The FNDRS Playbook · PB21 · Decision
The sell, build, or hold decision tree
Three questions, three honest answers.
The idea
Three questions, three honest answers.
We ask every founder the same three questions in the first conversation.
The answers usually point to one of three paths.
Timing
The time to start the conversation is now
How far out you feel is not the signal. Buyers read the trailing numbers, so time before a sale is room to move them, not a waiting room. A founder with a number in mind may reach it in one sale or in two: a majority stake now, with equity rolled into the buyer’s company for a second sale later. The sale itself, once you sign, runs in four phases.
Read the exit timing windowFour phases, for a company that is ready. The conversation can start any time before.
The figure
Three questions to one of three paths
Does the market number cover the number you need?
Can eighteen to thirty-six months of work close the gap?
Build
Exit positioning advisory, then the Go-To-Market Analysis (GTMA) before going to market.
Hold, or change the number you need
Wealth planning; consider a partial sale or a combination.
Is the business transferable today?
Sell
Run a full competitive process.
Build, briefly
Six to twelve months of de-risking, then sell. The return on that time is usually the highest a founder will ever earn.
How to read it
A three-question flowchart. Whether the market price covers what the founder needs, whether the gap can be closed in time, and whether the business can run without the founder together point to selling, building first, or holding.
You sell once. They buy for a living.
Every sale of a founder-led business is a negotiation between a first-timer and a professional. Each chapter of the playbook closes part of that gap.
Read the asymmetrySell, build, or hold.
More in Decision
See where your business sits
The Go-To-Market Analysis (GTMA) places your business on these frameworks with your own numbers, before a buyer does.