February 8, 2026
Exit Wars: Bankers vs Founders
Show HN: It took 4 years to sell my startup. I wrote a book about it
Startup boss spills 4-year sale saga—founders cheer, bankers bristle, and everyone wants the PDF
TLDR: Derek Yan released a free, candid book on his four-year journey to sell Polarr to Pixieset. Comments erupt with praise, banker pushback on “skip bankers” advice, nine-figure deal speculation, and PDF requests—making this a must-read for founders learning how the hardest “final boss” really works.
Derek Yan just dropped a founder tell-all: a free, brutally candid book on how it took four years to sell his startup—yes, the one behind Pixieset acquiring Polarr. The comments turned into a watch party. Founders cheered the no-BS table of contents (“herding cats,” “a thousand paper cuts”), calling it the rare guide that isn’t a personal brand puff piece. One reader even dubbed startup acquisitions the final boss—and loved that this walkthrough plays like a cheat sheet with war stories.
Then the drama: an investment banker waltzed in, declaring bias and pushing back on the implied advice to skip bankers when there’s no buyer knocking. Translation: don’t leave money on the table, call us. Meanwhile, speculators perked up at a comment mentioning a “9+ figure” deal size, fueling whispered math. Practical folks asked for a PDF, while others begged for more candid resources to build a founder reading list. A helpful commenter clarified the headline twist: yes, this is Pixieset x Polarr. The kicker? The book’s licensed to share non-commercially, but no edits—so the community can spread it far and wide, exactly as is. Founder therapy meets exit playbook, and everyone’s in for the messy money and memes ride.
Key Points
- •The book documents a nearly four-year journey to sell a startup, emphasizing lessons from mistakes and antipatterns.
- •It covers pre-engagement preparation: mindset, reasons to sell, valuation expectations, finances, stakeholder alignment, and company presentation.
- •Operational guidance includes building outreach lists, outbound materials, considering bankers and M&A-focused law firms, and organizing a data room.
- •Process stages addressed span inbound/outbound engagement, meetings, formal processes, due diligence, negotiations, term sheets, and closing steps.
- •The work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution and disallowing derivatives; commercial rights are reserved.