An experienced negotiator would see the offer of $10m as a positive buying signal and counter with $34m cash, on the table now. Then they blink and so it goes

An experienced negotiator would see the offer of $10m as a positive buying signal and counter with $34m cash, on the table now. Then they blink and so it goes on. A good operator would most likely get a couple of million more. Not bad for a couple of hours of bargaining. BTW at 5%, the startup would need to generate in excess of $200m in dividends for the founder and that implies revenues in excess of $1b - how long is that going to take? And this analysis ignores discounted cashflow which only ups the target numbers.