There are a variety of reasons why a company may make an acquisition. If a company is growing quickly, one of the most compelling reasons to make an acquisition is it can accelerate growth. Whether it’s talent or innovations, an acquisition in this type of scenario can shorten the amount of time it takes to hit the next milestone.
Although that scenario makes acquisitions sound very appealing, it’s important to understand that they’re by no means a guarantee of success. In fact, the majority of acquisitions fail. That truth spans from the smallest of businesses to huge corporations. So even though acquisitions offer so much potential, why is it rare for them to be truly successful?
The issue of acquisition failures comes down to a few issues. Those issues include incorrectly identifying targets, taking the wrong approach to financing and not properly integrating an acquisition. Since there are some very real challenges that stand in the way of making an acquisition successful, we want to cover the four most important elements entrepreneurs need to evaluate to get the results they actually desire from an acquisition:
The Right Timing
Many people underestimate just how big of a role timing plays in whether or not a startup is successful. Timing is just as important for acquisitions. A business needs to be at the right stage for an acquisition to work. One of the biggest mistakes a company can make is doing an acquisition because they think it will fix their weaknesses. If a business isn’t currently in a position of stability, they shouldn’t be thinking about an acquisition.
Exponential Value
One of the reasons entrepreneurs should always think big is there’s a lot of risk involved in bringing a vision to life. As a result, there needs to be a very big upside. This same principle applies directly to acquisitions. Bringing two businesses together will need to create significantly more value (and definitely not less).
Opportunity to Negotiate
It’s important for an acquisition to be a good deal. That’s why there needs to be room for negotiation. Not only is negotiation important on the financial side of things, but if a company that’s being looked at for an acquisition isn’t willing to do any negotiating, chances are they’re going to drag down the entire acquisition process.
A Clear Way to Integrate
Even if the first three elements are in place, it’s still vital to have a clear way to integrate the acquisition. Without a clear vision for integration, an acquisition is almost guaranteed to fall short of expectations.
While there’s still no way to guarantee that an acquisition will be successful, focusing on these four elements is the best way for an entrepreneur to make an acquisition work as expected.
