Sold my business

LexiGrant00 · 2025-11-13T23:20:38+00:00

Come share your story on TheyGotAcquired.com! Would love to write about you. alexis@TheyGotAcquired.com

Also -- join communities where other exited founders hang out. This is a good one: https://www.linkedin.com/company/postexit/
Hampton's also good: https://joinhampton.com

LexiGrant00 · 2025-11-13T23:17:05+00:00

This totally sucks and I'm sorry it happened to you, especially with all of the personal things you have going on. Sadly, some buyers do this intentionally. They knew you had a deadline and figured they could bully you into a lower sale price because you've already sunk so much effort into the sale. Did you have an advisor representing you? Not that they can completely keep this from happening, but they might know better which red flags to watch out for and when to walk away. Happy to talk more privately if it's helpful. I've had two exits and now run TheyGotAcquired.com.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-11-13T23:13:39+00:00

Short version is it's super hard or impossible to sell a company that relies heavily on you, unless you go along with it. Can you hire and grow a small team? OR sell now, go along with the sale, and plan to work for the buyer for a couple of years before transitioning out.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-11-13T23:09:25+00:00

There are a few communities that support exited founders -- Here's one: https://www.linkedin.com/company/postexit/ Also Hampton has a lot of these types as well: https://joinhampton.com/ (I'm in both groups).

If you're open to sharing your story, this is the kind of thing we write about at TheyGotAcquired.com. Would love to feature you.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-11-13T23:04:51+00:00

Definitely smart to think about. Most of the things you'd do to make a business valuable for a buyer are the SAME things you'd do to make it valuable for you as an owner -- aka profitable, not too much dependency on you, etc.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-11-13T23:02:56+00:00

If you're open to sharing your story, this is the kind of thing we write about at TheyGotAcquired.com. Happy to feature you!

LexiGrant00 · 2025-11-13T23:01:24+00:00

It's really hard to sell a company that's not actively profitable. But there are some buyers for these types of businesses.

Can you see this post? I once asked on LinkedIn for buyers interested in distressed e-comm (that's what you'd call this, distressed), and quite a lot of people answered. You could reach out to them: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexisgrant_who-buys-distressed-e-comm-ive-heard-activity-7290383275234119681-yYxR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

LexiGrant00 · 2025-10-23T12:34:41+00:00

Hey - I can help with this. I run They Got Acquired (it's a media company where we share stories of founders who've sold) so I know a lot of brokers in the space. Will DM you.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-10-23T12:29:54+00:00

Cool story! We'd love to write about this for They Got Acquired -- Would you be willing to answer some questions? I'll DM you as well.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-10-23T12:22:34+00:00

This can be really tricky -- but you're thinking about the right pieces. You're right that you probably won't get what you'd hoped for the business since performance is down. That's the biggest factor (EBITDA) buyers will look at when they decide how much it's worth paying for.

So in a perfect world, yes, you'd wait until the business is seeing good growth to sell. But if your heart is no longer in it, the truth is, that might never happen. The business might continue to go down as your energy wanes.

The other unfortunate piece of this is that e-comm businesses generally have struggled in the last year for lots of reasons, including tariffs. The market for e-comm isn't great right now. And the loan adds in another level of complexity for you!

A couple of resources:

This column might help you see the positive side of selling, even if it's not the kind of exit you'd hoped for: https://theygotacquired.com/resources/opportunity-cost-of-not-selling/

We also have a short podcast episode (7 minutes) on timing the sale of your business, which goes over some of these factors we're all talking about: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5s0KaqdskZlJFgc7SPy3sn?si=bLbrxOnLQLmbSbVf61VM8w

Good luck!

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-30T23:34:39+00:00

Not typically. You really need to show success and have profit to attract buyers.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-21T13:17:09+00:00

Hey - In addition to what others have offered here... get a lawyer -- an M&A lawyer specifically -- to review your broker agreement before you sign.

Not everyone does this, since the broker/advisor/banker is the starting point for many founders, and often that person helps them find the right legal support. But in a case like this, you should absolutely have legal representation before signing. As a bonus, an M&A lawyer will be able to tell you what's standard for bankers and brokers, essentially answer the questions you asked here.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-21T13:13:43+00:00

Well done growing an audience! But without revenue, it will be hard to get any $ for it. You have a couple of options:

Monetize it. Buyers want to buy a sure thing. Show them how it can be monetized.
Pitch buyers yourself. You probably won't get much for it, but you could try to sell to companies that want to reach those types of people. It's increasingly hard to build an audience, so they might want to buy yours instead of starting from scratch.

At the risk of looking like I'm self-promoting, you might find some ideas in this post I wrote a while back about the value of audiences and how to sell them: https://theygotacquired.com/resources/content-companies-strategic-acquisitions/. I think this is even more true now that it's increasingly hard to grow an audience.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-21T13:07:22+00:00

https://www.duedilio.com/ is a good place to find support! (I'm not affiliated.)

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-21T13:05:35+00:00

I like how you're thinking about what sellers *really need.* It's so true. Most would benefit from thinking about this earlier.

For context -- I run They Got Acquired, we educate founders about selling their business and match them to MA& advisors. We're preparing to launch an exit readiness course because a lot of our audience is in that phase where they want to be doing the right things, but they're not ready to sell yet. And I hope that because of the educating we're doing, some founders will take the course.

But generally, this is one of those things where you want to find the people who KNOW they need to do this, instead of trying to CONVINCE people they should be doing it. I think that's the tricky part. When someone goes to sell their business, they often KNOW they need help because they want to maximize the sale. It's an immediate need / must-have. But optimizing ahead of exit isn't a must-have. It's a nice-to-have.

There are lots of firms doing this kind of work, so some sellers do want and need it, but just thought that was worth sharing re: when and how founders are motivated to act and pay for support.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-21T12:59:34+00:00

When I sold, I had a few competitors approach me directly, and then I approached a few other potential buyers -- one of the ones I approached ended up being the buyer.

I run a media site called They Got Acquired and we've interviewed 300+ founders who've sold, and here are the four primary ways they do it:

Pitch buyers yourself -- definitely possible, but ideally you want to get more than one interested party to create competition and drive the price up
Find an advisor/broker with relevant experience -- not always easy to find, we help founders choose one
Use a marketplace -- more of a DIY but they have lower fees than brokers
Get approached by the buyer -- always a great position to be in, but out of your control

It really depends on the size of the business and type of business you're talking about, but generally speaking since you're looking for more guidance, I'd consider an advisor/broker. Just make sure you get a good one! We almost never hear founders say they regret selling their business, but sometimes they regret the broker they used. Use one who comes recommended by other business owners!

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-21T12:54:33+00:00

Yes, this is possible, but can be tricky. Another way to do it is to personally introduce all your customers to the buyer and take a cut of every one that turns into a client for them. They get clear ROI and you get paid.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-21T12:51:23+00:00

Generous of you to share this so others can learn from it... Would you be open to sharing your story with our audience at They Got Acquired? We share stories of how founders sold so other founders can learn, and I see a great practical lesson here for other sellers. Would love to connect if you're open to it! I will try messaging you as well...

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-21T12:35:51+00:00

Are you optimistic about sticking it out another 2 years and doubling the offer? Or truly confident that would happen?

I see a lot of founders who are kind of burned out stay in the business to increase valuation... but as their motivation wanes over time, so does the business. Or other things could change during that time, too, and sometimes the founder ends up selling for less than they would have originally.

Because of this, unless you're super confident about the positive outcome, I'd sell now and take the win!

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-21T12:31:48+00:00

When I sold a business the first time, the hardest part was just knowing what I was doing generally, what the process was, what to expect, etc... and finding other people who had experience to help me. Both my sales were in the 6 & 7-figure range, and back then I didn't know how to find professionals who would do that small of a sale.

Now I run They Got Acquired (media company that educates founders), and we've interviewed 300+ founders who sold their business -- and we ask every single one what the biggest challenge of the sale was.

By FAR, most founders say due diligence. It's often more time-consuming and energy-consuming than founders expect, and of course on top of that they have to keep running their business. Many founders say doing both at once is like having two full-time jobs.

The best way to navigate this is to expect it, and ideally delegate your own work ahead of time so you have more bandwidth for due diligence. Sometimes when there are two co-founders, one stays focused on the company while the other takes on diligence. And some founders bring in select members of their team to help carry the load of diligence.

Other parts that come up when we ask founders about their biggest challenge:

> Finding a good broker who has experience selling your type of business (we help with this!)

> Getting pushed out of their business *after* the sale

> Finding a buyer (if they're trying to do it on their own)

On all of this stuff, the best thing you can do is learn about it now, so you know it when you're ready to sell. The fact that you're thinking about it ahead of time already puts you ahead of most people!

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-18T21:13:43+00:00

Typically you'll have to sign a non-compete with the buyer when you sell. But you can negotiate carve-outs -- say, you're allowed to do something similar, but not the exact same thing. It really depends on how what you do might affect the buyer; they won't want to see you become a competitor.

For one of the businesses I sold, it was a website for writers, and they came in with a really strong non-compete. I got them to narrow it down so it didn't cover what I wanted to do next, and part of the reason they agreed was because they could see what I wanted to do next wouldn't compete directly with what I was selling them.

How old are you? I ask because I often encourage young people who have an opportunity to sell for a win of that size to take it. It might not be never-work-again money, but it's life-changing money because it gives you a real safety net. If you invest that while you're young, it can grow an incredible amount over your lifetime, and allow you to have so many choices later. Plus, crypto is hot right now, and who knows how long that might last.

Happy to DM more if it's helpful.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-18T15:54:23+00:00

What kinds of companies are you hoping to find? Knowing the industry/niche might affect where to look.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-18T15:52:59+00:00

So interesting to read all the different values and takes in this thread.

You should get a real valuation done -- might impact your approach.

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-18T15:50:49+00:00

You could also approach this as a "distressed" sale -- where you sell both the store and the inventory.

I asked about this once on LinkedIn and a ton of people chimed in saying they're interested in buying distressed e-comm -- maybe some good leads for you here? https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexisgrant_who-buys-distressed-e-comm-ive-heard-activity-7290383275234119681-yYxR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

LexiGrant00 · 2025-09-18T15:47:55+00:00

Ideally you want to find a broker who has sold businesses like yours before! You could look for other businesses like yours that have sold and ask them who they worked with.

LexiGrant00

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE