The Exit

The full story (in unnecessary detail) of a seven-figure exit by a solo founder for a bootstrapped SaaS business-start to finish. A guide for founders who have no idea what they're doing.Peter Young sold his weird niche tech business for a "multiple seven figure" amount. Not enough to get an Epstein intro (he was dead), enough to never have to work again.The Exit covers the entire exit process-from the moment you decide to sell, to the purchase agreement, to the seven-figure wire hitting your bank, and beyond.Everything done to prepare a tech business for a sale.How to get a broker to sell your business.Creating a winning pitch deck, slide-by-slide.What prospective buyers want to know.Stories about funny and/or regrettable things that happened during the process.Top mistakes made along the journey (that cost Young millions).Everything that reduced his business valuation.Tons of actionable lessons and weird minutiae about selling your business that no one talks about.Part One: The GroundworkHow this book is different from other "I sold my startup" stories, who this book is for, and what you'll learn.Part Two: The Origin StoryYoung's unlikely founder story, from hobo to fugitive to prison to late-start SaaS founder to seven-figure ARR.Part Three: Prepping for the saleThe entire process of readying your business for a sale: From how to know if your business is sellable, to clearing up your financials, to creating SOPs, to clearing up your online presence, to mapping a growth plan, to understanding taxes, and much more.Part Four: Finding an M&A brokerHow to make a pitch deck (in slide-by-slide detail), stories of getting coldly rejected by brokers, and then finding one.Part Five: The valuation journeyIn uncomfortable detail, Young details the decline of his SaaS valuation. From an early estimate of $8 million, to an increasingly lower figure as various defects of his business are revealed. He covers the five things that reduced his valuation by a seven-figure amount, and how you can avoid his mistakes.Part Six: Going to marketPutting together a business summary, and everything that happened when his business went live (most of it not good). Learn what happens when the market begins to speak, and you don't like what it's saying.Part Seven: The saleFinding a buyer, the initial proposal, the Letter of Intent (LOI), and the Asset Purchase Agreement (APA). Young covers not only the negotiation process, but the challenging decisions a founder may have to make on the journey to a close.Part Eight: The transitionThe process of onboarding new owners.Part Nine: Post- mortemWhat happens after the exit, and a parting anecdote of a six-figure mistake that should have gone differently.The Exit is both a narrative and how-to guide, written for startup founders who want their own exit, and have no idea what they're doing.