The first step is for our team to do a 4 week deep dive into your business.

This includes:

• Financials: analysis of monthly P&L, 3 year historical financial statements and forecasts.
• Platforms: review of data from your sales channels e.g. Shopify, Amazon Seller Central, wholesale, retail etc.
• Questionnaire: review of your responses to our granular diligence questionnaire. It has been developed over 3 years and contains all the questions acquirors will ultimately ask.
• Valuations: discussion current and potential valuation range.

An initial teaser is key to succinctly articulate the acquisition opportunity to potential acquirers.

Components:

• Acquisition highlights.
• Category growth.
• Company snapshot.
• Brand overview.
• Supply chain.
• Products.
• Channels to market.
• Marketing.
• Growth opportunities.
• High-level financials.
• Exit rationale.

“No battleplan survives contact with the enemy”.

It is important to embrace early feedback from a small number of acquirors (the “enemy”).

There are 4 different types of institutional acquirors we can approach depending on the business:

• Strategics.
• Private equity firms (either as a platform deal or a bolt-on to an existing portfolio company).
• Family offices.
• Aggregators.

Based on the work of the prior 3 stages we will recommend action items.

Short-term Examples:

• Hire a NED who has sold a similar business.
• Audit of the manufacturer for the VDR.
• Obtain a QOE report.

Medium-term Examples:

• Invest time to better articulate the growth plan e.g. NPD.
• Consider inorganic growth i.e. acquisitions.
• Improve the forecasting model.

   

Long-term Examples

• Increase recurring revenue – this has a significant impact on valuation.
• Upgrade auditor and produce annual audit.

What are the benefits of early preparation

• Incorporating feedback from acquirors means the ‘pitch’ is stronger.
• ”The best businesses get bought, not sold.” During stages 1 and 2 we welcome bids to take your firm off the market.
• Additional time to identify every firm to approach and thereby make the auction as competitive as possible.
• The flirt > date > marry approach to dealmaking yields the best results. For example, it enables the slower moving acquirors (e.g. strategics) time to get your business on their radar.