Find A Checklist For Successful Exit Strategy

Aspiring for better returns is given and is critical to every stakeholder in the business. Whereas, experts also mention that business is all about the team. The team should continue to work with the same motivation even after the transaction. The key is open communication and being transparent. 

"For non-stop growth, businesses need to grow every other day. Returning money to the investors and all the stakeholders is the primary motive of a company, discussed startup experts at the event.

"There is a time in business when you feel like a lagger player than you may be. Letting your baby go makes more sense. It is a decision for the betterment of the business," said Ashish Mehta, Co-founder and CEO, Onlinesales.ai.

While discussing successful businesses, Harmeet Bindra, Founder and Executive Chairman, Leixir, added, "An Exit is an event. Growing your business is like growing your own kid so that it could continue to grow for all the stakeholders."

Experts from across the sectors mentioned that investors are providing funds with the expectation that they will get a return of 10-fold or 100-fold on their investment. There must be an exit to realise this. As a result, it would be absurd for a founder to ever tell a venture investor that he or she wanted to keep the company private. The exit strategy discussion should be sophisticated, and founders should use it to demonstrate to investors that you can think about things from diverse perspectives.

As the conversation continues, Pankaj Vermani, Founder and CEO, Clovia said, "Entrepreneurs should be true to their business. The person in the cockpit (founder) has beliefs and investors' resources to move the business. If the belief is going elsewhere, resources will not be able to support that."

Why should anyone buy your business? Ashish Wadhwani, Managing Partner, IvyCap Ventures, throws the question open in the forum. Vermani responded, "The bottom line is not about how you sell or what you create. The bottom line is, have you created something worthy of looking at and saying, "Something bigger was created out of it?"

Precisely touching upon the mindset of founders and all the stakeholders, Mahakali Srinivas Rao, CEO, T-hub and former CEO, Aujas stated, "It is very essential for all the stakeholders to calculate the right time for the exit. Above everything, founders should check all the boxes when it comes to letting their baby go." It is a combination of several things. Reconciling the expectations of early-stage and late-stage investors, the founders need to evaluate everything to find a new home for the company. "

This insightful conversation was taking place at IvyCap Day 2022.