Do you think about the exit when you start a new project?
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Some founders build to run the company for decades. Others already have an acquisition, a certain valuation, or even a type of buyer in mind.
I usually think more about building something that works first. But I can also see how the exit you want could change the company you build from day one.
Do you plan for an exit from the start, or only once the business gets serious?
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Not from day one, no. I've built 40+ apps for other founders though, and the exit-minded ones were the easiest to spot early. They wanted defensible IP and clean data ownership baked in before they had a single paying user, even when the product itself was still unproven. The lifers optimized for shipping fast and worried about cleanup later. Neither is wrong, just a different bet on what's expensive to fix afterward.
@abdullah_javaid3 Absolutely agree. I don’t think there’s a wrong approach here. Just different strategies. I’m more curious about how many founders actually start out with that mindset. And yeah, having proper systems in place and owning your IP are definitely super important if you’re planning for an exit.
Were there any other things you noticed that stood out about the founders who were thinking about an exit from early on?
honestly as a solo founder the exit question feels almost theoretical in the early days. you're so focused on whether the thing works at all that thinking about acquisition types feels like picking a wedding venue before you've asked anyone out. that said, leaving a big company to build something does quietly shape what "success" looks like, even if you never formalize it. i think the exit you want matters most for fundraising decisions, not product decisions. if you're bootstrapped, you can ignore it longer than people admit.
@rnagulapalle i guess so. Based on my experience bootstrapers are much product oriented. They care more about the product, not on the sheets (like VC funded).
Definitely.
One of the reasons I'm working on what I'm working on (GoModel - AI Gateway) is that many companies need it internally OR as part of their product suite. So, it'll be quite easy to exit. The market already confirmed that this year (Helicone and PortkeyAI acquisitions).
@santiagodepolonia Can you explain that a bit more? It sounds interesting.
One thing that stood out: they asked who else could maintain the codebase besides me, usually on the first call, before there was anything worth handing off. The lifers never asked that. They were fine being dependent on one person as long as that person shipped fast.