Looking to sell my cross-platform desktop app that has made $18K in the last 6 months

[jonas007]

Hey everyone,
I’m looking to either sell my app

Here’s a quick breakdown:

Revenue: $18,000 over the past 6 months

Profit Margin: 85-90%

Traffic: ~9,000–10,000 unique website visitors in 6 months (~10–50/day baseline, with spikes from Reddit posts)

AOV: $100–$120

Operational Costs: <$100/month

Sales Channels: Entirely organic , weekly Reddit posts and a few Facebook group affiliates. No paid ads or major marketing efforts so far.

Maintenance: Very low-touch. Mostly automated, with occasional customer support and maybe a minor update every 6–12 months.

Reason for Selling: I work full-time and, honestly, marketing just isn’t my thing. I haven’t made a real push to grow the app , mostly due to lack of interest and time. It’s a solid product with great feedback, but it deserves more attention than I’ve been able to give it.

User Sentiment: Overwhelmingly positive. Early on, there was a 2–3% refund rate (mostly in the first month), but there have been zero refunds in the past 4 months. A few users even repurchased just to support the project.

Target Market: B2B , agencies, lead gen professionals, local SEO providers, digital marketers.

What It Does: AI-enhanced lead generation tool with no ongoing API costs.

Tech Stack:

Website: Next.js, Vercel, Stripe, Resend, Cloudflare

App: Electron, React, TailwindCSS, with a commercial licensing system

It’s also structured in a way that makes transitioning to a SaaS model pretty straightforward.

The app continues to get positive feedback from users and runs at a very low cost. But aside from a few Reddit posts and affiliate mentions, I haven’t done much to promote it. I genuinely believe that someone with the right skills could scale it far beyond what I’ve done.

If you’re interested, whether in a full acquisition or as a potential partner feel free to reach out to me for more INFO !

 

[ActionMan]

Look, man, before anyone even thinks of writing you a check, the numbers gotta line up. Your Stripe screenshot shows €14k over ~7 months, which is about $2k/month gross. You’re pitching it as $18k in 6 months with an AOV of $100–120, but the math doesn’t support it. Stripe shows ~197 payments, which puts AOV at €71 (~$78), not $100+. Why inflate?.

Second, your traffic. You’ve got ~9–10k uniques in half a year, which is ~1.5k/month, and all of it is Reddit posts + a couple FB groups. That’s not a funnel, that’s a platform risk bomb. The moment Reddit bans your account or people stop upvoting, the whole thing flatlines. Do you own an email list? SEO traffic? Retargeting pixels? Or is the marketing strategy just copy-pasting links until one pops?

Third, the product itself. It’s an Electron desktop app. Cool for a hack project, but investors wanna buy SaaS with recurring billing, not single-purchase executables with piracy risk and no usage telemetry. Why hasn’t this been migrated to SaaS yet? How many users are active month to month? What % of buyers are repeat users vs. one-time experimenters?

Fourth, moat. AI-powered lead gen tools are commodity land. Apollo, ZoomInfo, Clay, PhantomBuster, and 50 GitHub clones all chew in this space. What’s the actual defensibility here? Is there proprietary data, or is it just another wrapper around scraping + GPT prompts? If tomorrow 5 indie devs from Upwork/fiverr/whatever launch clones on ProductHunt, what stops your tool from being irrelevant?

Fifth, valuation. At ~$2k/month gross, ~$1.7–1.8k net, you’re not selling a “business,” you’re selling a cash-flow side hustle. A generous SaaS multiple would be 2.5–3x annual profit, so ~$60k. But with desktop software, fragile traffic, no owned channels, and zero moat, that haircut drops this into the $25k range at best. What number are you expecting, and why?

Anyway, be real with us. Is this a legit acquisition play? or just a $2k/mo hustle dressed up for a $60k exit?

 

[jonas007]

The total revenue is around $18k, the stripe screenshot shows something around $16k and there around 2k$ in sales that we did on our partners platform. I appreciate you taking a close look at the numbers. You’re right that the average transaction value from the Stripe screenshot is lower than the current price point. That’s because we implemented a price increase a few months ago after the initial launch phase. We started at a lower price to build an initial user base and gather feedback. The AOV of $100-$120 reflects our current pricing and sales run rate,

If you read the reason of why i am selling it, it is because of not having a good marketing strategy and interest, if I was good at those things and able to scale it, I wouldn't be selling it. We have a bit of seo traffic but that is not enough. will probably try out paid ads if I don't sell.

I understand your skepticism about a desktop app in a market dominated by SaaS. However, our model is a deliberate choice and a core part of our unique selling proposition. We are not selling a monthly subscription, we are selling a one-time, lifetime deal. This is a deliberate strategy to attract users who are tired of paying recurring fee. Although we might introduce yearly plan.

The app is also well designed and with great UI and UX, our users really love it. It is better than any web app you are going to use.

The primary defense isn't a complex algorithm, it's our unique business model. Our one-time payment and lifetime deal attract a loyal user base that is tired of subscriptions. This pricing model creates a high switching cost that new competitors can't easily overcome. Furthermore, the app has been fine-tuned over six months based on direct user feedback, making it a well-honed tool that stands apart from generic clones. you would probably spend more than 15-20k$ to develop the app and the website at the current market.

The revenue is 18k over 6 month, so if you do the average it is $3k/month gross. While this started as a side hustle, it has grown into a profitable business with minimal overhead and overwhelmingly positive user feedback. I don’t believe it's productive to discuss a specific valuation number without first providing you with access to the website, the app, and other relevant information.

 

[ActionMan]

Alright, I get where you’re coming from, but there are still a bunch of holes here. Stripe shows ~€16k, you’re calling it $18k because of another $2k on a “partner platform.” That’s fine, but that’s unverifiable unless you show the ledger. Nobody drops real money on “trust me, bro.” Same deal with the AOV, you’re saying it’s $100–120 now because of a price bump, but unless you post the last 30–60 days of Stripe receipts, it’s just talk. Right now the numbers in front of us say €70–80.

And “I’m not good at marketing”, TBF I like your honesty, but let’s be real, that reads as “I tapped out Reddit and now I don’t know how to scale.” That’s not a moat, that’s a ceiling. The traffic engine here is fragile. If Reddit decides your account’s done, so is the business.

On the product side, calling the desktop model a USP doesn’t land. Yeah, lifetime deal makes people happy at checkout, but it kills LTV. You only get paid once per customer. And saying there’s a “high switching cost” because of lifetime pricing isn’t true. If I’ve bought your app once, I can still use Apollo or Clay tomorrow, nothing’s stopping me. Even if the users love the design, great, but it’s not defensibility. Every clone can slap Tailwind + React on a scraper and look sexy in 3 weeks. UI/UX isn’t a moat, it’s table stakes in 2025.

the $15-20k dev cost doesn't really matter here. Nobody values a project on what you spent to build it, they value it on what it’s earning and whether it can scale. Me personally, I hate cost-based valuations, sunk cost isn’t an asset.

The valuation dodge is the biggest red flag, though. “I won’t talk numbers until you see the app” usually translates to “I want you emotionally anchored on the shiny UI before I hit you with an inflated ask.” If this is a real deal, you should be able to say straight up, here’s the run rate, here’s the profit, here’s the multiple I’m asking. Transparency saves everyone’s time. If you’re not comfortable sharing that here, maybe Flippa or Empire Flippers is the better fit. idk.

And just to be clear, not trying to be harsh. I know what it takes to grind out something solo, the all-nighters, the stress, and getting it to any revenue at all is an achievement. But until those gaps are closed, what I see is a $2–3k/mo hustle with fragile acquisition and one-time sales. Solid little project, but not the scalable engine you’re trying to pitch it as.

 

[jonas007]

let's address these points one by one. I'm not here to finalize a deal on this thread(although it seems like what you are suggesting) or this forum; I’m here to provide a high-level overview for interested parties. This isn’t a due diligence phase, it’s an introduction. Your demand for a full financial ledger and Stripe receipts is not only premature but also completely inappropriate for this setting. If any one is interested, a confidential conversation is the next step.

You're viewing the business through a flawed lens. You call my marketing a "ceiling" but a serious investor sees it as a massive opportunity. There are many marketing windows that are unexplored and that could possibly be able to scale it enormously. Even with a low traffic it is still a profitable business with zero ad spend.

You're correct that a lifetime deal affects LTV, but you're missing the point. My customers aren't looking for another subscription. they're looking for a one-time solution. The switching cost isn't about the tech, it's about the financial commitment. Why would someone who bought my app for a single fee then pay a monthly subscription to a competitor? They won't. This is a business model I’ve proven works, having successfully sold three desktop apps in the last two years. You are debating a market reality that has already been validated many platforms.

For a potential buyer, that $15-20k represents a development cost they do not have to pay. The business comes with a complete, operational asset that would cost a substantial amount of time and money to replicate.

I'm not dodging a valuation. I'm following a standard and professional process. A serious discussion about valuation requires a potential buyer to understand the business on a deeper level, which includes seeing the product and its potential. Your demand for a number upfront is an attempt to anchor the discussion at a low point. I'm looking for a partner, not someone trying to devalue the business on a public forum.

Anyways thanks for the heads-up. It's good to know the forum police are on the case.
I’ve laid out the facts, I’ll let the other members who have more experience and a serious interest decide for themselves.