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Comment by anonu | Hacker News Reader

Allow me to be cynical for a moment, for the sake of debate: if your business is profitable, why sell it for what Im assuming is going to be low multiple to a non-strategic buyer like Tiny?

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Maybe you are burned out of running a company and want to do something else with your life or another business adventure. Or maybe the fun part of the business is done (ie building) and now its optimizing.

Also maybe you dint see the future is as bright as the buyer. Lots of reasons to make a move.

All things being equal, you would not sell a _growing_ profitable business for a low multiple to a non-strategic buyer.

You would, perhaps, sell to a PE firm like Tiny when you believe you've exhausted growth.

That, or the traditional 3 D's: death, debt, divorce.

Sometimes, a business is profitable, but doing something else may be more profitable (and that does not necessarily mean monetarily). When you have that insight, it's time to sell.

I run a profitable business (1.5m+ revenue at 90%+ margins). I would love to sell it and do something else. I even think you can grow it in relatively straightforward way, I just don't have the energy to make it happen. Sadly it's a niche business, might be difficult to run by outsiders. The reasons I want to sell are that I want to do something else and that I am already set for life (maybe not fully Fat Fire but very close).

With your experience do you think it is possible or how realistic it could be to put some talented person as a manager instead of yourself and thus allow yourself to do something else without actually selling it?

There for sure are tons of people willing to manage someones else business if you pay them well. However how talented or good they are is a totally different thing.

Maybe the business isn't profitable / exciting enough to make the founders want to continue dedicating their time to that particular company / business model, but could be appealing enough for another organization to add to their portfolio.

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