theygotacquired.com
This Founder Built a 10-Year Strategy to Get Acquired - Heres How It Panned Out
TL;DR: Greg Poirier founded CloudKettle in 2015 as a Salesforce consultancy, drafting an acquisition roadmap from day one with three goals: personal financial security, winding down his career, and building a company that thrives post-acquisition. He shared this plan with all 50 employees and gave quarterly financial updates as if employees were board members. One-third of the company was reserved for employee equity. The company was bootstrapped with no debt or funding, grew to 50 employees, and derived 90% of new clients from referrals. Despite hiring a broker, the buyer (BCE Inc) emerged from their own client network. The 8-figure deal closed in June 2024.
Key Insights
- Drafted acquisition roadmap from day one with three clear goals: financial security, career wind-down, company thriving post-acquisition
- Shared 10-year exit plan with all 50 employees and gave quarterly financials as if they were board members - radical transparency
- Reserved 1/3 of company equity for employees with auto-grant at 2+ years tenure or Salesforce certification
- 90% of new clients came from referrals - the company grew purely on word-of-mouth for a decade
- Despite hiring a broker, the actual buyer was an existing client from their own network
Actionable Takeaways
- Draft your acquisition roadmap from day one to align all business decisions toward that goal
- Share your exit plan transparently with employees - it builds trust and aligns incentives
- Reserve meaningful equity for employees to ensure they benefit from the exit
- Engage acquisition advisors years before the sale to get your house in order
- Expect due diligence to consume significant operational bandwidth - plan for revenue dips
Principles Validated (2)
Read full article on theygotacquired.comAdded Feb 15, 2026