Zero to $1.1B from Flipping Websites | Starter Story

August 20, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Thomas Smale started flipping websites from his college dorm room for $100 and eventually built FE International, a brokerage that has facilitated over $1.1 billion in online business transactions. His path from zero capital to eight-figure deals reveals a systematic approach to buying and selling businesses that can be replicated at any scale.

Starting with Nothing

In 2008, Smale was a broke college student looking for ways to make extra money without working a traditional job. He discovered he could buy established websites—businesses that already generated revenue—and resell them at a profit. His first deal: buying a website for $100 on his credit card, getting it to produce a small monthly income, and selling it for $500 by the end of the month. The pressure was real—if he hadn't sold it, he would have been stuck with credit card interest he couldn't afford.

"I was paying off my credit card by physically selling," he recalls. The constraint of having no money became the engine of his learning. He wasn't trying to make a living from these tiny flips; he was teaching himself the process of valuation, negotiation, and exit execution.

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What you'll learn

1 (01:29) **From Dorm Room Domain Flipping to $1.1B in Sales** - Thomas introduces his journey from buying his first website for $100 on a credit card to founding FE International, an M&A firm that now regularly closes eight-figure transactions.
2 (03:28) **The Accidental Birth of an M&A Firm** - Thomas explains how he went from selling a course to building a full-service M&A business because no one else was serving the small-to-medium online business market.
3 (05:55) **The First Hire and the 80/20 Rule** - Thomas describes the critical moment he hired his first two technical employees and how a data-driven approach forced him to stop doing low-value work.
4 (09:36) **How to Find Your First Business to Buy** - Thomas gives practical advice for beginners on sourcing deals, emphasizing human connection over technical tricks.
5 (11:08) **The Three Pillars of a Great Business** - Thomas breaks down the specific characteristics he looks for when evaluating a business for acquisition or sale.
6 (12:48) **The First Eight-Figure Deal that Changed Everything** - Thomas shares the story of the first time FE International sold a business for over $10 million and how it compounded their success.
7 (14:21) **M&A Commission Structure and Valuation Multiples** - Thomas clarifies common misconceptions about how brokers get paid and how small businesses are actually valued.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Zero to $1.1B from Flipping Websites

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In this episode I talked to Thomas Smale in his New York City Office to get his story and some advice on how to buy and sell businesses. He's done over $1B dollars in sales without even knowing how to develop a website, and he shares his advice on how to flip businesses, how to negotiate, and how he would start again if he had $0 dollars. This is a perfect episode for anyone who is hesitant on starting a business, and would rather buy one and build it from there.

0:00 - Intro 0:49 - Getting into M&A 2:50 - Self-taught website flipper 4:17 - How he started an M&A firm 5:40 - Using the Pareto Principle to make more money 6:36 - How to buy a business 8:02 - How to spot good businesses 9:46 - Selling a $10M+ business 10:41 - How he got the 8-figure deal 11:23 - How much profit he makes per deal 11:56 - How to value a business 12:56 - Buying a business VS starting one 14:26 - How to negotiate 16:33 - How to buy a business from scratch

🔎 Find Thomas 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/ThomasSmale 💼 Website - https://feinternational.com

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Disclaimer: This podcast is published by a viewer using content from Starter Story's YouTube channel with the goal of making his valuable insights more accessible to those who prefer audio formats, helping more people discover and learn from the insights shared in his videos. It is not an official production of Starter Story. For any requests from Starter Story, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

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------------- Keywords: startup journey, startup stories, passive income, startup founder, revenue stories, make money online, business podcast, bootstrap startup

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