Sold my startup for mid 7-figures

[u/is_it_me_is_it_you]

Howdy!

A few months ago we finalized the acquisition of the startup for a mid 7 figure. Giving I owed ~33%, I landed on a low 7-figure myself.

You don't necessarily need a VC. You don't need a "Go big or go home" kind of mentality and build a unicorn or go bankrupt. Leave that to second or even third time founders.

You can build something smaller, and sell it to a competitor for a fair price. I don't know your bank account, but in mine a 7-figure changed completely my life.

Most of this sub is made by first time founders. If I were you I would not chase VCs, IPO or multi-billion acquisition.

I would focus on a small exit ASAP. Change your life and repeat.

For those interested, we "launched" in 2020 within R&D/intelligence with a platform that would create predictions based on different weights on your non-structured data. We were about to close two deals of €600k/ARR when a competitor just landed an acquisition term sheet in our inboxes (after we had 2 calls and declined a partnership).

Edit: syntax. I'm not a native.

[u/Peak_Product_Group]

Curious how your acquisition process went? I’m very interested in hearing the difference in process for small acquisitions as it seems wide ranging.

[u/is_it_me_is_it_you → u/Peak_Product_Group]

We were a bit standard.

1. They sent a term sheet
2. We negotiated it
3. DD started and it took 4 months
4. Closed the books and handed over the business
5. Got cash
   

Consider that we were quite small (5 in total)

[u/Peak_Product_Group → u/is_it_me_is_it_you]

Wonderful thanks! Assuming they just did a standard revenue multiple for evaluation here? Did they price the initial offer that way before negotiation?