5 ms·

How long did the process take for you? From getting the word out until sale? Once you had an offer, how long did due diligence take?

cbtacy 5y ago
I've sold 4 startups. Median time from starting the process to close was 6 months, with the quickest transaction taking 2.5 months and the slowest almost 9 months. Diligence ranged from 3 weeks to 7 weeks. Fastest transactions were private company acquisitions. Slowest were public company deals.
- anonymouse008 5y ago
  Curious: were there any takeaways for the question "what to build for what outcome"? As in, was there an association with time building + time in market = greater sales price? Did Higher Free Cash Flow or Higher Growth lead to a better ratio (cash v stock) for offers? Very curious -- four successes is quite the batting average
  - cbtacy 5y ago
    Ironically (or perhaps interestingly), none were built for the actual outcome. The first, third, and fourth were all built with the dream of IPO in mind. The second was built as a lifestyle business. Yeah... the batting average is why I've never done a fifth. I wanted to pull a Sandy Koufax and go out on top.
- mendigou 5y ago
  Wow that seems relatively quick. If you're comfortable, can you share the size of these sales and their geography?
  - cbtacy 5y ago
    All were less than $250M, all were US companies being sold to US-headquartered companies.
tmcz26 5y ago
From the time we decided it was time to sell (for real, not just theoretically) until the money was in the bank, almost 18 months. It took us 2 months to find an advisor, then another 3-4 months building the deck and investor material (cashflows, projections, etc). We put up a bid, so we had some 8 companies interested at first and we narrowed that down to 3. That process was LONG, but that is what gets better valuation - competition. After we signed the term sheet it was another 6 months due to regulation and legal quirks, due to the acquirer being a public company. Those were the longest 6 months of our lives :)

cbtacy 5y ago

I've sold 4 startups. Median time from starting the process to close was 6 months, with the quickest transaction taking 2.5 months and the slowest almost 9 months. Diligence ranged from 3 weeks to 7 weeks. Fastest transactions were private company acquisitions. Slowest were public company deals.

anonymouse008 5y ago
Curious: were there any takeaways for the question "what to build for what outcome"? As in, was there an association with time building + time in market = greater sales price? Did Higher Free Cash Flow or Higher Growth lead to a better ratio (cash v stock) for offers? Very curious -- four successes is quite the batting average
- cbtacy 5y ago
  Ironically (or perhaps interestingly), none were built for the actual outcome. The first, third, and fourth were all built with the dream of IPO in mind. The second was built as a lifestyle business. Yeah... the batting average is why I've never done a fifth. I wanted to pull a Sandy Koufax and go out on top.
mendigou 5y ago
Wow that seems relatively quick. If you're comfortable, can you share the size of these sales and their geography?
- cbtacy 5y ago
  All were less than $250M, all were US companies being sold to US-headquartered companies.

tmcz26 5y ago

From the time we decided it was time to sell (for real, not just theoretically) until the money was in the bank, almost 18 months. It took us 2 months to find an advisor, then another 3-4 months building the deck and investor material (cashflows, projections, etc). We put up a bid, so we had some 8 companies interested at first and we narrowed that down to 3. That process was LONG, but that is what gets better valuation - competition. After we signed the term sheet it was another 6 months due to regulation and legal quirks, due to the acquirer being a public company. Those were the longest 6 months of our lives :)