Over at TechCrunch, investor and entrepreneur James Altucher has nine points to consider to go about selling a startup company. First, he says, is to prepare a year ahead of time — he advises to start talking to potential buyer immediately and to keep them up to date as the company grows. Then he says to keep what he calls the 20:6:3:1 rule in mind: calling 20 companies that might be interested in a startup will lead to six meetings, then three serious offers, and one sold company. Of course it isn't always easy and what Altucher calls his most important point is not to let the company fail — he has another list on that at his own Web site.