One-man contextual spelling, style and grammar checker that plugged into web editors such as TinyMCE. Raphael Mudge launched it in June 2009 and Automattic bought it that September, weeks later, for an undisclosed sum.
This database tracks 190 Developer Tools exits, and the ones that disclosed a price sold at a median of $23,000. Category matters more than founders expect: buyers apply different discount rates to a content business, a mobile app and a B2B tool even at identical revenue.
From founding to sale took 3 months. Time to exit is a decent proxy for how built-to-sell a business was: shorter, cleaner processes usually mean documented operations and fewer surprises in due diligence.
See how this compares across the market on our market stats page, or browse more Developer Tools exits.