How founders should think about an exit (long before one is on the table)

Most founders spend their days focused on building: shipping product, winning customers, hiring the next person. But at some point — often much later than they should — the question of an exit appears.

An exit is how founders get a return on years of effort, and how investors get paid back for taking early risk. Yet many founders only think about exits when they have to — typically when the next funding round isn’t coming together. By then, it’s usually too late.

To unpack how founders should think about exits strategically, I sat down with Alex Arnot — a serial founder with three exits of his own, board member to 20+ companies globally, and advisor on 56 successful founder exits.

This conversation is about what founders should be doing years before an exit is on the table — and how exit planning, done properly, actually makes your business stronger along the way.

When Should Founders Start Planning for an Exit?

Alex’s answer is refreshingly blunt:

“The perfect time to start planning for an exit is yesterday. If not yesterday, today.”

Exit planning isn’t about selling your business prematurely. It’s about making better decisions now that compound over time — improving growth, profitability, valuation, and deal structure when an opportunity eventually arises.

Alex suggests a practical planning horizon:

• Five years is too far away to be meaningful

• Less than three years is often too short

• Three years is the sweet spot for strategic exit thinking

If an exit might be an option within the next three years, you should already be planning for it.

Crucially, this planning helps ensure that when the time comes, your company is bought, not sold — which almost always leads to better outcomes.

Exit Planning Isn’t Separate From Running a Great Business

One of the biggest misconceptions founders have is that “exit planning” means doing something different — or worse, doing something artificial — to dress the company up for sale.

In reality, the best exit preparation is simply running a better business.

Alex shared a framework he uses with founders called “Company in a Box.”

The idea is to break the business into its core components — for example:

• How you win customers

• How you hire and onboard people

• Financial processes

• Operational workflows

Every six months, teams review these components to:

1. Understand what’s working and what isn’t

2. Recommend improvements

3. Turn those improvements into repeatable processes

This constant optimisation drives marginal gains across the business — but it also has a powerful side effect.

From a buyer’s perspective, a company with clear, documented, scalable processes feels lower risk. Just like walking into a well-maintained house, it creates immediate confidence and makes due diligence smoother and less adversarial.

Always Be “Exit-Ready”

Another mistake founders make is assuming exits are always planned. In reality, many of the best exits start with an unexpected inbound message.

That’s why Alex encourages founders to always be exit-ready, even if they’re not actively selling.

He’s developed an “exit-ready health check” based on hundreds of real exit processes — covering everything buyers typically scrutinise across:

• Legal

• Financial

• Commercial

• Operational

• Team and governance

By identifying gaps early, founders can fix issues calmly over time — instead of scrambling under pressure when a buyer suddenly appears.

Being exit-ready doesn’t just help with sales; it improves how the business runs day to day.

How to Plan for an Exit Without Damaging the Business

A common fear is that once founders start thinking about an exit, they’ll accidentally harm the company — cutting long-term investments, over-optimising short-term metrics, or hesitating on key decisions “just in case we sell.”

Alex argues this only happens when exit planning is done badly.

Good exit planning is built into the broader strategy:

• Product development

• Hiring plans

• Market expansion

• Spend and investment

When everything is planned in advance, founders know when to invest, when to scale, and when to hold back — without nasty surprises.

This also ties into building a scalable leadership team.

Why Buyers Care So Much About Your Team

One of the biggest drivers of valuation and deal structure is whether the business can run without the founder.

Alex shared a recent example where a founder had no intention of exiting — but still invested early in building a strong senior leadership team. When a buyer later emerged, that preparation paid off massively.

The result?

• 100% cash consideration

• No extended earn-out

• Minimal dependency on the founder

This is rare — and incredibly valuable.

Founders should think in layers:

• Senior leadership who can run the business day-to-day

• Key individuals (“B-suite”) whose departure would create risk

These people need to be incentivised correctly — often through share option schemes — in a way that aligns with both the exit and post-exit retention.

Done well, this de-risks the acquisition and gives founders far more leverage in negotiations.

Cultivating Buyer Relationships (Without Making It Awkward)

The best exits rarely come from cold processes.

Instead, they’re the result of relationships built over time.

Alex recommends identifying a shortlist of potential acquirers early — competitors, partners, larger platforms, or financial buyers — and simply getting on their radar.

This doesn’t mean asking them to buy you.

It means:

• Informal conversations

• Partnership discussions

• Occasional updates every 3–6 months

Over time, if you consistently deliver what you said you would, trust builds. When the timing is right, buyers often come to you — rather than the other way around.

Exit Planning Is About Optionality

The core theme running through Alex’s advice is optionality.

Planning for an exit early doesn’t force you to sell. It gives you choices:

• Better valuations

• Stronger negotiating positions

• Cleaner deal structures

• And the freedom to walk away if the terms aren’t right

For founders, that optionality can make all the difference.