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1/ One of the biggest misconceptions I see from first-time founders is what multiples they could sell their company for.

So, let's talk about that a bit, in an effort to downplay the notion that you'll get filthy rich from your company.
2/ I'm going to overgeneralize some things here, for the sake of brevity. Yes, I understand there are always exceptions, but chances are you aren't it.

First up, let's talk about the reasons someone buys a company.
3/

1. Flipping
2. Revenue
3. Acquihire
4. Strategic

Again, there are other reasons, but those are the big ones.
4/ Flipping: They plan to buy your company, do some of their growth magic to increase profit and growth rate, and then they'll sell it off to a private equity firm who is interested in it for our next reason...
5/ Revenue: They plan to use your company as a new source of revenue. Plain and simple. Doesn't even have to be making a ton of revenue. Just needs to be relatively stable.
6/ Acquihire: They just want your team. The product and the money it does/doesn't make are largely irrelevant. You or the people on your team have some unique skillset that the buyer desperately wants.
7/ Strategic: Your business will become a major new cornerstone for what the buyer wants to do and it's cheaper for them to buy you than to start from scratch.
8/ NOW! Let's talk about multiples for each of these because they're all over the place.

First, flippers. They'll generally pay 1-3x revenue and/or profits. Depends on the buyer.

They've got a low threshold for risk b/c their model is to just turn things over quickly.
9/ Next, revenue-based acquisitions. They'll usually go for 3-5x revenue. Your growth rate has a LOT to do with this.

If you're mostly flat on growth, you'll be on the low end.

If you're doing 10% MoM growth, you'll be on the high end of that.
10/ Next, acquihires. This is sort of a crapshoot. Largely dependent on the number of people joining the company and basically has nothing do with any kind of multiples
11/ And finally, strategic acquisitions. These are when the multiples get certifiably insane. As in, 10x, 25x or 50x+ revenue.

These are the acquisitions you read about on TechCrunch or HackerNews because it's what makes for great stories.
12/ But the reality is, they're very rare. It's the type of exits that big VC firms want, but that they may only get a handful of in their entire career.

Statistically speaking, this will not happen to you.
13/ Yes, lots of companies get acquired. I mean really, ALL companies end up changing hands at some point, and usually, there's some money involved as part of that.

But these huge multiples that you read about are NOT the norm.
14/ If you build your company based on the idea that you're going to see some 10x+ multiple, you'll be sorely disappointed.

It's all a bit of a crapshoot anyway, but understand there really aren't that many founders getting rich.
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