Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Cars aren’t like companies. Most cars on the road will be sold, again and again, until they end up as parts. Companies usually start and end with their founders.

Sometimes, a small, stable company is sold to an individual operator, usually for a multiple of the expected annual profit. It’s an investment in future cash flows, but it can be fraught, because, unlike a car, you can’t take a company for a test drive, and they usually need more than a periodic tune-up and charging station visit.

The market for used companies isn’t as efficient or reliable as the one for used cars, as surprising as that might sound. The individual who seeks to buy and operate a used company is rare, and doesn’t often have access to significant capital.

The company sales we hear about tend to be more strategic, where the buyer believes that the purchased company offers synergy (1 + 1 = 3) with their existing businesses. Perhaps the buyer has a salesforce, investment capital, systems or structures that make the combination of the companies far more successful than they would be alone.

One way to look at this is the think of the assets you’ve built. They could include:

Patents, software and proprietary systemsMachinery, leases, inventory and other measurable assetsBrand reputation (including shelf space at retailers)Permission assets (which prospects and customers want to hear from you)Loyal, trained staff

More elusive than some of these are things like:

Reliable, turnkey business model with low dramaNetwork effect, proven and workingForward momentum (the idea that tomorrow is almost always better than yesterday around here)Competitive threat (most big acquirers are simply finding it easier to buy a competitor than compete with them)Story to investors (if the dilution of acquiring a company is less than the stock price will rise, the acquisition is free. See Cisco’s history for details)Defensive bolstering (when a big company’s competition enters a new field, buying a smaller entrant in that new field is one way to jumpstart the organization’s forward motion)

Some of these things can be predicted and patiently built. Others are easy to see after the fact, but they’re more opportunistic than intentional.

Perhaps the single best indicator of whether a company will be considered for a strategic acquisition is that it has investors and board members who have done this before. Because these acquisitions are rarely simply rational calculations on a spreadsheet, there is often a need for cultural fit and a shared reality distortion field to create the conditions for them to get put on the agenda.

Someone said that to me the other day and it was heartbreaking.

The number of tasks in our culture that require someone who was born with off-the-charts talent is small indeed.

Just about everything else we need people to do is the result of effort, practice and care. It’s true that variations of that work are easier for some folks, but no one finds all of it easy going.

The correct thing to say is, “I don’t care that much.” I don’t care enough to do the reading, to fail along the way, to show up, to make a promise, to learn as I go, to confront failure, to get better at the work.

All of that might be true.

But you’re almost certainly smart enough.

When abundance showed up, first in manufactured goods, then in information, it all seemed like a simple win. More of what we want, thanks.

But of course, more of too many things is too much.

We are leaving the age of information and entering the age of choice.

Not just choosing what we’ll consume, but who we will become. Who will we connect with, lead, trust, honor, dignify, isolate or believe?

And how will we choose to walk through the world and what will we leave behind…

My boyfriend and I went to jersey mike’s tonight and the employee greeted us and we said hi. She was helping another customer and asked if she had any fun plans this weekend? The customer was in a wheel chair and was older and didn’t quite understand and said “I’m not sure what you’re trying to ask.” It was a little awkward but my boyfriend and I were talking about his trip coming up and I gave her my order and the whole time she made my sandwich she stared at me and sneered/ smirked. I would look away and talk to my boyfriend about very casual things like the cookies there or something about our cat and everytime I looked at sandwich or at her she would have this nasty expression. Afterwards she asked me if I was ok. I speak calmly and neutrally, pretty laidback and this hasn’t happened to me before. I said yea and she stood by the other cashier while she rang us out and stared. This isn’t a big deal but it was an uncomfortable experience to say the least. submitted by /u/blackwildfire777 [link] [comments]