For the most important transaction of your life, you deserve the best.
Too often, the M&A process is treated arbitrarily, handled differently depending on who works it. For the most important transaction of your life, you deserve better. You need a global search process for the partner that will give you maximum price, optimum structure, minimal taxes, fair employment/non-compete, minimal liability and an integration plan that takes care of employees. This is the right outcome for your company. To do it right, you need a professional, detailed process that leaves no stone unturned and creates an auction environment for maximum success. Based on the sale of more tech companies than anyone in history over more than three decades, Corum has developed the “8 Stages For An Optimal Outcome” to assist sellers in understanding the task ahead.
The only way to determine the true value of your company is to ask the market – but as the leading authority of privately-held software company valuations, Corum Group can help.
Preparation
Put yourself in the shoes of the buyer. What will they want? Do you have a business plan? Initial valuation expectations? Are your financials in order? Are your projections believable? Are you ready for the data room? Be ready to answer buyer questions.
Research
Who do you go to – what are the classes of buyers? Who are the decision influencers? Where do you stand relative to competitors? What is their process? These are the questions you need to address before making initial buyer contact.
Contact
What’s your message to each partner? Who do you contact? What NDAs are needed? Do they have a process you have to adhere to? Who are the gatekeepers you need to get around? Start off on the right foot by knowing the answers to these questions.
Discovery
How serious is this buyer? Are you sure they can do the deal? Is the fit one you want? What are their preferred deal structures? Are they interested in us? This is where they do the first level of due diligence to be able to make an offer.
Negotiation
What is the valuation? Who makes the first offer? Who drafts the documents and controls the LOI? How do we control the due diligence? How do we stage an auction? This is perhaps the most critical stage: the one where you get the deal in place.
Due Diligence
Do you have a data room established? What are the various levels of due diligence? How far can they go in their questions? Who do you use for the definitive agreement? Outside opinions? This is where deals die – good preparation is the key.
Closing
What are “Final Reps and Warranties”? How about escrows or holdbacks? How do you handle payment? Distribution? What regulatory hurdles are there? What are the gotchas that come up at the last minute? Be sure to minimize post-closing events.
Integration
What kind of planning is needed? How do you determine synergies? Best practices? What can we do to retain employees? Who handles the transition? How do we set up monitoring and reporting? You don’t want to be one of the 53% of deals that fail.
Putting them all together
There’s an old adage that “you don’t know what you don’t know”. Selling your own company is not the place to be learning what you don’t know. With the right advisor on your side, following these eight steps will help you secure the transaction you deserve.
Contact us to see how Corum can put our proven process to work for you.