Exit Path: How to Win the Startup End Game

CHAPTER 1

THE EXIT TABOO

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

—Wayne Dyer¹

Soon after I started socializing the core idea of this book with other founders, entrepreneurs, and investors in Silicon Valley, I noticed that there was a general reluctance to seriously engage in the subject, in the same way I imagine there would be in discussing the necessity of creating a will with a teenager. Although everyone agreed with the general premise that a strategic sale would be the best possible outcome for their startups, I felt strong resistance to engaging any deeper and actually discussing the specifics around an exit strategy for any startup that was not desperately looking to sell. Many would tactfully change the ...