Dear SaaStr: What is the typical timeline for selling a company?
For both my start-ups as a founder, the timeline was 5 years. And also … 60 days.
What I mean is, in both cases, we “met” the acquirer (public companies) about 5 years before we were acquired. That gave them a chance to meet up, learn about us, and see us grow into the valuations.
And when the timing was right (for different reasons) — the actual transactions took about 60 days from “We’d interested in build / buy / partner” to a signed purchase agreement. (Note: closing takes longer because you need government approvals, etc.).
And the very first time I went through it as a start-up exec, it was 3 years (from when we knew each other) and 30 days (from Let’s Buy You to Signed Deal). So a bit faster, but same chronology.
If it doesn’t happen in 60 days from “We’re Really Interested” to Signed Acquisition Docs, there’s usually an issue. It’s usually not actually time.
…
For a bigger example, take a watch of my deep dive with Mailchimp’s co-founder here. The $12B+ deal with Intuit took a year from start to finish. And it only happened after another deal fell apart. The “deal deal” happened fast. But the whole process from getting to know you to closing? A year or so.
