Managed marketing analytics & reporting
The work: data collection, reconciliation, dashboard upkeep, recurring report production.
We protect: trusted reporting, integrations, and the accountability customers pay for.
● Now shambling toward your cap table
Zombie Rollup
Durable SaaS never dies.
It just gets acquired turned.
We acquire software and software-enabled businesses whose customer demand is stronger than their operating model. We pay founders a premium, take over, and rebuild the machine without breaking what customers love.
The thesis
The product isn't dead. The body is.
We don't buy obsolete products. We buy durable products trapped inside an unnecessarily expensive operating model, where customers keep paying despite the machine, not because of it.
Why do customers stay?
A great answer.
Years of renewals. Deep integrations. Trusted outputs. A relationship we could never build from scratch.
AliveWhy does delivering it cost so much?
A bad answer.
Manual reporting, repetitive production, heavy onboarding, duplicated systems. Work we know how to deliver far more efficiently.
UndeadThat gap is the deal. Because we find the improvement before we buy, we can pay founders a premium for it.
Case file 001
The undead playbook
Workflow-led, evidence-first, and very patient. Public research gives us a hunch. Conversations and real operating data tell us whether it's a meal.
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01
Sniff
One workflow at a time.
We hunt inside workflows we know how to transform, looking for companies with loyal customers and a delivery model that costs far more than it should.
-
02
Bite
Prove it, then pay up.
Before we buy, we measure the real work: volumes, costs, quality, exceptions. Once the improvement is proven, we make a premium offer on normalized EBITDA.
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03
Turn
New body. Same soul.
We change how the work gets done, never what customers value: the trusted outputs, the integrations, the relationships, the accountability.
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04
Feast
Wildly profitable. Held forever.
Margins rise without betting on heroic growth. Each fix gets reused across the horde, and we never flip. The horde only grows.
0+years operating, with customers who keep renewing
~0%gross revenue retention or better
0workflow at a time. Focus beats sprawl.
∞year holding period. The undead are patient.
Case file 002
Hunting grounds
Where we're sniffing first. These are hypotheses to investigate, not accusations. Plenty of great companies in these spaces already run lean.
Software-enabled ad production & ops
The work: creative variations, resizing, localization, campaign setup, QA.
We protect: brand knowledge, campaign outcomes, approvals, and distribution relationships.
Product catalog & commerce-data ops
The work: attribute enrichment, categorization, feed maintenance, listing QA, exceptions.
We protect: reliable product data and the retailer and marketplace workflows it lives in.
Vertical software with service-heavy onboarding
The work: data migration, configuration, document processing, recurring customer admin.
We protect: the core system and its role in customers' daily work.
Not “pure SaaS”? Still interested. We welcome software-enabled recurring services, and we value subscriptions, retainers, and project work honestly for what each one is.
The acquisition box
What we crave
- Roughly $2M – $15M in annual revenue, excluding pass-through amounts like media spend.
- Roughly $250K – $2M in normalized EBITDA, with real, positive cash generation.
- 5+ years operating, with customers who have renewed again and again.
- Recurring or reliably repeat revenue, with gross revenue retention around 90% or better.
- Founder-controlled, with an owner ready for their afterlife: retire, build something new, or stay on with backup.
- A specific, testable path to materially higher earnings that doesn't depend on heroic growth.
Starting criteria, not a cage. We flex for the right business.
Gives us indigestion
Obsolete products · every customer needs custom development · “overhead” that's really the expertise customers buy · businesses that need three more acquisitions to work
Wanted
Living scouts
Fractional CFOs · software-focused accountants · implementation firms · cloud providers · M&A advisers & brokers
The referral brief
You see them before we do.
We're looking for established software or software-enabled businesses with customers who keep renewing, but where delivery, onboarding, reporting, or internal operations remain labor-intensive. We acquire and operate companies. We're not selling consulting.
Brokers: show us businesses with good customer economics that other buyers struggle to underwrite because the delivery model is too operationally demanding. That's exactly our kind of meal.
Owner-authorized introductions only. Please never share confidential client information with us.
Send a referralSurvivor questions
Questions from the living
Are you a consulting firm?
No. We acquire companies and operate them for the long haul. We're not selling a transformation project. We're buying the business and living with the results.
How can you pay a premium?
We do the homework first. When we can see exactly how the economics improve without touching what customers value, we can pay for that future up front, based on normalized EBITDA.
Will you eat my team?
We don't buy companies to gut them. We buy them because customers love what your team delivers. We change how the work gets done, not what customers value, and we'll walk you through our operating plan before you sign anything.
Are you going to flip my company in three years?
Never. We're buy-and-hold-forever. Your product, your customers, and your legacy get a permanent home in the horde.
Do you only buy pure SaaS?
No. Software-enabled recurring service businesses are very much on the menu. We'll value subscriptions, retainers, project work, and pass-through spend for what each one actually is.
Why “zombie”?
Because the products aren't dead. The operating models are. We give great products with loyal customers a new body, and they keep walking for a very long time.
Is this conversation confidential?
Sealed in a crypt. We'll happily sign an NDA before you share a single number.
Feed the horde
Great customers? Clunky machine?
We're hungry.
Customers who never leave, and a machine that costs too much to run? Send us the scent: your website, rough revenue and EBITDA, and the workflow that eats your margin. Share only what you're comfortable sharing.
hello@zombierollup.comConfidential. NDA-friendly. Zero bite pressure.