the rocky road of an acquisition

THE ROAD TO AN ACQUISITION

Lara ROUYRES – Tatiana JAMA

FAILCON 2012

KEY DATES

April 2010 : Dealissime.com launches June /July 2010 : Fundraising (600K€) September 2010 : Present in 4 markets December 2010 : Launch of Mydeal.ma  February 2011 : 10 FTE June 2011 : Dealissime becomes Livingsocial

and launch of LivingSocial in France  • November 2011 : + 100 FTE• January 2012: Present in 14 markets

CHALLENGE # 1 : Communication

LEARNING # 1 : Let the door open

Learnings:

Meetings : take time to talk and reassure

Split the management / task

More insights to the ops

Manage the communication to your team during an acquisition or fundraising process

CHALLENGE # 2 : The day to day business

LEARNING # 2 : Stay focus on the business

Learnings :

1) Keeping one founder focus

on driving the business

2) Keeping cash to hardly invest during the negociation

Fundraising or being acquired is time consuming, however the most important is to never forget generating revenu.

CHALLENGE # 3 : Transition

LEARNING # 3 : Get prepared & adapt

Selling a company to another entity means that you and your team have to be ready to:

1.Transit brands

Transition takes time.

2. Transit plateforms

Anticipate development: No in-house technology

CHALLENGE # 4 : Start-up vs Large Company

LEARNING # 4 : Building teams that scale

1. From instinct to data (process)

2. Company Culture / Values

3. Culture differences / politics

CHALLENGE # 5 : HR

The Succes and Failures of your company is always function of

who you hire

• From a multitask organization to a monotask

• Valid every recruitment• Find people with diverse experience

LEARNING # 5 : Never Underestimate HR

LEARNINGS

BEFORE CLOSING :

• 1. Communication with the team is crutial• 2. Never forget to keep focused on the business

AFTER CLOSING :

• 3. Anticipate transition • 4. From a small sized Start-up to a large company

ALWAYS:

The sucess and failures of your company is function of who you hire = Never underestimate HR