Selling your business is one of the most impactful and nerve-wracking decisions you’ll make as an entrepreneur. A well-executed transaction can be the most significant financial event of your life, not to mention the impact on your career, relationships with your team, and the legacy of the company you’ve spent countless hours building. The process is also costly and time-consuming and can distract from the day-to-day operations of your business.
In my experience working on many acquisitions in EdTech now at Banyan Software, I’ve seen deals that worked out well for the founders and some that didn’t. The difference is usually how well prepared the founder is before the process begins.
Founders who succeed in the sales process share one thing in common: they’ve done their homework on several key areas of their business. I’ve listed my top five below.
1. Set clear goals before you start
Know what you want to achieve by selling your company. Define a clear, prioritized set of goals for the sales process. These goals may include increasing the purchase price, de-risking your personal balance sheet, finding an acquirer that can accelerate growth, or preserving the culture you’ve built with your team and customers. These goals don’t always align, and in my experience, founders who enter a process with clear priorities tend to find the right buyer instead of going with the highest bid.
2. Provide a compelling elevator pitch and growth story
Confidently deliver an elevator pitch that explains why your company is a valuable, defensible business. Next, be prepared to detail your company’s value proposition and key differentiators, the market segments you serve, and your ideal customer profiles. Simply put: why do customers choose you, why do they stay, and where are the most attractive growth opportunities? Founders I’ve seen succeed in a sales process tell that story with confidence and specificity, creates real excitement among potential buyers.
3. Understand AI risks and opportunities
AI wouldn’t have made my list six months ago. Today, it represents perhaps the most significant set of threats and opportunities facing vertical SaaS businesses. In every conversation you have with a buyer, they’ll want to understand how you’re using AI to improve operations, accelerate product development, and deliver more value to customers. They’ll also want to know if you’re thinking seriously about the risks: competitive disruption, implementation cost, and how AI might shift your customers’ needs away from you. Founders are chosen who can speak freely with both. Founders who fail to question how the business will compete going forward.
4. Know your numbers, your P&L and your sales pipeline
Be prepared to talk in detail about how your company makes money and how it spends, because buyers will learn every key metric and key detail. Understand KPIs such as EBITDA, net income, GAAP and cash calculations, new logo line and net income retention as you are expected to speak authoritatively to each, supporting your company’s financial projections with data. We, the buyers, will also closely monitor your performance against forecasts during the sales process itself. Knowing your numbers and hitting targets will put you in a great position to secure a fair, solid estimate.
5. Understand the structure of the deal and the type of buyer, not just the headline price
The terms of the deal and the buyer’s operating model will shape what your life looks like after the deal closes, sometimes more than the price itself. I’ve seen founders focus entirely on valuation and end up in a structure that doesn’t serve them or their teams well. Understand how the buyer approaches company management post-acquisition, where they typically invest and cut costs. On the financial side, check whether earnings targets are realistic or set in a way that is unlikely to pay off. Consider how their strategic vision aligns with yours. There are different types of buyers: regular equity, growth-oriented PE and strategic buyers. Each has essentially different answers to these questions. Banyan Software, for example, acquires companies with the intent of permanent retention, which shapes everything from how we approach leadership transitions to where we invest after closing. Understanding which model is right for your goals is just as important as understanding valuation.
The founders I’ve seen successfully complete the sales process are well prepared from the start. They are clear on their goals, have a compelling growth story and know their numbers perfectly. This preparation allows them to find the right buyer and close the deal faster, with less stress and with the legacy of their business.
