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I am drafting out a list of potential advisors to approach, but I'm realizing that some of the ones with the best fit in domain experience could also be in a position to acquire the company once it matures.

Is this a good thing, or does it lead to a conflict of interest I should be aware of?

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You get a big chunk of experience, plus you get a potential buyer, so definitely. If you're worried about the price they are going to try to give, don't.. I assume this is your first startup, so likely, you won't sell it for what it's worth anyway – user60812 Aug 13 '12 at 21:22
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Realize this, someone taking your startup to 1 million value, and paying you 800k for it, is better than someone taking you to 500k value and giving you 600k for it – user60812 Aug 13 '12 at 21:25
@user60812 not always. It makes sense in theory, but in practice if you make 600k and feel like you sold it for more than it's worth, you probably feel a lot better about things than making 1million and feeling like you got ripped off. It's like when negotiating for something, it's not how much you paid that leaves you feeling good or not, it's whether you think you got a good deal. – Joel Friedlaender Aug 14 '12 at 4:46
@Joel - I agree in a way, however in business as I'm sure you know, feelings should not exist. First and foremost, from a business perspective is money. Everything you pickup beyond that will effect your bottom line in some way or form, usually in a bad way. There have been quite a few cases of people feeling they need to get X amount for a company, and no buyer willing to pay that; which end in a case of them finally accepting about half of the initial offer. That's not an extreme case, it happens all the time. Thing is also, it can be easily explained – user60812 Aug 14 '12 at 11:50
"Feelings should not exist", sure... but in practice they do. We can pretend they don't, but they will affect every decision whether we like it or not. – Joel Friedlaender Aug 14 '12 at 11:53
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