Sell-side M&A for founders whose company has taken VC or PE money — ESOP, boards, cap tables and preferences, all handled.
20Seven is a sell-side M&A advisory that represents founders selling VC- and PE-backed companies, keeping founders, board, and investors aligned through the process.
Selling a backed company is harder than selling one you own outright: the board has to approve, investors have consent rights, liquidation preferences and the waterfall decide who gets what, and the option pool needs handling. We've been VC-backed founders ourselves, so we run a process that keeps you, the board, and your investors pulling the same way.
Before it reaches the board, you want to know if it's real and what it's actually worth. We read the intent, model the outcome across the whole cap table, and help you frame it for investors — so the conversation starts from strength, not surprise.
You want a clean process that satisfies your investors and still lands the best outcome for founders and the team. We prepare the company, map the buyers, and manage the board and consent steps so approvals don't stall the deal.
We've raised VC, sat across the board table, and sold. We 100% get ESOP, multiple shareholders, boards, and cap tables — because we've lived every part of it, not read about it.
Liquidation preferences decide who gets paid first and how much reaches founders and the team. We model the waterfall at every offer level, so you see your real outcome before you negotiate — not after.
Vested and unvested options, the pool's dilution, acceleration, and how a buyer treats the team — we handle option-pool mechanics so the people who built the company are looked after in the deal.
Board approvals, investor consent rights, and information rights can stall a sale if they're managed late. We run them in step with the process so the deal keeps moving and nobody is blindsided.
Sometimes the answer is a full sale, sometimes a secondary for early investors or founders. We align the whole cap table — founders, board, and investors — around the outcome that actually works for everyone.
We only ever represent the seller — never the buyer, never both sides. Your interests, and your cap table's, are the only ones we're paid to protect.
We prepare the company, map and rank the buyers, and run a tight process — sequencing board approvals and investor consents so they never stall the deal. The full method lives in our Strategic Sale Planning. See how Strategic Sale Planning works.
Five minutes while you walk to get a coffee. No pitch—just the truth about what your company is worth and who might buy it.