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The exit is when you sell control: what changed in v1.2.0
From v1.1.0 (2026-10-20, 4094c41b5) to v1.2.0 (2026-10-20, b4ec6e4e4), paragraph by paragraph.
0 paragraphs added, 0 removed, 2 changed in place, 49 unchanged. About 2 words added and 4 removed. Insertions are marked like this, deletions like this; unchanged runs are folded to one line; figures appear as their file names.
19 unchanged paragraphs, under In short {#in-short}, What an exit is {#exit}, That is the day to leave {#leave}
Founders want to found. They want to create, to be in the creative flow for as long as they can, and to be productive. In the terms this site uses, a founder is an explorer. Companies move on from that: they become villagers, with process and a board, and then town planners, run for reliability and for value. That is sometimes exactly what the investors want, and an acquirer who buys a product because they like it and want to extract as much value as they can from it is making a pure town planner play. NoneThat ofcan thatbe exactly what the company needs. It is wrong.a Butdifferent itgame is notfrom the founder's game any more.founder's.
19 unchanged paragraphs, under What the research says {#evidence}, The Mourinho clause {#mourinho}, Negotiate the exit at the start {#negotiate}
This is also leverage in the negotiation. If investors know that asking for too much control means losing the founder, they price that in. Sometimes they will still ask for it, and that may be the right outcome for both sides: the company has matured, it no longer needs that ball of energy, it needs someone to execute, and a new CEO and a new CTO take it from there. That might be the right outcome for everybody, asand longit asis easiest when it was agreed in advance and not fought over at the end.start.
11 unchanged paragraphs, under Write your number down now {#number}, What this does not claim {#limits}, Where this comes from {#sources}