Always Be Closing: How to Resolve Key Seller Pushbacks

Disclaimer: Unless noted otherwise, views and analysis expressed here are the author's own and based on public sources. The article is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional for investment decisions.

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Founder friendly, 100% of the time

We’ve been itching to write this article for a long time!

We’ve covered the front-end (fundraising, frugal origination) and the back-end (HoldCo design, CFO playbook). Now, it’s time to address the bottleneck in getting from A to B: getting deals done. 

Serial acquirers are value buyers. The multiples they pay are influenced by a combination of: 

• Investor expectations of consistent 20%+ ROIC

• Opportunity set consisting of decent but not stellar businesses

• Sensible leverage

Unfortunately, many founders aren’t simply ready to part with life’s work for a multiple of EBITDA. 

What can you do to get them over the line?

Turns out, there are a few recurrent themes. We picked our favourite pushbacks and paired them with our best rebuttals. To be clear: we’re not mocking founders. These are legitimate pushbacks. We’re here to help acquirers win the argument. 

Happy negotiation! 

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