Investor Elad Gil argues that most companies pass through a roughly 12-month period of peak value before declining, and that founders often miss it by expecting stronger terms later. Speaking on the No Priors podcast, he cited Lotus, AOL, and Broadcast.com as companies sold at or near their high points. His practical recommendation is to schedule a board meeting once or twice each year specifically to discuss exits, making the decision a recurring governance question. Gil applied the warning to AI startups whose products occupy categories that foundation-model companies have yet to enter. A change in differentiation or defensibility, he said, should prompt founders to ask whether the next six months represent their most valuable period.

This advice compresses the corporate future into a sale calendar. For an AI startup, technical achievement may produce a temporary bargaining position because a larger model provider can add a similar function, bundle it with an existing service, or alter the terms on which the smaller company operates. Investors then read independence through timing. Employees may hear a mission, customers may buy a durable service, and the board may privately measure the remaining months before an acquisition looks preferable to competition. Gil's scheduled meeting makes that divergence procedural. Once or twice a year, directors would place the company's product, payroll, contracts, and prospective buyers beside a question already waiting on the agenda.