Season 2 - Episode 3: Bringing Two Companies Together
You’ve just had a life-changing event - you sold your business and locked in your financial freedom for the rest of your life. But you’re not off the hook yet - you’ve got to navigate the complexities of taking your company and merging it with the acquirer’s firm. Today we’ll cover what it takes to bring two companies together.
Background Story
On the day we sold, we were scrambling. The company acquiring us, Rave Mobile Safety, wanted to announce the acquisition on the day of their 2022 company kickoff. This was no trivial ask - we crammed months of due diligence into weeks and pushed as hard as we could to meet our new boss’ deadline.
Flash forward to the day of the kickoff - Jan 18 2022. We finally got all the sign offs from the lawyers that morning. At 9am it was signed, by 9:30am we told key staff, by 10am we told the whole company, by 10:30am they met their CEO, and by 2pm they were on a call with the entirety of the new company.
It was a hell of a day. Most staff thought it was a dream. Chris and I thought it was over, but in reality it was just the start of a super complicated process - bringing two companies together.
Outline
Hard Hats Mandatory - You’re a Bridge Builder: You need the lead the way on bringing both operational components and the corporate cultures together.
The mechanics of bringing it all together : Building rapport on both sides will be essential in any effort your have to bringing both companies together.
Take it One Step at a Time: This won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. Crawl, walk, run and don’t forget to celebrate the wins.
Busted Myths
There are two myths busted for this episode:
Merging companies is just about streamlining processes and roles.
You need to only look out for your team during a merger.
Learnings
First off, bringing not just the operations but also culture together is essential.
Culture amalgamation is the strongest indicator as to whether or not the merger will be considered a success.
Understand that your employees will expect the worst. Get ahead of fear. Make sure they get something in that acquisition. Make it obvious.
Your task is to make yourself irrelevant while bringing company elements together. Operational elements - systems, platforms, etc. Then there’s culture, they way in which you do things,
Be aware of the varying differences in teams: age, diversity, etc. Lead with curiosity and empathy.
To bring it together, bridge build. Build rapport, tow company line, watch out for “bad actors”, keep back channels open on both sides. The biggest challenges will be HR related, as usual.
The new normal takes time. Crawl, walk, run and celebrate the wins.
Make the roadmap clear. Think about your role and what you can hand off.
Summary
It’s about operations and culture.
Build bridges.
Understand their people too. You need to be able to work both sides.
Start making yourself irrelevant.
HR issues are the toughies.
Data And References
Organizational Culture in Mergers: Addressing the Unseen Forces
By Oliver Engert, Becky Kaetzler, Kameron Kordestani, and Andy MacLean
March 26, 2019 | Article