M&A in the Tech & Internet Space

These days ANYONE can be a business owner, and these businesses exist not only in traditional corporate spaces, but in new virtual ones as well.

The Internet has changed the business sphere. With the Internet comes more people; more people means more consumers; more consumers means more business and more product.

At the end of the day, it can all be summed up in one way: in business, you have your buyers and your sellers. And sometimes it's the business itself that is being sold.

On Deal Closers - A Tech & Internet M&A Discussion, we’re going to talk about the business of buying businesses. When company owners are ready to sell their company or transition in ownership, they seek help to make this transition as smooth and profitable as possible.

There are a lot of different firms out there that help owners with these transitions and websiteclosers.com is one of them. I had the chance to chat with Jason Guerrettaz and his colleague, Ron Matheson about the ins and outs of what they do.

[02:07] What are some common reasons you see for mergers or sales of companies in the Internet and Tech Space?

• It depends on the maturity of a business, what category they’re in and what kind of business they are;
• There are just so many different kinds of companies that operate within technology, within tech-enabled and within Internet, that there could be a lot of different reasons why somebody might be looking to exit the business;
• It's definitely a match-making process for sure, as it relates to what it is that the client is looking for in the exit process.

[04:50] Let’s say someone has decided to sell their tech or Internet company. What are buyers looking for? What makes a company attractive to a potential buyer?

• There are buyers who are going to be looking for history;
• They're going to be looking at whether or not it's a business that can be financed;
• Another thing a lot of people look at is recurring revenue;
• We always talk about concentration when we present in the marketplace, and you have to be really careful, no matter what business you have, at having too many eggs in one basket.

[10:53] What if things go wrong? What makes a deal fall through?

• One of the reasons why a business can fail is if someone hasn't done enough due diligence on the tactics being used by a seller;
• Inventory management is another one;
• A third one is under-capitalization.

[14:14] What kind of risk protections are there for the sellers, as well as the buyers?

• Once we get to the legal stage of this process, the lawyers are going to work out reps and warranties for the deal;
• Anything that happens prior to close is pretty much on the hands of the seller;
• Anything that happens after close is up to the buyer;

[18:18] Do you have suggestions for communication practices to the stakeholders, when a company is going through a sale or merger?

• As it relates to the shareholders of the company, everybody needs to be on board there;
• On the employee side, the last thing you want to do is start telling your employees you're selling the company;

[27:29] What can people expect from the Deal Closers - A Tech & Internet M&A Discussion podcast?

• We think that we can add a lot of value for people out there that are looking to potentially sell one day;
• I think listening to this podcast will help give them context and things to think about for the future and how they're going to build their company;
• It's an educational tool;
• We're also hoping that over time people will email us and ask us questions to ask in the podcast;
• Potentially, we could start bringing on some guests as well: private equity groups, a lot of banks, people connected to banks and that are in the SBA process, and we're going to bring some buyers and some sellers that have some experience with this.

Resources:

• websiteclosers.com