The following is an excerpt from https://www.axial.net/ .
As a seller, it can be easy to fixate on the numbers. “My business is worth X. I’m going to get Y cash at close.” These figures will represent some of the largest you’ve seen in your lifetime. The focus on valuation is understandable, but remember that structure and terms are equally important in negotiation.
When negotiating with a qualified and trustworthy investor (a.k.a. the type of buyer you probably want), you should take advantage of their expertise. While this may seem counterintuitive, they have spent their careers understanding creative ways to structure a deal, from responsible options and uses of debt to how to properly incentivize existing leadership to ensure a smooth transition. Your best path is to tell them what is important to you and why, and also what you recognize to be the risks in the deal. Then let them explain what options may satisfy both parties best. To be clear, I’m not suggesting blind trust in a buyer regardless of reputation, or your intuition. Always approach a proposed solution with open-minded skepticism.
To illustrate, here are a handful of scenarios:
