Where do I find somebody trustworthy to handle acquisition negotiations of my startup?
I'm a solo-founder of a bootstrapped SaaS startup. While I have been approached by several parties over that last several months, I have always politely declined all interested parties as I wanted to focus on my product and did not consider investors or selling.
With that said, a much bigger, successful, and well-funded startup (100+ employees) is seriously interested in my product and I'm considering it because both products would nicely complement each other.
Since we are not talking pennies, but somewhere in the eight-figure range with too many variables (valuation, small stake vs full acquisition), and because I'm too emotionally attached, I would prefer it if someone else, experienced in this process could handle the negotiations on my behalf.
Where do I find that person? Are there any reputable VC firms that would handle this? Both, the negotiations + legal. I'm US west coast based if that makes any difference. Feel free to DM me some contacts.
I think ultimately what you’re really looking for is a lawyer.
I do need a lawyer to handle the legal part of it, but quite honestly, I'm not sure if a lawyer is a right person to handle negotiations, valuations, comps, etc. Most lawyers have no clue about SaaS, my specific industry, and my competitors. I was hoping for somebody with experience in this process, especially, getting valuable info out of the buyer, good timing and negotiating strategies, etc.
I would think there are firms that specialize in M&A that would have specialist partners in those various aspects of the sales of a SaaS business.
VC firms will find you (generally) if you're an attractive option for them. If you are open to a market place approach, FEInternational or EmpireFlippers are two respected options.