Exits come in many forms: strategic acquisitions, financial buyouts, mergers, and occasionally, distress sales. Some are founder-led and deliberate. Others are reactive—driven by investor pressure, market shifts, or burned-out teams. At Reflect Festival in May, Söderhub CEO Magdy Shehata moderated a panel unpacking the reality behind these outcomes with serial founders and operators.

What emerged wasn’t a playbook — but a set of hard-earned patterns.

1. STRATEGIC EXITS START EARLY

Dimitris Glezos, Founder, Transifex → Managing Partner, Palmares
Transifex is a localization platform helping global companies translate digital content at scale.

Dimitris sold Transifex first to a financial buyer, and later watched it acquired by a strategic player. Now, he runs M&A processes for other founders through Palmares and encourages one lesson above all: don’t wait.

“Founders hesitate to plan for exits early. But the strongest outcomes are rarely opportunistic—they’re engineered.”

His formula:

Align with macro conditions
Sharpen strategic positioning
Identify non-obvious buyers
Tighten financials
Run a polished, proactive process

The best exits, he says, are built, not stumbled into.

2. BUILT TO BE BOUGHT

Tomas Kratky – Founder, Manta (Acquired by IBM, 2023)
Manta provides automated data lineage software, helping enterprises map, understand, and visualize how data flows through their systems.

Tomas didn’t aim to build a unicorn. Instead, he focused on becoming the top data lineage solution integrated across the ecosystem—partnering with Alation, BigID, Collibra, IBM, Informatica, SAP, and more. It was a difficult balancing act, maintaining neutrality while remaining valuable to all players. But the strategy worked.

“We got 10+ acquisition offers over time. IBM was the right one—great vision, team fit, strong joint results.”

Manta’s go-to-market was engineered to attract strategic buyers.

“VCs often say ‘don’t plan your exit too early.’ I completely disagree.”

3. MISALIGNMENT CAN KILL THE DEAL

Conno Christou – Co-founder, Avocarrot
Avocarrot was a mobile advertising platform focused on programmatic native ads, later pivoting into AI-driven automation tools for developers (Keragon).

When Avocarrot received a $10M offer, Conno negotiated it up to $20M. He called the board expecting celebration. Instead, he hit resistance.

“To the VCs, we were their last shot at a billion-dollar return. They nearly blocked the deal.”

It took two intense weeks of negotiation to get the deal back on track.
The lesson: founder and investor incentives can diverge — fast.

“Understand your board’s real motives. Especially when you think everyone wants the same outcome.”

4. BE USEFUL, THEN STEP AWAY

Vanda Seidelová – Founder, Twigsee
Twigsee is a Czech edtech platform digitizing preschool administration and parent-teacher communication.

Vanda bootstrapped her startup in 2019, scaled internationally with angel backing, and faced a key decision in year four: take VC money or merge with a strategic partner.

She chose the latter, forming a new group by merging Twigsee (preschools) with another K–12 ERP player. She led the integration for a year and then exited on her terms.

“The right moment to leave is when your value has peaked—not when someone else tells you.”

Her advice:

Don’t follow a rigid playbook
React to what the company actually needs
Know your sweet spot, and when to walk away
Talk to PE/VC/angels—especially in emerging markets, where roles blur

5. THE DEAL THAT DIED—AND tHE ONE ThAT DIDN’T

Paul Jozefak – Founder, Receeve
Receeve is a no-code collections and recovery platform that helps enterprises manage receivables through automation and data-driven workflows.

Paul nearly closed a major corporate acquisition at a high valuation. His team and board were optimistic—but he wasn’t.

“Having a VC background, I knew most M&A deals don’t close. This one didn’t.”

Just days later, a new buyer appeared—faster, leaner, decisive. The team pivoted and got the deal done.

“Without that second deal, we couldn’t have raised more. Runway was short. Existing investors weren’t stepping up.”

His takeaway: hope isn’t a strategy.

“You need optionality, realism, and a calm hand when the curveballs come.”

WHAT WE DON’T SAY ENOUGH

During the panel, one topic came up repeatedly: the aftermath.

Many founders talked about the emotional and psychological weight of stepping away from a mission, a team, or the daily grind that once defined them.

Conno:

“Post-exit, you’re no longer in the driver’s seat. You finally have time to unpack everything but that silence can feel miserable.”

Dimitris:

“We talk a lot about success, but if we were honest, 59 out of 60 minutes would be about the hard parts. Founding is full of uncertainty. You live with the mantra: don’t screw it up.”

Behind every headline is a long tail of what now? moments.

WHY THIS MATTERS

At Söderhub, we’ve built companies, exited, and advised across both sides of the table. These stories aren’t abstract—they reflect the messy, high-stakes reality of building for outcomes that might never come.

Exits, Acquisitions & Aftermath: The Real Stories Behind the Deals

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