Exiting Gracefully By far, the most successful exit events are calculated and initiated right from day one and are executed through focused engineering and sales/business development activities. In my experience, the best exits are through acquisitions and are fostered, over a tight period of time, with key strategic partners and focused technical and sales integration. They are big. You are small. You have something they may need. Go find out right away, by reaching out to their world headquarters on day one, not in year three! As the great Yogi Berra said, ‘If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up somewhere else.’ When you have only 12–36 months to gain market leadership, never have there been truer words. — Albert Behr , President & CEO at Behr & Associates
As shown in the figure from Seraf Compass, there are good and bad exits. Sometimes it is far better to create an early exit or fail fast, rather than to continue pouring money into the company.
The Seraf Compass Exit Timeline Model
Dividend, Royalty or Buy-Back
Large Acquisition
Early Exit
Successful IPO
Time
Fail Fast on Seed Only
Fail After Multiple Angel Rounds
Fail After Angel + VC Rounds
Zombie Cash-Flow Positive but Slow Growth
Source: Seraf Compass
Mike Volker of VANTEC cautions: “Rather than have Angels push for an exit, I believe it’s better to support the entrepreneur’s vision. Some entrepreneurs may be happy with a $10 million exit and that may be their plan. Others may want to build empires. It’s good to have Angels back both!”
How to Achieve Good Returns
93
Powered by FlippingBook