Luca Restagno
@ikoichi43K followers
Software engineer turned solopreneur behind BlackTwist and Shipped.club
BlackTwist, Shipped.club, Latentcam +3$2.5K/mo
exit story · 2023 · saas founders
How Luca Restagno Sold Inboxs to Hypefury (2023)
Inboxs was built by Luca Restagno and sold to Hypefury in 2023. At the time of the sale it made ~$1K MRR (self-reported).
Key facts
- Buyer
- Hypefury ↗
- Year
- 2023
- Price
- Undisclosed
- Revenue at sale
- ~$1K MRR (self-reported)
- Years operated
- —
- Channel
- Direct sale
Why they sold: Twitter's new API pricing made the product unviable to run independently, so Luca Restagno sold rather than shut it down.
The story of Inboxs
Inboxs was a micro-SaaS for managing Twitter direct messages, built by Italian engineer Luca Restagno on the side of a full-time job after he noticed DM management pain points while growing his own Twitter audience.
In 2023 Twitter's sudden API price increase threatened Inboxs and his sister product Hivoe. Restagno sold both to Hypefury, a Twitter growth tool, saying the alternative would have been shutting them down. He reported Inboxs at around $1K in monthly revenue when sold.
Restagno went on to sell Userdesk in 2024 and later co-founded BlackTwist.
Lessons Luca Restagno shared
- 1.Platform risk is real; next time diversify or avoid depending on a single platform's API.
- 2.Set up each product with dedicated accounts from day one so hand-off to a buyer is quick.
Paraphrased from the maker's public posts and interviews (see sources).
The maker
See the Inboxs product page or Luca Restagno's full profile for everything they have built since.
Other exits by Luca Restagno
Userdesk
buyer undisclosed · 2024
Luca felt little founder-product fit: the product's audience barely overlapped with his own developer following, its positioning was unclear in a crowded market, and he preferred working on his Next.js boilerplate Shipped.club.
by Luca Restagno
Hivoe
→ Hypefury · 2023
Twitter's new API pricing made the business unviable almost overnight, so Luca Restagno sold it rather than shut it down.
by Luca Restagno
Related exit stories
Same buyer, category or sale channel as Inboxs.
Twitter's new API pricing, said to start at $42K a month, made the business unviable overnight and access could be cut at any moment. Dinh concluded that selling was the only responsible way to keep the product alive for customers.
by Tony Dinh
Zero BS CRM (Jetpack CRM)
→ Automattic · 2019
by Woody Hayday
Docparser
→ SureSwift Capital · 2018
Moritz Dausinger said his personal situation had changed and the risk grew as the business got bigger, and he had long seen a sale of a small-to-medium SaaS as an ideal outcome.
by Moritz Dausinger
Storemapper
→ SureSwift Capital · 2017
Tyler Tringas wanted to diversify his income away from a single business, lock in a win, and focus full-time on his next project.
by Tyler Tringas
Sources
- solopreneurtofreedom.com — solopreneurtofreedom.com/p/i-sold-my-4th-saas-product-how-and
- x.com — x.com/ikoichi
Facts are taken from the maker's and buyer's public statements and press coverage. Prices and revenue are shown only when publicly stated; self-reported figures are not independently verified.
Keep exploring
Inboxs acquisition FAQ
Who bought Inboxs?
Inboxs was acquired by Hypefury in 2023 from Luca Restagno.
How much did Inboxs sell for?
The price was not publicly disclosed. At the time of the sale Inboxs made ~$1K MRR (self-reported).
Why did Luca Restagno sell Inboxs?
Twitter's new API pricing made the product unviable to run independently, so Luca Restagno sold rather than shut it down.
How was Inboxs sold?
Inboxs was a direct sale: sold directly to a buyer, often a competitor, customer or acquirer that reached out.
What did Luca Restagno learn from selling Inboxs?
Platform risk is real; next time diversify or avoid depending on a single platform's API. Set up each product with dedicated accounts from day one so hand-off to a buyer is quick.