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# How To Exit A Startup
- URL: https://pulpconversations.com/how-to-exit-a-startup/
- Published: 2025-06-19T21:08:48.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-27T14:38:14.000Z
- Description: Multiple Multipliers
- Author: Vinay Gupta
- Tags: Podcast, #Migrated-1787171093388, #Import 2026-08-19 16:25

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## There are only 3 ways to exit a startup.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/a5f31f62-37eb-4357-9e7c-fe159d6fc0d0_2228x1090.png)

[All The Way UP](https://open.spotify.com/track/7Ezwtgfw7khBrpvaNPtMoT?si=ddb19627c22b412b&ref=pulpconversations.com)

The most common way to convey startup “wins” is to discuss:

`The Multiple`

This can be expressed myriad ways depending on what Baskin Robbins flavor of financial ~~engineering~~ accounting / valuation the investor prefers.

Some of the more common flavors:

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![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/739e7aa4-e0b7-419c-8481-67f88ed9cfce_500x500.gif)

Plain Vanilla

## Revenue Multiple

This is the most commonly discussed and sometimes straightforward metric:

If the business is generating $20M of Revenue and sells for $100M, then it achieved a

# 5x

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![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/872955c9-2d05-4eac-9533-0ce3b2b11528_480x270.gif)

LPs Prefer Chocolate

## TVPI

Which stands for Total Value Paid In.

This is a fund-level multiple, not a company-level one. It’s used by LPs and VCs to measure the performance of a fund:

This metric can easily be *juiced* if the investment firm has aggressively *marked up* the paper Residual Value of the companies on its balance sheet.

If a VC fund has returned $50M to LPs and still holds $200M in portfolio value, on $50M invested, TVPI =

# 5x

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![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/ae63a5bf-3b39-4a15-9a39-8d32f3e55600_384x480.gif)

~~Community Adjusted EBITDA~~ More Complicated

## Rule of 40

This *rule* says a healthy SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) company should aim for:

Growth Rate % + Profit Margin % > 40%

Companies that out-perform 40% will sell for a bigger Revenue multiple.

The median revenue multiple for SaaS companies dropped to:

# 5.8x in Q1 2025

down from

# around 10x in 2024