# What you still owe the buyer after you sell

> Transition help from 30 days to two years, warranties that survive six months to a year, a non-compete of two to five years. What a founder signs up for after closing, and what leaving on day one costs.

Source: https://dealstonic.com/after-selling-transition-non-compete/
Author: Andrew Levenko, Off-market M&A
Publisher: Deals Tonic, off-market M&A for apps and SaaS from $20K in monthly revenue
Updated: 2026-09-24

Acquire.com's help for sellers puts it plainly: closing day seldom means saying goodbye to the business. What a founder owes after it runs on separate clocks, and the longest one is usually the non-compete.

## The transition

Transition help is written into the purchase agreement as services, usually with an end date. Acquire's examples of what goes in: answering questions, maintaining or updating the code, joining calls with customers or staff, training the buyer's team.

Andrew Gazdecki, who founded Acquire, expects buyers to want you for a few months at least. Your staying lowers their risk, and that raises the price.

## Who wants you to stay

It depends on how the buyer runs apps. In RevenueCat's buyer interviews, Leadtech said it "absolutely" wants founders to stay, and some buyers said a founder who wants to stay can lift the valuation. AppNation, a studio with its own teams, does not expect founders to stay, and may ask for a few months in the rare case the product depends on them.

## The non-compete

If you could compete with the buyer later, the non-compete goes into the letter of intent. Acquire's help describes it as a ban on running a similar business in the same industry for 12 months or more, and its guide to the clause puts the usual range at two to five years, rarely longer for a seller.

In California, where the law voids most contracts that stop someone from working in their trade, a seller's non-compete is one of the exceptions. Section 16601 lets a person who sells the goodwill of a business agree not to compete in the area where it operated, as long as the buyer carries on the same business there.

One more clock runs alongside: the warranties you gave about the business survive six months to a year, by Acquire's count.

We ask founders how long they want to stay before the first buyer call, since the answer changes which buyers fit. Deals Tonic sells apps and SaaS from $20K a month off-market, and the transition terms are negotiated with the price, not after it.

Sources: Acquire.com Help, "What happens after acquisition?" and "How to sell your business on Acquire.com". Acquire.com blog: "What Is a Non-Competition Clause?", 2023, and Andrew Gazdecki's recap of the webinar "How to Properly Prepare for an Acquisition", December 2023. RevenueCat, "What app buyers really want in 2026: insights from 10 acquirers", updated 11 September 2026. California Business and Professions Code, sections 16600 and 16601. None of this is legal advice. Checked 24 September 2026.