A founder's startup nearly failed to sell because he priced it too high. Buyers dismissed the valuation immediately, killing deal momentum. He learned to price attractively from the start so buyers feel they're getting a steal and deals move fast.
We kept the price too high and ended up suffering with like conversations, but not materially useful conversations because even in those conversations, the potential buyer would say, oh, this price is too high. I think that is what we got wrong the first time. And the thing is that what you're trying to gauge in those early conversations is that you want to have a lot of velocity from buyer's end. It is at a good price that the buyer thinks that they got a steal deal. That is when the velocity from their end comes in. And if it's priced too high, then the velocity just doesn't exist. And then listing it again and again is at some point of time there is a cost of diminishing returns and like renegotiating or re-bringing down the price and like there are some drawbacks to it. So price it well, hopefully the first time around.
The Buyers Who Made the Move: What They Bought, How They Did It, and What Happened Next
