Multiple Buyers Create Urgency

A breakdown of how to create leverage when selling your company by managing multiple potential buyers, based on firsthand experience selling to major tech companies.

Core Strategy for Creating Leverage

• Don't reveal your number first
• Time box the process (45 days in this case)
• Create urgency through multiple simultaneous conversations
• Use existing offers to negotiate with other buyers
• Leave hints about other interest without being explicit

Key Negotiation Tactics

• Maintain consistent positioning

  • Don't let daily emotions affect your selling approach
  • Avoid showing desperation even when worried
  • Stay confident in communications

• Avoid Common Mistakes

  • Don't use terms that anchor low value (like "acquihire")
  • Don't let desperation lead to reaching out to companies with weaker positioning
  • Maintain narrative consistency across all conversations

Psychological Advantage

• Best negotiating position: being genuinely okay with walking away
• Having a backup plan creates real negotiating power
• Example: Being willing to shut down company if no good offers
• Creates freedom to negotiate without desperation

Closing Process

• Use competing offers as leverage
• Give tight deadlines for responses ("give me an hour")
• Consider factors beyond pure price
  • Team retention
  • Other deal terms
• Be prepared to make quick decisions when offers come

Important Context

• Process is rarely taught but critically important
• Comparable deals often have too wide a range to be useful
• Need $50-100M+ deal size to justify using investment bankers
• This one decision often more important than years of operations