Fee benchmarks, engagement letter walkthroughs, red flags, process timelines, and the questions to ask before signing. Written for founders who are about to sell a company and want to evaluate the people they are hiring.
Most founders meet three bankers, pick the one they liked best, and sign a 12-month exclusive. Here is the diligence process that gets to a better answer in roughly the same amount of time.
There is a sales playbook that runs through every boutique pitch. Once you can spot the moves, you stop falling for them.
The fee math has not changed much in twenty years, but a generation of founders still walks in with no benchmark. Here is what normal looks like in 2026.
Sometimes the process is not working and the right call is to fire the banker. Here is how to do it without burning a relationship or paying twice on the next deal.
The phrase 'M&A advisor' covers two very different kinds of work with two very different incentive structures. Get the distinction right before you hire.
Pitch books are designed to flatter. Once you can read the language, the same deck tells you a different story.
Most founders have no benchmark for what a well-run sell-side process feels like from the inside. Here is the realistic timeline.
The engagement letter is the contract that governs every aspect of the relationship. Read it section by section before signing.
Talk to founders who have sold companies and the same lessons come up. Here are the ones that show up most often.
There is a popular myth that bulge bracket banks are always better. There is an opposite myth that boutiques are always better for founders. The truth depends on the deal.
If you only get six questions before signing, ask these. They cover the entire surface area of where engagement letters go wrong.
The tail clause is the single most expensive sentence in an engagement letter. Founders skim it because it sits between two boilerplate paragraphs. Here is why you should not.