Seven Things To Watch Out For When Your Company Is Acquired

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

The acquisition was announced. Billions were spent to acquire the firm, and everyone smiled in disbelief that their successful startup was now going to be part of the acquirer. The synergies were obvious. They were promised nothing would change and that the acquired would run independently of the purchaser. All the people in the kingdom rejoiced for their good fortune.

Now, time has passed, and while some of the obvious synergies are being implemented, there is some grumbling throughout the realm. A person was promoted into a more senior role who seemed to have earned it by selling deals they had little to do with, but they introduced them to the acquirer. No one knows how promotions are being done anymore. Training has been cut back. Some of the acquirer’s sales team has been trained to sell the startup’s services, but not the other way around, of course.

This is a fairly common story in the acquisition world. The staff of the firm that has been acquired has been told that there will be no changes, but what has been conveniently omitted is how long it will remain that way. The fact is redundant people will be eliminated as will processes and assets. After all, “synergies” is just a positive spin on the term, “economies of scale.”