My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Four Buyer Categories Framework
A systematic way to categorize potential acquirers into four distinct types based on their acquisition motivations and strategic needs.
How It Works
Different buyer types have different pain points, decision-making processes, and valuation approaches. By categorizing buyers, you can tailor your approach and messaging to each type's specific motivations.
Components
Unicorns: High-growth companies seeking to accelerate growth
Dying Dinosaurs: Incumbent companies needing fresh blood/tech
Adjacent Alligators: Peers/competitors for merger synergies
Talent Farms: Large companies primarily wanting your team
When to Use
During the initial phases of exploring a sale when you need to identify and prioritize potential buyers.
When Not to Use
When you already have a specific strategic buyer identified or when doing a pure financial sale to private equity.
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
Example
“A B2B SaaS company maps potential buyers: Salesforce (unicorn seeking growth), IBM (dying dinosaur needing modern tech), HubSpot (adjacent alligator), and Google (talent farm wanting engineers).”