Jatin Arora spent years of his life building not one product, but two. The first taught him what the market wanted. The second proved he could deliver it.
He and co-founder Sameer Sanagala started Utilize in late 2019 with a simple but ambitious idea: software should adapt to the business, not the other way around. After an early pivot, that vision became Notion Apps, a no-code tool that lets small businesses create custom apps on top of their Notion databases. The product found real customers, generated real revenue, and solved a problem that thousands of teams ran into every day.
But after six years of continuous building, Jatin and Sameer made a decision that takes more self-awareness than most founders expect. The first listing didn’t land. Once it was rebuilt, it helped lead to a successful exit on Acquire.com.
The story of how they got there, and what made it work, is worth paying attention to.
The Frustration That Started Everything
The idea behind Utilize started with a frustration that Jatin and Sameer had watched play out across businesses of every size. Software was too rigid. A CRM looked the same for every company, regardless of how that company actually worked. The tool dictated the process, not the other way around.
So in late 2019, they set out to fix that. Utilize.app was their first attempt: a no-code platform that let users build apps directly on top of spreadsheets. No coding required, no technical background needed. Just a faster, more flexible way to turn data into something useful.
The product ran for about three years and revealed where the real opportunity was hiding. Notion had become the go-to workspace for thousands of small businesses, but its database interface was never built for smooth data entry or client-facing use. That gap was exactly the opening they needed.
As a result, Notion Apps became the pivot. Same core vision, sharper focus, and a much clearer problem to solve.
A Fix That Became a Foundation
Utilize’s flagship product solved a real problem for a specific kind of user. Small businesses and agencies already ran their operations on Notion, but the database interface never worked well for client-facing tasks. Giving clients direct access created confusion and exposed far more than anyone wanted.
So Jatin and Sameer built a no-code layer on top of it. Teams could create custom apps where each client saw only their own data. Their projects, their tasks, nothing else. Clean, simple, and easy to set up without any coding.
Marketing agencies, garages, and educational institutions all started using the product. But the biggest surprise was how deeply users built on top of it. Some customers created apps with thirty or forty screens, each one running a different part of their business. What started as a simple fix had become something much bigger.
The Growth Playbook Nobody Talks About
Getting Utilize in front of the right people took some trial and error. Jatin and Sameer tried several channels early on, but most of them brought traffic without bringing customers.
Reddit was the first to move the needle. Instead of posting about the product directly, he found threads where his ideal users already gathered and joined the conversation. Within Reddit’s strict moderation rules, that approach brought in the first real customers.
Over time, SEO became the primary growth channel. By the time they listed the business, organic search drove most of the traffic and most of the signups. No paid ads, no complex funnels. Just content that reached the right people at the right moment.
That lean, compounding growth built a solid customer base and made the business easier to hand over. And after six years of keeping that engine going, Jatin and Sameer started asking a harder question.
When Letting Go Is the Right Move
The harder question wasn’t whether Utilize was working. It was. The business had happy customers, steady revenue, and a product that kept improving. The question was whether Jatin and Sameer were still the right people to take it further.
Six years is a long time to build without a real break. By the time they sat down to have an honest conversation about the future, exhaustion was already part of the answer. But there was more to it than that. The no-code market was shifting fast. AI was changing what users expected, and the rise of vibe coding was reshaping how people thought about building software.
Even if the reality didn’t match the hype, the perception was enough to move markets. Waiting too long meant selling into a headwind instead of a tailwind.
There was also a practical consideration. An early investor had put money into the business, and that commitment needed resolving before any sale could move forward. Once they worked through it, the path became clear. Utilize deserved someone who could pour real energy into it, and once Jatin and Sameer had that clarity, the next step was finding the right place to list.
How Acquire Turned Interest Into Offers
Jatin had been following Acquire.com since its early days as MicroAcquire. He even remembered voting in the poll to rename the platform. So when the time came to list, the choice felt natural.
The first listing was underwhelming. Jatin and Sameer didn’t have enough data points in place, and the listing reflected that. Even so, it generated interest, which told them something important: the demand was there, but the listing needed work. That’s where Acquire’s team stepped in. Working alongside the platform’s support, they rebuilt the listing from the ground up. The second version included a full P&L, detailed analytics, LTV, CAC, and churn calculations.
They also created a living Q&A document, a single file where they logged every question buyers asked and answered them in full. When new buyers reached out, they shared the document straight away. It saved time on both sides and signaled to serious buyers that he had nothing to hide. The response was immediate. Buyers came in fast, conversations moved quickly, and the right offer didn’t take long to surface.
The Right Buyer and the Stripe Problem
With serious buyers in the pipeline, Jatin and Sameer weren’t looking for the highest offer. They were looking for the right fit. Some wanted access to the code without a clear plan for the product. Others were still figuring out the basics. Neither felt right to him.
The buyer who stood out moved fast and made his intentions clear from the start. That speed and conviction mattered more than a few thousand dollars in either direction. But closing the deal came with an unexpected obstacle.
Utilize was registered in Estonia, and the buyer was based in the US. After weeks of back and forth, they hit a wall: Stripe doesn’t allow changes to the country of origin on an existing account. The situation only resolved after they reached out directly to a senior leader at Stripe on X.
Hard lesson learned: Stripe migrations deserve their own checklist long before the APA is signed.
What Are Utilize’s Learnings From The Exit:
Looking back, Jatin’s advice is practical and grounded in experience. It comes in two parts: what happens before the listing, and what happens after the APA.
- Price it right from the start: Listing too high kills momentum. A realistic price attracts serious buyers and creates competition that can push the final number up.
- Put everything on the table: P&L, analytics, LTV, CAC, and a living Q&A document tells buyers you have nothing to hide and keeps conversations moving forward.
- Divide your transfer list into critical and non-critical: Focus on what can block the deal first. Google Workspace, domain transfers, and payment infrastructure move before everything else.
- Don’t underestimate Stripe: If your company and your buyer are in different countries, sort out the migration details long before the deal closes.
The through line across all of it is the same. The more prepared and transparent a founder is, the faster and cleaner the exit becomes.
What’s Next
The acquisition isn’t fully complete yet. A final payment comes through in May, and Jatin is holding off on celebrations until then.
As for what comes next, he’s sitting comfortably with not knowing. Biology and hard tech have caught his attention, and he’s following that curiosity wherever it leads. Open to learning, open to new challenges, open to whatever comes next.
For founders who want that same clarity before they list, Guided by Acquire is where that conversation starts.
Jatin closed one chapter and is already letting the next one find him. Listen to the full episode on YouTube and follow the guest: