They Got Acquired - How to pitch your ideal buyer ⚡

March 31, 2023
​Read on web​

Is it kosher to pitch your ideal buyer for your business?

Absolutely.

We’ve written about many founders who’ve done this successfully. They’ve cold-emailed (or sometimes warm-emailed) the company they’d love to sell to, and ended up with an acquisition because of it.

So what should you say in that initial email?

We collected real emails that founders used to pitch buyers successfully, so you can see examples:

1. Laura Roeder of Meet Edgar

Roeder cold-pitched her buyer for MeetEdgar, a social media scheduling tool she sold for 7 figures in 2021.

Here’s the email she used in her outreach:

“If they replied with interest, I sent over some very topline numbers like number of customers and annual recurring revenue, and from there we set up a phone call,” Roeder wrote in a blog post about the sale.

2. Brian Casel of Audience Ops

“It's tricky, because you can't just blast emails out to a large audience,” said Brian Casel, who sold his productized writing service company, Audience Ops.

“You'd risk publicizing that you're looking to sell, which could damage your business, client base, and/or your team finding out about a potential sale. So you should send messages only to a trusted private network.”

Here’s the email he used:

In today’s story, we offer two more real email examples plus more tips for approaching your ideal buyer:

⚡ How to sell your business by pitching your ideal buyer​

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Why you should be bold in your outreach

It’s tempting to be non-committal and vague in your first email to a potential buyer. After all, putting all your chips on the table can be scary.

But some founders say that you shouldn't dance around the topic if you’re looking to sell soon (as opposed to establishing partnerships that might lead to a sale in a few years).

“Be direct,” said Ted Williams, who sold his local newsletter Charlotte Agenda to Axios for nearly $5 million in 2020 after emailing the founder directly. “Leaders love this.”

Jonathan Knegtel, founder of Blockdata, took a similar approach when he reached out cold to Anand Sanwal, founder of CB Insights, about an acquisition. On the Wharton Fintech Podcast, Sanwal said it was “refreshing” to avoid “this weird dance that people do” – and that’s partly why they ended up with a deal.

“We get a lot of [acquisition requests], and what I appreciated about Jonathan’s initial email was it was direct,” Sanwal said.

“That’s one of the things a lot of people don’t do. They kind of talk around it. They’re like, hey, let’s partner, let’s exchange notes… So it’s really helpful when someone says, I’ve thought about what we’re doing and I think it could fit into what you’re doing and is just very clear about that.”

See you next time,

Lexi Grant
Founder & CEO
​They Got Acquired​
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P.S. If you’re able to find a good-fit buyer on your own, you might benefit from our coaching for sellers.

We work behind the scenes with sellers who want support, guiding them through the process. (We’re not a broker and we don’t find buyers for sellers, so our coaching is only a fit for you if you have an interested buyer.)

🙌 How we can help

Here's what we offer for founders looking to sell in the next year:

- Help choosing an advisor or broker you can trust

- M&A coaching if you have a potential buyer or want to approach buyers on your own

- A sounding board (free call) if you're not sure where to start

- Reports full of case studies and data about other founders who sold

- Posts covering the basics of how to sell your business​

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