M&A Advice and Sale Process Management for Founder-Led SaaS Companies
Selling a software company is not just about finding a buyer. It is about understanding your options, preparing for buyer scrutiny, choosing the right timing, and running a process that supports your personal and financial goals.
I help SaaS and software company owners decide whether a sale makes sense, what buyers are likely to value, and how to approach qualified buyers when the time is right.
Why Owners Choose to Work With Me
Direct Senior Attention
You work directly with me throughout the engagement, from preparation and buyer outreach through LOIs, diligence, and closing. I represent only one or two sellers at a time, so your transaction receives meaningful personal attention rather than being handed off to junior staff.
Independent, Candid Advice
My advice is not influenced by a larger firm’s revenue targets or pressure from partners to generate fees. I can tell you candidly whether an offer should be accepted, negotiated, rejected, or whether the better decision is to wait.
Compensation Aligned With Your Outcome
I do not rely on large retainers or ongoing monthly advisory fees. Most of my compensation is earned when the transaction closes and you receive the sale proceeds.
A Disciplined Sale Process
I run a confidential, structured process designed to create competition among qualified buyers, protect your negotiating leverage, and compare offers based on price, terms, risk, and certainty of closing.
Software and Business-Owner Experience
Before becoming a business broker and M&A advisor, I spent years in enterprise software and owned and sold my own business. I understand both the operating realities of a software company and the personal weight of deciding whether to sell.
Should You Go to Market Now?
Not every business should go to market immediately. Some owners are ready to sell now. Others may improve the outcome by strengthening financial reporting, reducing dependence on the founder, addressing customer concentration, building the management team, or waiting for better performance.
My role is to help you evaluate that decision clearly. If a sale process makes sense, I will help you prepare and manage it. If waiting or improving the business is likely to produce a better result, I will say that directly.
Who I Work With
I primarily advise founders of profitable SaaS, software, and technology-enabled B2B service companies with the following general profile:
Revenue: Typically $2 million to $10 million of ARR, or up to $20 million of total revenue.
Financial profile: Meaningful profitability, credible financial reporting, and manageable customer concentration.
Business quality: An established customer base, defensible revenue, and a company that is not entirely dependent on the founder.
I also work with select B2B service companies, including MSPs, IT services firms, digital agencies, accounting firms, and other recurring or repeat-revenue businesses.
I generally do not represent pre-revenue startups, code-only assets, distressed companies, restaurants, or retail businesses.
What Buyers Need to See
A successful sale process usually begins with a business that has understandable financial performance, credible revenue quality, a capable team, and a growth story that buyers can evaluate.
Buyers will focus on risk as much as upside. They will examine customer concentration, churn, founder dependence, recurring revenue, margins, and the company’s ability to continue performing after ownership changes.
The goal is not to “shop the business around.” It is to present the company clearly, approach the right buyers, and create enough competition to improve both price and terms.
A Confidential, Disciplined Sale Process
You do not need hundreds of random buyer conversations. You need a controlled process with qualified buyers, staged disclosure, clear deadlines, and enough competition to preserve negotiating leverage.
1. Valuation and Preparation
Review financial performance, analyze revenue quality, identify buyer concerns, and determine how the company should be positioned.
2. Materials and Buyer Targeting
Develop confidential marketing materials and identify strategic acquirers, private equity-backed platforms, independent sponsors, and other qualified buyers.
3. Buyer Outreach and Offer Comparison
Manage confidentiality agreements, coordinate meetings, answer buyer questions, and evaluate competing LOIs based on price, structure, risk, and closing certainty.
4. Diligence and Closing
Coordinate buyer diligence, manage issues as they arise, support negotiations, and help keep the transaction moving through closing.
Practical Advice, Not Inflated Expectations
I do not create inflated valuation expectations to win an engagement. A high headline number is not useful if the buyer cannot close, the structure shifts too much risk to the seller, or the offer depends on unrealistic future performance.
My advice is based on market reality, buyer quality, deal terms, and certainty of closing. The goal is not simply to attract an offer. It is to determine whether the transaction is likely to produce an outcome that supports your financial and personal goals.
Meet David Jacobs
I am a California-based M&A advisor and licensed business broker focused on founder-led SaaS, software, MSP, IT services, and technology-enabled B2B service companies.
Before advising business owners, I spent years in enterprise software and owned and sold my own business. I understand recurring revenue, project and implementation work, customer concentration, founder dependence, and the operational issues buyers evaluate.
I also understand that selling a business is not only a financial decision. It affects employees, customers, family, identity, and what the owner plans to do next.
My role is to provide direct advice, help owners understand their options, and manage a confidential sale process when selling is the right decision.
Clients work directly with me throughout the engagement. I return calls and emails, follow through on commitments, and give direct answers when decisions need to be made.
Thinking About Selling in the Next 12-24 Months?
The best time to start a conversation is often before you are ready to go to market.
A confidential fit call can help you understand how buyers are likely to view the business, what issues may need to be addressed, and whether a sale process makes sense now or later.
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