Revenue is largely a function of marketing effectiveness/marketing spend coupled with a minimum product/market fit. If someone has a legit internet software product bringing in $500k a year, they'd have to be pretty silly to sell it for $1.5M - unless they're really desperate for cash or hit a scale/product/market/ops ceiling they cant crack.

Capital is free flowing at the moment and a legit revenue-generating, valuable, scalable business shouldn't have to cash out this early or this low.

This 3x yearly earnings is mentioned quite often. But I can't believe anybody is selling for this. Maybe for 5x if you are in need of money. And in times of zero interest rates this 3x thing sounds even more unbelievable.