Touraj Parang - Exit Path

This is the most useful book Ive ever read on how to think about startup exits. Touraj makes a compelling case for entrepreneurs and investors to talk early and openly about options for acquisition.

Adam Grant

#1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast, WorkLife

The best founders are mission-driven and motivated more by impact than an exit. But the final mile cannot be traversed by the unprepared. In this book, Touraj sheds a rare spotlight on how to manage one of the most important decisions in a founders career.

Scott Belsky

founder of Behance (sold to Adobe); author of The Messy Middle

Entrepreneurs look for guidance they can relate to, advice they can trust, and actionable steps they can take. Exit Path delivers on all of those and keeps you engaged, entertained, and informed in the process.

Oren Zeev

founding partner of Zeev Ventures; early investor and board member of Houzz, Chegg, TripActions, Tipalti, and Firebolt

In Exit Path, Touraj draws on his unique expertise to shine light on an often-ignored critical foundation of successful acquisitions: the interpersonal relationships.

Matt Mullenweg

founder and CEO of Automattic; cofounder of WordPress

Finally, a blueprint for taking a startup to a successful exit. Regardless of current state of their startup, every entrepreneur must carefully consider their exit strategy. Exit Path offers a definitive guide to exiting by the man who made my first $100 million exit happen.

Haroon Mokhtarzada

cofounder and CEO of Truebill (sold to Rocket Companies) and Webs (sold to Vistaprint)

So many entrepreneurs are unprepared for the most important transaction in their startups life: their exit. Learning from Tourajs decades-long experience and following his guidance in Exit Path will ensure you are not in that camp.

Pejman Nozad

founding managing partner of Pear VC; #1 Forbes Midas Seed List 2022 (US)

I know firsthand that startups often hang by a thread. Without an exit strategy, even great entrepreneurs can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, while others work miracles to secure great futures for their team and product. In this book, Touraj prepares you for the most important moments in startup life, drawing on his extensive experience to help tilt the odds in your favor.

Jeff Seibert

cofounder of Digits, Crashlytics (sold to Twitter), Fabric (sold to Google), and Increo (sold to Box)

Exit Path is a must-read primer for everyone in the startup ecosystem. It elegantly blends Tourajs experience with illustrative case studies of notable M&A transactions, complemented by insights from the fields of philosophy, psychology, and behavioral economics.

Lily Sarafan

cofounder and executive chair of TheKey; board member at Stanford University, Instacart, and Thumbtack

The happy ending for every startup story includes an IPO or acquisition. But despite this, nearly every book ever written about entrepreneurship ignores or glosses over the details of how to earn that happy ending. In Exit Path, Touraj provides an end-to-end blueprint on how great businesses achieve great exits.

Chris Yeh

New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Alliance and Blitzscaling; founding partner of Blitzscaling Ventures

Touraj is a secret weapon for many of the best entrepreneurs in techthe first call for all things M&A. Exit Path will undoubtedly become the new standard guide for founders navigating the final leg of their journey.

Hooman Radfar

cofounder and CEO of Collective and AddThis (sold to Oracle); venture partner at Expa

In Exit Path, Touraj provides a much-needed insider view into the esoteric and often-inaccessible world of M&A and strategic partnerships, broken down to their simplest building blocks.

Sean Ellis

Random House international bestselling author of Hacking Growth; host of the Breakout Growth Podcast

Exit Path is a must-read for every entrepreneur. Touraj completely demystifies how to successfully get acquired, one of the most challenging aspects of startups.

Hiten Shah

cofounder and CEO of Nira, Crazy Egg, and KISSmetrics

From his firsthand experience as a buyer and seller, Touraj brings a unique and practical perspective to show you why, when and how to create strategic partnerships or sell your company.

David Popowitz

former SVP corporate and business development of GoDaddy

Blending business, psychology, behavioral economics, and philosophy, Exit Path is the definitive guide on how every entrepreneur can create tremendous value through strategic relationships, written by one of the most beloved relationship builders in Silicon Valley.

Bryan Lip

global head of business and corporate development of Houzz

Great entrepreneurs are always planning and iterating. Yet all too often they fail to build the most important relationships that can lead to a lucrative acquisition or, sometimes more importantly, provide a necessary lifeline for a faltering startup. In Exit Path, Touraj provides a roadmap for building those relationships and keeping a companys options open. It is a powerful tool for any entrepreneur who wants to be prepared for the best while planning for the worst.

David Hornik

founding partner at Lobby Capital; lecturer at Harvard Law School and Stanford Graduate School of Business

Ive worked with many, many start-ups and led hundreds of M&A transactions ranging from a couple of million dollars to more than $10 billion. That experience has shown me the value of developing a thoughtful exit strategyeven if no exit is imminent. Exit Path takes you through the steps of preparing for an acquisition, from strategy creation to generating inbound interest, and negotiating terms. Its never too early for entrepreneurs to start that important planning: preparation breeds success.

Warren Lazarow

partner and former chair of global corporate department of OMelveny; four times on Forbes Midas List of Top 100 Technology Dealmakers Worldwide

Entrepreneurs can tilt the odds of survival and success in their favor by designing and implementing an exit strategy while they are working to build a profitable startup. This book explains how.

Michael Diz

partner and co-chair of mergers & acquisitions group of Debevoise & Plimpton

Copyright 2022 by Touraj Parang. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-26-470581-8
MHID: 1-26-470581-6

The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-1-26-470332-6, MHID: 1-26-470332-5.

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