Translation and notes
A readable adaptation of the article's core ideas, with the original source clearly credited.
An acquisition inquiry can feel like validation, but attention from a large company is not a transaction, revenue, or proof that customers need your product. The central issue is focus. If you have not decided to consider selling, exploratory acquisition conversations can consume the attention needed to build the business before they produce anything of value. Decide whether a sale belongs on the agenda before deciding when to meet.
Corporate development teams investigate potential acquisitions as part of their normal work. Many introductions never become deals. The cost is asymmetric: a buyer advances its search by meeting another startup, while a founder may divert a substantial share of the week's decision-making capacity. A sequence of apparently harmless introductions, demos, and requests for numbers can become a process with no clear endpoint.
The distraction also extends beyond the calendar. Imagining an exit can make ordinary product and sales problems feel less worth solving. If you are not interested in selling, a polite, direct decline protects the company better than indefinite exploratory meetings. Keep genuine commercial partnerships separate from acquisition discussions and evaluate them through concrete commitments and customer value.
If selling is a serious option, make it an intentional process. As an operating application of this principle, document the reason for considering a sale, identify the buyer's decision-maker, and agree on a next step and a review date. Share sensitive information with appropriate legal guidance. Continue measuring product and sales progress separately: if the buyer walks away tomorrow, the company should still have an operating plan rather than weeks of neglected work.
Selected advice from the article
- If you are not selling, say that the team is focused on building an independent business rather than accepting an exploratory meeting.
- Before each additional meeting, ask what new commitment or decision makes the time worthwhile.
- Review the business on the assumption that the acquisition may never close.
Operating takeaways
- Align with co-founders on whether a sale is genuinely under consideration before accepting acquisition meetings.
- Do not treat a corporate development introduction as an offer or evidence of product-market fit.
- Decline clearly when you are not selling; separate commercial partnerships from acquisition talks.
- For a serious process, identify decision authority, a concrete next step, and a review date while protecting ongoing operations.
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This is a free adaptation, not a word-for-word republication of the original article.