The 12-month window
In Brief Posted: 12:30 PM PDT · April 19, 2026 Image Credits:Kimberly White for TechCrunch / Flickr (opens in a new window) Connie Loizos The 12-month window In a recent episode of “No Priors” — the excellent podcast co-hosted by AI investors Sarah Guo and Elad Gil — Gil made a point about exit timing that’s undoubtedly familiar to founders who’ve spent time with him, but seems particularly useful in this moment of go-go dealmaking. For most companies, Gil said, there’s roughly a 12-month period where the business is at its peak value, “and then it crashes out” and the window closes. The companies that capture generational returns are often the ones where someone spies that moment instead of assuming the good times will get even better. Lotus, AOL, and…
