Finding the right home for your software company isn’t always easy as many acquirers these days are looking to optimize and exit their investment. This may include turning over your staff that worked with you to get your business where it is today or taking advantage of your most loyal customers who always believed in your product and software. It’s important to find a buyer who will do what is in the best interest of your customers, team and legacy.
When selling your business, you want to make the sure the buyer knows how to operate a software company. Many times, an owner will sell their business to a buyer because they thought that they received the highest price. However, they don’t have any experience in operating a software company so their strategies and execution may not be compatible with your business and market.
Do your homework to ensure the buyer knows what they’re doing with your software company. Look at their current operations, what industries are they currently in, do they have a proven track record of success? At CORA, we live and breathe vertical market software with more than 25+ years of experience and a proven track record. We leverage the learnings from our 25+ software businesses, from 10 different verticals to help each of our companies improve.
Successful companies weren’t built overnight and neither was yours. Some buyers may not know the market or your business but will only look at the numbers. They may be looking for immediate results and if they don’t get those results, they may look to flip your software company or slash resources.
You will want to make sure that the buyer is acquiring your software company as a strategic fit into their organization, understand your market and have the resources to build your business, possibly improve your product, offer your staff opportunities to grow within the organization and take care of your customers. It’s important to make sure your values and vision align with the buyer’s strategy and vision.
Ideally, you would want to sell your software company to an acquirer who will look to build your business and product by using the best practices accumulated along the way from their own successes and failures. You and your buyer want to work together to cover any gaps and integrate any best practices or resources needed in order to achieve your goals and reach new milestones.
Currently, you may not have the time and resources needed to improve your software company. You may be able to keep your clients happy, but you may have gaps in your day-to-day operations to improve your product. For example, you may not have the time and resources to identify and hire top talent to handle other operations such as finance, marketing or business development to find new ways to build your business. Talk to potential acquirers to understand that your business is unique, how they handle post-acquisition integrations and can identify the right learnings to apply to your business.
There are many nuances and intricacies for each acquisition – every acquisition is unique and different because every owner and software company is unique and different. You may encounter problems you may have never thought of during the acquisition process or difficulties with the buyer because they do not have the experience to create a smooth acquisition and transition process.
At CORA, having a dedicated M&A team with a streamlined approach to acquisitions allows us to manage the process efficiently and effectively, and gives us the ability to keep information you share with us strictly confidential at the head office level. We offer certainty and reliability, backed by a successful track record of over 25+ acquisitions. We employ a customized approach to the acquisition structure, depending on the life cycle of the company, its owners and its market.
At CORA, we believe that acquiring businesses is about more than just buying great companies. It’s about investing in people and products, and doing what it takes to help manage and grow great businesses. At CORA, we never sell the companies we acquire, as it is our philosophy to ‘buy and hold’ them forever.
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