So first off congratulations to creating a business that makes customers pay $200K per year. That's amazing. There are companies out there that raise many $M, hire a bunch of engineers, and still don't get there.
I may be able to add a perspective here since I've worked on both sides of the table, in Corp Dev (before) and as a founder (today).
If you want to find an exit for your company, then it's "just" another sales process. That means you need to define your process, set a timeline, and create urgency among potential buyers. That means filling your pipeline with lots of prospects. In a way, it's like fundraising - you're trying to sell (a part of) your company.
Key is that you have a large top of the funnel - more people will say "no" than "yes". And for the ones that say "yes", you want to make sure that you have leverage, i.e. more than one offer.
Here's the rough process that I would pursue if I were in your shoes:
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- create a long list of companies that may be a good fit / home for your product (20+ companies)
- find their CEOs and their emails (e.g. via a freelancer on Upwork)
- get a warm intro (best), otherwise reach out cold
- prepare a general pitch (market changes, need for your product, etc.)
- do you homework to understand how your product would fit into their portfolio
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The first contact should only be about the potential opportunity - "xyz thought what I'm doing may be a good fit for your company. If I sent you a short deck, would you spend a few minutes looking at it?" ----> if yes, send and propose a 30 min chat
Do this for as many good potential buyers as possible, all within a few days. Schedule the coffee / call for the week after. Prepare that deck that you can send if somebody is open to talk / meet.
in the deck:
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- describe a big change in the market that has created a need for YOUR product
- make sure you nail the "why now?"
- explain your product's secret sauce and why it's unique
- show your traction, customer logos
- explain your economics (e.g. "ASP $18K / year")
- show what the business can look like if you join forces
- put a price on it
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Keep this deck small. 6-8 pages max.
Make sure you communicate that you're looking to find a buyer within the next 6-8 weeks (urgency), and that you're talking to a few good companies (fear of missing out).
If you feel there's a fit, and the other side believes that too, work with the CEO to identify & involve the stakeholders on their end (e.g. VP of Product, VP of Engineering). Make sure that happens as a follow-up within the next week of your chat / coffee with the CEO.
If they all decide it's a fit - agree on the process and timeline it will take to close. They'll need to get approval from their board, etc. to get this through. So much can go wrong here. People go on vacation. There's an important release. The quarter is ending, and they missed their quarter. That's why you need many potential parties in your deal.
So:
first contact --> call / meeting --> get ok from stakeholders --> come to decision "is this a fit"? --> agree on closing steps
Reg. the price - there are few well-known small PE buyers out there that will pay your 1x revenue regardless of what your business is. Take that as the bottom of the valuation. To get something that's higher - you'll need competing parties for the deal.
But I doubt that anybody will buy you for the revenue. $200K is too little for any company to matter, regardless of small / big. So the important part is to communicate the potential, and your value-add as an individual contributor for say the next 12-24 months. But you don't know until you try and ask :-)
Hope this helps. and then look at https://www.intermix.io to and let me know if we're a potential fit :-)