Multiple LOIs Create Auction, Maximize Exit Value
If you want a premium exit, you can’t rely on one "perfect" suitor. One buyer means no buyers. You need leverage and leverage comes from competition. To get the deal you want, the funnel usually looks like this: > 100 NDAs signed > 15 discovery calls > 3 serious LOIs When you have three LOIs, you aren’t just selling you’re running an auction. It’s the only way to ensure you’re getting true market value while keeping the closing timeline on your terms. The biggest mistake founders make is stopping at the first sign of interest. Don't let a single buyer own your clock. Build a funnel, create competition, and let the market set your price. Don't hope for an exit in 2026. Scale your way to one. PS - If you’re wondering how to run an acquisition process or just looking to know more, we’ve got you covered at @acquiredotcom. Speak with our team today: https://t.co/6hqLR8REAe
Early Investors McCauley and GarageCapital Celebrate Groq Success
One of the unsung winners from the $20B Groq deal: @mmccauley and @GarageCapital. They invested in the first round and several since. Incredibly kind, incredibly humble, incredible investors. Always great to see the good guys win.
Invest in Key Startups for Pre‑IPO M&A Premium
Groq is a reminder that "important" startups can get a massive premium in M&A It all normalizes at IPO, more or less Valuations then are based on revenue, growth and profits But for venture, investing in important startups can lead to massive outcomes...
Attend Few Key Events, Build Relationships Regularly
My rough advice for events, having produced many of them, with lots of data: - Go to 2 of the top events in your industry each year - Go to 2 local meet-ups, dinners, etc. in your industry each month...
AI Chip Startups Falter Against Nvidia, Even With Gov Ties
there’s another “only in America” episode to be written around the outcomes of Groq and Graphcore similar thesis that new silicon needed to power ai breakthroughs neither hit rev scale to continue on their own vs nvidia/tpu but one had pro-tech...
From TPU Founder to Nvidia: A Decade of Gratitude
Taken Sep 1, 2016 when @JonathanRoss321 convinced me we could take on the giants, build new silicon and that AI was coming. In typical SV fashion, we didn’t even have a company yet - just a term sheet from me...
Rapid Productivity Boom Threatens Wealth Concentration, Requires Early Action
How concentrated do you think the wealth generation will be ? What do you see as second order social implications of productivity hyper-acceleration? If we don’t address the issues you anticipate now, before it happens, I don’t know that it’s...
Cold Emailing VCs Succeeds at Seed Stage
Yes, cold email to VCs works. Especially at Seed and earlier -> https://t.co/ibiQ9FIQyV
Finalizing 50mm Round; Request Overview Before Allocation
Signing Out on this Outreach Hi Christopher, We’re finalizing this stage of the 50mm round - would a brief overview be helpful before we lock in this phase of allocation?
Profitable Startups Hold Real Acquisition Leverage in 2026
If you are a profitable startup, you have the only leverage that actually matters in an acquisition in 2026. You don't need to sell. This means you can walk away from bad terms or lowball offers without hesitating. Buyers can smell...
AI Strategy Boosts SaaStr Growth From -19% to +47%
From -19% to +47% growth over the course of 2025. Here's how we turned SaaStr's traffic (and SaaStr itself) around in 12 months: 📉Through April 2025, we were down 19% in active users, 22% in views. The slow bleed every B2B...
Each Crisis Is Unique; Wall Street Fees Fuel Trouble
Why some economic crises are not like the others… In this TWiST highlight, I break down how the Dot Com Bubble was nothing like the “Great Recession” of 2008, and ALSO totally distinct from the Silicon Valley banking crisis of...
Zero‑Return Public Markets Forecast, Yet Investing Still Essential
"Will the public markets return ... 0% over the next decade? Apollo says so. Even so, we probably have to keep investing." The latest with @rodriscoll @HarryStebbings + me https://t.co/rAgT9714X8
Cold Email Investment Fuels Drone Pivot to Defense Giants
We backed @flybyrobotics via a cold inbound email. They built drone delivery for Yale campus students. Since then COVID crushed their plans and they pivoted. They’re now selling US-made drones to Palantir, US Marine Corps, and others. And now this…
AI-Powered Platform Raises $10.1M to Spark Real‑world Connections
Congrats to @222place on their $10.1M Series A! In a world where tech makes it easier to disconnect, 222 is using AI to maximize the probability of an in-real-life future, matching people for in-person dinners and experiences across 10 cities. https://t.co/VuSdAOZwJG
2025 Predictions: Strong IPO Surge, Google Leads AI
Every year I make a list of predictions & score the previous year’s. You can find my 10 Predictions for 2026 here. 2025 was a good year : I scored 7.85 out of 10. 1. The IPO market rips. Score...
US Defense Won’t Trust Chinese Drone Maker, VCs Realize
one of the reasons VCs passed on Shield AI in 2015 was "won't DJI just do this?" We said you're crazy if you believe the US gov/military is going to rely longterm on a Chinese company for NatSec. https://lnkd.in/gcpRNMnA
Keep Growing During Due Diligence, Don't Stall Valuation
Common deal killer I see at @acquiredotcom? Stalled growth during due diligence. When you decide to sell your startup, it’s tempting to shift 100% of your focus to the deal. You stop shipping features. You pause marketing. You start mentally checking out. But buyers...
Parallel Due Diligence Compresses Timeline and Boosts Competition
How long should due diligence take? Ad hoc diligence begins Day One of a process, but the detailed, confirmatory diligence right before closing the deal should last roughly 3-4 weeks (assuming you run a tightly controlled process). If it were...
AI Agents Will Outprice Human Labor by 2026
11 Predictions for 2026 Every year I make a list of predictions & score last year’s predictions. 2025 was a good year : I scored 7.85 out of 10. Here are my predictions for 2026 : 1. Businesses pay more for AI agents...
Freemium AI Conversions Hover Around 2%—Scale Requires Tens of Millions.
The AI Freemium Math is Brutal — But It Works at Scale 1⃣ChatGPT: 800M users → 15M paid (2%) → $20B ARR 2⃣Gemini: 650M users → Est. 2-3% → Part of Google 3⃣Claude: 30M users → Heavy API/Enterprise → $5B ARR 4⃣Perplexity: 30M users...
2026 IPO Boom Falters From the Start
The 2026 IPO Boom Is Already Off to a Bad Start https://t.co/f7BR2zMb0I
Life After a Game‑Changing Exit: Founder Stories
Founders after a life changing exit on @acquiredotcom: https://t.co/SgKWPn5gwQ
Free 7-Day Access to Molly Graham’s Leadership Essays
Molly Graham 's excellent collection of leadership, operations, and startup advice is changing a little. All new essays will be freely available for seven days, then they go behind a subscription plan where you get everything, forever. i've shared many...
AI Unifies Marketing, Sales, and Support Into One Agent
"AI is converging marketing, sales & support. They are becoming 1 AI agent. Not 10 different pre-AI SaaS products. In fact, it's already happening in e-commerce." The latest with @rodriscoll @HarryStebbings + me https://t.co/Uhpain34qX
Vision Obsession Masks Avoidance of Concrete Details
Founders who obsess over vision usually do it to avoid specifics.
From Skepticism to Success: Truemed Proves Its Worth
I was wrong about Truemed. When Justin first told me about his new co, I was skeptical brands would adopt a new payment solution. ~3 years later, it’s definitely working. Thankfully we bet on him. :)
Show the Incentive, See the Outcome.
“Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome…” https://t.co/QJAbUuo9bc
Blueprint: Build a Hot AI Startup to IPO
-> https://t.co/NlPWFTrkQ8 is getting there - Found hot AI startup - Pick top accelerator - Poach from other AI start-ups - Build to Series A, IPO, and ... beyond https://t.co/2tS4gKNkhp
2025 Winners Revealed, 2026 Tech Stock Predictions Unveiled
2025 was a crazy year. 2026 will be even less predictable. So at 20VC we thought it was time for @jasonlk, @rodriscoll to do a very special “20VC Big Fat Quiz of the Year”. For 2025: - Best Founder of the Year -...
Learning Shows When Teams Adapt: Design Pressure, Own Outcomes
The fastest way to tell whether a team is learning is to look for moments where someone had to revise their view because reality contradicted it. If those moments are rare, the system is insulated. It may be busy, but it...
AI Shifts From Chaos to Buildable, Apps Lead the Way
2025 was the year AI stopped feeling chaotic and started feeling buildable. On the @LightconePod, @garrytan, @harjtaggar, @sdianahu, and @snowmaker break down the surprises of the year, from shifting model dominance to why the real opportunity is moving back...
Selling Frees Founders to Focus on Design Passion
Selling a business doesn’t mean walking away. Jamm Designs (@jammdotco) sold to a buyer on @acquiredotcom who could scale the business so the founders could focus on what they loved: design. First acquisition with lots of unknowns and having the right advisor...
More Expensive LLMs Aren’t Always the Better Choice
There are times when the very latest LLM is the best, and there are times when the most expensive LLM is the best. And there are times when it isn't. We've run 2,700 VC Pitch Decks through SaaStr AI VC so I...
Influence Extends Beyond Formal Reporting Lines
Org Charts Are Funhouse Mirrors Because Span of Influence is Not Limited to Span of Control https://lnkd.in/g_yhV_mK
VCs Gain IPO Gold While Consumers Miss Gains
"All the leaders from SpaceX to Stripe to Anthropic to Databricks waiting to IPO is the gift of a lifetime to venture capital. Yes, the consumers have been protected from bad news. But they've also been blocked from all the massive appreciation."...
Deep Customer Insight Gets Punished by Organizational Incentives
One more layer that’s worth naming. Even when teams talk to customers with good intent, most companies structurally make understanding hard to sustain. The incentives quietly punish it. Deep understanding creates friction. It slows momentum and introduces ambiguity right when leadership wants certainty. So...
Shield AI’s V‑BAT Survives Jamming, Executes 35+ Missions
"On the frontlines in Ukraine, Russian jammers intersect communications and radio signals, leading drones to veer off course or even fall from the sky and crash. Many U.S. drones haven’t been able to perform. But after an eight-month iteration period...
Founder Cashes Out at Peak to Fund New Venture
ChatFAI was winning. Millions of users, strong revenue, and viral growth. Umar (@heyumarkhan) got acquired when things were going great. Cashed in the chips. He then used the exit to fuel his other startup. Full interview here: https://t.co/tNIE71aLPb https://t.co/htq2TImIUZ
VC Firm Publishes Complete Data on All Portfolio Startups
We're the most transparent in VC in history. So we're sharing full information on all the startups we've backed. Investment size, valuations, current revenues, everything. Including for startups still in stealth. https://t.co/fD3p3Tdaux
Agency, Not Tools, Drives Real Impact
Agency is the scarce resource. Tools are abundant. Information is cheap. Coordination is easy. None of that changes reality by itself. Agency does. Agency is deciding when there is no proof, acting when outcomes are unclear, and remaining accountable after the result shows...
Founders Fail When They Skip Understanding Market Needs
"Make something people want" sounds obvious, but not doing it is the most common mistake founders make. I explained why I made it in the essay where I coined the term. I didn't understand the market I was building for,...
Competitor's Domain Grab Reveals Fear and Amateurism
A startup told me a highly-funded competitor bought the .com of their name. I told them this is good news in a way. It means the competitor is (a) amateurish and (b) afraid of them, both of which suggest the...
Future AI Millionaires Earn Equity, Not Founders' Shares
The AI Wealth Machine is like nothing we have ever seen before. 🔎Nvidia has created ~27,000 millionaires. 78% of employees. Half worth $25M+. Jensen Huang: "I've created more billionaires on my management team than any CEO in the world." 💥OpenAI is catching...
AI B2B Takes Off in 2026 After 2025 Foundations
We are literally >just< getting going in AI B2B. Really, most stuff didn’t even work before Claude 4 and the beginning of 2025. That’s why Lovable, Replit, Cursor, Gamma, etc. exploded. The models alone weren’t good enough — until early...
SpaceX's $1.5T IPO: Who Will Fund It?
"The SpaceX IPO at $1.5 Trillion 1⃣Who will buy? 2⃣Could the valuation get walked back? 3⃣ Will the Big Vision justify it? 4⃣Could Google anchor the IPO for $10B+?" The latest with @rodriscoll @HarryStebbings + me https://t.co/YBJayKYQrp
From CFO to Creator: Building Mostly Media
The tables have turned... my friend and fellow creator Paul Stansik at ParkerGale Capital interviewed me on my business. How did I go from CFO to guy who creates stuff online? And is it worth it? We cover the origins...
Organize Diligence and Keep Competition to Prevent Retrades
One of the most frustrating things for a founder selling their business: A retrade. Retrading is when a buyer tries to renegotiate the terms of a transaction late in a process due to "new" information that arose during final diligence....
Salient Scales to $25M ARR, Zero Churn,
In just two years, Salient has hit $25M ARR—with zero customer churn and 100% of pilots converting to paid deals. They're automating loan servicing for auto lenders (including 5 of the top 10), cutting costs by 50% and delivering 30x better...
Unified AI Regulation Needed to Shield Small Startups
America doesn’t win by making every startup navigate 50+ regulatory regimes. Fragmented AI rules become a moat helping big tech only. A coherent federal framework is how you protect safety and keep US AI advancing. This EO is a meaningful...
