Andrew Gazdecki breaks down why startup exits fail: poor relationships with buyers, hiding problems during due diligence, and a messy data room. Honesty about weaknesses helps buyers assess risk. Keeping deal momentum steady and organizing your data room early keeps the process moving.
Getting along with a buyer is so huge. Out of all the acquisitions I've seen, the best ones are where the buyer and seller just get along. And there's parts of acquisitions where both sides are taking on risk. And then, yeah, being like super transparent upfront and honest about the good and the bad things about your business. Because when you get into due diligence, everything is pretty much going to come out. Buyers can really tell, too, and they appreciate just the honesty and, you know, being able to wrap their head around the business. And what you're really saying is, you know, I want this acquisition to be successful. I want you as the buyer to be successful. Buyers really appreciate that. That's how you get really good deal done. And then setting up the data room too in advance is massive because you want to be ahead of that stuff. So you keep momentum going and people lose excitement and then that's where deals fall apart and then a surprise pops up and everything just goes haywire when that happens.
The Buyers Who Made the Move: What They Bought, How They Did It, and What Happened Next
