When you still have the option not to. Almost every bad exit we've seen was a good company sold at four months of runway, and almost every good one started as a conversation the founder didn't need to have.
Below: the signals worth acting on, the signals founders mistake for signals, and the seven questions that tell you whether now is the moment.
Answer honestly rather than aspirationally. Nobody sees this but you.
Then you'll get a read. The questions are ordered so the ones that matter most, energy and runway, come first.
The most honest signal there is. A company run by someone who has mentally left declines slowly and then quickly, and everyone can feel it before anyone says it.
If growing from here requires money or a skill set you don't want to acquire, an owner who has both is worth more to the company than you are.
Health, family, a co-founder leaving. These are legitimate reasons and they are nobody's business but yours. They also argue for starting early, while you still have runway.
Not a reason to sell on their terms, and a good reason to find out what the company is worth. Inbound interest is information.
When larger players start buying in your space, the window when you're interesting is finite. Windows close faster than founders expect.
Buyers look at years and trend lines. A single soft quarter changes a conversation far less than it changes your mood.
Their round is a cost they now have to justify. It's a signal about their investors, not about your company's value.
Exhaustion and being finished feel identical in February. Take two weeks off before you make a decision that permanent.
A number from a broker's valuation or a friend's exit is not an offer. Written offers are the only prices that exist.
Timing the market at this size is mostly illusion. Private valuations under $10M move slowly and are driven by your metrics rather than the index.
When you don't have to. Selling from twelve months of runway or profitability gives you the ability to walk away, and that single fact does more for your terms than any negotiating technique.
Curious is a long-term holding company that buys and grows software companies with empathy.
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