Dear SaaStr: Can I Position My Startup To Be Acquired By The Likes of Google, Salesforce, Adobe, etc.?
No. But. Sort of.
What I’ve learned being on both sides of acquisitions, and being a 2x acquired founder — is:
- There is a List. There’s an informal CEO list of “jewels” the CEO would like to buy; and
- There’s often a more formal “targets” list that each SVP of core business unit would like to buy.
If you get on these lists, it does increase the odds you are acquired.
The thing is, for every start-up that gets acquired, there are 100+ others that could have been. That are just as good. Except they aren’t 100% on-point for what the acquirer wants to do.
So given how low the odds are, you can’t “flip” your start-up. This doesn’t work.
But build relationships with your potential acquirer. As high in the org chart as you can. This almost always pays off, in the medium and long run. Then, as you scale, become more Hot, get more PR, etc. If and when the time is right …
You may already be on the list.
Much, much more from one of Google’s ex-Heads of M&A here:
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Jason Lemkin, Khareem Sudlow
