Private Equity SaaS Acquisitions: The 6 Types of Buyers

Best forFounders getting inbound acquisition interest who can't tell a serious PE buyer from a bargain hunter.

Speaker
Einar Vollset
Source
Talk, MicroConf (YouTube)
Published
7 Sep 2026
Length
10 min
Talk, MicroConf (YouTube), 10 min Watch on MicroConf (YouTube)

Our notes

Einar Vollset of Discretion Capital explains that private equity makes up most B2B SaaS acquisitions, yet PE firms differ a lot in how much they will pay. He sorts them into six types, from tuck-in and platform buyers down to cigar-butt and steal buyers. He then shows how founders who only talk to one or two buyers often end up with the lowest bidders and what to do about it.