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Lessons from my first exit

(mtlynch.io)
410 points saeedesmaili | 4 comments | 14 Nov 24 07:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.848s | source
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mtlynch ◴[14 Nov 24 13:44 UTC] No.42136070[source]▶
Author here.

Happy to answer take any feedback and answer any questions about this post.

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1. LouisSayers ◴[14 Nov 24 18:32 UTC] No.42139484[source]▶
One thing that wasn't really covered was: why did you sell?

Especially at a 2.4 multiple... It seems like you could have just let it keep running mostly on autopilot (assuming the team could keep working on improvements)?

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2. mtlynch ◴[14 Nov 24 18:45 UTC] No.42139648[source]▶
Thanks for reading!

I wrote about that in a previous post: https://mtlynch.io/i-sold-tinypilot/#why-sell

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3. sberens ◴[15 Nov 24 01:36 UTC] No.42143163[source]▶
I'm curious, did you consider hiring a CEO to run the company? Or is the company too small for that?
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4. mtlynch ◴[15 Nov 24 02:25 UTC] No.42143424{3}[source]▶
Yeah, 2023's profits was $235k,[0] which is good, but it doesn't leave a ton of room to hire some sort of executive to replace me. I don't even know if I'd attract someone qualified if I gave them the entire profit, but at that point, it makes more money to sell than to own a company that's just breaking even with someone else in charge.

[0] https://mtlynch.io/solo-developer-year-6/#tinypilot-became-2...