Early Exits” the First Book on Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs and Angel Investors

The economy has changed. Venture capital has changed. Financing and exit strategies for entrepreneurs have changed dramatically. Exit opportunities have changed dramatically in the past few years. Companies are getting sold early than ever before. Tech companies are often sold only one or two years from start up.

Very few entrepreneurs, and angel investors, have sold more than a few companies. There is very little good information available about selling companies.

In the past, the books written about selling companies have been for business owners who wanted to retire. There are also a few books on exit strategies for venture capitalists. “Early Exits” is the first book about selling companies specifically written for entrepreneurs and angel investors.

Everything is changing – the venture capital industry is shrinking at an alarming rate – but angel investing is booming. Today, it’s most likely a company will be sold without ever having an investment from a venture capitalist.

The values that companies are sold for is much smaller than most people think. The median price for private companies that are sold in America is probably under $15 million. The reported median is about $25 million, but this only includes the transactions where price is disclosed. Most often, the price is not disclosed for the smaller transactions.

Big companies have lots of cash on their balance sheets. They know they are not good at starting businesses or growing businesses from zero to $20 or 30 million in value. Large companies are much better at growing businesses from $ 20 million to $200 million in value. Many large companies are spending more on M&A than R&D. This has created an environment where companies are being sold earlier than ever before.

Never before has it been so easy for entrepreneurs to build valuable companies on so little capital, and to sell them so quickly for so much money. These trends have created a golden era for entrepreneurs.

“Early Exits” is about exit strategies that every entrepreneur and angel investor should be utilizing right from start up to maximize the chances of an early, profitable sale of their companies. Every company needs a clear exit strategy – right from founding. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Good exit strategies are often only a few sentences long. The important thing is to have all of the shareholders aligned on the exit strategy.

The goal of this book is to help entrepreneurs and angel investors have more successful, more frequent and more profitable exits.