When a startup company is ringing doorbells for capital, investors will often ask what their “exit strategy” looks like. An exit strategy is your plan to turn your startup company into some sort of payday for investors. Two common means of cashing your investors out are getting acquired or going public.

While we’d all love to believe our company will list on the NASDAQ and become an S&P 500 industry-shouldering stalwart, let’s face it – that rarely happens.

The road to becoming a public company is long and has only gotten more difficult in recent times. The more likely road to riches is an acquisition by another company.

With this in mind, startups are putting more emphasis on figuring out who would be in the best position to buy a company with their particular offer. They then begin to craft their offering with these attributes in mind.

Effectively, these companies are wiring a direct path from the initiation of the company to the ultimate exit strategy of financial liquidation. By creating a company that is easy to “digest” by larger companies, a startup significantly increases it chances of being acquired, which gets investors (and shareholders, like you!) very excited.

Where is the love?

Wiring the exit starts with pinpointing your potential suitors. A great starting strategy is looking for companies with similar business models operating on a larger scale.

For example, if we were starting an on-line job recruiting site, we may logically assume that companies like Monster.com or CareerBuilder would have a natural interest in acquiring our company in order to expand their businesses.

The list of acquirers can be more than just companies who share an identical business model. Often companies are acquired because they offer a complimentary service that enhances another company's business model.

Take the $1.5 billion purchase of payment processor PayPal by on-line auction giant eBay. PayPal was a perfect fit not because PayPal offered any auctions, but because they had a great payment system that eBay customers loved to use.

Get in where you fit in

To understand where you would offer the most value to your potential acquirers, try putting yourself in their shoes. What would an acquiring company stand to gain by purchasing your company that would make the deal worthwhile?

Perhaps you have a novel technology that would enhance the experience for the rest of their customers significantly (like PayPal did for eBay). Maybe you have captured a large customer base for an attractive niche (like a doctors-only recruiting service positioned for Monster.com).

There’s no one strategy that applies to all companies, but if yours creates enhanced value for your acquirer, you’re probably on the right path.

Get some metrics

You should also do some homework on each of these companies to learn about what types of companies they have acquired in the past and for what reasons. Public companies that have made acquisitions are usually required to disclose a fair amount of information about their transactions. These SEC filings are good places to start.

There are a few key details to look for. First, take a look at how the purchased business fits into their overall business line. Was the company a complimentary service or a competitor?

Then, take a look at the financials for the acquisition – specifically how was the acquisition valued relative to the acquired company's revenues.

If you find that companies like yours generally get purchased for 5 times top-line earnings that will give you valuable insight as to how much your company might be worth when you go to sell.

You’ll also need these metrics when you return to investors if you are going to raise capital for your business. They’ll want to know what kind of return to expect on their investment based upon how similar companies have been valued.

Package it up

Once you understand who has an appetite for buying companies like yours and what they are willing to pay, your next step is positioning the company to be acquired.

The best way to do this is to build relationships with your potential acquisition targets. Some of them may be competitors who haven't yet exploited opportunities you're already taking advantage of. This is perfect because any asset you build that your potential acquirers don’t have is one more reason to purchase your company.

If your company's offering is complimentary, start advertising that too. If an acquirer wants to offer a similar service, it's often less risky to buy it off-the-shelf from you. Sometimes, it's even cheaper than developing it themselves.

Cashing in

There’s no guarantee that your exit strategy will deliver a big sale for your company. Some amount of luck and timing play into every acquisition. But if you plan on creating a company that is going to be worth a fortune when it’s growing like wildfire, the only way to get out quickly is to know exactly where the exit is.