Job Board SEO Arbitrage

Andrew shares how he bought and optimized We Work Remotely, a job board from Basecamp, showing how simple improvements to an underoptimized business can lead to massive returns.

Key Points:

• Initial Purchase:

  • Bought We Work Remotely for 3-4x earnings
  • Previous owners (Basecamp) weren't focused on marketing or optimization
  • Site was charging $199 per job posting

• Simple Optimizations:

  • Immediately raised price from $199 to $299 to match competitor pricing
  • Hired SEO consultant and implemented SEO strategy
  • Started email marketing campaigns

• Results:

  • Business went from $400k profit to $4M EBITDA
  • Required only 2 employees and 1-2 part-time contractors
  • Extremely low operational complexity
  • Could run autonomously for months without intervention

• Key Advantages:

  • Previous owners had other priorities ($100M ARR SaaS business)
  • Buying from distracted owners creates opportunity
  • Simple business model with high margins
  • Minimal operational requirements

The business demonstrates how buying an underoptimized asset from owners with different priorities, then implementing basic improvements, can create significant value with minimal operational complexity.