It’s a great feeling having so many different people congratulate you after the successful sale of your startup. People that work as a chore, instead of as a passion, ask if you’ll retire to an island, implying there’s nothing left to accomplish. Entrepreneurs, who love changing the world, ask what’s the next business you’ll start or problem you’ll tackle. There’s also another very popular questions entrepreneurs like to ask with an air of fascination: how did the deal go down?
Common questions from entrepreneurs about selling a business:
- Did you hire an investment bank?
- Did you shop the deal around?
- How much did you think the business was worth?
- How long did it take?
- How distracting was it for the senior management team?
- When were you confident that a deal was going to get done?
- How did the employees react?
- How’s the transition going?
- What’s going to change in the business?
Answering these questions and helping other entrepreneurs think through them for their own companies is fun and rewarding. Every deal is different so there’s always something that can be learned.
What else? What are some other questions entrepreneurs ask other entrepreneurs after a startup exit?
David Cummings on Startups 