Alex Bouaziz's core M&A principle, learned from his father, is to optimize for long-term satisfaction over short-term leverage. Even when holding the upper hand in negotiations, he structures deals to be fair for both sides. The goal is for both the acquirer and the acquired founder to look back in five years and feel the deal was a great outcome, ensuring better integration and alignment.

An investor's best career P&L winners are not immediate yeses. They often involve an initial pass by either the investor or the company. This shows that timing and building relationships over multiple rounds can be more crucial than a single early-stage decision, as a 'missed round' isn't a 'missed company'.

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.

Instead of focusing on transactional details, Milliken's M&A lead connects with founders on an emotional level. By understanding their ultimate vision, he frames the acquisition as the fastest path to achieving their dream, a question that has proven highly compelling and effective in closing deals.

Sourcing proprietary deals, especially with family-owned businesses, is an exercise in long-term cultivation and relationship building. It requires regular engagement, demonstrating how the buyer will preserve the target's legacy, and patiently waiting for the right moment, with the goal of being the first call when the seller is ready.

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.

After skillfully negotiating two offers and nearly doubling the price for SiteAdvisor, Chris Dixon felt he had maximized the deal. However, the acquiring CEO later revealed his board had authorized a price twice as high, a humbling lesson that a seller rarely knows the buyer's true willingness to pay.

The reality of selling a company is not a simple transaction. It's a grueling, months-long process that functions as a demanding second job for the founder, who must keep it secret from their team while simultaneously running the core business at full capacity.