Our services · Sell-side M&A advisory
Selling your technology company
We get the business ready, find the buyers who will value it most, and stay at the table until completion. Partner-led, for growing, profitable technology businesses.
Partner-led sell-side M&A advisory for owners of growing, profitable technology businesses. The sectors we know best are engineering, construction and education, and we have also sold businesses in banking software, rail software and the Atlassian ecosystem. Lighthouse was founded to sell technology companies. Today most of our work is for buyers, and we represent sellers only where the business and the team are right.
Where this started
Lighthouse was founded to sell technology companies
Lighthouse began in 2017 as a sell-side firm. In those first years we watched how the sale of a technology company usually went.
The owner was given the process everyone else got: the same teaser, the same buyer list, the same timetable, whatever the business. The adviser was paid on signing rather than on the outcome the owner lived with afterwards. Good businesses sold for less than they were worth, or to the wrong buyer, because the process was built for the adviser rather than the seller.
We run sales differently. Fewer of them. Run by a partner from the first conversation to completion. Shaped around the business and the buyers who would value it most. And run to the best deal for the owner rather than the first deal that covers the fee.
Illustration
Why we see all seven viewers
Think of a sale as a house with seven viewings booked. The second viewer offers the asking price. What happens to the other five depends on who is running the sale.
A standard process
- 1 Viewed
- 2 Offers the asking price. Accepted
- 3 Cancelled
- 4 Cancelled
- 5 Cancelled
- 6 Cancelled
- 7 Cancelled
Once an offer covers the adviser’s number, every extra week spent chasing a better one earns them very little. So the second viewer’s offer gets accepted and the other five never come through the door.
A Lighthouse sale
- 1 Viewed
- 2 Offers the asking price. Noted
- 3 Viewed
- 4 Viewed
- 5 Offers more
- 6 Viewed
- 7 Best offer, best terms
We are all in on your deal. If a stronger offer is possible, the extra time is ours to spend. Every viewer who should see the business sees it.
If there is value in it for you, we see all seven. Our goal is your good deal, not our quick one.
What we saw, and what we do instead
Three things we set out to change
1
A process off the shelf
What we saw
A teaser, a long list and a timetable that did not change from one business to the next.
What we do
We build the buyer list and the timetable around your business. We would rather approach twelve buyers who should want it than two hundred who might.
2
One size for every business
What we saw
A software business, a services business and a marketplace all sold with the same story and the same numbers.
What we do
The story is written around the numbers a buyer in your model will test, because those are the numbers we test for buyers every month.
3
The deal that was good enough for the adviser
What we saw
The second viewer’s offer accepted and the other five cancelled, because the better price was not worth the adviser’s extra weeks.
What we do
If there is value in it for you, we see all seven. We stay until the best offer, on the best terms, is signed.
Is this a fit?
We turn down more sales than we take on
That is what keeps the ones we run good.
We take a business to market when
- It is a technology business. The sectors we know best are engineering, construction and education
- It is growing and profitable, with a trading record a buyer can test
- The team is one a buyer would want to keep
- There is time to get ready before anyone outside sees it. We ask for six months, and where there is more value to be made we start up to a year ahead
- The owner wants a partner rather than a broker
We say no when
- You want to go to market next week, with no offer on the table and no time to get ready
- You want a volume process: a long list, a quick auction and a fee at signing
- The business is outside technology
- The numbers are going the wrong way
If that is where you are, we will say so in the first conversation. It costs you nothing but an hour. The exception is an offer that has already arrived: we take those on, because the structure decides what you get.
Illustration
What time buys you
What a buyer sees, and what can still change, depending on when the business goes to market.
Now
What a buyer sees
The business exactly as it is today, including everything you have been meaning to fix.
What can still change
The story and the materials. Nothing underneath them.
Three months
What a buyer sees
A business that has tidied up, and a data room that is complete.
What can still change
Monthly management accounts a buyer can rely on. Contracts, ownership and intellectual property tidied. The story and the materials written around the numbers a buyer will test.
Six months
What a buyer sees
Where we usually start. Numbers a buyer can test rather than take on trust.
What can still change
Churn and renewals you can evidence. Customer concentration reduced or explained. A pipeline a buyer can check. A forecast that has begun to be met.
Twelve months
What a buyer sees
A full year of clean numbers, and a business that runs without you. This is the business that gets the full price with the fewest conditions.
What can still change
A second line of management a buyer can meet. A revenue mix that has moved the way the story says it will. Growth demonstrated rather than promised.
This is why we ask for six months before a business goes to market, and up to a year where there is more value to be made. The readiness work is described on our exit strategy page.
How a sale with Lighthouse runs
A partner leads every stage
No handover to a junior team after the pitch. Six months to get ready, then three to six months from launch to completion.
1
Ready
A baseline of what the business is worth, a gap analysis of what holds that down, and a short roadmap. We ask for six months, and up to a year where there is more value to be made. How the readiness work runs.
2
Story
The investment case, written around the numbers your buyers will test. The information memorandum, the teaser, the model and a data room that answers questions before they are asked.
3
Buyers
A short list chosen for fit, in sectors where we know who is buying and why. Approached by a partner, in confidence, and conversations warmed before anything formal goes out. About 90 days with the story.
4
Offers
Compared on what they are worth after the terms rather than on the headline. Management meetings prepared and rehearsed. One buyer chosen, with a reason.
5
Diligence
We run the process the buyer’s advisers will run, because we have been those advisers. Questions anticipated, data room ready, management time protected.
6
Completion
The sale agreement, the price mechanism, warranties, any earn-out or deferred element, and completion itself. From offer to completion is typically 90 days; a focused buyer can do it in a month. We stay until the money moves.
The other side of the table
Most of our time is spent working for buyers
Today most of Lighthouse’s work is for acquirers: buy-side M&A, commercial due diligence and customer research for investors. That changes how we sell.
We know what a buyer in these sectors is told to look for, what they pay for and what they use to chip the price, because we write the diligence reports they rely on. When we take a business to market, it has already answered the questions a buyer will ask.
Illustration
Six things a buyer’s adviser will ask in the first week
Select a question to see what is already in the data room when we run the sale.
Revenue
How much of the revenue is recurring, and what did you lose last year?
Twelve months of recurring revenue, churn and renewals, reconciled to the accounts and ready to be tested.
Customers
How much of the business depends on your three largest customers?
Concentration shown, explained, and where possible reduced before launch, with the contracts behind it.
Forecast
Why should we believe the forecast?
A forecast with a track record of being met, built on the same numbers the management accounts report.
People
What happens when the founder leaves?
A second line of management the buyer can meet, and a plan for the handover written before anyone asks.
Product
Who owns the code, and what is the technical debt?
Ownership and contracts tidied, and the product roadmap and known debt set out plainly.
Price
What will we find that lets us chip the price?
Nothing we have not already found and dealt with in the readiness work, which is why we insist on it.
Sales we have run
Technology companies we have sold
Snapbytes
Acquired by Appfire, 2021. Apps for Atlassian teams.
Harbour Assist
Acquired by ClearCourse, 2024. Marina management software.
Hubken Group
Acquired by Titus Learning, 2026. Moodle learning platforms for education.
Logical Glue
Acquired by Temenos, 2019. Explainable AI for banking.
Raspberry Software
Acquired by Arcadea Group, 2024. Revenue protection software for rail.
Your partners
The partners on your sale
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.
Questions
Common questions about selling a technology company
We want to start selling now. Will you take us on?
If there is no offer on the table and no time to get ready, almost certainly not, and we will tell you why in the first call. A business that goes to market before it is ready sells for less and with more conditions. If you need to sell quickly, a corporate finance broker will serve you better, and we will suggest one.
Do we have to do the readiness work first?
Yes. It is how we learn the business, and it is where most of the value is made. The sale collects what the readiness work creates. How the readiness work runs.
How long does a sale take?
Three to six months from launch to completion. Preparing the memorandum and the teaser, identifying buyers and warming up conversations takes about 90 days. From an offer to completion, through due diligence and the paperwork, takes about another 90; a focused buyer can do it in a month, but three is typical. Before any of that, we ask for six months to get the business ready, and up to a year where there is more value to be made.
Who do you sell to?
Strategic acquirers and private equity investors in the sectors we know. Because most of our work is for buyers, we know who is acquiring in these markets and what they are paying for.
How are you different from a broker or a bank?
Fewer sales, each led by a partner from start to finish. A process built around the business rather than a template. The buyer’s view, because we advise buyers every week. And we do not stop at the first offer that covers the fee: if a better deal is there for you, we keep going.
An offer has already arrived. What now?
Talk to us before you answer it. We take on businesses with offers already inbound, and the first job is to read the structure, because that decides what you get. An offer of a hundred million can be worth a great deal less once the earn-out, the deferred element and the warranties are read. How to respond to an unsolicited offer.
Do you work with investor-backed sellers?
Yes. We work with founder-owned and investor-backed businesses alike. The readiness test and the partner-led process are the same for both.
Which sectors do you cover?
Technology only. The sectors we know best are engineering, construction and education, and we have sold businesses in banking software, rail software and the Atlassian ecosystem. If the business is outside technology, we will say so and point you elsewhere.
Further reading
Talk to a partner
If it is the right business, we will say so. If it is not, we will say that too.
Forty-five minutes with a partner. No deck, no analysts.