After a day of impressive presentations, the second-last session of the Startup Empire conference in Halifax on Tuesday made people sit up because it detailed the harsh realities of the holy grail of the startup world – the exit.

Jeff Thompson, founder of Fredericton-based UserEvents, and Daniel Debow, Senior VP at Salesforce and founder of several startups, captivated the audience with a frank discussion of what it’s really like to be taken over.  They’ve each exited a couple of companies. And their dialogue – moderated by Patrick Keefe of Build Ventures -- was rich with practical advice and anecdote of the tortures, joys, frustrations, pitfalls and finally the rewards of being taken over.

Even in a conference replete with excellent speakers, their session stood out because startup founders are so often fixated on the celebratory side of an exit without realizing what hard work it is. It was the sort of stuff that people know only if they have gone through it themselves.

Their gems of wisdom included:

-- As a CEO, you have to work at continuing to build you company while you go through the rigors of the due diligence process. The reason is either the deal will close and the acquirer will want a good business, or the deal will collapse and you’ll need the business to be performing well to attract your next potential buyer.--  Until the deal is announced, reveal the negotiations only to a handful of closest executives.

-- Don’t think you’re smarter or tougher than the people acquiring you. They do it for a living and they’ve done it before.

--  Don’t skimp on advisers. Make sure you’ve got top-flight lawyers and accountants who have done it before. If you’re being bought by a serial acquirer, try finding lawyers who have advised other companies it has taken over.

--  Beware of “takeover fatigue”, in which all the parties are so exhausted by the negotiations that nothing gets done.

--  As a CEO you may want to step back from the detailed negotiations. That way if the lawyers get bogged down in quibbling over details, you can step in as a fresh voice and push the talks through the barriers.

--  Understand that there will likely be a lock-in period, and you will be joining the new company as an employee.

--  Also understand that once you agree to a term-sheet, the buyer’s negotiator has to get it approved by higher authorities in his or her company. That means they’re not going to want to go back and make changes.

--  Also as a CEO, you have power until the day you are taken over, then you’re just another worker. So if there are demands you need to make, make them during the negotiations.

--  Try to make sure all your team benefits from the takeover. But also understand you can’t make everyone happy.

The panel with Thompson and Debow was just one of the superb presentations at Startup Empire, which was organized by Volta Labs, the Halifax startup house. Debow appeared earlier in the day to tell startups how to sell their product by telling their story.

Michael Litt, CEO of Kitchener-based VidYard, implored founders to get on the phone and call customers. “If you’re trying to build a product that will scale without interacting with your customers, you’re an idiot,” he said.

The conference also featured talks by other founders and execs from successful startups, like John Baker, CEO of Waterloo-based Desire2Learn, and Harvey Finkelstein, the chief platform officer of Shopify of Ottawa.