What Nobody Tells You When Selling Your Business

Peter from PSPDFKit talked about how he sold his company, and how the last two years have been the hardest of his life. Starting his first app out of rage, and later his first company, Peter founded PSPDFKit, which over time has turned into a pretty big thing.

This talk was not a success story of formula 1A talk, rather the opposite. It was a many-faceted, rich and deeply touching description about what it’s like to start a company, reach success and start to grow, then feeling the loss of control as more people are brought in, having to battle with separating your identity from your company and product, conflicts, burning out etc. Eventually, selling the thing you’ve identified with for so long can have some nasty surprises up its sleeve. Who are you when you sell a large part of who you consider yourself to be? Who are you in that deep void, when you have no sense of purpose?

This talk went deep and dark, but ended with rich insights on how to find yourself after such a journey.

Transcript

1. What Nobody Tells You When Selling Your Business Peter Steinberger @steipete | iOS Conf SG 2024
2. Backstory
3. PSPDFKit
4. Identity
5. Transitioning
6. Burning Out
7. The Sale
8. You Must Be So Happy
9. The Hedonic Treadmill
10. Happiness
11. Purpose
12. Money
13. Depression
14. The Voice In Our Head
15. The Practice Of Gratitude
16. The Illusion Of Control
17. Being Present In The Present
18. Unitasking
19. References Peter Steinberger @steipete | iOS Conf SG 2024 2011 Money Study: https://www.princeton.edu/~deaton/ downloadston_kahneman_high_income_improves_evaluation_August2010.pdf – 2021 Money Study: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2016976118 – 2003 Gratitude Study: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201511/how- gratitude-leads-happier-life – Illusions of Control: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8721.00044 – Being Present in the Present: The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle – Unitasking: https://thedecisionlab.com/insights/business/unitasking-how-to-get-more-done-in-less- time – Wellspent: https://apps.apple.com/app/wellspent-screentime-coach/id1643980844 – Life Coaching: https://www.wisehumanity.org All images have been generated with DALL·E 3. Wanna chat more? steipete@gmail.com –