My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Create comprehensive materials that remove all friction from the buying decision
Startup founders in active M&A processes
1-2 weeks after initial buyer interestWhat Success Looks Like
Buyers can easily understand your value proposition, team, technology, and strategic fit without additional meetings or research
Steps to Execute
Create strategic alignment one-pager from buyer's perspective
Develop technical overview with build-time estimates
Build team presentation with background and achievements
Write draft acquisition announcement memo
Organize clean financial data room
Prepare integration timeline and plan
Checklist
Inputs Needed
- Understanding of buyer's strategic priorities
- Technical documentation of your platform
- Team resumes and achievement data
- Financial statements and key metrics
Outputs
- Complete 'one-click' acquisition package
- Reduced due diligence timeline
- Higher buyer confidence and momentum
Example
“A fintech startup creates a package for JPMorgan including: strategic memo on digital banking priorities, technical overview showing 18-month development time savings, team profiles highlighting former Goldman engineers, and draft announcement positioning acquisition as competitive moat.”
Related Knowledge
Four Buyer Categories Framework
A systematic way to categorize potential acquirers into four distinct types based on their acquisition motivations and strategic needs.
DENNIS System for M&A
A systematic 6-step approach to selling your company, adapted from the comedy show Always Sunny in Philadelphia's 'DENNIS System' for dating.
Startup Sale Readiness Assessment
A four-question framework to assess whether you should sell your startup by comparing your current beliefs against your founding assumptions.
transparency-timing-mistake
Gather comprehensive intelligence on potential acquirers to position your company optimally
Having detailed insights into buyer priorities, pain points, decision makers, and internal dynamics before your first pi
Manage multiple potential buyers simultaneously to create leverage and maximize valuation
Multiple term sheets arriving within the same week, allowing you to negotiate better terms by creating competitive tensi