A few years ago, I sold a business.
No bankers.
No “we’ll circle back.”
No BCG junior analyst calling me “bro” while trying to model my churn in Excel.
It was quiet.
Fast.
Kind.
The kind of exit you want your friends to have.
If you’ve ever found yourself staring at your Slack channels and wondering “what if I just… didn’t anymore?” ; this post is for you.
Here’s the whole thing, step by step.
Not how it should go.
How it actually goes when you sell to a grown-up buyer who isn’t trying to fleece you on structure or make you cry in diligence.
This doesn’t start with an exit strategy.
It starts with a sigh.
You’re making money.
Your team is solid.
But you're done.
Not in a dramatic way.
Just emotionally out.
You keep showing up, but it’s a performance now.
That whisper?
That’s your brain soft-launching an exit.
If that hits, go read Thinking of Selling? 7 Signs Your Business Is Ready for a Quiet Acquisition. It’s basically a mirror held up to your founder fatigue.
Before you call anyone, open a Google Doc and answer five brutally honest questions:
If you can't answer those in under 2 hours, you're not ready.
If you can, congrats; you’ve just written the bones of your one-pager.
Bonus: cross-reference this with 15-Minute Deal Evaluation: My Checklist for Spotting Winners. If your business fits that list, you're sitting on a sellable asset.
Because they will.
Before you ever email Tiny, do this:
They don’t need it perfect.
But they do need it true.
For what happens when this isn’t tight, go read What Buyers Like Tiny.com Look For: A Checklist for Founders.
Here’s the exact email I’d send:
Subject: Quick note re: potential sale
Hey; I own [BusinessName]. Doing ~$X EBITDA at Y% margin. Mostly runs without me.
Curious if this fits your strike zone. Happy to share a one-pager if helpful.
No slides.
No synergies.
No MBA lingo.
Keep it short, sharp, and calm.
If it’s a fit, they’ll respond fast.
If not, they’ll probably still intro you to someone great.
This isn’t Shark Tank.
It’s a 30-minute call with people who’ve bought dozens of companies and actually run them.
They want to know:
No BS.
No peacocking.
You don’t need to “sell” them. Just show them the machine.
And if you're not sure how to tell the story, read Never Tell, Always Storytell: How Narrative Beats Numbers in Business.
Don’t overthink this.
It’s not a pitch deck. It’s a PDF version of reality.
My format:
If your numbers suck or your team’s fragile, say so.
Buyers like Tiny don’t need perfection. They need predictability.
Here’s where most founders start sweating.
Price matters, yes.
But structure matters more.
Here’s what to look for:
Tiny doesn’t play games here. They’re straight up.
If you’ve read How to Sell Your Business to Tiny Capital, you already know this is where a good buyer starts showing their stripes.
Look, no one enjoys diligence.
But with Tiny, it feels more like a thorough oil change than exploratory surgery.
They’ll want:
Have it prepped.
Be honest.
And if something’s off, say it early.
Surprises are worse than flaws.
Suddenly… it’s done.
You sign.
The wire hits.
Your Slack notifications slow down.
You go to bed and realize no one is waiting on you for anything tomorrow.
It’s not champagne and fireworks.
It’s quieter than that.
More peaceful.
Like someone just took 30 pounds off your shoulders and didn’t ask for anything in return.
Want to blow your exit?
Micromanage the buyer for 3 months after close.
Here’s what I do instead:
Then I shut up.
Let them run it.
Go build my next thing.
For more on how to walk away gracefully, read Hire for DNA, Not GPA: How I Build Teams Around Character.
The first week?
You’ll check your metrics like a phantom limb.
The second week?
You’ll realize you haven’t opened Slack in 3 days.
The third week?
You’ll wake up and have the first truly blank calendar in 5 years.
That’s the point.
Not the payday.
The space.
To think.
To breathe.
To create again without 57 other things pulling at you.
Selling to Tiny isn’t a one-night stand.
It’s a thoughtful handoff.
You’re not just exiting.
You’re giving your business to someone who actually wants to run it, not just flip it.
If you’re at that whisper phase—where you’re starting to wonder if it’s time; I’ll say this:
You already know.
Do it right.
Do it quietly.
Do it with people who care.
And if you need a reminder of why boring, profitable, operationally-sound businesses are beautiful, go read Why the Most Profitable Businesses Are the Ones Nobody Talks About.
Get Your Copy of Never Enough at https://www.neverenough.com
