When going through an acquisition as a minority shareholder in a complex transaction, should I hire an expert "agent" to negotiate on my behalf?

Compatibility with your vision? Does 1+ 1= 3 or even 5? Personality mix? If you are going to stay with the acquired entity. These might be more important than any of the numbers.

1. Before you dive into building out marketplace software you might find it easier to quickly test your MVP using a SaaS product like https://near-me.com/. I am NOT affiliated with them. But in a previous startup explored the marketplace concept. Spend 12K for a year on a SaaS product then spending so much more doing it from the ground up. If you gain momentum then start to build out your own platform. 2. Technical Co-founder is the person who will help bring your idea to life so enough skin in the game to keep them motivated and keep him/her hungry. 3. Remember 100% of 0 is 0. So if the CTO wants 20%-25%. Does it really matter at this point? No it doesn't. 4. Make sure you understand how to tackle the marketplace problem of the chicken and egg. You have supply on one side and demand on the other. What comes first? You should think through that as well.

It really all depends on - if your putting in any money - How much your salary will be (market rate or lower)? - existing investors - if they're revenue generating - how long the companies be around Essentially it's the risk profile of the company that you're coming into. If it's an idea and your coming in at the ground level and not taking a salary the 50/50. If it's been around for a while, no investors and some traction or revenue, you'll be paid below market rate, then maybe 3-10% If it's making money, raised some capital and your a "normal" developer (not a super star) then 1% The key is that you ask for the Cap Table to truly understand what % of the company the type + amount of shares they're inferring equates to. 10,000 shares doesn't mean much if they have 100M outstanding. Also, all equity should be vested over 4 years, 1 year cliff.

Naturally 1001 variables play into this that I'm blind to but here are some assumption laced thinking points: You're profitable, upwards trending, business, in a very competitive vertical. Yes? You guaranteed have a Buyer, unless: 1. Your asking price is outrageous. Not likely as we've closed strategic sales that were 12x revenues. It doesn't get much more aggressive than that. 2. There aren't enough strategic or institutional buyers. Nope. The buyer market is wide with creative outreach. We've rarely tapped let's say 20% of our pool before successfully securing multiple qualified offers. (And we hold a 100% close rate). 3. You're so big ($1B+) that only a few have an opportunity to buy you AND they don't like you or your brand. Unlikely? More likely... 4. The outreach effort is nominal. Most brokers and M&A intermediaries boast a sub 40% closing ratio and far too many of them are "listing agents" -- whereby they list a property, announce it to a pool of buyers in their database and then "wait". We've seen deals that we normally turn around in 60-days with all-cash offers, take 18-months for "payment plan" deals closed by other firms. The results based on the experience and model employed is indeed apples to oranges. 5. How your business is presented (packaged) is not producing conversions. This too would then be a fault on your banker's side. We "spy on" the competition - it's business as usual on our end - and the typical prospectus and marketing collateral and followup materials are, well, embarassingly slim from, well, everybody. I've never encountered a problem with "the market" (the strategic buyers) and we've sold very niche and distressed properties. We have declined taking on deals where the asking price was a number picked out of la-la-land (in which case we offer complimentary guidance, feedback and let them pursue other avenues for closing the deal - which basically never happens at that asking price)... but that's a sensible discussion and likely one that was already had. If your exit is sub-$100M, your asking price is reasonable (even if aggressive), your business is indeed strong on its metrics, growth and brand value -- then any lack of offers sits with your banker. You're likely looking to play professional basketball but you brought in a kid from a high-school team. Skills mismatch. Upgrade your "player" and you'll move towards a win quite rapidly.

Yo are talking apples and oranges. Capital gains are related to your basis not the form of payment. If you are a cash basis taxpayer, you pay taxes when you receive cash beyond your basis. We can help you with structure.