The questions every founder asks before selling
Every sale is different, and every founder brings their own concerns. But across the ten-plus transactions Oscar Koberling has guided in the DACH region, three questions come up almost every time.
What happens to the team? Will customers be looked after as well as before? Will the product keep being developed?
His answer starts with how Everfield works. Companies are acquired permanently and never resold, so investing in the product and the people behind it is simply part of the buy-and-grow model.
What does permanent ownership mean?
Permanent ownership means there is no exit plan and no fund timeline. As Oscar says in the episode: "We always acquire companies for the long term. We don't resell companies afterward." For a founder, that changes what the promises are worth: a buyer who keeps the company has to keep growing it.
What changes after an acquisition?
David Shakory has seen a sale from both sides. He built and sold his own software company before joining Everfield, and today leads MatrixPOS, a provider of POS and HR software in our DACH ecosystem. David describes what the group changes in practice: instead of spending four weeks building a commission model for a sales team, "you just make one phone call to a colleague at Everfield, and two hours later you have a template in hand."
David is just as clear about the limits: "It's wrong to assume that just because a buyer shows up, all problems at every level are suddenly solved." The exchange works when the whole team takes part, not just management.
What do companies gain inside the software ecosystem?
Inside the group, many problems a software company runs into have already been solved by someone. Ecosystem companies have access to experts on the Everfield side - whether they want to run a marketing workshop, need a commission model for the sales team, or have questions about the product roadmap. There is always someone to turn to where a team is short on capacity, or simply short on expertise. The people at Everfield either come from the start-up world and founded companies themselves, or from larger organizations, and they bring process knowledge that is hard to build up within a typical mid-sized company. As David puts it: "There are a lot of shortcuts you can take that, without an Everfield behind you, would simply take much longer to figure out on your own."
How founders can prepare for a sale
Oscar's advice is practical: plan realistically. Sellers typically stay on board for at least a year - ideally longer, on top of the transaction itself. And David adds: much of what keeps a company running lives only in the founder's head. The earlier it's written down, the smoother everything that follows.
Let's connect
Whether a sale is a concrete plan or a question for the years ahead, we're happy to have an open conversation, confidential and without obligation. As Oscar says in the episode, it's never too early.
