BNR podcast: Janneke Niessen | Improve Digital

In this episode of The Deal of Your Life, Janneke Niessen candidly discusses the sale of Improve Digital. A process that began as an investment round but ended as a full takeover, while she was heavily pregnant with her first child. Improve Digital develops technology that enables publishers to automatically sell advertising space to advertisers via real-time auctions. The company is growing internationally, building strong teams in multiple countries and preparing for its next investment round. Selling is not on the agenda. Until a meeting at an event in Barcelona.

From funding to takeover

What start s as a conversation about capital slowly shifts towards a strategic takeover. Not driven by necessity, but by logic: a buyer with scale, resources and a long-term vision. For Janneke, it feels like an opportunity to grow the company further, with more security for the team. At the same time, the real work begins. As soon as the process gets serious, there are lots of legal documents, intensive negotiations and discussions that sometimes become heated. Not just about figures, but about governance, responsibilities and scenarios that may never happen, but still need to be laid down. All this while the business has to keep running.

Entrepreneurship under maximum pressure

During the negotiations, Janneke is not alone at the negotiating table. She is running her company, monitoring targets and is heavily pregnant with her first child. Tensions run high on several occasions, especially when legal details clash with human reality. Discussions about clauses, risks and responsibilities affect not only the company, but also her personal life. The deal is finally closed, just before she gives birth.

After the signing, a new phase begins

The sale is not the end. Janneke remains involved through an earn-out construction. Initially, this works well. Until the next takeover follows and the culture changes radically. What previously felt like building, turns into adapting. The culture clash makes it clear that her role has shifted from entrepreneur to employee. That moment leads to a conscious choice: to leave. Today, Janneke invests in companies herself.

What we take away from this at Virtual Vaults

This story illustrates something we often see in practice: buyers rarely show up at a planned moment. A sales process puts a lot of pressure on operations and leadership.

That is why we believe that being exit-ready is not a project, but a way of working and doing business. Entrepreneurs who continuously record their core information and contracts in one central location maintain an overview when the pace picks up.

With Workspaces from Virtual Vaults, you work continuously from that same structure. As soon as an acquisition presents itself, you can switch to a data room with a single click. This allows you to stay in control, even when everything comes at you at once.

Listen to the whole story