When to Sell Your SaaS Business: How to Get a 5x Better Offer

Synopsis

Einar Vollset (TinySeed, Discretion Capital) argues 'startups are bought, not sold' is useless advice, and shows that offers on the same business can range from $5M to $25M depending on which buyers it's in front of. He covers the buyer universe at sub-$20M ARR (20% strategic, 70% private equity, 10% other), the four valuation levers (growth, ARR, churn, profitability), the $1M/$2M/$5M/$10M ARR thresholds that unlock new buyer pools, and the 'surprise and steal' buyer category worth spotting early.