Ask HN: How to approach a potential buyout offer
Fellow Hackers
I've been running a startup for over a year now, and we've been growing a lot in the last few months. While there has been some interest in our business, we were approached by a group expressing interest in buying us out. The extent of the communication thus far is their initial email expressing interest.
While I do have a lot of startup experience, selling a startup is new to me. So what advice, tips, dos and donts would you guys recommend when we contact this group to start discussing a potential buyout?
Congratulations! Never been in this situation, but I tend to be the suspicious type :-) I'd be careful, if I were you, and make sure they're not just trying to size you up and get info about your business (maybe they want to start a competitor? maybe they want to see whether it's a viable business how much traffic you're getting, and then decide whether to buy you out). Paranoid? Maybe. Only the paranoid survive... :-)
I tend to be the same way, which is why were will be signing an NDA before either side talks specifics about anything.
A non-disclosure agreement only prevents them from talking with other people about what they learned from you. It doesn't prevent them from using that information themselves if they choose to be a competitor rather than buy you.
If they are serious about buying and you are serious about selling, it might behoove you to find a broker or 3rd party with experience in these types of deals.
... this is what I would do if I was in your shoes.
Thanks. We might be interested in selling if everything pans out. But I'm more interested in how to handle our first contact with this company.