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The same B2B SaaS business can get offers from $5M to $25M. Same revenue. Same churn. Same product. 5x difference in what ends up in the founder's pocket. Einar Vollset (@tinyseed.com, Discretion Capital) on why the SaaS M&A market is wildly inefficient. YouTube link in 🧵:

"Startups are bought, not sold" is useless advice. Everyone sells eventually. Treat M&A like something that happens to you, and you'll take the first credible offer, not the best one.

The buyer universe for sub-$20M ARR SaaS: → 20% strategic → 70% private equity → 10% other And PE isn't a monolith. Growth-focused PE pays dramatically more than value-focused PE for the exact same business.

Growth is the dominant valuation factor. 20% growth is the threshold where the conversation changes entirely. The biggest mistake Einar sees: founders who are "for sale but not for sale." Pick a mode. Run a real process, or stay out of the conversation.