A buyer has approached.
What you do next sets the outcome.
The approach is not the decision. The response is.
An unsolicited approach feels like validation. It is also the moment of maximum information asymmetry. The buyer has done this many times. Most founders are doing it for the first time.
From the first reply, value is being created or given away. What is disclosed, who is told, whether one buyer becomes a process, and how readiness gaps are handled all shape the price and terms long before a deal is on paper.
The people around the decision are not neutral. Advisers act on the transaction. A buyer wants exclusivity early. An independent review tests the decision before the company commits to a path.
What the review tests
- Whether to engage at all, and on what footing.
- What the business is plausibly worth, to this buyer and to others.
- What a buyer will challenge in diligence, and what that does to price.
- Where founder dependency creates earn out and retention risk.
- Whether one approach should become a structured process.
- What to disclose, when, and what to hold until terms justify it.
- Whether to sell now or prepare first, and what preparation is worth.
The output is a written decision memo: the realistic value position, the readiness gaps, the recommended response and the sequence before any information leaves the company.
Engagement
Fixed scope. Independent. Principal led.
The review is built around the live approach. It usually includes direct working sessions, review of the approach and company materials, commercial pressure testing of value and readiness, and a written decision memo before you respond substantively to the buyer.
PHCA is not a broker, placement agent or transaction intermediary. Advisory fees are never contingent on capital raised, transactions completed or sale outcomes achieved. That independence is the point of the work.
Part of PH Capital Advisory’s Strategic Decision Reviews.
View all Strategic Decision Reviews
Related reviews: Capital Raise Review | Shareholder Decisions
Next step
Request a 20 minute decision call
If a buyer has approached your company, the first conversation should be with someone who has no stake in whether you sell.
Outline the situation in confidence. If it is a fit, you will receive call times within one business day. There is no charge for the call and no obligation beyond it.
Received.
Your enquiry has been received. If the situation is a fit, you will hear back with call times within one business day.
If the matter is urgent, email peter@peterhowell.co.nz directly.