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In a recent episode of \u201cNo Priors\u201d \u2014 the excellent podcast co-hosted by AI investors Sarah Guo and Elad Gil \u2014 Gil made a point about exit timing that\u2019s undoubtedly familiar to founders who\u2019ve spent time with him but seems particularly useful in this moment of go-go dealmaking.<\/p>\n
For most companies, Gil said, there\u2019s roughly a 12-month period where the business is at its peak value, \u201cand then it crashes out.\u201d The companies that capture generational returns are often the ones where someone spies that moment instead of assuming the good times will get even better. Lotus, AOL, and Mark Cuban\u2019s Broadcast.com all sold at or near the top, and all are held up by Gil as outfits that foresaw what was coming and smartly pulled the ripcord.<\/p>\n
To catch that window, Gil offered a practical suggestion: pre-schedule a board meeting once or twice a year specifically to discuss exits. If it\u2019s a standing calendar item, it drains the emotion out of the equation. <\/p>\n
This matters more now than it might have a few years ago. A lot of AI startups exist partly because the foundation models haven\u2019t expanded into their category yet. But as many founders \u2014 like Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz \u2013have jokingly begun to acknowledge, that won\u2019t last forever.<\/p>\n