Exit Path: How To Win The Startup Endgame | Touraj Parang

The Wise Exit

E19: Today I have a special guest, Touraj Parang, who has not only founded and sold three venture backed startups, but he's also led eight transformational acquisitions as a corporate development buyer at GoDaddy. Touraj has been a Silicon Valley M&A attorney, a venture investor, an entrepreneurial mentor, and today is the president of Serve Robotics, which provides delivery to people in public spaces using zero emissions autonomous robots.

In our conversation Touraj and I discuss why selling a business is so difficult and how planning and preparation can greatly improve your chances of real transactional success. In fact, Touraj is such an expert on exit preparation that he wrote a bestselling book about the topic called Exit Path: How to Win The Startup Endgame, in which he shares the lessons he's learned over the last 25 years from every side of the M&A table.

A few episode highlights:

(8:43) ... How economic headwinds changed the exit possibilities of Touraj's first venture, Jaxtr

(15:12) ... An impactful Webs.com Corporate Offsite, and the plan that resulted in a $120M exit to Vistaprint

(20:48) ... A move to the Head of Corporate Development at GoDaddy

(29:00) ... Putting a lifetime of M&A learnings into a best-selling book, EXIT PATH

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Touraj Parang.