Exploring Six Key Decisions Post-Exit Entrepreneurs Will Have to Make
Jeff Swearingen, A. J. Wasserstein. (2025)
Yale Case, no number printed, February 17, 2025
Sample. "We targeted post-exit entrepreneurs with a net worth of at least $10 million ... Of the 60 replies we received, 52 met the target audience requirements and constitute the data set." (p2). Mixed founders and acquirers; the split is not stated, so this is not search fund data. Number queried, dates and geography not stated. Headline numbers. "The average age at exit is 42 ... The average net worth at exit is $15 million, and the average net worth today is $32 million." (p2). "only 20% of post-exit entrepreneurs allocated time and energy to thinking about post-exit life." (p2). "The good news is that 41% of those surveyed agree or strongly agree that they have found a new purpose and self-definition. However, that means 59% have not." (p25). Limits. Reader's notes: convenience sample of the authors' network; the text gives average exit age as 42 on p2 and 48 on p8, and calls $32 million an average on p2 and a median on p25.