The first number in an unsolicited LOI is not an offer. It's a test, to see if you know what you're worth.

I've sat across from a lot of founders who've received an unsolicited offer. Most of them feel two things at once: flattered and uncertain. That combination is exactly what the buyer is counting on.

The opening bid isn't priced to be fair, it's priced to anchor. Get you thinking in that range and make anything above it feel like a negotiating win. It works because most sellers have never done this before. Most buyers do it for a living.

That asymmetry is the whole game.

The offer was framed as a compliment. A premium to where they'd been. In reality, it was barely more than the value of the contract they'd just signed. The team behind it, the client relationships built over a decade, the pipeline, the platform, all priced at zero.

The founder called us. She wasn't sure if the number was good or bad. Her instincts said something felt off.