{"id":47606,"date":"2023-10-20T15:54:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/three-questions-to-ask-before-trying-sell-your-startup-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:54:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:54:19","slug":"three-questions-to-ask-before-trying-sell-your-startup-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/three-questions-to-ask-before-trying-sell-your-startup-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Three questions to ask before trying sell your startup – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rohan_Workman\"<\/div>\n

A startup’s journey to an exit is complex and one that shouldn’t be embarked on without careful consideration and planning, Melbourne Accelerator Program director Rohan Workman.<\/p>\n

Workman recently sold the startup he co-founded, RosterCloud, to ASX-listed software giant Rision<\/a>, and says all founders need to work out early on which route they want to go down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re starting out a startup, you\u2019ve got three options: you can start it and keep running it, you can start it and sell it, you can start it and IPO it,\u201d Workman tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to have an exit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says that there are three crucial questions that founders need to answer before considering an acquisition.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. “Is there a fit [in business and product] so the sum of all parts will be greater than individually?<\/li>\n
  2. Do you trust the people you\u2019ll be going into business with?<\/li>\n
  3. Are you willing to work with them to achieve a decent outcome?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Is it a perfect fit?<\/h3>\n

    With RosterCloud, Workman says he received many offers over a number of years before landing on Rision.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe\u2019ve had a number of people approach us over the years who wanted to get involved and were toying with the idea of buying the company but it was never appropriate,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe\u2019ve had payroll companies who wanted to come and get to know us.<\/p>\n

    \u201cFor some reason or another it wasn\u2019t ever a match that was going to give a mutually beneficial outcome to both parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

    When he came across Rision and its CEO Kate Cornick, they discovered each business strongly complemented the other.<\/p>\n

    While Rision has great software for people working at fixed locations and set hours at cafes, bars and hospitals, RosterCloud adds the ability to manage mobile staff at events who work flexible hours.<\/p>\n

    \u201cPairing them together worked out quite well,\u201d Workman says.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe considered them to be a complementary product offering that when merged would created added value.<\/p>\n

    \u201cFrom there we had some conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Do you trust them?<\/h3>\n

    When working on a deal for acquisition, it\u2019s important to really know who you\u2019re working with, he says.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe worked on this deal for the best part of a year,\u201d Workman says.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt can\u2019t work out without someone who isn\u2019t a perfect match.\u201d<\/p>\n

    And this starts with two things.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt comes down to relationships and trust,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

    Without this, startups risk getting burned or exploited.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThese things have a habit of not working out,\u201d Workman says.<\/p>\n

    \u201cUntil the deal is signed you don\u2019t necessarily know whether it\u2019s going to work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Workman say it’s also important to really spend time getting to know the people and business you are selling to.<\/p>\n

    \u201cYou need to have that personal relationship with the people in that company you might partner with,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

    Is there a decent outcome?<\/h3>\n

    Equally important is managing expectations, knowing where to push back and what to compromise on, he says.<\/p>\n

    \u201cDoing a startup the highs are insanely high and the lows are insanely low,\u201d Workman says.<\/p>\n

    \u201cAnd if you start having conversations and you expect that the deal is going to work out, you\u2019re going to be disappointed if it doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Working on these details will take a lot of hard work between both parties, but will be even messier without a trusted relationship to stand on and a perfect fit.<\/p>\n

    So Workman encourages startups to stay tenacious and work through the blood, sweat and tears.<\/p>\n

    \u201cOne of things I\u2019ve seen in the startup community over the years is a lot of people start a business, they shut it down, they start another one, they shut it down, they don\u2019t necessarily stick with it as long as they should \u2013 this stuff isn\u2019t easy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

    Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, <\/em>LinkedIn <\/em>and <\/em>SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A startup’s journey to an exit is complex and one that shouldn’t be embarked on without careful consideration and planning,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,27,12,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47606"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}