Practical exits don’t make headlines, but they do make wealth for founders—even this year with all the AI progress, excitement, and hype.
Mega funding rounds in AI startups make the headlines, but there really aren’t many of those.
We don’t hear about the many more acquisitions under $100 million of
software companies with steady growth and improving metrics, including growth, retention, and profits.
Juan Ignacio García Braschi is a partner at L40º Tech M&A, a boutique SaaS M&A advisory firm with offices in Madrid, Lisbon, and Miami.
After two decades in banking, private equity, and operating roles, including serving as CFO of ride-hailing company Cabify, he now helps SaaS founders sell companies typically valued between $20M and $200M.
L40 works primarily with B2B SaaS companies doing $5M–$50M ARR, most of them bootstrapped or lightly funded, including companies in Europe and Latin America.
They help 5-7 SaaS founders sell their companies every year, and activity isn’t slowing down.
Juan explains how today’s buyers evaluate SaaS companies differently from what we hear about big AI-focused venture funding.
Rule-of-40 performance (growth % + profit %) still matters to buyers, especially financial buyers, who account for most of the activity.
Growth rate, retention, and profitability determine valuation ranges of roughly 4–8x ARR this year. And AI can help practical founders improve each of those metrics.
Juan Ignacio describes what’s happening in practical SaaS M&A in early 2026:
“If you think that you’re going to sell your SaaS company, you should think of that two years ahead of when you want to sell. So don’t wait until you’re burned out.
“Keep in mind that you will have to make a profit at some point to sell to serious financial buyers. So when your company is growing at a decent 20, 30, or 40% year-over-year rate, with some profits, that’s probably the sweet spot for selling.
“Significant funds have been raised in the past 24 months, and that has to be deployed. These days, you see more traditional private equity firms going into tech, and that’s increasing competition and driving multiples up.”
Things are changing with AI for SaaS companies this year, to be sure.
Practical software companies are using AI to grow faster, be more efficient, differentiate their products, and add new revenue streams.
Check out this episode with Juan Ignacio Garcia Braschi on the Practical Founders Podcast.
