Selling Your Startup. Alejandro Cremades

required to be registered as a broker dealer with FINRA in order to comply with the rules of the SEC.

      If you use a non-registered broker to facilitate a fundraise, and you pay that person a success fee, then in the event the company doesn't perform as investors expected, the company can literally sue you to get its money back for having used someone without the proper broker-dealer license.

      However, in acquisitions, there is no need to be licensed as a broker-dealer. The SEC issued a no-action letter in 2014 that allowed people to be entitled to success fees without the need for registration.

       Breakup Fees

Your agreement may also include breakup fees. Think of these as cancellation fees.

      Breakup fees may be incurred if you change your mind, or back out of the deal and the banker has incurred costs, if you prove to be too difficult, or you haven't been transparent in representing what you have or in dealing with the potential buyers the banker has brought you.

      Know how much the breakup fee is, because you'll have to pay it if you choose to walk away, if you turn down an offer that matches your ask, or you just choose to raise another round of financing or go public instead.

       Average Fee Levels

      Trends and fees can vary over time. As a very rough guide to fees, here's what you can expect to pay based on the acquisition price:

       $0 to $10 million: 10 percent

       $10 million to $100 million: 3 percent to 10 percent

       $100 million to $1 billion+: 1 percent to 2 percent