In recent years, enterprise software companies have grown faster, and more valuable, than ever. Still, most startups never reach that kind of escape velocity, with many plodding along while their venture backers — who are returning to market more quickly and raising bigger funds — move on to newer, shinier objects.
The end result is many thousands of stranded companies with a limited number of options. One of these is to simply shut down. Another option for some companies is buy back their shares. A third option for some is sell to a private equity firm that is interested in potentially rolling up sub-scale …
