Ep. 054 - Mergers & Acquisitions For Dummies with Bill Snow

Mergers & acquisitions flip the script in a way that few actions in business can…

Buyers must sell themselves, and sellers must be choosy with whom they sell to, and that’s just one piece of the M&A puzzle. Fortunately, Bill Snow’s expertise helps him to distil it down to a fine art.

Whether you’re buying a company or selling yours, the acclaimed author of Mergers & Acquisitions For Dummies offers some truly revolutionary perspectives on the M&A process.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• As a seller, you’re buying the buyer

• M&As are micro-economic, not macro-economic

• Owners integral to business’ success diminish its value

Gary Gamp: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garygamp

George Clode: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeclode

Bill Snow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billsnow/

Mergers & Acquisitions For Dummies by Bill Snow: https://www.dummies.com/book/business-careers-money/business/mergers-acquisitions/mergers-acquisitions-for-dummies-282397/

Highlights:

“The buying side is very difficult. It's difficult for buyers to stand out, they’re really a commodity in the M&A world just because good companies for sale are a very limited resource.” - 5:25 - Bill Snow

“Most companies are acquisitive. Why is that? They want to add products, add revenue, push into new geographies, maybe take out a competitor, things like that. So it really depends on the specific company, what they're looking to accomplish.” - 9:30 - Bill Snow

“You don't want the employees to start saying ‘Remember they were talking about selling, they haven't sold? Do we have a problem? Do I need to dust off the resume to look for a new job?’. You don't want to tell people until you need to tell them, but you don't want to lie to them either.” - 16:25 - Bill Snow

“M&A is micro-economic. Everybody talks about what's going on on the macro and those things can have an impact, absolutely. But a good, well-run company growing with good profits in a bad economy is going to command a good price if somebody wants to sell it.” - 21:30 - Bill Snow

“If an owner is integral, or viewed as integral to the ongoing success of the company, guess what? The value of that company is greatly diminished. When that owner is no longer around, there goes the value. So make sure other people can run the company.” - 26:00 - Bill Snow