Andrew Gazdecki explains why founders should sometimes take a lower acquisition offer. An all-cash deal that closes fast beats a higher price with financing contingencies, inexperienced buyers, or earnouts. He'd choose 10-20% less money if it meant the deal actually closes.
You get into due diligence, you sign the LOI, you're getting super excited, and the deal falls through. When you think about a higher offer compared to a faster close, it's really going to be up to your priorities as a founder and an entrepreneur. If you go with a higher offer, there could be risk involved. Maybe there's financing included, maybe there's an inexperienced buyer, maybe there's an earnout. And if you're just looking for a fast close, all cash at close, that could be something to weigh. The way I think about it though is I'd almost always go with the all cash at close, working with the more experienced buyer. So even if the valuation is, say, 10, 20% less with another buyer, but the probability of close is much higher, I would absolutely go with that.
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