Contrary to the Silicon Valley myth, startups are 16 times more likely to get acquired than go public, according to founders and investors. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, Naveen Rao, VP of AI at Databricks, and Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, head of data clean rooms at Snowflake, shared their experiences of building and selling two companies each.

Rao and Sivaramakrishnan emphasized that acquisitions are a viable and often successful outcome for founders, but one that is rarely discussed. They stressed the importance of mentally and physically preparing for the arduous process, which can be an endurance journey. Both founders built their companies with the intention of creating a real entity, but were open to selling when the right deal came along.

Dharmesh Thakker, general partner at Battery Ventures, offered a three-point framework to determine when it's time to sell: analyzing the product, sales cycle, and balance sheet. He encouraged founders to negotiate a deal that's equitable for all stakeholders, including employees, and to be open-minded about selling when the time is right. With acquisitions being a more common outcome than IPOs, founders and investors must be prepared to navigate this often-overlooked path.