A Founders Guide To Selling Your Company

1. MSMichael Seibel0:00

   When investors have a lot of demand in investing in you is probably also-

2. DCDalton Caldwell0:05

   Yeah

3. MSMichael Seibel0:05

   ... when acquirers will have a lot of demand.

4. DCDalton Caldwell0:07

   Oh, okay. Yep.

5. MSMichael Seibel0:08

   And so it's this tricky catch-22 where you're like, "Why would I ever sell my company?" And you shouldn't sell your company if you think that S-curve could get you to billions in revenue.

6. DCDalton Caldwell0:16

   Yeah, you're basically making a bet, and if you think it'll be more valuable, you shouldn't sell.

7. MSMichael Seibel0:20

   Yes.

8. DCDalton Caldwell0:20

   And if you think that maybe-

9. MSMichael Seibel0:22

   If your S-curve gets you to [laughs] 50 million in revenue and you're at 10-

10. DCDalton Caldwell0:26

    Yeah

11. MSMichael Seibel0:26

    ... maybe there's a better deal there. [upbeat music] This is Dalton + Michael, and today we're gonna talk about how to sell your company. [laughs]

12. DCDalton Caldwell0:36

    I mean, look, this is one-

13. MSMichael Seibel0:38

    It's easy. It's easy. [laughs]

14. DCDalton Caldwell0:39

    This is one of those topics that, um, there's not a lot of content out there about.

15. MSMichael Seibel0:44

    No.

16. DCDalton Caldwell0:44

    Uh, we did not make many videos at YC about how to sell your company. I put this-

17. MSMichael Seibel0:48

    You're not supposed to sell your company. You're supposed to die [laughs] building your company.

18. DCDalton Caldwell0:52

    So I'd put this in the category of a question that a lot of people have-

19. MSMichael Seibel0:56

    Yes

20. DCDalton Caldwell0:56

    ... they're afraid to ask-

21. MSMichael Seibel0:58

    Yes

22. DCDalton Caldwell0:58

    ... about.

23. MSMichael Seibel0:59

    Yes.

24. DCDalton Caldwell0:59

    And that it's, it's sort of underexplored, um, in the content universe.

25. MSMichael Seibel1:04

    Very underexplored. I would also argue that, as a result, there are so many misconceptions. Seeing the number of fundraising announcements that are out there, I think one would assume there are far more acquisitions than there are. And now we kinda have a, a decent data set.

26. DCDalton Caldwell1:21

    Yes.

27. MSMichael Seibel1:21

    Right? [laughs]

28. DCDalton Caldwell1:22

    We do. We have like an okay data set. [laughs]

29. MSMichael Seibel1:25

    We might be able to confirm there aren't as many acquisitions as you might think. [laughs]

30. DCDalton Caldwell1:30

    Yep.

Episode duration: 31:20