They Bought First Business At 21 For $4K And ‘Exited At 6 Figures.’ Now Say You Don’t Need An MBA, A Huge Budget, Or Experience To Do It
- Personal Finance
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- 5 minutes read
At 21 years old, they weren’t chasing degrees or pitching startups. Instead, they bought a small, cash-flowing software-as-a-service business for $4,000 and turned it into a six-figure exit.
“A lot of people think you need hundreds of thousands of dollars, an MBA, or 10 years of experience to buy a business,” they wrote on Reddit’s r/Entrepreneur recently. “That wasn’t my experience at all.”
No Fancy Background, Just Action
The business was a niche academic research tool that helped students find sources for their papers. It was already making about $500 a month in revenue. “Nothing crazy,” they said, “but it was real revenue.”
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They said the original owner needed fast cash, and the business likely would have died if it had been held onto. They bought it, improved it, and within a year, exited at six figures. “Lot of ups and downs and overall just consistency,” they added.
Since then, they’ve bought five more businesses, each under $10,000. None were startups from scratch. “The business already exists,” they said. “Customers are already paying. There’s way less uncertainty compared to starting something new where you’re testing everything from zero.”
They emphasized that execution matters more than credentials. “What actually matters isn’t being rich or ‘qualified,’” they said. “It’s more about finding decent deals, being willing to take action, negotiating the right price and keep on iterating.”
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Other Buyers Shared Similar Stories
Many commenters chimed in to confirm similar experiences. One shared they bought a business for $10,000 because the seller needed to move abroad after a divorce. Another said they started a pest control company for under $15,000 and nearly hit $1 million in revenue five years later.
Others, though, urged caution. “People buy failing businesses (often times not realizing they’re failing) and can’t turn them around and they’re out of money,” one commenter wrote.
Still, the takeaway from the thread was that there are overlooked, profitable micro-businesses for sale if you know where to look. Some recommend checking platforms like Acquire and Reddit subs like r/insideacquisitions or r/saasforsale. Some even use X to find deals.
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