Molson Hart

Your point is that a period of exclusive negotiation is SOP right?

Yes! It's customary for a buyer to be granted a period of exclusivity (30-90 days) after the LOI is signed -- since they're spending $ and time on the deal. Two things happen after LOI: - generate draft agreements (so lawyer fees start) - conduct diligence (which isn't free)

There are a lot of people, both on twitter and on hacker news, who talk the talk, but have never walked the walk.

That’s what the internet is for, right? :-)

Agree with Michael here - Exclusivity period is standard but seller also probly gets something from escrow if buyer bails

Even in microcap deals (we're talking like $1-$10 million dollar SBA stuff)? Something from escrow feels like big boy deals.

It’s atypical in my experience at that size. Sellers generally spend a good amount of time to understand if the Buyers are for real. But something like a small amount to cover seller expenses is not crazy at a breakup.

If you read the Baremetrics guys’ story — the offer he got was too good to be true. The buyer was a micro search fund that hoped and prayed it could raise the money, which didn’t happen. In his case, he didn’t do much diligence on the buyer and it hurt him.