4 Important Lessons I Learned Trying to Sell My Startup
The exit from a business is just as important as the startup phase
Sixteen months.
That’s how long it took me to finally exit the business I co-founded.
It was stressful and led to a lot of sleepless nights. There were periods of intense negotiating. Weeks of silence. Lawyers, accountants, mediators.
There were times when I thought it would never be done. A few times when I was ready to throw it all away and walk away without a cent. Fits of anger and frustration.
Welcome to the world of trying to sell your share of a startup.
The false Hollywood view
If you watch any TV or movie about a startup, you will see they all follow the same plot.
Struggling genius has a brilliant idea. Genius pitches the brilliant idea without luck. Genius starts business out of a garage.
It has a few ups and downs, perhaps a love story, and eventually, the business gets Series B investment or goes to IPO, and the genius becomes mega-wealthy.
This very rarely happens — as all aspiring entrepreneurs are repeatedly told — 90% of all startups fail. But for this article, let’s assume your…
