Touraj Parang’s new book Exit Path teaches entrepreneurs how to prepare for the sale of their company.
I’ve been founder or co-founder of multiple startups. One ended in a successful sale to a large corporation. Everything went smoothly. Having now read Exit Path, I understand why. In that case, I was blessed with a co-founder who, by his nature, did all the right things to position us for a successful exit. For another of my startups, we realized that it wasn’t going to reach a scale that was self-supporting and we started pursuing potential acquirers. We spent time in serious discussions with one potential acquirer, but in the end failed to close a deal. Having now read Exit Path, I understand why. Thankfully, we still had plenty of runway to shut down gracefully, providing plenty of time for customers and team members to transition.
Touraj Parang has had similar experiences. His first startup ran out of cash and exited poorly. His second exited well. Since then he’s been involved in many more deals, both on the buying and selling side, and he’s learned what factors are within the founder’s control that can significantly influence whether a successful sale happens or not. Exit Path is his attempt to turn the lessons he has learned into a manual to set entrepreneurs on a path to exit as well as possible.
When he gets into describing the execution of an exit strategy, the book does its job exceptionally well. Parang describes what entrepreneurs need to do, when they need to do it, and why. He also educates founders on aspects of the transactional process that most of us will rarely (if ever) have encountered, pointing out areas requiring particular attention, and when it’s critical to get specialist advisors involved. That being said, the book gets off to a slow and somewhat muddled start. Don’t give up. Work through these opening sections and you’ll soon discover the wealth of invaluable information in the back half of the book.
Bottom line, Exit Path provides a guide for entrepreneurs in how to successfully sell their startup. While the last section of the book is absolutely essential reading for anyone in the midst of selling their business, the preceding three sections explain what every startup should do well in advance of that event to dramatically increase their chances for success. If you’re an entrepreneur, or dream of becoming one some day, I strongly recommend that you read Exit Path by Touraj Parang.