Our services · Exit strategy
Exit strategy for technology companies
Know what your business is worth today, what is holding that value down, and what to fix first. For founders and leadership teams of established software and technology businesses, whether the sale is two years away or never. A partner leads every project.
Four to six weeks
to a baseline view of value and the gaps
Partner-led
a partner on every project
Technology only
software and tech businesses, and their owners and boards
When owners call us
Four reasons technology owners bring us in
An approach has arrived
A buyer or an investor has written to you, and you do not know whether the number is good, or what the terms will cost you later.
The board wants a number
Your chair or investors want a working valuation and a plan for raising it, not a figure from the last funding round.
An exit is two to three years away
You have decided to sell at some point and want the business ready before a buyer, not after.
You may never sell
But you want the business run to the standard a buyer would apply, so any offer is met from knowledge rather than pressure.
We work with established technology businesses with a trading record. How we work with technology leadership teams.
What a buyer sees first
The five numbers a buyer asks about in the first meeting
Which five depends on how your business makes money. Choose the model closest to yours. We tell you which set applies to you, and what each number says about your value, in the first conversation.
Subscription software
Number 1
Recurring revenue trend
The direction of ARR month by month, and how much of it is contracted. The trend matters more than the latest figure.
Number 2
Gross revenue retention
Retention before any upsell. It shows whether customers stay because the product works.
Number 3
Net revenue retention
Whether expansion within the base more than covers churn and contraction.
Number 4
Customer concentration
How much revenue sits with the top few customers, and what happens to the plan if one leaves.
Number 5
Quality of EBITDA
The adjustments behind the headline number, each one explained, and whether a buyer would accept them.
Technology-enabled services
Number 1
Gross margin by service line
Which work is profitable, which is not, and whether the mix is moving the right way.
Number 2
Utilisation
How much of the delivery team is billable, and how that holds up as the business grows.
Number 3
Repeat and contracted revenue
How much of next year is already won, by customer, before the sales team sells anything.
Number 4
Customer concentration
Dependence on a few accounts, and the renewal dates a buyer will want to see.
Number 5
Quality of EBITDA
The adjustments behind the headline number, each one explained, and whether a buyer would accept them.
Marketplace or platform
Number 1
Take rate
What the platform keeps of each transaction, and whether it is rising or being competed away.
Number 2
Active users and engagement
How many customers use the platform regularly, and how that cohort behaves over time.
Number 3
Cohort retention
Whether each year of new customers stays, spends more, or fades.
Number 4
Acquisition cost and payback
What it costs to win a customer and how long until that customer has paid for itself.
Number 5
Quality of EBITDA
The adjustments behind the headline number, each one explained, and whether a buyer would accept them.
Illustration. The numbers above are the ones buyers most often ask about for each model; the set for your business is agreed at the baseline.
The operating rhythm
What an investor-owned business does as a matter of course
The five numbers a buyer asks about only mean something if they are produced every month, with the trend. None of it is complicated. The difference is that it happens every month, whether or not anyone is buying.
Every month
The numbers, closed and explained
- Management accounts within a set number of days
- The metrics buyers test, on one page, with the trend
- Pipeline and renewals reviewed against the plan
Every quarter
The value, updated
- The working valuation range refreshed
- Progress on the gaps that move it
- Customer concentration and churn risk reviewed
Every year
The buyer's view, taken seriously
- Who would buy, and what each would pay for
- The data room refreshed, contracts and all
- What the plan should change for next year
How ready are you?
Twelve things a buyer expects to find in place
Tick what you already have. Nothing is recorded; this is for you.
In place
12 items
- Monthly management accounts, closed to a fixed timetable
- EBITDA adjustments listed and explained, not just applied
- Revenue retention tracked monthly, gross and net
- Customer concentration known, with renewal dates for the top accounts
- Pipeline reported with coverage, win rate and cycle length
- Product and service lines with their own margins
- A working valuation range, refreshed in the last year
- A list of likely buyers and what each would pay for
- Customer contracts signed, current and in one place
- Intellectual property owned by the company and documented
- The leadership team able to run the business without the founder for a month
- A data room that exists today, not one to be built when asked
Whatever your count, the baseline tells you which gaps move your value most and which can wait. Few businesses have all twelve in place.
Two ways in
Exit-planned, or exit-ready
The work is the same. What differs is the timetable and who needs to know.
Exit-planned
You intend to sell, on your terms and your timetable
We work back from the date: what the business must show by then, which buyers are likely, and what a buyer's due diligence will find. The aim is a sale from a position of strength rather than a response to whoever calls first.
Exit-ready
You may never sell, but the business should be worth more anyway
Clean monthly numbers, the metrics buyers test tracked as a matter of course, and a data room that is ready before anyone asks. The same disciplines that lift value also make the business easier to run.
Published evidence
Investors now hold a company for around seven years before selling it
Average holding period at exit for buyout-backed companies, and the stock of companies private equity has yet to sell.
~7 yrs
holding period now, up from five to six years in 2010 to 2021
32,000
unsold companies
$3.8tn
their combined value
Source: Bain & Company, Global Private Equity Report 2026 press release, 23 February 2026. The holding period is approximate, as Bain states it.
What it means for you
The buyers with the deepest pockets are patient and have plenty to look at. A business with clean numbers and no surprises in due diligence holds its price from the first offer to completion.
Respond from strength
Three things to have in hand before you reply to an offer
A valuation range you can defend
Built the way a buyer builds it, from your numbers and the market, so you know whether the offer is good, average or opportunistic.
A read on the buyer
Who else would want the business, what each type of buyer pays for, and whether this one is the right fit or simply the first to call. Private equity or a strategic buyer?
A data room that already exists
Diligence takes weeks rather than months, the business keeps running while it happens, and the buyer finds nothing you did not already know about.
Published evidence
Nearly one in four deals now pays part of the price later
Share of private-company acquisitions with an earn-out, excluding life sciences deals.
Source: SRS Acquiom, 2026 M&A Earnout and Milestone Trends, from its 2026 M&A Deal Terms Study of more than 2,300 private-target acquisitions closed 2020 to 2025. The study is weighted to US deals.
Why it matters to an owner
An earn-out moves risk from the buyer to you. The better your numbers stand up in due diligence, the less of the price a buyer can push into the future.
How the work runs
A baseline first, then a plan, then a rhythm
1
Baseline
Financials, metrics, market position and how the business runs, read as a buyer would read them. A working valuation range. Four to six weeks
2
Gap analysis
What is holding the value down, what a buyer would price in, and which gaps move the number most
3
Roadmap
Priorities, owners and dates for the fixes, the tracking and the data room. Short enough for the board to read
4
Rhythm
Optional. Some clients keep us on to review the metrics and the plan with the board each month, for as long as it is useful
When the business is ready, we can run the sale: see how we sell technology companies. If the plan includes an acquisition before the sale, we can run that too: see our buy-side M&A work. If the question is where growth comes from in the first place, start with growth strategy.
What you get
Control of the conversation, whenever it starts
- A working valuation range you can defend, and what moves it
- The short list of what holds it down, in the order a buyer would price it
- The metrics buyers test, tracked monthly from here on
- A data room built before anyone asks, so diligence takes weeks rather than months
- A view on likely buyers and what each type will pay for
If an offer arrives mid-project, we help you judge it against the range, read the buyer, and decide whether to engage, decline or open a wider process. Where the plan says buy before you sell, our buy-side M&A work covers the deal.
Your partners
Partners who have sat on both sides of the table
Our partners have run M&A and corporate development inside technology businesses, so we know what a buyer looks for, what they pay for, and what they use to chip the price. A partner leads every project and is on every call. Our partners sit on the boards of technology companies today.
Les Elby
Partner
Les has more than 20 years' experience in the technology sector. He has held senior roles in corporate development, strategy and executive management at AVEVA and Lighthouse, and has advised the executive teams of technology firms. He also mentors start-ups and smaller businesses, helping them grow and build their value.
Mat Truche-Gordon
Partner
Mat has spent more than 20 years in leadership roles in software, including ten years at AVEVA, where he ran strategy, key accounts, marketing, licensing, partnerships and M&A as a member of the executive board. He then spent five years in corporate development at Hg Capital, completing more than 25 acquisitions and disposals. Mat joined Lighthouse in 2020 and sits on the boards of technology companies in the UK and Central Europe.
Some of the companies and investors we have worked with
Questions
Common questions about exit strategy
What is an exit strategy for a technology company?
A way of running the business so you know what it is worth, what drives that value, and how you would respond to a buyer, whether or not you intend to sell. It covers the numbers a buyer tests, the gaps a buyer would price in, and the evidence you would need to hand over in due diligence.
Do I need one if I do not plan to sell?
Yes. The disciplines that raise a sale price, clean monthly numbers, tracked metrics and a tidy data room, also make the business easier to run and to fund. And most owners are approached before they are ready.
An offer has arrived. What should I do first?
Nothing in writing until you know your range. In a first conversation we can give you a read on whether the number is good, average or opportunistic, and what the terms are likely to cost you later. How to respond to an unsolicited offer.
How long does it take to become exit-ready?
The baseline takes four to six weeks. How long the fixes take depends on what we find; some gaps close in a quarter, others take a year or more. We tell you which is which at the baseline.
Which metrics matter most?
It depends on how the business makes money. For subscription software, retention and the recurring revenue trend; for technology-enabled services, gross margin and utilisation; for platforms, take rate and engagement. Customer concentration and the quality of EBITDA matter for all of them.
How is this different from what my finance director already does?
Your finance director reports what happened. This work reads the same numbers the way a buyer would, prices in what they would price in, and tells you which gaps to close first. We work alongside your finance lead, not instead of them.
Will my team know?
Only if you want them to. Confidentiality is the default and the baseline can be done with as little internal involvement as you choose. In practice, most owners bring in their finance lead and senior team early, because the work goes faster with them.
Do you run the sale process?
Yes, for the right business. A partner leads it from preparation through to completion, the same partner who ran the baseline. We have run sales of technology businesses as well as acquisitions, so we know the process from both sides. If we think a different adviser would serve you better, we say so. How we sell technology companies.
What if we are not ready to commit?
Start with a 45-minute conversation with a partner. You leave with our read on the valuation range and the main things holding it down. If a structured programme does not fit, we say so.
Further reading Why tech founders need an exit plan How to respond to an unsolicited offer Do not sell your business too cheaply Private equity or a strategic buyer? All insights
Related services Selling your technology company Growth strategy Buy-side M&A Voice of the Customer Commercial due diligence For investors
Find out what your business is worth before someone else tells you
A 45-minute conversation with a partner. No deck, no analysts. You leave with our read on the valuation range, the two or three things holding it down, and whether a structured programme fits. If we are not the right people, we say so.
