Ask HN: How to initiate telling your competition to buy your startup?

1 pointtemp99002 comments

I am ready to move on from a website service I created a while ago. The only buyer I can think of might be interested in the service is the competition.

I am not sure how I can indicate to them that I am ready to sell. Should I pick the phone call them? Send them e-mail. I am just new to this and not sure what is the effective way of doing this.

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There's no magic here; either will do.

If it were me, I'd pick up the phone, but I'm old-school.

Something like "Hello, my name is temp9900-- I'm the guy who created XYZ. Do you know it? I've been thinking about the future of the site, and I wonder if you'd have any interest in buying it outright. I have NN subscribers, and generate $XX revenue each month on expenses of $YY, and I currently sink about ZZ hours a month into it. Interested?"

Start researching the art of negotiation. Buy no less than 3 books on the subject and read them cover-to-cover. You will then be prepared to sell your business at a good price.

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