How to Sell a Startup by Paul Graham May 4, 2005

Most people who start startups do it to get rich, and the most common way to get rich from a startup is to sell it. Investors call this an "exit strategy," and they won't even consider a company that doesn't have a fairly clear one. In this case the founders and investors' interests are aligned: you should be thinking about exit strategies before you even start a company. In this talk I'll describe the kinds of ideas that yield buyable startups, the different stages at which you can sell a startup, and what you should do (and not do) to make it happen at each stage.