Car Breakdown Deal Save

Shaan tells a story about how showing up in person saved a crucial M&A deal, even when his car broke down.

"When we were selling Milk Road, we had two offers - a high offer and a fair offer. We initially said no to the fair offer and took the high offer, but months later we wanted to revisit the fair offer. I texted them saying I'd be in the city for my niece's soccer game (though I was really going just to meet them).

On the way to the meeting, my car literally just shuts off in the middle of Van Ness in San Francisco. I'm there with my wife and two kids in car seats. I was about to cancel the meeting, but my wife insisted I go, saying 'You've been telling me all morning how this is an important meeting.'

I ended up running down Van Ness for about a mile to make it to the coffee shop. By the end of that coffee meeting, the deal came back to life, and we ended up selling to them. I'm 100% sure if I hadn't gone to that coffee meeting, that deal doesn't happen. In that meeting, we were able to clear up things that weren't exactly transactional - his fears, our hesitations - and really get comfortable with each other in person."