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I'd like to have a software product for my consulting company. I have no idea what, but I figure there's got to be a lot of "dead" software products and failed businesses out there that people have given up on, or decided they didn't have the time to work on.

Where can I find these people so I can acquire their software product from them?

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Dead software is often dead for a reason. Also, hiring a programmer to work on code written by someone else is often slow and expensive. You might be better off starting from scratch and hiring someone to write software for you. – Kekito Dec 22 '11 at 20:50
Possible duplicate of answers.onstartups.com/questions/33278/… – Zuly Gonzalez♦ Dec 22 '11 at 22:08
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@Zuly - it is a somewhat different question. This person wants to buy one piece of IP - a set of source code - not an undeveloped or failed business. It is probably similarly viable as an idea, though. – user2757 Dec 23 '11 at 5:05

6 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

I'm not sure if there's a metaphorical "recycling bin" of failed start-up ideas.

I might try looking at the list of startups that came out of each YCombinator class, or some other startup incubator. Find a list from a year or two ago and try contacting the companies you've never heard of. They probably failed.

After that, your best bet might be going really far back in the answers.onstartups.com archives and looking for questions about big issues that software startups were having. Try contacting the poster of the question and see if their startup ever resolved the issue, or if it just failed.

Those would be the first place I'd start since it's a fast and free way to find people from all over. If that doesn't work, I'd try networking or getting to know areas where entrepreneurs have been hanging out for awhile. Ask about companies that might have failed recently and see if you get any leads.

It's an interesting idea. Good luck!

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up vote 3 down vote

You didn't specify whether you're interested in web-based software or desktop software.

For websites, there are plenty of marketplaces: https://flippa.com/, ebay (http://www.ebay.com/sch/Businesses-Websites-for-Sale-/11759/i.html?_armrs=1&_mdo=Business-Industrial&_mspp=&_pcats=12576&_sop=1), http://www.buysellwebsite.com/, http://www.webmastersmarketplace.com/, http://www.ebizbrokers.com/, http://www.businessbroker.net/ has section for internet and software.

When it comes to non-web software (desktop windows/mac, iphone, android etc.) I'm not aware of any centralized market like that. And without further clarification on your part it's hard to even suggest smaller communities to look at. I'm sure not every software is attractive to you e.g. if you're a skilled C# Windows developer, then acquiring Mac OS X software or Windows software written in Caml wouldn't even be on your radar.

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up vote 1 down vote

The key thing for me is why did the business with that software product die? You would need to be very critical as to whether it was the commercial or technical side that failed. The early part of startup does a survival of the fittest process by market selection.

But certainly you raise that old question of what ratio of value is held in the product implementation and in the idea itself.

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up vote 0 down vote

Try looking at abandon ware sites and contacting the last known publisher.

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up vote 0 down vote

Re: @Krzysztof's answer, the range of types of products and platforms that are possible is extraordinary - ranging from smartphones and embedded software to enterprise applications. You say "I'd like to have a software product for my consulting company" - it sounds like you want this as "social proof" for your company in order to promote your consulting services. Unless the product is extremely well aligned with the area of your consulting, I really don't see how this could support your consulting business. In fact it sounds like a huge distraction from everything else that needs to be done.

However, I get tired of answers that say "you're asking the wrong question" so assuming that you have your reasons for doing this - a few random thoughts:

Developers, like other independent business people, tend to attribute too high a salvage value to their abandoned products and efforts. I would not expect to find many bargains. I'd expect to find bargaining dynamics somewhat like trying to buy an obscure domain name from a squatter.

So much software dies because the platform shifted away from it and the developer had no intention of porting it. So the DOS or Windows 3.1 or Windows 95+Win32s API code may require so much reengineering (as already pointed out in the thread) that it is not worthwhile to re-use it directly.

I will surmise that software that was not abandoned only because of OS platform shifts suffered from at least one of the following problems:

  • Too late or otherwise uncompetitive - it missed market windows and no longer made sense to sell (this happened to a couple of products that I developed for past clients - they kept adding features and the market window whizzed right past.)
  • Was not the right product - it did not address a problem that anyone really wanted to pay to solve. (Again, I have experienced this as a software contractor.)
  • Was marketed and/or positioned very poorly - it was being marketed to the wrong groups, or was not differentiated properly. (Ditto - this is fairly common too.)

I will also guess that the most viable acquisition target would be a business related (B2B) product that is written in a relatively modern language like .Net or using a neutral platform like C++ with Qt. It would fit the last description above the best - it could have been sold successfully as a product but the owner did not market it competently.

I would surmise that this combination of characteristics would also make for the most expensive acquisition. People usually know what they have in hand already.

Lastly, to find such products, you will probably have to market your need to groups of ISVs, and make yourself known as someone who has the budget and willingness to buy such a product's assets.

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> too high a salvage value to their abandoned products -- i've experienced that. A few years back there was an abandoned piece of shareware I liked, was $50 a copy and he killed it because it didn't sell. I offered him $500 up front for ownership of the code, plus $20 per unit sold as long as there was still a line of his code in the deliverable. He didn't take it because he seemed to think I'd be ripping him off somehow. Meanwhile, his web site vanished and I doubt he ever sold another copy. – user11476 Dec 23 '11 at 0:22
up vote 0 down vote

MergerNetwork.com is another business-for-sale type site that has been around for a while. Not all software and not usually internet software types. I think its listed under Business Services - Software on the site.

I think most software business sales are actually asset sales, meaning the sale of the software - just to avoid liabilities.

As I see it you have 2 challenges. First, as a consulting business you may be locally limited and may want local software and customers. (You may pick up some customers with the purchase). Second, you need to be able to evaluate the software you will buy - including forseeing what problems you will have and what needs to be done.

Just be sure you have a solid plan for how you will combine your current business with the new software - unless you want to transform to the software business entirely. Good luck.

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