understand customers where they are today and where they hope to get to, because the product has to meet the first and lead to the second. And ask the market what it needs early, then keep asking.
Buy
We acquire businesses selling digital products in the technology sector, often with one product and a few thousand customers. Our first acquisitions are ahead of us, which works in an early seller's favor: your business gets our full attention.
The detail on what we look for, and how a sale actually runs, is below.
Grow
We give every company the same operating discipline and AI leverage, scaled to fit. We will hold some businesses for many years. Others will reach a point where a different owner can take them further, and we will say so plainly. Either way, customers keep what they paid for.
The kind of business
we're built to own.
Specific criteria save everyone time. If your business fits most of this, we want to hear from you. If it doesn't, we'll tell you quickly.
$100k to $1M in annual revenue.
Subscriptions, one-time sales, licensing, and courses all work. We don’t buy drop-shipping businesses.
Profitable today, or at break-even with a clear path to profit.
Solo founders, small teams, and contractor setups. We will take on employees, and the founder does not need to stay on after the sale.
No technology limits. We are stack-agnostic, and an older codebase does not rule a business out.
US-based businesses preferred. We are open to sellers based elsewhere.
Businesses, consumers, or both. We will consider concentrated revenue, and look at it closely.
At least three years in operation.
What we don't buy.
Saying this plainly is worth more than a longer list of what we do buy.
Businesses that resell someone else’s product.
Restaurants, retail, and anything built on inventory, a storefront, or goods to ship.
Businesses whose traffic or product relies entirely on one marketplace, app store, or another company’s API.
Products still looking for their first customers. We want at least three years of operating history.
Businesses that sell mainly because of the founder’s personal following. That revenue tends to leave with the founder.
Adult content, gambling, crypto, supplements, and other heavily regulated categories.
From first email
to closed.
Selling a business you built is a big decision. The least we can do is be clear about what happens next, and when.
Our first acquisitions are still ahead of us, so the timings below are our targets. If a deal runs behind them, we will tell you early and explain why.
First conversation
Send a short description of the business and a few numbers: annual revenue, profit, and how long it has been running. No formal documents yet. We reply within three business days, and our first reply comes from the founder, by name. The first call covers the business and why you are selling. By the end of it, you will know whether it fits what we buy.
Early review
About 1–2 weeksIf it fits, we sign an NDA and take a closer look: monthly revenue and profit for the last two to three years, where customers come from, and how many of them stay. You will not need to prepare anything new. Exports from the tools you already use are fine.
Offer
Within a week of the reviewWe send a written letter of intent with a price, a deal structure, and a proposed timeline. We walk you through how we got to the number.
Diligence
About 3–5 weeksWe confirm what the early review showed. Expect to share tax returns, bank and payment processor statements, key contracts, access to the code and hosting, and your customer-facing policies: terms, privacy, and refunds. Listing them here lets you gather them before we ask.
Close and transition
About 30 days of handoverLawyers on both sides finalize the purchase agreement, and payment moves through escrow. After close, we ask you to stay available for about 30 days to answer questions and hand over accounts. On day one, customers should notice nothing: same product, same support.
Most deals should take 60 to 90 days from first email to close.
What changes,
and what doesn't.
Too many micro-businesses change hands and quietly decay because the new owner bought the revenue and neglected the work. We bring the same operating rigor to a business with one product and a few thousand customers that we would bring to a far larger company, scaled to fit.
Whoever owns a business next, its customers keep what they paid for. That commitment does not depend on how long we hold it.
What changes
- Ownership and accounts. Billing, hosting, domains, and tools move to Foundry Leap. We handle the transfers.
- Books and reporting. Every business gets monthly books and a clear view of its numbers.
- Support and delivery. Documented and repeatable, to the same standard we build our own products to.
- The tooling. We bring AI tools where they make support faster and operations lighter.
What stays the same
- What customers paid for. Existing licenses, subscriptions, and purchases are honored.
- The product’s name and identity. Customers keep the product they chose, under its own name.
- Support. Customers can reach someone at least as easily as before.
Boring on purpose,
with AI leverage.
Clean books, documented processes, dependable delivery. The unglamorous work is where the value gets created, and where most owners stop. Nobody frames a well-written refund policy, yet it is one of the first things a buyer asks to see.
Every company we own runs on AI from day one. The best professionals we know use it to take on work that used to sit out of reach for a small team.
In practice, AI already does real work across Foundry Leap. It speeds up our research on markets, competitors, and the businesses we evaluate. It helps write Copilot101’s course material. It works alongside us on code and product development, and it helps with testing and quality checks before anything reaches a customer.
The first 30 days
Every company we acquire gets the same start:
- Access secured. Every account and password is transferred and locked down.
- Policies reviewed. We review the refund policy, terms, and privacy policy, and fix what needs fixing.
- A baseline dashboard. Revenue, churn, and support volume, tracked from the first month.
Thinking about what
comes next for your business?
You'll get a plain reply, and a quick answer either way. No queue, no broker in the middle.
Start a conversation