Exit Planning & Liquidity Strategy

Types of Exits

• Acquisition: another company buys yours — the most common exit for venture-backed startups (90%+ of exits are acquisitions, not IPOs)
• IPO: going public on a stock exchange — requires significant scale ($100M+ ARR typically), strong governance, and readiness for public market scrutiny
• Secondary sale: founders or employees sell shares to private buyers before an IPO or acquisition — provides partial liquidity without a full exit
• Acquihire: a company acquires yours primarily for the team, not the product — often structured as earn-out, which can be challenging for founders