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I think anyones answer to "Do I want to sell my company right now?" is mostly going to be "It depends, what's the offer?" There are of course circumstances where people absolutely do not want to sell their company, but for the rest of us... it depends.
I think anyones answer to "Do I want to sell my company right now?" is mostly going to be "It depends, what's the offer?" There are of course circumstances where people absolutely do not want to sell their company, but for the rest of us... it depends.
(My personal experience is that these partnerships never live up to their hype, but my feeling is that one time out of a hundred they give the company a huge boost.)
I once worked for a company that was acquired - the founder wanted to cash in on his success and retire early. In the first all-company meeting after the closing, the CEO gloated over how cheaply he was able to get us. That was really grating. The advice about watching for unsavory tactics is spot on.
I think anyones answer to "Do I want to sell my company right now?" is mostly going to be "It depends, what's the offer?" There are of course circumstances where people absolutely do not want to sell their company, but for the rest of us... it depends.
It's that "it depends" that initiates the chain of events that PG is cautioning against. Judiciously reining in curiosity when history has demonstrated it to be a fruitless endeavor and a distraction is the message of this essay.
"Yeah, that'll be $50 million..."
Then when they push back or ask for more info, just more or less repeat that and say you're too busy managing your growth to spend more time on it unless they're willing to move forward with an offer on paper. Just turn the whole thing around. If they go away, you're done (which will probably happen 99.9% of the time). If not, maybe you'll actually get it.
You could even pull the exploding term sheet trick backwards on them. "We wouldn't be interested in less than (insert biggish number here), and we'll need a response in two weeks." (Obviously word it more politely.)
I think anyones answer to "Do I want to sell my company right now?" is mostly going to be "It depends, what's the offer?" There are of course circumstances where people absolutely do not want to sell their company, but for the rest of us... it depends.
>Do not enter acquisition talks unless you are ready to sell your company. Negotiating an acquisition is the most distracting thing you can do in a startup: going through M&A is an order of magnitude more distracting than raising money. All of your ability to run the day-to-day operations of your company will grind to a halt. You should only enter an acquisition process if 1) you are certain you want to sell the company and 2) you are likely to get a price you will accept. Don’t talk to potential acquirers “just to see what price you can get.”
[0]http://justinkan.com/the-founders-guide-to-selling-your-comp...
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"Why are you talking to someone from corp dev?" "That is why." "What is why?" "They are the group within companies that buys other companies."
I think this is good advice, especially considered that corp dev could also be seen as a kind of corporate espionage program.