6 ms·

Is it considered expected, permitted conduct for founders to lie about reasons to sell and personal emergencies to deceive and pressure acquirers? Can someone

Is it considered expected, permitted conduct for founders to lie about reasons to sell and personal emergencies to deceive and pressure acquirers? Can someone who lacks that mindset or skillset perhaps, still successfully sell their startup?

resiros 4y ago
I'm not sure if it was even useful in this case. One day's delay is highly unlikely to have led to the deal failing. Therefore, I don't think this mindset/skillset has anything to do with selling a startup. As a matter of fact, I believe that the CFO was aware that the founder was lying.
goodJobWalrus 4y ago
You’d be better off the hire a broker / M&A firm do deal with this on your behalf.
- rjzzleep 4y ago
  How much do they pocket?
  - makestuff 4y ago
    https://masource.org/a-summary-of-ma-fees-for-sell-side-transactions/ https://masource.org/a-summary-of-ma-fees-for-sell-side-tran... I was curious as well and most sources I found point to a similar structure above. Basically the more money they get, the bigger the fee, and then there is some sort of retainer to cover their costs.
matwood 4y ago
> lie about reasons to sell Are you talking about the partnership first strategy? That's pretty standard and how companies get to know each other. > personal emergencies to deceive and pressure acquirers There's plenty of gamesmanship during an acquisition - particularly a large company swallowing a small company. The big company can get bogged down, requiring the small company to stay the squeaky wheel to get the deal done. In this case the acquirer could have easily waited until Monday.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
arcturus17 4y ago
I'm brutally honest, often to my detriment in commercial activities. But as far as BS goes, "I have an urgent thing on Friday so we need to close today" is not too terrible IMO. His urgent thing on Friday might have been getting the fuck out of the country to celebrate the sale in the midst of an economic downturn. Almost legit?
exhibitapp 4y ago
Maybe it's just me, but I don't exactly consider this lying, with all the negative connotations. It's just applying pressure. No different than a b2b SaaS salesperson saying they need to close a deal by x date to receive a "special" discount. It's all made up, it's just part of the game
brudgers 4y ago
Doing business means dealing with ordinary bullshit. Enjoying business means being ok dealing with ordinary bullshit. With the caveat that ordinary bullshit means different things in different contexts. Haggling is ok in the casbah. Not in the Apple Store.
ensignavenger 4y ago
How do you know it was a lie? The article never said that they didn't have an urgent personal matter the next day. The partnership thing was more holding their cards close rather than laying them out on the table. A sell is a form of partnership. Of course I don't know exactly hat was said or how it was said or the circumstances, but the article does not indicate that either of these things were necessarily lies.

resiros 4y ago

I'm not sure if it was even useful in this case. One day's delay is highly unlikely to have led to the deal failing. Therefore, I don't think this mindset/skillset has anything to do with selling a startup. As a matter of fact, I believe that the CFO was aware that the founder was lying.

goodJobWalrus 4y ago

You’d be better off the hire a broker / M&A firm do deal with this on your behalf.

rjzzleep 4y ago
How much do they pocket?
- makestuff 4y ago
  https://masource.org/a-summary-of-ma-fees-for-sell-side-transactions/ https://masource.org/a-summary-of-ma-fees-for-sell-side-tran... I was curious as well and most sources I found point to a similar structure above. Basically the more money they get, the bigger the fee, and then there is some sort of retainer to cover their costs.

matwood 4y ago

> lie about reasons to sell Are you talking about the partnership first strategy? That's pretty standard and how companies get to know each other. > personal emergencies to deceive and pressure acquirers There's plenty of gamesmanship during an acquisition - particularly a large company swallowing a small company. The big company can get bogged down, requiring the small company to stay the squeaky wheel to get the deal done. In this case the acquirer could have easily waited until Monday.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

arcturus17 4y ago

I'm brutally honest, often to my detriment in commercial activities. But as far as BS goes, "I have an urgent thing on Friday so we need to close today" is not too terrible IMO. His urgent thing on Friday might have been getting the fuck out of the country to celebrate the sale in the midst of an economic downturn. Almost legit?

exhibitapp 4y ago

Maybe it's just me, but I don't exactly consider this lying, with all the negative connotations. It's just applying pressure. No different than a b2b SaaS salesperson saying they need to close a deal by x date to receive a "special" discount. It's all made up, it's just part of the game

brudgers 4y ago

Doing business means dealing with ordinary bullshit. Enjoying business means being ok dealing with ordinary bullshit. With the caveat that ordinary bullshit means different things in different contexts. Haggling is ok in the casbah. Not in the Apple Store.

ensignavenger 4y ago

How do you know it was a lie? The article never said that they didn't have an urgent personal matter the next day. The partnership thing was more holding their cards close rather than laying them out on the table. A sell is a form of partnership. Of course I don't know exactly hat was said or how it was said or the circumstances, but the article does not indicate that either of these things were necessarily lies.