Engineering & Navigating Through An Exit For Your Startup

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An Operator's Blog - with Soumitra Sharma

Soumitra Sharma

26 episodes

5 days ago

An Operator's Blog is hosted by Soumitra Sharma, General Partner at Operators Studio, a micro-VC firm focused on the US-India corridor. This podcast takes you into the world of startups and venture capital, featuring candid conversations focusing on sharing real operating insights, tips, and playbooks that you can immediately start using to solve your biggest challenges as a founder and operator. Join Soumitra as he cuts through the BS & interviews top founders, operators, and investors who have built businesses in the trenches for decades.

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Engineering & Navigating Through An Exit For Your Startup

An Operator's Blog - with Soumitra Sharma

1 hour 29 minutes 28 seconds

7 months ago

Engineering & Navigating Through An Exit For Your Startup

This episode goes in-depth into what founders can do to engineer & navigate an exit for their startup. We cover everything from various types of exit routes (classic M&A, Private Equity buyouts, acqui-hires, asset sales, etc.), what large acquirers look for, generating acquisition interest, fielding corp dev inbounds, valuation methods, key deal terms, how to become diligence-ready, and finally, leaning on investors, bankers, lawyers & advisors to help drive an exit.

Joining me for this discussion are Madhu Chamarty and Hanz Kurdi, Founding Partners of HKMC, a Silicon Valley-based advisory firm that supports early-stage founders and emerging VC managers in achieving their most important milestones, including fundraising, go-to-market, and exits. Each of them has 20+ years of experience in navigating exits. Hanz’s prior startups were acquired by PayPal and Google, while Madhu’s prior HRTech startup was acquired by Lightcast.

TIME STAMPS:

(01:06) The HKMC backstory

(05:57) Today’s AI exit environment

(12:37) What do large tech acquirers look for in potential M&A targets?

(23:13) Is Private Equity a viable exit channel for software startups?

(26:23) Should founders entertain inbounds from corp dev?

(32:24) What can founders do to create a “salvage exit” in case they don't achieve PMF?

(43:40) What can founders at $10-100Mn ARR do to engineer an exit?

(52:40) How do acquirers typically value startups?

(58:38) How do acqui-hire deals work?

(1:00:36) Key legal terms during M&A deals

(1:05:00) How can founders become M&A diligence-ready?

(1:11:51) What can VCs do to help drive exits for their portfolio?

(1:20:58) When do M&A advisors/ I-bankers become relevant in a company's lifecycle?

Connect with Madhu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mchamarty/ and Hanz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanzkurdi/

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Check out "An Operator's Blog" (https://operator.blog/) for weekly posts on Startups, Investing, and Life.

I am a venture investor focused on the US-India corridor. Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumitrasharma5/) and follow me on X (@soumitra_sharma).