❓ Problem

A founder spends three months interviewing customers, sketching a product and building a prototype. Then a different opportunity comes along. The project goes into a folder, the domain keeps renewing, and all that work becomes expensive digital clutter.

Meanwhile, another founder is opening a blank document to tackle the same problem. They might happily pay for the interviews, the prototype and a straight answer about what went wrong. Finding that work, judging its quality and arranging a clean handover is the hard part.

There is already a market for buying a head start. Acquire.com reports more than 2,000 startups sold and over $500 million in closed deal volume. Those are the platform’s own figures and cover business acquisitions, not a measured market for abandoned ideas. But they show founders will buy something another founder has started.

The harder question is whether buyers will pay for projects before they have meaningful revenue. ReFound should test that directly, rather than assume every abandoned app is a hidden gem.

✅ Solution

A curated marketplace for unfinished projects with an unusually honest listing.

• Sell a defined package. A listing spells out exactly what changes hands: domain, repository, designs, research summaries, test results and documentation. A vague paragraph about a promising market doesn’t qualify.
• Show the evidence. Separate customer statements, actual payments, waitlist signups and the founder’s own assumptions. Show when the research happened and what failed.
• Explain why it stopped. “I got a job” is different from “we spoke to 30 buyers and nobody would pay.” Both belong in the listing.
• Make the handover useful. Include a walkthrough call, setup instructions, running costs and a clear list of dependencies the buyer must replace or transfer.
• Check the package. Review ownership evidence, test the demo and flag missing materials. Describe exactly what was checked; a review badge should never imply guaranteed demand.

Start with small B2B software projects from solo founders and teams that have pivoted. Buyers can filter by industry, technical stack, asking price and evidence available.

The first product can be a manually curated catalogue. The real work is preparing listings people can trust.

📊 Key Numbers

Market evidence

Acquire.com’s reported transaction volume supports the broader acquisition category. At the smaller end, Microns displays completed sales with reported exit prices as low as $1,000–$2,000. These are platform-reported examples, not independently audited transactions or a reliable price guide for ReFound.

SideProjectors already lists side projects, including pre-launch and pre-revenue products. That validates an existing supply channel and makes the competition clear. ReFound needs to improve buyer confidence and handover quality, rather than simply add another listing page.