Don't Get Screwed on Your Exit
Learn how to protect your equity, avoid traps, and exit on your terms. Real advice from a team who have been there before.
"I sold my business to a PE-backed firm. 12 months later, I was out.
No earn-out. No warning. No recourse.
I thought it was just me - until I started hearing the same story from dozens of other founders."
>> John, London UK
Private Equity firms, in particular, are rife with intimidation, bullying, and bad behaviour—often ignoring your contractual rights entirely, hoping you’ll cave under the pressure of litigation. All while branding themselves as "founder friendly."
Founders refer to this (only half jokingly) as the PE endgame. It’s ethically vacant, but it’s real. Founders, by nature, are collaborative. You aim for win-win deals, partnerships, and shared success. PE firms don’t. They operate in a zero-sum world. You are the yield.
Return Optimisation >> Relationship Preservation: A PE firm's job isn’t to honour every handshake or be "fair" — it's to hit their target return thresholds. Every dollar paid to you is dilutive to their IRR.
If you're going to work with PE, you’ll need to adopt the same mindset: Extract value; Protect your upside; Hold your ground. Your goal should be simple: Exit on your terms with fistfuls of their cash, not the other way around.
We've seen the tactics. We’ve lived the battles and we’ve spoken to dozens of founders who all said the same thing
"I wish I knew this before I signed.”
Founders First exists to change that. Our private, founders only community will help you hold your acquirer accountable—before, during, and after the deal.
And if you’re already in a fight? We’ll show you how to take it to them—smartly, surgically, and without flinching. The good news? They’re not as invincible as they think they are. All you need is a strategy, support—and patience.
From deep-dive articles, to templates and tools, founder friendly legal experts and a Private Founder Community - Founders First is here to help level the playing field for founders against zero sum PE companies and buyers.
Deep Dive Articles
Templates & Tools
* LOI Red Flag Decoder -> Spot hidden terms designed to screw you
* Exit Readiness Checklist -> Are you actually prepared for an acquisition?
* Founder Playbook - How to negotiate to win. Rule #1 forget about "fairness".
Founder Community
* Live AMA sessions with experience founders
* Founder to founder intel on acquirers, term sheet red flags and how to avoid getting played.
AI Deal Review
Red Flag Index
Founders First is a global network of entrepreneurs sharing raw, honest experiences about exits—especially the ones that don’t go to plan.
We’ve been there.
You spend years calling the shots, building something from nothing, avoiding the bloated dysfunction of corporate life…
Then your earn-out hits. And suddenly, you’re surrounded by “stakeholders” whose primary skills are spreadsheet manipulation, corporate politics, and bad PowerPoint decks. The very people you intentionally never hired—because they added no value—are now all around you. What we founders refer to as the "adult daycare" crowd.
And worse?
They now want a say in how to run your business.
- Tenured empire building “executives” whose job seems to be incessant talking rather than action
- Lifetime middle managers
- Subjective HR processes
- Zero accountability "finance" people whose idea of work is rearranging columns in Excel and attending meetings about meetings.
- The "Board", usually wanting things but no-one ever seems to know who or what the "Board" is (hint: it's usually a few people from the PE Firm keeping a low profile to disguise their behaviour).
Most of them have no clue what it means to build, but now they get to call the shots. They slowly suffocate what you created and want to blame you for unmet expectations.
And no one around you seems to get it.
That’s why Founders First exists.
Because this behaviour by buy-side is now well-documented, the tide is starting to shift:
- Courts are increasingly willing to examine misuse of discretion.
- There’s legal precedent developing around unfair prejudice, good faith, and constructive oppression.
You aren't alone, and you can push back!
We’ve collected stories, strategies, templates, and legal playbooks from over 20 founders (and counting) who’ve lived through the chaos.
We’re building the platform we all wish existed when we signed. Don’t go through it alone.
Join the only community built by founders, for founders, to protect founders.
How to Avoid an Earn-Out Nightmare
Learn why earn-outs are not what they seem - and how to negotiate them in your favour.
Founder LOI Checklist (Free Download)
Before you sign, make sure you're not walking into a trap.
Upcoming AMA: May 6th, 2025
"Ask Me Anything: Surviving the Term Sheet Negotiation"
Live founder Q&A on deal tactics, common traps, and how to push back without losing the deal.
Not all acquirers are created equal. Some close cleanly. Others retrade, claw back, and burn bridges.
If you aren't careful, you're walking into a trap. Avoid making the same mistakes of those who went before you.
Think of it as the Glassdoor for PE: raw, private, unfiltered, and founder-first.
- No spin.
- No PR teams.
- No sanitised “case studies” from a buyer’s pitch deck.
Just real-world experiences from founders who’ve lived through earn-outs, exits, integrations… and sometimes, takedowns.
- Who are the buyers who honour their word?
- Who backchannel and bully?
- Who play fair, and who play dirty?
We’re turning the lights on in the cupboard of bad behaviour. We’re naming names: The great (yes, they exist). The not bad. The toxic. The firms—and the people behind them.
What we've heard founders say:
- “I would never sell to PE again.”
- “They pretended we were partners… until they didn’t need us.”
- “It wasn’t about performance — it was about maximising what they kept.”
- “They gamed the contract.”
If we don’t share the truth, who will?
Founders First exists to make sure no one walks into a deal blind again.
Need a Gut Check on Your Exit?
* Thinking of selling? Already in talks?
* Wondering if you're being lowballed, misled or backed into a bad deal?
* Need an outside perspective before you sign?
Book a 1:1 private call to get real-time feedback on your offer, term sheet or negotiation strategy.
Sign up below to book your free, no obligation, initial call.