Acquisitions / M&As
Getting an inside account of any large acquisition is rare. Waze’s cofounder and CEO Noam Bardin shared the backstory to the billion-dollar exit to Facebook Google which read like a thriller.
The one thing I want to emphasize is: Founders, it doesn’t hurt to be on friendly terms or to engage with strategics often. Keeping these lines of communication open to keep the M&A optionality alive, regardless of what you want to do with your startup, comes with the job.
Sharing his full article here. And his lessons below.
Acquisitions start years before the actual sale. Get to know your potential acquirers and spend time with their product teams so that if you need to contact them, you know who to call and they know who you are.
Have a clear framework among your decision-makers for what you want with real numbers –- this is a superpower for fast decision-making.
Partnership discussions are the best catalyst for an acquisition. They allow the teams to spend time together, get to know each other, and imagine what a joint product could look like. Especially if the conclusion is, “But we would need to own you to do this.”
Everything around acquisitions is personal –- from the reason why companies acquire, to the price and the process. Make sure to clarify who the decision-makers are and spend the time building personal relationships.
Acquisitions are the first moment when founders and investors have diverging interests. This is the one time when you should be wary of feedback from your investors.
And, of course, like any negotiation, whoever is willing to walk away will get the better deal -- always have a red line and hold firm to it.