The exit is not the moment you think it is.

I've been through five startup-to-exit journeys.

The first one nearly broke me. The fifth one felt almost calm.

Here's the most important thing I learned — the thing I wish someone had told me at the beginning:

The exit is not the moment you think it is.

Everyone builds toward it. The term sheet, the close, the wire. It feels like the finish line.

It isn't. It's a transition. And how you manage the 90 days after the deal closes matters more than almost anything that happened before it.

The relationships you've built with your team — they're watching how you show up now that the pressure is off. The acquirer or new owners — they're forming their opinion of you in real time. Your own sense of identity — it will take longer than you expect to recalibrate when the thing you built is no longer yours.

I've seen founders handle this beautifully. I've seen others struggle in ways that surprised everyone, including themselves.

If you're heading toward an exit, start thinking about what comes next before the deal closes. Not as a distraction — as preparation.

The best exits I've been part of weren't the ones with the highest multiples. They were the ones where everyone — founders, team, acquirers — came out the other side intact.