Negotiation for Startups

We start at the end: You’ll negotiate a company acquisition deal in your very first session. Fresh out of your negotiation with your role partner, we debrief the full range of potential outcomes you could have achieved–as either buyer or seller. This range represents the behaviours that lead to success in negotiation and bargaining contexts—as well as the habits that can undermine success. We’ll unpack this range and explore the tactics that can reliably and predictably enhance the chance of negotiation success.  

We progress to more complicated negotiation scenarios that span multiple issues. You'll prepare individually, as well as in a group setting, and then conduct the negotiation as a small group so you can benefit as both a participant and observer.

Through debriefing the negotiation outcomes, we introduce the negotiator’s dilemma: the tension between "getting the bigger slice" (value capture) and "growing the largest pie" (value creation). How does one balance the tension between getting the best deal today and maintaining a positive relationship for the long term? We’ll explore key influence strategies to resolve the conflict between value capture (through distributive tactics) and value creation (through integrative tactics). 

As a takeaway: you’ll start building out your own customized planning worksheet: a roadmap that can help steer you for all important future negotiations.

Time to take off the training wheels! You'll negotiate an 8-issue negotiation in the role of either startup employer or employee

You will negotiate a term sheet with a deal partner. We’ll cover term sheet elements including preference, anti-dilution, and liquidation, and explore the balance between founder-friendly and company-friendly term sheets. You’ll understand the key investment terms–and potential areas of conflict–in negotiations between founders and VCs so that you can anticipate them in your forthcoming rounds of fundraising.

In addition to exploring the full range of term sheet outcomes, we’ll also deep dive into the full range of relationship outcomes. You’ll have the opportunity to give and receive feedback from your negotiation counterparts. What’s the tradeoff between the deal outcome you achieve and the relationship with your counterpart? Together we will unpack the strategies that can satisfy your counterpart’s interests at minimum expense to your own–all while maximising your own interests for the long term.