It's very well possible that I either did not understand how your answer relates to my question, or that my definition of "exit" (namely, that a company gets sold, usually to a larger entity, and is not held by founders anymore) is incorrect or too narrow, but, again, how is an exit compatible with a company being part of the Mittelstand?

You say "pre-Mittelstand", so I guess it's not about investing in companies that are aready Mittelstand (and effectively lifting them out of that) either.