A letter to founders · The long version

Thinking about selling your company? Here’s how I work.

Web edition of my letter to founders. The mandate count and running-health status reflect the October 28, 2026 update. See current representation.

Hi.

If you’re considering selling what you’ve built, you probably have questions about the buyers, the process, whether the asset is actually sellable, and whether anyone would pay enough to make the effort worthwhile. That’s why I wrote this.

A quick FYI: I used AI to help organize and edit this document. The views are entirely mine and this communicates what I intended. My goal here is to compact as much useful info as possible.

First things first: selling an early-stage company or pre-revenue software asset is exceptionally difficult. For a commercially unproven asset, a completed sale is improbable, even with a capable advisor and distinctive technology. The odds are similar to those of building a successful startup. Please be comfortable with that possibility before committing your time and money.

The big headline deals we hear about in the news usually involve established demand, substantial revenue, investors, inbound acquisition interest, and people willing to open doors.

With that clear, my job is to improve your odds through three things: a proprietary network of one-to-one relationships with corporate development and product decision-makers, a specific acquisition case for each buyer, and persistent follow-through.

When you work with me, you get me. I run this practice alone and handle the work personally.

I’ll be direct about what I think is achievable, what buyer responses actually mean, and whether continuing the process still makes sense. I would rather have an uncomfortable conversation early than let you spend weeks expecting an outcome the evidence barely supports.

I. What we are selling

I work with early-stage software businesses, selected pre-revenue products and IP, and more established SaaS companies. The useful question is what a buyer could do with the asset and why acquiring it would make commercial sense.

A buyer might already serve the customers you're trying to reach. Your technology could fill a product gap or save its engineers months of work. We need to establish that advantage and understand what the buyer would otherwise build.

Who has a reason to own this, and what is that worth to them?

Revenue is a good way to demonstrate value. With an earlier asset, we need other evidence: a working implementation, difficult engineering already completed, useful IP, or a team whose experience would help the buyer ship sooner. The question is what someone can justify paying today, given the work and risk still ahead.

We define exactly what's for sale: the company, a product, selected code and IP, or technology with a team joining the buyer. We agree what transfers, what you keep, and your availability afterward. Clear scope saves difficult conversations later.

II. How I decide whether I can help

We'll usually start with a 30-minute call about the product, users, ownership, revenue, and why you're considering a sale. I'll ask about price, timing, runway, and previous buyer conversations.

I look for a working product, a credible reason to acquire it, accurate commercial evidence, and clear ownership of the assets. I may review a demo, architecture, metrics, or IP documents before proposing an engagement.

Ambitious price expectations are welcome, provided we can explain them. If you're seeking $5M for a pre-revenue product, what would make that purchase sensible for the buyer? Let's answer that before outreach. Sometimes a paid deployment or ownership cleanup would do more for your prospects than starting a process today.

I'll also ask who you've approached and what happened. If a founder, investor, or another advisor already has a buyer conversation underway, we need to know before we contact the same company through someone else. One coordinated process protects the relationship and avoids mixed messages.

Know what you would accept

Come prepared with conviction about the outcome you want and where you have flexibility. Before any buyer calls, we should both be crystal clear on:

Write down your preferred outcome, firm boundaries, and negotiable points. These are private planning details between us; we agree separately what buyers hear. If your priorities change, tell me before the next conversation.

Be specific. Being open to an acqui-hire could mean a short handover, a full-time leadership role, or bringing several engineers into the buyer's team. Those are different commitments. A large headline price paid mostly through uncertain milestones may also feel very different from a smaller cash offer. We should understand your priorities before either is proposed.

III. What the process looks like

Prepare the asset

I'll spend time with the product and its commercial evidence. We prepare a concise teaser or private acquisition page with real screenshots, relevant metrics, and the proposed purchase scope. I'd rather show a working feature than call it revolutionary.

For selected buyers, I create Loom walkthroughs, dedicated landing pages, or mockups showing how your product could fit inside their platform. Proposed integrations are clearly presented as concepts. Fuller technical and diligence materials follow as needed.

We agree disclosure limits, NDA requirements, and who can see sensitive materials. Sharing code, customer records, or private platform access requires your approval.

I'll want the materials to show what actually works today. Planned features, untested integrations, and modeled buyer economics should be identified as such. If the demo uses synthetic data or the founder's own business, we explain that. A buyer finding those distinctions independently is a poor start to diligence.

Choose the sale route

My first priority is reaching buyers most likely to complete a worthwhile acquisition. The route depends on the product, likely deal size, buyer economics, and your confidentiality preferences.

A company worth $50B can look wonderful on a buyer list. If a small acquisition needs nine months of approvals and a barely interested sponsor, we have a problem. A smaller, well-capitalized operator whose CEO understands the product and can authorize a purchase may be the better prospect. We evaluate both.

Usually, that means private outreach to corporate development and product decision-makers whose roadmap could benefit from owning your technology or team.

Sometimes a controlled campaign to 50–100 similar buyers makes more sense. I define the group, check existing relationships, tailor the proposition, and manage responses as one process.

A smaller, niche, self-serve product may suit a defined marketplace strategy. An enterprise could find it straightforward to build, while an individual operator, software portfolio owner, or small private equity team could value an existing product and customer base. We weigh likely proceeds against fees and effort, and agree whether the business can be publicly listed.

Find the best way in

My network is strongest in B2B software, AI, developer tools, enterprise automation, and vertical SaaS.

My “little black book” includes acquisition-related correspondence with corpDev and product POCs at Figma, Wix / Base44, IBM, GitLab, ClickUp, Atlassian, Adobe, Vercel, Zapier, and Braze among others. It also includes Xplor Technologies, Daxko, DaySmart, Togetherwork, Omegro, and Tiny, plus buyer-side introductions and conversations with RingCentral, IFS, and Volaris Group.

I've also connected with investors and deal partners at SeventySix Capital, Pressplay Capital, and Mobilitech Capital. I typically have 2–5 introductory meetings a week to understand what buyers and partners want to acquire.

The depth of those relationships varies. Your network matters too: a customer, investor, or former colleague may give us the strongest introduction. We choose the buyer for fit, then find the best route in, whether through corporate development, a product leader, CTO, or founder.

If you can open the door, I'll help prepare the introduction and manage what follows. For a cold approach, I want to know who would use the capability, what changes for their customers, and which product or engineering leader might champion it internally.

Build on the response

I write the outreach, track replies, and follow up. We work in staggered waves, using objections and feedback to refine the case before approaching new prospects. Each expansion should have a reason.

A positive reply gives us an opening. We still need an internal sponsor who wants the capability, budget, and a path to an offer. I'll distinguish an invitation to share opportunities from interest in your company.

I arrange calls, demos, and technical reviews, brief you beforehand, and debrief afterward. You bring the product knowledge; I help make its value clear to that buyer. Ideally, several credible parties evaluate it within a similar window, giving us alternatives.

Before each important meeting, we'll agree what to show, the questions we're likely to face, and what we need to learn. An engineer may want architecture and dependencies; a business sponsor may first need to understand the customer use case. We'll prepare for the people actually joining.

Work toward an offer and closing

I help compare proposals, negotiate commercial terms, and coordinate diligence. Your attorney handles legal advice and documentation; your tax advisor handles tax implications.

Ownership gaps, third-party licenses, technical dependencies, and customer obligations need attention early. I organize the questions and coordinate with the people qualified to resolve them.

Expect diligence to become specific: contributor agreements, third-party code, operating costs, security, customer commitments, and how another team would take over. You answer the substantive product questions; I keep the requests organized and help resolve commercial issues with the buyer.

I keep requests, open issues, and next steps moving. If a buyer asks for exclusivity, we assess the commitment and progress offered in return. Price, payment terms, and the likelihood of closing all matter. A promising discussion can still end before a sale.

IV. My experience

I've spent more than twelve years inside and alongside SaaS companies, including Emarsys ahead of its SAP acquisition and Teradata Applications ahead of its divestiture. My work was in marketing and growth. Those transactions were led by others; I learned how product, distribution, and commercial priorities shape what a larger company values.

I've also built and sold a small digital business and worked with founders as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Antler. My dedicated M&A practice is newer, and I'm building its transaction record through the work itself. I'll be precise about what I've originated, where discussions stand, and what I've personally helped complete.

That operating background matters to how I approach your sale. I want to understand the business the buyer could build around the product, the customers it could reach, and the costs of getting there. I also know that the founder's effort and the buyer's willingness to pay can be far apart.

V. What's currently on my desk

I currently carry eight mandates. Here's the range, anonymized:

Each needs its own buyer case. A finance platform, developer-tool company, and sports operator will value very different parts of an asset. An initial 60- or 90-day campaign gives us a working window; the agreement sets the term, and serious discussions can take longer.

VI. Why work with me

I'm candid to a fault. You'll hear what I believe about price, buyer fit, and prospects for a sale, including when a relationship is new or a promising conversation has gone quiet. I want you making decisions from an accurate picture.

My contribution comes down to three things:

You have my direct WhatsApp. I prefer it for day-to-day coordination. You'll work with me throughout, and I'll still need you for demos, product questions, timely answers, and decisions.

Part of my value is handling the awkward conversations. A buyer can raise concerns about price, readiness, or timing with me before putting them directly to you. I can test how serious the concern is, help you respond, and keep a difficult discussion productive.

On buyer calls, bring strong views about your market and answer questions openly. Acknowledge product limits, explain trade-offs, and be willing to hear how the buyer sees the opportunity. An acqui-hire discussion also tests how you'd think and work together. We'll prepare for that.

Come ready to explain why you made the technical choices you did and how you'd approach the buyer's problems. In an acqui-hire, they may ask where you think the market is going. I'll help you prepare, and you'll need to be comfortable discussing the substance yourself.

VII. How I get paid

For new mandates, my usual structure is an upfront engagement fee plus a success fee.

The upfront fee reserves my time and covers part of the product review, positioning, materials, research, and initial outreach. This is a solo practice, and the work starts well before a buyer engages. The larger incentive is completing a sale that makes sense for you after fees.

You're paying for agreed work and committed time. Assess that expenditure on the basis that the process could end with zero offers.

My success fees generally run from 15% to 25%, and can reach 40% for particularly demanding or risky assignments. The proposal reflects the likely transaction size, commercial proof, readiness, complexity, and how much work and risk I'm carrying upfront.

Two founders with the same asking price may receive different proposals. Clean ownership and an interested buyer create a different assignment from building the entire process from scratch. Fully contingent engagements are rare and considered selectively.

A lower upfront fee can mean a higher success fee because I'm carrying more of the initial work and risk. A small asset can also take substantial effort to sell. The percentage and any minimum need to make the assignment viable while leaving you with an outcome worth pursuing.

We agree the fee calculation, any minimum, payment timing, and treatment of deferred consideration and earnouts in writing before starting.

Exclusivity and existing buyers

A full mandate usually includes a defined period of exclusivity. We identify existing buyer conversations and agree carve-outs, independently sourced transactions, termination rights, and any fee protection after the engagement. You can review the agreement with counsel.

VIII. Choosing the right help

Feel free to speak with a few advisors before you make a decision.

Ask about the fees and obligations during the engagement and afterward. Take the time to understand the agreement and the person you'd be working with. You're trusting someone with sensitive information, buyer relationships, and a decision that could change what you do next.

A straightforward, profitable SaaS business may suit a specialist broker or marketplace. A complex institutional deal may need a larger team. If you already have a serious buyer, counsel and a direct process may be enough. I'm most useful when someone needs to work out who should buy the asset and personally pursue the opportunity.

IX. If buyer interest is weak

We'll use the feedback. Is price the issue? Timing? Overlap with the buyer's roadmap? Would selling one capability work better than selling the whole product?

I want to understand whether buyers are rejecting the need, the implementation, the price, or the timing. Those point to different next steps. A repeated build-versus-buy objection deserves a serious look at the acquisition case, rather than simply sending the same pitch to more companies.

We may revise the pitch, approach a different buyer group, or strengthen the commercial evidence. If we've tested the credible options and interest remains weak, I'll tell you. Sometimes the sensible move is to stop. Continuing should have a clear reason and next step.

X. Where we go from here

I've experienced how much of yourself goes into building something. Finding a buyer is a separate challenge, and sometimes another operator could do far more with the product than you can alone.

Tell me what you've built, where the business stands, why you're considering an exit, and what outcome would make it worthwhile. I'll give you my read and explain the work and fees I'd propose. I am selective because I want this to be productive and lucrative for us both. If another route would serve you better, I'll say so.

Email michael@michaelbecker.org or arrange a conversation through michaelbecker.org.

If we're aligned on the risk and the work, let's get started.

Michael

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