Entrepreneur Acquisition Interest Anxiety

So, you’re cruising along, growing your company at a nice clip, and an email pops in your inbox with a vague subject line saying “Potential Interest.” Normally, you’d immediately delete the email but out of curiosity you open it and read the contents. It’s from a corporate development person at a potential acquirer asking to set up a conference call. With a big smile on your face, you quickly reply back saying that sounds great and proposing a few times to talk.

The initial call goes well. Now, there’s a request to come on site for a few hours and talk more. After the first in-person meeting, things start to get serious. A request is made to visit the exec team of the potential acquirers at their headquarters and, if it goes well, a formal acquisition offer will be issued.

As an entrepreneur, especially an entrepreneur that hasn’t gone through an exit, this process is filled with incredible anxiety. When a potential acquirer comes knocking, most entrepreneurs start seeing dollar signs in their eyes. It’s human nature to dream about all the different scenarios, possibilities, and, of course, valuation. The challenge is that you still have a business to run and there aren’t many people you can talk about it with. More anxiety.

Here are a few recommendations when you run into the acquisition interest anxiety zone:

• Remember that most acquisition encounters don’t turn into anything
• Run your business as if a deal isn’t going to happen
• Never go out and buy anything until after the deal has been signed, and even then wait a few months to let things settle in (I heard of a guy going out and buying a Bentley the day before he was to sign the closing documents the afternoon of September 11, 2001, and the deal fell through)
• Find something to distract you during your personal time so that you don’t keep replaying everything over and over in your head (e.g. go on more walks, do yard work, etc)
• Seek out a trusted advisor or peer group and use them as a sounding board
• Write out everything you can think of related to deal terms, cash, stock, etc at the earliest signs of acquisition interest, so that when things get more emotional and heated, you’ve already grounded yourself when you had a clear head (this is especially important to do with your cofounder)

The acquisition dance is fraught with anxiety. Make sure you have a peer group like EO or YPO to be a sounding board and continue growing your business as if a deal wasn’t going to happen.

What else? What are some other thoughts around entrepreneur acquisition interest anxiety?