
Startup Scaleup People · 2026-07-15 · 36 min
Steven Pivnik failed his first two startups, built his third into a $40M revenue business operating across 20 countries, and sold it in 2020 completing due diligence in just 30 days. Now, as an exit advisor and author of Built to Finish, he has helped founders generate over $1.1 billion in exit value across 38 transactions. In this startup and scaleup masterclass, Steven breaks down exactly what founders must fix before approaching any acquirer and why most exit processes fail before they even begin.The mistakes that cost founders millions at the table are almost always avoidable: founder dependency, customer concentration, weak recurring revenue, and an underprepared finance function. Steven reveals his three-part exit readiness assessment covering psychological, financial, and enterprise value drivers, and explains why average exit preparation takes three years and why AI is already reshaping how acquirers evaluate differentiation and IP. Hosted by Mario Rivas About Startup Scaleup People Real stories from startup, scaleup & enterprise leaders.