Amidst the historical SpaceX IPO yesterday and Anthropic/OpenAI filing this month as well, exit readiness is a hot topic on everyone’s mind.
Public and private markets alike, opportunities now appear out of nowhere, with time windows shorter than ever. If a competitor files or lands a strong deal, missing that window can mean another year or two.
Add the macro and political uncertainty to the mix, and being slow is one of the most notable competitive disadvantages.
My teams get urgent and critical requests all the time. It’s frankly the nature of business over the past 10+ years. And it doesn’t have to be crazy at work all the time – we simply understand how many and how different timed opportunities come up to grab for those who are ready to go, able to execute, and quick to pivot fast.
We’ve done end-to-end complex project rebuilds within 5-8 weeks from receiving a call several times since 2012. Handled hundreds and hundreds of outages. Jumped on DDoS attacks, security breaches, token leaks. Launched endless campaigns to A/B test narrative, wording, event raffles or timed countdown events.
I’ve done smaller transactions on both ends of the table in weeks – sometimes over a weekend.
Mid-market companies (and traditional PEs) still operating on a 6-month cadence of “we have enough time for data rooms, due diligence and audits” are frequently wiped by excessive funding rounds and companies moving with the speed of light.
And rushing can go wrong often.
Being ready at all times reminds me of an old saying: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.”
A clean, reusable, well-documented tech stack with established revenue operations workflows, refined data layers and sources of truth, and proper bookkeeping can go a very long way.
Just as SpaceX offered an option to buy Cursor for $60 billion in a timed offer, lucrative exit multiples can appear for businesses in demand at the right time with the right buyer – only if the deal is easy enough to make sense and close shortly.
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Exit Readiness Is Now a Year-Round Discipline For Portfolio Companies
Mario Peshev
