What does it take to sell a music software startup and walk away with a life-changing payout?

Emmet Cook says it comes down to four things:

Leveraging existing relationships to acquire your first customers
Building a product that solves a real pain point but also requires a cultural shift
Choosing the right buyer who shares your vision
Selling at the right time, when burnout starts to set in

Emmet originally founded his music software company using his experience with e-commerce in the music industry. With a pre-existing contact list, he contacted companies and offered a solution to their customer support problems, solving issues around downloads, emails, and data privacy concerns. Slowly, word of mouth helped grow the business, and Emmet scaled it to over 100 B2B clients and around 360,000 B2C users.

But as the business grew, Emmet realized he was losing energy. Between the challenges of managing a growing company, his expanding family, and the stress of providing a service people depended on, he realized it was time to sell. A favorable tax break in Ireland made it the right time to sell.

Emmet worked with an M&A advisor, listed the business, and was soon overwhelmed with offers. He chose the buyer who shared his vision, and the deal was closed with an upfront payment, which was crucial for tax reasons.

In his conversation with Andrew Gazdecki, Emmet shares insights on:

How leveraging your existing network can help you land your first customers
The challenges of shifting culture in an industry and how to overcome resistance
Why it’s important to sell when you start feeling burnt out, even if the business is still growing
How the negotiation process unfolded, with offers from different industries

Emmet’s journey is far from over, and you can continue following his progress through the link below:

How to Sell Your Startup for a Life-Changing Payout: Lessons from Emmett Cook

Startup Acquisition Stories