Matthew Brunstrum on Making the Acquisition of Your Business a Beginning; Not an End
Many startups or other small businesses often end up at similar crossroads. They find a niche to exploit or a new technological innovation to work towards, and do so with some success. However, they eventually reach the limits of their own capabilities or resources.
At that point it makes more sense for them to sell their business, leaving it in the more capable and resourceful hands of a larger company that can fully capitalize on the product or service’s potential.
In many cases, these acquisitions result in the company’s founder getting a nice check for their efforts and then moving on to the next stage in their life, which some of their former employees may also follow them on.
That’s understandable says M&A Advisor Matthew Brunstrum, who says that successful entrepreneurs rarely want to go back to working under someone else again, even if it means they get to continue overseeing some aspect of the company they created. However, depending on the terms of the deal, the founder may be required to remain with the company for a set period of time.
According to Brunstrum, who currently works for Sun Acquisitions & MCB Advisory LLC, this is routinely done to help ease the acquisition transition and get everything up and running under new guidance. It also convinces other employees of the acquired company to stay on for at least awhile longer as well.
He also believes it’s an ideal scenario for founders, whether or not they intend to eventually leave the company they sold their business to. Rather than seeing the acquisition as a one-off deal and the end for their company as they knew it, those founders can instead prioritize and focus on its new beginning and setting it up for continued success.
Matthew Brunstrum outlines a few key ways that founders can ensure a smooth acquisition and a fresh new start for their company, many of which take place before the acquisition is even made.
Building a More Useful Business to Entice a Buyer
By understanding the strengths of your business, the buyers it’s likely to attract, and the potential weaknesses those buyers have which your business could shore up, you can better plan and prepare for the eventual sale of your company.
By making your business as indispensable as possible to the new buyer, you’ll not only be increasing your sales price, but also strengthening the influence and role that your business will have in its new capacity, ensuring that it and the employees that make the move over with it remain essential and valued for years to come.
Find the Right Cultural Match
Even the best merger match ups in terms of meeting one side’s operational needs isn’t necessarily the best match in other aspects. One of the biggest potential trouble spots is in the area of culture, which can vary dramatically between companies and which heavily influences employee satisfaction.
Some companies might have strict dress codes, while others have none. Matthew Brunstrum may say some might aggressively monitor the actions and performance of employees while others don’t. Some might keep employees focused on individual, specialized tasks, while others prefer them to be Jack/Jill-of-all-trades types.
By finding a buyer whose culture closely matches the one your company has developed, both sides will be in a much better position to successfully integrate and adapt to the many changes that acquisitions bring about.
