Mark MacLeodFounder, Limitless.ceo · The Startup CEO Coach | Helping ambitious CEOs & founders scale world-changing companies without sacrificing their health, happiness, purpose, or humanity

Strategic exits and private equity, Andrew Gazdecki CEO Acquire.com - The Startup CEO SHOW

3 Jul 2024 · 1 min

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Excerpt from a YouTube interview with Andrew Gazdecki (Acquire.com) where he advises startup founders to plan strategically for exits, noting many founders should expect private equity buyers and that relationships with potential acquirers must be built early. He contrasts strategic corporate acquirers (e.g., GoDaddy, J2 Global, Endurance International) with private equity firms and recounts discovering PE as an exit path.

Chapters

I think a lot of startup founders and entrepreneurs don't realize that, that you're probably going to sell to private equity, and the goal should be strategic. I don't want to ran on anybody's parade, but, you know, the stars kind of have to align. You got to build these relationships really far out. And private equity was something interesting to me because I built a startup thinking I was going to sell to GoDaddy or, you know, J2 Global or Endurance International. Those were the strategic companies. We were always trying to knock down the door. We got close, but didn't successfully get through there. And then I remember just discovering private equity and being like, oh, interesting. Like, these are businesses that just buy a bunch of other businesses. This is cool.