I sold my company (Verrus PayByPhone.com ) several years ago and so much of this resonates with me. Thanks to the author for his candid sharing. It was cathartic to read, even.
> ... over 7 months, hundreds of emails, ... psychologically exhausting and definitely the hardest part of the 3.5 years I ran the business.
This. The hardest part for me and my cofounders was keeping the business operating, and growing, while spending what seemed like full time on the "distraction" of a sale process with several potential buyers.
> I always assumed it was dead until the cash was finally in the bank. ... various levels of depression occurred throughout the sales process.
Yet, in the end:
> The deal made a ton of sense and I’m glad it got done.
Hey, I use PayByPhone all the time in Seattle, I'm really glad you made it, it brightens up my day any time I can use it! Thank you, and congrats on the successful exit!
Off-street lots and garages in Vancouver and Seattle went PayByPhone gradually around the same time (early/mid 2000s). City streets didn't happen until much later.
In another recent thread I saw a lot of animosity from people who felt betrayed when a founder sold.
I'm an employee, but just imagining the stress of running a successful business, I honestly can't blame a founder for selling as long as I'm being compensated in a manner I consider fair (ie. fair market rate with minimal/low equity, or meaningful equity with terms that won't screw me).
There's absolutely nothing wrong with cashing out when you think it is the right time. Anyone who did not found the company should understand it is a possibility when they sign on.
I can only comment on the "early years" of the company (2000-2011). It was a business decision -- we felt we created more company value by applying limited development budget and effort to winning entirely new strategic customers (large metro centres, each with their own integration, payment, and back-office requirements that most people never see) than to adding more than core features to the user experience.
Naturally, every potential feature, once implemented, has ongoing costs and risks with respect to availability, data quality, maintenance, impacts on customer service, image, impact on our municipal customers, etc. We were a small, lean organization then. It's impossible to know if we struck the optimal balance; you're reasonable to ask!
I am now just another user of the service and I love it ... but in 2016, location-based everything is a reasonable expectation! Cheers. :-)
> ... over 7 months, hundreds of emails, ... psychologically exhausting and definitely the hardest part of the 3.5 years I ran the business.
This. The hardest part for me and my cofounders was keeping the business operating, and growing, while spending what seemed like full time on the "distraction" of a sale process with several potential buyers.
> I always assumed it was dead until the cash was finally in the bank. ... various levels of depression occurred throughout the sales process.
Yet, in the end:
> The deal made a ton of sense and I’m glad it got done.
Amen and congrats to you!