Terms in a Letter of Intent
The terms you will meet in an LOI, from purchase price and working capital to earnouts and exclusivity.
Read the guide →Resources
Resources for Your Sale
Guides to the documents you will see when you sell your company, and articles on getting ready to sell, finding buyers and negotiating a deal. Nothing here is legal advice. Review every document with your M&A attorney.
Terms in a Purchase Agreement
The binding contract for your sale, term by term: reps and warranties, indemnification, escrow and more.
Read the guide →Sample Indication of Interest
A one-page IOI template a buyer can fill in, with notes on when and how to use it. Download it as a Word file.
View the template →Rethinking the Indication of Interest
Our post introducing this IOI template and why we made it public.
Read the post →Articles
Lessons on getting ready to sell, finding buyers and negotiating, from founders who have been through it.
How to Hold a First Call
How to prepare for your first meeting with a qualified buyer: how to open, what the buyer will ask, and what to ask them.
Read More →What should I expect on my first Corp Dev call?
Initial conversations with Corporate Development teams are crucial and can either set a positive tone for the M&A process or cut it short. Don’t wing it—founders risk leaking significant value on these early calls. Be…
Read More →Want to sell your business for a strategic multiple?
An eight-step plan for selling to a strategic buyer, from your first list of potential buyers to closing the deal.
Read More →Most founders think too narrowly about who could acquire their company.
Yet, history is full of surprising M&A moves. Some examples – Facebook -> Oculus VR (2014): Expands into immersive experiences. – Under Armour -> MyFitnessPal (2015): Connects its gear with fitness tracking. – Microsoft…
Read More →🛑 Stop Making These 7 Mistakes
Founders often stumble on the same pitfalls when it’s time to exit. Here are 7 common mistakes—and how to avoid them: 1. Forgetting that deals are built on relationships People drive deals—not contracts. Start building…
Read More →Before you sell your startup, get your house in order
Getting Your House In Order Before embarking on the M&A process, it is important to organize corporate documents and agreements in advance. A clean and organized set of documents is a signal that your house is in order.
Read More →ExitHero.app Acquires Inorganic
The merger combines Paolo DiVincenzo’s M&A process, built into software as Inorganic, with ExitHero.app’s exit coaching from founders who have sold their own companies.
Read More →Want to nail your next big meeting with a potential acquirer?
Top performers use a simple strategy that most people overlook: the “Call Before The Call” (CBTC), a concept from Paul Swiencicki. Very few people do it, but those who do see a massive difference. The CBTC is a quick…
Read More →Avoid the “testing the waters” trap
As the great M&A expert Yoda once said, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” I often see founders falling into the “testing the waters” trap when selling their businesses. That’s a mistake. You either set out to sell your…
Read More →Map out your buyer’s final M&A approval process
Founders often make this mistake in the excitement of signing an LOI: Neglecting the buyer’s final M&A approval process. I recently spoke with a founder who signed an LOI with a large strategic buyer. He thought the…
Read More →“Where should I focus my efforts to cultivate strategic M&A interest?”
The first step is deciding where to focus your efforts to cultivate M&A interest. Here are the three key areas to prioritize (in order of importance): 1. Product Sponsorship Product leaders at the target company must be…
Read More →Stop Chasing Dead-End Enterprise Deals
Here’s a quick way to identify deals that won’t convert before you waste time on them. Imagine this scenario: 1. There’s an incumbent solution. 2. It’s not causing pain or frustration. 3. No one in the buying group says…
Read More →When should I tell my employees about an impending M&A transaction?
Deciding when to tell employees about an impending transaction is tricky. Your timing is critical. Announcing too early can impact productivity and morale as uncertainty about future roles sets in. You risk losing key…
Read More →How you know if a buyer is really interested in your business
Here are the 5 signals I pay attention to: Motivation and Timeline – Direct questions about why they want your business and when they plan to close the deal can reveal a lot. A serious buyer will be clear and specific…
Read More →Salvationist thinking
One fatal mistake many first-time founders make: waiting for a new hire, a new feature or a new investor to save the company.
Read More →“How Do I Talk to My Competitors?”
We often get asked this by founders considering their M&A options. Here’s a low-risk approach to start: 1. Initiate the Dialogue Frame the conversation as an informal networking opportunity. Suggest a meeting, like, “I…
Read More →The Unmatched Role of Founders in M&A
Why founders are the best people to explain the strategic case for acquiring their company.
Read More →Founder-led M&A: Insights from Three-time Exited Founder
Lessons on selling a company from Daniel Debow, a three-time exited founder (Helpful, Rypple and Workbrain).
Read More →Insights from 25+ Founders on M&A
I’ve recently spoken with 25+ founders about their M&A experiences. Here are 7 areas that are often overlooked when selling a business 1. Early Relationship Building: Begin nurturing connections with potential partners…
Read More →Cracking the ‘Top Five’
Every executive has a version of the ‘Top Five’ priority list that shapes their decisions, focus, and time. If your startup doesn’t address a ‘Top Five’ need, you’ll struggle to get traction. For founders, the mission…
Read More →What founders should know about getting acquired
Brett Goldstein, formerly with Google’s M&A team, has assembled a list of “21 things founders should know about getting acquired.” Brett’s full post is an insightful read for founders. Here are seven points that…
Read More →Your silent late-stage prospects should be your loudest wake-up calls.
40-60% of the time, the deal killer is customer indecision.* What signals are you getting that a prospect is committed to act? Anyone in enterprise sales or BD has experienced this pain: You “win!” You successfully…
Read More →Them > You
Most B2B pitches start the same, tired way: the “Company Overview” slide. Instead of: “Our customers are X, Y, Z.” Try this: “We spoke to three of your customers, and here’s what they said.” Instead of: “We launched in…
Read More →Startups are never sold to companies.
It’s people within companies who buy startups. People who are often taking huge career risks. So, founders should focus on: – Building trust with your deal’s champion. – Arming them with what they need to sell the deal…
Read More →Second-time founders have a big advantage in M&A.
But first-time founders can adopt their strategies, too. Here are six differences in approach that can make or break a successful exit: First-timers: Ignore premature interest from acquirers. Second-timers: Proactively…
Read More →A founder’s hardest and loneliest experience is often selling their business.
Selling a company is often the hardest and loneliest thing a founder does. Why we started ExitHero.
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