While there is no startup manual outlining everything a founder needs to know — from raising money to hiring — luckily, Toronto has a strong startup ecosystem with seasoned entrepreneurs willing to share their own lessons learned.
At this past Tech Toronto, Somen Mondal stopped by to talk share his experience with other founders who may face the same dilemma in the future: selling their companies.
Mondal is the founder of Ideal (formerly known as Ideal Candidate, which raised $2.5 million in November). He talked about his experience selling his first company, Field iD, after being approached at a trade show by Master Lock, a global security company.
Master Lock partnered with Field ID for a few months, and all went so well, apparently, that Mondal and his co-founder were eventually approached by its vice-president asking if they were open to being bought out.
“Our company was never for sale. A lot of people talk about how they build their company to sell, but our goal was to increase revenue and increase customer service,” Mondal said. “We were never for sale, and good companies are never sold, they’re bought.”
He goes through the process in stages, including imploring startups to hire and investment banker to play the “bad cop” during the negotiation process, and the “art” of actually selling the company.
“It comes down to yourself and the CEO of the opposite line. This is how my call went: I said, “Hey, I’m not screwing around anymore, if you can bring the purchase price up X amount more dollars, you will have the company.”
Watch Mondal’s talk below: