The Competitive Threat
July 27, 2016 |
Want to increase the value of your business by up to 71%?
Take the 13-minute survey and get your Value Builder Score
About this episode
Subscribe:
A competitor is often a likely buyer for your business. However, you don’t want to regret all the secrets you shared if the deal falls through. John Bodrozic, began negotiations with a direct competitor and ended up living to regret it.
A direct competitor can often be the most likely buyer for your business. A competitor already knows your industry and may see your company as a way to consolidate market share and gain more pricing control. They may also be able to buy your business and eliminate redundancies in your back office, meaning your business is worth more in their hands than in those of many other potential buyers.
The challenge with negotiating the sale of your business to a competitor is, if the deal falls through, you can end up regretting all the secrets you shared with them in the process.
John Bodrozic is the co-founder of Meridian Systems, which offered project management software to the construction industry. In 2005, Bodrozic began negotiations with a direct competitor and ended up living to regret it.
If you’re keen to see how attractive your company would be to a competitor, get your Value Builder Score and we’ll rate your business according to the eight factors buyers care about most.
Our guest
John Bodrozic is a co-founder of HomeZada, a digital home-management platform that empowers homeowners to manage all aspects of their home, which for most is their largest asset. Bodrozic was previously the co-founder of Meridian Systems, the leading project management software solution in the construction industry. He helped guide the business through start-up, raising venture funding, growing the business to a global scale, and then selling to a public company called Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB). Bodrozic received his degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
Related to this topic
James Prebble co-founded Palladium Digital, a consultancy helping companies think about their digital strategy. The company experimented with various business models until they landed on helping private equity groups get a return on their investments. Private equity groups hired Palladium to perform "digital due diligence" before they invested. Along with identifying any flaws in a target company's digital strategy, Prebble and his team were also asked to identify any untapped digital assets that, if adequately exploited, had the potential to transform the business being considered for investment. Discovering these so-called "Rembrandts in the attic" is what private equity groups often look for to jack up their return on investing in your business.
Why Policy Medical Got 7.2 x Revenue
Saud Juman built PolicyMedical, a company enabling hospitals to document their procedures and policies, into a software company growing 100% a year when he sold it for 7.2 times revenue. It was a remarkable exit for a business Juman started in his mother’s basement.
How Mainspring Went From a Valuation of 1 to 5 Times Revenue
In 2014, Hank Goddard got an offer of one times revenue to buy his software company, Mainspring Healthcare Solutions.
How Matchmaking By Microsoft Led To One Of 2018’s Biggest Technology Deals
Mergers can be painful. But when Mitchell Feldman was approached by Microsoft about merging with another company, the result was a match not even HPE could resist.
Play Hard to Get, Without Risking Your Deal
Rob Walling started an email service provider named Drip back in 2012. Walling bootstrapped his growth to almost $2 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) when, in 2015, Clay Collins, the founder of Leadpages, came knocking.
The Atheist Bible Salesman Who Sold His Company for 5X Revenue
Trevor McKendrick had created the best-selling Spanish-language Bible app when he was approached about an acquisition. The offer was 3.5x revenue but Trevor got them to 5x with a combination of chutzpah and a knack for reading the fine print.
The Second Most Important Thing to Negotiate When Selling Your Business
When you get an acquisition offer, your employment contract can be a key element. Just ask Eric Sit. Sit’s company was acquired by Detection and six months later, Detection was acquired. Sit lived to regret the employment contract he signed.
Rod Drury founded Xero, a cloud-based accounting platform. Drury got the capital from selling another company, AfterMail, for $15M plus $20M in a potential earn-out—not bad for a company with a little more than $2M in revenue.
Carl Silbersky sold his software company to Apple in 2010 for a reported $29M. The negotiation was smooth but Steve Jobs would not budge on one point. Learn how one of the savviest deal-makers of our time approached his acquisition.
How a Cold Email to Apple’s Tim Cook Led to an 8-Figure Windfall
Andrew Gazdecki was born in Detroit and lost his father as a young boy. He and his Mom grew up using food stamps. In College, Gazdecki created an online marketplace for freelancers (think a tiny version of UpWork). He sold his online marketplace for $50,000 and said it "felt like a trillion dollars" at the time.