Acquisitions with Moran Pober

When it comes to being a business, your job description is really quite simple. As an entrepreneur, your job is to set your vision and find the most efficient way to get to that vision. Business acquisitions, when done right, are hands down the single most powerful tool for strategically putting the pieces in place to achieve rapid growth and profit. Key phrase, "when done right."To get it "right" you need to know some things. Still, more importantly, you need to have an open mind when in the discovery process of really understanding the potential of acquisitions as a business growth strategy. A key example, we recently worked with a client who acquired 16 companies with combined revenues of $200M within just 6 months... Try doing that any other way... I'll wait. So, let's jump into how you need to think about Acquisitions as a Business Owner. #1. Why are you buying? Firstly you need to ask yourself why you are buying a business in the first place. What are your goals? What is a good outcome, a bad outcome?Are you buying out a competitor to increase market share?Is it a strategic acquisition where you are buying superior systems, people, or brand? Are you acquiring additional channels to give you a strategic advantage? Are you buying additional products to use as a value add for your current customers? Ultimately, you need to get clear on how 1+1 can equal 3. How are you going to create more value than the price you pay? What is your strategy to leverage what you buy so that your current business and customers receive more benefits?These questions and more will lay the foundation of your strategic approach. #2. What data do you need to make the best possible decisions? To make sound decisions, you need to know what information to look at and consider in your decision-making process. Nowhere is this more true than in the business acquisition process. Data is the new gold. Obviously, the first and arguably the most significant are the financials. Data goes deeper than just financials, though. Can you look at it to discover things like leveraging their products to incorporate into your current go-to-market strategy? You also want to look at the data objectively and ask, can I build this myself? Does it even make sense to pay what they are asking? How long will that take? A perfect example is Facebook. They tried buying Snapchat, couldn't, and essentially copied the product. Do you think it would have been better to buy Snap if they could? I'll give you a hint, go look up the stock price now vs their IPO... Conversely, they did buy Instagram and WhatsApp. Again, what do you think? Worth it, is no? Finally, where and how will you find your ideal acquisition target? I can't tell you what is right here because it ties back to your specific strategy. However, I can say is that it is always better to have leads coming to you; you don't really want to be going out and just asking random business owners if they want to sell. We cover exactly how to set this up in Acquisitions University. Often the best place to start is your existing network. 

 The number one question I get through email, Facebook and LinkedIn is; "what should I be focusing on day to day if my goal is to go and buy a business or do a roll up"  What are the practical, black-and-white steps I need to do on a daily basis to get to this outcome?   Here we discuss the 4 key things YOU Must Know To Succeed Buying A Business.

I recently had a member of our Acquisitions.com community reach out to me requesting that I join his board. This conversation led to some valuable insights that you can use if your goal is to go out there and build your board of directors for your acquisitions goals. Many people have heard from different people on the internet that they NEED a board of directors (BOD) to succeed in their acquisitions journey. Now a BOD can be a great asset to help you achieve your goals, but the first question you need to ask is, "What kind of board am I bringing with me on my acquisitions journey?" Am I looking to bring on TOP Tier, First Tier, or Second Tier players? And more importantly, what is the exchange of value that will be taking place? At the end of the day, a BOD is just people you connect with to help you achieve a mutually beneficial outcome. Ask yourself;❓ Do I connect with this person? ❓ Do I like them? ❓ Do I enjoy working with them? (Do they enjoy working with me? ❓ Can I learn from this person? If so, what can I learn? ❓ Do I respect them? ❓ Can they connect me to other people who can also help? ❓ Are they willing to invest in my deal? If not, why not? ❓ Will they do some kind of work in the deal? If so, what kind, and if not, is it even worth having them be part of the deal (BOD)? ❓ Are they active right now in the world of acquisitions? (Not 25 years ago when the game was very different)The second thing to understand is that a BOD is not a free pass to offload responsibility and work onto someone else. You need to be at a level where you are ready, willing, and able to get the deal done yourself. Most people I speak with who have assembled a BOD only talk to them a couple of times per quarter. Once you acquire your business, you also need to understand that the BOD will not help you run the company's day-to-day operations. Think of them as your coaching staff as opposed to your players. Your job is to be on the field and in the coach's box, formulating your plan and vision for the company with your BOD and implementing it with the team (your employees). Many BOD candidates are older retired people who don't have a lot of skin in the game. If it succeeds, that's great, but if not, it's not really going to impact them. That is why with our concierge service, we make it a priority to get in with the entrepreneur, roll up our sleeves and very often invest a significant portion in the deal. That means we are bound to the deal with skin in the game. This way, the entrepreneur can be confident that their emails and calls won't go unanswered and have access to an entire team, similar to a BOD, to help them get their deals done.