The firm advises founders against delaying foundational work. Investing early in preemptive quality of earnings reviews or employment practice audits builds a solid infrastructure that instills confidence in future investors or buyers, leading to better outcomes.

Don't wait until you want to sell to think about acquirers. A key strategy is to treat potential buyers as a target audience. Actively market your company's narrative and successes to the specific people who could eventually buy you, drastically speeding up a future M&A process.

A successful exit is a highly choreographed dance, not an abrupt decision. Founders should spend years building relationships with line-of-business leaders—not just Corp Dev—at potential acquiring companies. The goal is to 'incept' the idea of an acquisition long before it's needed.

Initial lowball acquisition offers can feel defeating, forcing a founder to abandon the exit dream. This forces a necessary shift to building a sustainable, long-term business. This new focus, ironically, is what makes the company far more attractive to acquirers in the future.

For companies with a complex story, such as one built through multiple add-on acquisitions, the preparation for sale should begin a year before going to market. This lead time is essential for a banker to help consolidate disparate data, create a clean 'customer cube,' commission market studies, and coach management on the pitch.

From a buyer's perspective, founders should sell after they have demonstrated a strong growth trajectory and hit an inflection point. Pitching a 'hockey stick' forecast without historical proof is less compelling. Waiting until you have proof of the upswing optimizes both value and strategic interest.

A highly effective exercise for exit preparation is to analyze the diligence request lists and memos from other firms that have previously evaluated your company. This reveals common patterns in buyer questions and concerns, allowing you to proactively address them long before you officially go to market.

Founders who wait until they need to sell have already failed. A successful exit requires a multi-year 'background process' of building relationships. The key is to engage with SVPs and business unit leaders at potential acquirers—the people who will champion the deal internally—not just the Corp Dev team who merely execute transactions.

The common advice to wait for an inbound acquisition offer is often pushed by VCs whose incentives are to chase massive, fund-returning exits. This advice misaligns with founders, who may benefit from a proactive selling process that secures a life-changing, albeit smaller, outcome.