Jason Lemkin is one of my all-time favorite guests on Jason Calacanis' typically brilliant This Week in Startups. Lemkin's had two major exists: Nanogram Devices exited to Wilson Greatbatch Technologies (NYSE:GB) (Now NYSE:ITGR), for $45M, and then EchoSign to Adobe for an undisclosed but presumably large sum (although Jason claims to be unhappy that the figure was ultimately too low).
In the first case, he hired an advisory firm (TM Capital, a mid-market boutique like Cardin). In the second case, he didn't, and he claims to have regretted it. His reasons are simple, but the point remains: hire an advisor, if even only to ensure that a professional is managing an otherwise emotionally turbulent and often extremely distracting process.