For founders and shareholders

Selling does not mean letting go.

We take the majority, and you stay in with 15–30%. Not as a gesture, but because our model only works if you earn from the next chapter too. What that means in practice is on this page. Including the uncomfortable parts.

A confidential introductory call How our model works
Situations

Four situations in which founders call us

It is rarely about money first. Usually it is about a question that can no longer be put off.

Situation 01

Succession

You want to step back over the next few years, but there is no solution inside the family, and you do not want your team to end up with a competitor.

  • We buy to operate, not to break up
  • Handover over 12 to 36 months, at your pace
  • A second leadership tier gets built, not replaced
Situation 02

Growth & partial sale

The business runs, but the next step needs capital, acquisitions or structures you would rather not shoulder alone.

  • You realise part of your wealth now
  • With the rest you earn from the larger exit
  • We finance and integrate the add-ons
Situation 03

Full sale

You want out: cleanly, predictably, and without your life’s work disappearing into a corporate group.

  • A fixed timetable with binding dates
  • A handover phase that fits your plans
  • Brand and team stay
Situation 04

Management buy-out

Your team wants to take over, but the equity is not there. We provide the purchase price and stay on as a shareholder alongside the new owners.

  • Your management gets a stake, not just a salary
  • We take on financing and structure
  • You can exit fully or stay invested
The deal structure

What a majority sale to us really means

At this point most investment firms write “a partnership between equals” and let you discover the rest in the term sheet. We do it the other way round.

+

What you get

  • Liquidity today. The bulk of the purchase price is paid at closing.
  • A second payout. You sell your 15–30% of rollover equity alongside us at the joint exit, on a company that is considerably larger by then.
  • Capital for acquisitions. We pick add-ons together. We take on financing and integration.
  • A delivery team. An Investment Professional and an Operating Professional work on site with your team.
  • Cover when things go wrong. We have owned delivery ourselves. A difficult quarter does not cause panic on the advisory board here.
−

What you give up

  • Control. A majority is a majority. On strategic decisions you will have a strong voice, but not the last word.
  • Part of the price, deferred. Typically 30–50% runs through earn-out, rollover equity and a vendor loan. If the plan does not work out, you get less.
  • Going it alone. There is reporting, there are budgets and there is an advisory board. For many founders that is the biggest adjustment.
  • Your comfort zone. We ask for numbers nobody may be collecting today, and we change things that have run the same way for years.
  • Time during the process. Due diligence is demanding and runs alongside the day job.
A typical price structure
At closing
Rollover equity
Earn-out & vendor loan
Available immediately Pays at the joint exit Tied to hitting targets
Illustrative. We negotiate the actual split per transaction; it depends on size, risk profile and your own plans.
Why we write this out so plainly: Because you will find out in due diligence anyway, and because a founder who understands the structure from the start is the better partner for the next five years. If these terms do not suit you, we both save three months.
Division of labour

Who decides what from now on

The abstract question “how much control am I giving up?” can only be answered concretely. This split matches what we usually agree.

DecisionYouTogetherUs
Day-to-day business and delivery
Hiring up to team lead
Pricing in the existing business
Growth strategy and multi-year planning
New services and markets
Leadership appointments
Acquisitions: selection and approach
Acquisitions: financing and structure
Capital structure and leverage
Timing of the exit

Who we acquire we decide together, because you know the market and the candidates. How it is financed and structured sits with us. The specific consent thresholds are set out in the shareholders’ agreement and negotiated before signing, not after.

What does not change

Your teamNo headcount reduction as a value creation lever. If a reorganisation becomes necessary, we decide it together and communicate it openly.
Your locationsWe do not move delivery to cut costs. In IT services, being close to the customer is a competitive advantage.
Your customer relationshipsWhoever looks after the customer carries on doing so. We do not put ourselves between you and your customers.
Your brand in the first yearWhether your brand becomes the platform name, merges under one roof or stays independent is something we settle before signing.
The process

From the first coffee to closing: about six months

Up to step three you incur no costs, and until then nobody but us knows the conversation is happening.

30 minutes

Introductory call

No pitch, no data room. We work out whether the numbers fit and what you actually want to achieve. Many of our conversations happen two years before a transaction, and that is very much intended.

Week 2 to 4

Getting to know each other under NDA

We sign a non-disclosure agreement and look together at the numbers, the customer base and the team. You get to know us as well, so talk to Sven Ramuschkat or Walter Huber before you decide.

Week 5 to 8

Indicative offer

You get a firm valuation range with the structure behind it, disclosed rather than hinted at. Only once you are comfortable with it do we go on.

Week 9 to 18

Due diligence

Finance, legal, tax, technology. The most demanding part, and the one where we take the most care with your day-to-day business. Your team only learns what it needs to.

Week 19 to 24

Signing and closing

Contracts, financing, the notary appointment. Alongside that we plan the communication to team and customers, together, and never before you are ready.

From day 1

The first 100 days

This is where our work starts. Our Operating Professional comes into the business, we set priorities together, and in the first quarter we deliberately leave alone anything that works.

No pressure to sell

You do not have to know whether you want to sell in order to know where you stand.

Self-assessment in 3 minutes Or talk to us directly
Common questions

What founders really ask us

Your question not here? Send it to us and we will answer personally.

Ask a question
Your team is the reason we buy. In IT services the value sits in people, not in assets. So we invest in leadership structures, development and clear ownership, and growing holdings create additional roles. What we do not promise: that everything stays as it is. If a reorganisation becomes necessary, it can affect jobs. We tell you beforehand, decide it together and communicate it openly.
For a while, yes. How long and in what role is negotiable, and much is possible, from operational managing director through to the advisory board. At tecRacer the founder is now Principal Technology Advisor, after a new CEO took over. A handover period cannot be skipped, because your knowledge is decisive for the first few years.
That is decided long before the sale, along five levers every buyer prices: the share of recurring revenue, customer concentration, growth, margin, and how replaceable you are. Our Exit Readiness Score gives you a first reading in three minutes. Nobody will give you a credible number without numbers.
You have the first conversation with one of the Managing Partners and nobody else. From the second step there is a non-disclosure agreement. Neither your team nor your customers or competitors learn anything before you want them to. We communicate only after closing, and then together.
Especially then. The levers that set your valuation need 18 to 24 months of lead time. Start when you have decided to sell and you leave money on the table. It helps us to know you early, and it helps you to have an honest outside view, whether or not we ever do a transaction.
No, and that is a deliberate decision. Our model rests on buy and build and on operational execution, and both need the ability to decide, particularly when it gets uncomfortable. A minority stake would be more comfortable for you and worse for the outcome. That is why you stay in for the next exit through rollover equity.
Not automatically. But we deliberately build integrated companies rather than holdings with ten separate brands underneath, and that is the difference between a roll-up and a platform that is valued higher at exit. Whether your brand becomes the platform name, merges under one roof or stays independent depends on where it is strongest. We settle that question before signing, not after.
Then you may well fit as an add-on for an existing platform. The thresholds there are considerably lower, and we look across Europe. Send us your numbers and we will tell you honestly whether we fit or not.
Voices from the portfolio

Ask the people who have been through it

All three are happy to speak with you during the process, without us in the room.

I ran tecRacer for twenty years and did not want it to disappear inside a corporate group. Today there is a CEO, four business units and acquisitions, and I do the thing I am best at.”
Sven Ramuschkat
Sven Ramuschkat
Founder & Principal Technology Advisor, tecRacer
Our customers did not notice the acquisition, other than that we can offer more. The team in Carinthia and Vienna stayed intact.”
Walter Huber
Walter Huber
Founder KaWa commerce, Managing Director tecRacer Austria
Ten years running my own company, then part of a group. I had my reservations about that. More has stayed than I expected.”
Katrin Galambos-Huber
Katrin Galambos-Huber
Founder KaWa commerce, Managing Director tecRacer Austria
Free self-assessment

Before you talk to anyone: where do you stand?

Twelve questions along the same five levers every buyer prices. You get a score from 0 to 100, an indicative multiple range and the three adjustments with the biggest effect on your valuation.

✓3 minutes ✓No registration up front ✓Report as a PDF
0Your score
Start the Exit Readiness Score
Jörn Petereit

A conversation commits you to nothing.

30 minutes with Jörn, confidential and with no pressure to sell. That holds even if a sale is still years away for you, or you never make one.

Book a slot with Jörn Take the self-assessment first
Or write to us through the contact form.