Exit Right: How to Sell Your Startup, Maximize Your Return and Build Your Legacy

by Mert Iseri, Mark Achler

Before you sell your company, even the odds.

While a successful entrepreneur may exit a handful of companies in their lifetime, large buyers close deals all the time. Without decades of experience in mergers and acquisitions, founders don't have the tools they need to get the best results for themselves, their teams, or the new parent company.

Through dozens of interviews with M leaders at the biggest Silicon Valley acquirers—as well as attorneys, bankers, and founders who have been through the trenches—Exit Right delivers the hard-earned lessons that lead to successful exits. From negotiation to valuation to breaking down a term sheet, managing legal costs, and handling emotional turbulence—this unparalleled guide covers every critical aspect of a technology startup sale.

Learn where deals get into trouble, how to create alignment between negotiating parties, and what terms you should care about most. Above all, learn how to win in both the short and the long term, maximizing your price while positioning your company for a legacy you can be proud of.

Genres: Business, Startup

294 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 15, 2022

Reviews

[Nate Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is in the same vein as Venture Deals. The proposition is that technology company exits are shrouded in mist. Few folks want to talk about them, either on the buy side or on the sell side. And thus, getting reliable information about norms and best practices is challenging, if not impossible. This book does elucidate those practices. It provides you with a hearty vocabulary. And even concludes with checklists of things to watch out for in the terms of the buyer's agreements and letters of intent.

The book, however, is dogmatic. They firmly believe that successful exits in the technology industry involve long term relationships, symbiosis, and trust. There's no win/lose when it comes to an acquisition. Similar to Venture Deals for those pursuing fundraising, Exit Right is a must-read for anyone thinking about selling their technology business. And while I think the book could have gone into more detail on various exits, especially those that do not follow their specific regimen the book does a good job at keeping to the point and keeping business book bloat low. Overall, a good read.

[Tej Dhawan · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent walkthrough

The exit process is unscientific and unpredictable. The authors do a great job of preparing the reader for the exit, walk through the activities, guide and counsel at each step, and end with the responsibilities that accompany celebration. Wonderfully written and complete.

[Eric Futoran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read but not as proactively as magic box paradigm

[Joe Born · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great technical guide to exits, but for me it was so much more. It’s a book that restores faith in people and Entrepreneurship,

“ Finally, play the long game. Most founders don’t stop with their first venture. You are hopefully going to be around for many more decades to come. How you treat people will always be remembered. Your reputation precedes you and lingers after you for a long time.”

If this advice came from naive, new entrepreneur, it would be easy to shrug off, that’s not the way it works in the real world, you might say, but to have it come from experienced real world operators (and investors) it’s a reminder that behaving well also works! Thanks to Mark and Mert for bringing so much of their personal philosophy to bear in this book.