5步轻松搞定收购要约

    身为一家致力于做大的企业，增长阶段的重点应该一直是向前迈进、观察市场、着眼长远。不过，最成功的企业终究会遭到收购。作为获得投资的企业家，转让自己的公司并为自己、员工以及风险投资人带来回报并不是什么丢脸的事。实际上，虽然你一直把注意力放在保持独立上，别人仍然会在你意想不到的时候对贵公司发起收购，对此你毫无办法。即使最后你可能决定继续保持独立，但你需要认真对待这样的收购意向。面对收购，可以采取下列五个关键步骤。

    1. 保持“满座”状态。由于不知道什么时候会出现潜在买家，你得意识到随时都可能有人对你的公司提出收购。因此，在发展业务的同时，你的首要任务之一就是和潜在买家保持联系。只要有人提出正式收购，你就马上告知这些潜在买家你可能会把公司转让出去。没有多名潜在买家的参与，对贵公司的报价就永远达不到理想水平。一直到别人正式提出收购后才和其他潜在买家接触并不能引起他们的充分关注。

    2. 了解可能收购贵公司的那个人。收购贵公司的永远不会是一家公司，相反，收购者将是某家公司的某一个人或某一群人。考察潜在收购者并决定和谁保持联系时，一定要找到合适的人——他要有权力、有资金，而且还要有头脑。在那些可能收购贵公司的企业中，这个合适的人可能属于某个业务部门，但未必一定负责企业发展事务。你要花一些时间来了解这些人，同时衡量一下谁真的有可能在今后的某一天收购贵公司。

    3. 带着计划和董事会见面。如果收到正式收购通知，你得把握住局面，而不是为它所困。一定要仔细而透彻地考虑各种方案，然后带着清晰的建议和董事会见面。如果还没有确立自己的观点，而且把它表达出来，就去寻求董事会的意见，结果可能会让你感到失望。

    4. 控制参与其中的员工人数。鉴于贵公司处于增长阶段，你肯定一直在下大力气制定企业愿景，建立以创造长期价值为核心的企业文化。要保持这样的侧重点，你就得竭尽所能。并购谈判取得圆满成功的可能性非常小，但公司可能被收购的消息会给你的员工带来非常大的干扰。要尽量减少参与收购谈判的员工人数。如果最后没有把公司转让出去，最好也不要让它的发展受到影响。

    5. 不要匆忙行事。作为企业家，果断可能曾经给你带来好处。确定方向然后迅速付诸行动有助于你保持领先。但就并购而言，这种做法会让你蒙受损失。收购谈判很复杂，在达成交易方面，潜在买家通常要比你有经验得多。好的顾问能帮你有条不紊地处理这件事，最终取得最理想的结果。

    As a growth-stage entrepreneur committed to building a big company, your focus should always be on moving forward, looking down the field and thinking long term. That said, most successful companies ultimately get acquired. As an entrepreneur with investors, there's no shame in selling your company and making a return for you, your employees and your VCs. Fact is, even if you're ardently focused on remaining independent, you can't control when an unexpected suitor may come calling. Although you ultimately may opt to remain independent, you need to take such advances seriously. Here are five key steps to take when that offer comes.

    1. Have a Full Dance Card. Since you don't know when a potential suitor may come forward, you need to expect that it may happen at any time. Make it a priority to keep relationships with your potential suitors as you scale. As soon as a serious offer comes in, alert them to the possibility you may sell. Without multiple suitors, you'll never get an optimal price for your company. You won't be able to gin up sufficient additional interest if you reach out to others for the first time after receiving a serious offer.

    2. Know the People Who May Acquire You. You'll never be acquired by a company; rather you'll be acquired by a person or group of people at a company. As you navigate the landscape of potential acquirers to build your dance card, make sure you find the right people – folks with authority, wherewithal and gumption. At many possible suitors, the right person will be within a business unit and not necessarily a corporate development executive. Spend the time to get to know these folks and assess who is a true contender to acquire you someday.

    3. Approach Your Board With a Plan. Should you receive a serious offer, you want to manage the process rather than let it manage you. Make sure you think through the alternatives carefully and approach your board with a clear recommendation. If you ask your board for advice without having developed and articulated your own point of view, you may end up disappointed with the outcome.

    4. Keep the Group Involved Small. As a growth-stage entrepreneur, you've undoubtedly worked hard to develop a vision and culture focused on creating long term value. You need to do everything you can to preserve this focus. The likelihood that an M&A conversation will consummate is very low, but news of a possible acquisition can be very distracting to your employees. Try to keep the group of your employees involved in the acquisition conversation as small as possible. Best case, if you don't end up selling, your company will not miss a beat.

    5. Don't Be in a Hurry. As an entrepreneur, you've likely been rewarded for decisiveness – picking a path and moving forward expeditiously helps keep you out in front. But this approach will hurt you in an M&A context. Acquisition negotiations are complex and the potential buyer usually has a lot more experience than you getting deals done. Good advisors will help you approach the process methodically and ultimately get to the best outcome.