About They Got Acquired
Here's our story, and how we help founders sell their business.
Our Mission
Real talk about exits, from founders who’ve been there.
M&A doesn’t have to be intimidating. But most business owners going through the sale process are doing it for the first time.
We support those founders by sharing lessons from entrepreneurs who have walked this path already, and matching founders who want to sell with M&A professionals who can support them.
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How We Help Founders Sell Their Business
We support owners looking to sell in two ways:
1 – By matching you to M&A advisors or brokers you can trust.
We’ll introduce you to professionals who have experience selling your type and size of business, and who come recommended by other founders who’ve sold.
2 – Helping you increase the value of your business ahead of a sale.
We do this through:
- A course that helps you build smart now so you can sell for more later (see the course)
- Stories of founders who’ve sold and how they did it (via our free newsletter)
- Reports that aggregate data on sales and buyers (see all of our free reports)
Our Story
Meet our founder, Lexi Grant. She sold two media companies over the span of six years, and both times craved more support — but didn’t know where to find it.
Most of the acquisition stories she saw featured companies that sold for hundreds of millions of dollars, and the only support professionals she could find were big bankers.
So after her second sale in 2021, she set out to build what was missing.
They Got Acquired is a media company offering resources and advice for M&A, with a focus on “smaller” deals: companies selling for 6, 7, or low-8 figures.
The truth is, there’s a whole world of founders who’ve gone through this kind of acquisition who are willing to help others. And plenty of advisors and brokers and lawyers and exit-readiness planners who can help.
You just have to know how to find them. And that’s what we do.
This podcast episode shares more of Lexi’s story:
Our Team
Meet the Humans Who Have Contributed to TGA
Accuracy Matters
Our Approach
Our approach to storytelling and data-collection stems from our founder’s background in journalism and experience growing content companies. We value accuracy and lean on experts for information.
For some deals, details are private and confidential, and we might not have every data point. Yet we’ve found that through a combination of original reporting — going directly to the source, typically the founder — and thoughtful aggregation of information across the web, we can paint a picture of the company and the deal that’s insightful.
When we combine all of these stories, we form a whole we believe is worth pursuing: a new narrative around acquisitions of online businesses. That’s where the magic happens.
We go out of our way to share stories that aren’t highlighted elsewhere, founders who have deviated from the Silicon Valley narrative. That includes women-led and bootstrapped businesses, and companies that have taken the “calm” approach to building.
Here’s more on our approach to reporting.
And here’s what founders we’ve covered have said about our reporting.
Our Ethos
Silicon Valley tells us success means selling for hundreds of millions of dollars, a result of fast growth at all costs and raising venture capital.
But many business owners opt for a smaller yet life-changing exit, accomplished through thoughtful, sustainable growth, while retaining ownership through bootstrapping or minimum funding.
Neither approach is inherently better. But while the VC startup ecosystem has built-in support for founders, entrepreneurs who take an alternative path often don’t know where to turn for support.
We celebrate the entrepreneurs who have sold their business after taking this alternative path, and support founders looking to join them.
In the News
Press Coverage
A Spotlight on Tech’s Invisible Start-ups
The New York Times
March 1, 2022
How to sell a business for under $1M
Meridian
July 2022
