Have you ever sold a bankrupt app?

Viktor · 2024-08-14T18:20:51.198Z

Hi guys. I’m taking a look at platforms like Acquire and Flippa and I’m thinking on solving my issue, which is the client owning about U$11k for me and 2 other developers by selling the whole app, with its data.

I was wondering if this is a common thing around this, as most Bubble apps are built by third parties? If you did or know a case where it happened, could you share with me so I can organize it correctly?

In my case, I was thinking on asking just the value we lost, instead of what the platforms say it’s worth. I know they spent between $23612 and $39612 just on development. It seems he made $42768 on the absolute worst way (instead of using the platform he built).

The app itself is a mix of Yelp’s first versions (restaurant reviews) and Groupon, with 3 dashboards (b2c, b2b, and admin) and 7 API’s. It has 1.3M lines of “bubble code”, 700k US business records, 70k reviews from 16k users, and 602 signed businesses on the free plan waiting to be shown around.

georgecollier · 2024-08-14T21:18:29.727Z

What happened? Client paid you to develop an app, they didn’t pay up, but you technically control the app in Bubble and trying to work out how to recuperate your costs?

emir.ozgun · 2024-08-14T21:57:20.402Z

İs this possible ?

GH5T · 2024-08-15T03:11:18.218Z

This is why we setup contracts and require deposits.

In the contracts just say you own the app until all invoices are paid up.

brett8 · 2024-08-15T11:13:11.651Z

As others have stated, your options depend on whether you actually own the app or not. If you do, technically you can do what you want with it and selling it as an “incomplete app” may be attractive to an acquirer if they are looking to build something similar and the price you are looking for is less than what it would cost them to build something from scratch. Any acquirer would need to be 100% comfortable that you own the app as part of their due diligence.

If you don’t own the app, then you would need to chase your client for payment. Withholding client access to the app until final payment is received is a traditional approach but again this should be covered in any agreement you have with the client.

Viktor · 2024-08-15T16:32:45.564Z

Thank you for all your concerns. Yes for all. I’m just looking to see if it’s a common thing to sell the app to pay up developers.

Yes, I do own the app and indeed the client didn’t pay the full amount. We’re at about 70% paid with the app on version 4 already working. Man just freaked out on a weekend and started firing everyone without paying, including Bubble, Algolia, rent agreements. Basically threw a successful app away.