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Ask HN: How would I sell my company to RackSpace, EMC, RedHat, VMWare?

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Ask HN: How would I sell my company to RackSpace, EMC, RedHat, VMWare?

#1

Post by throwaway_fish »

OK, say I had built some really great software that met a real market need (let's steer away from whether or not that is actually true, assume it is) and this software is obviously very valuable to the companies named in the title.

Now, I want to sell the company to one of them.

Presumably I need to be able to make contact and pitch the company on why they should acquire my company.

How the heck would I do that? Do I just go and look up the people that it seems most likely to be the people who would drive an acquisition and ask them for a meeting?

Has anyone done anything similar? Anyone got any ideas or pointers on how to succeed in doing this?

Re: Ask HN: How would I sell my company to RackSpace, EMC, RedHat, VMWare?

#2

Post by eschutte2 »

With the disclaimer that I haven't done that, you would do it by getting press that their executives notice that leads to meetings, or (more often, and in tandem) your networks overlap and people are talking about you, which is why it's so valuable to have VCs with a vested interest in your success (their networks overlap heavily with CxOs).

Alternatively, they could discover and try out your offering and decide they like it enough to buy you.

Pitching the company on why they should acquire you doesn't seem like a position you want to be in, but I'm sure it can work. Maybe someone here has some stories.

People I've known that have done it usually make the personal connection first through mutual interests (e.g., clubs) and then "oh hey, I have this company you should buy" flows from there.

Re: Ask HN: How would I sell my company to RackSpace, EMC, RedHat, VMWare?

#5

Post by throwaway_fish »

GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #3

If they want it they'll call you.

Seems a little indirect. I've done plenty of sales in the past and it seems to me that in many cases things need to be actively sold rather than waiting for a buyer to turn up.

Re: Ask HN: How would I sell my company to RackSpace, EMC, RedHat, VMWare?

#6

Post by throwaway_fish »

eschutte2 wrote: post #2

With the disclaimer that I haven't done that, you would do it by getting press that their executives notice that leads to meetings, or (more often, and in tandem) your networks overlap and people are talking about you, which is why it's so valuable to have VCs with a vested interest in your success (their networks overlap heavily with CxOs). Alternatively, they could discover and try out your offering and decide they…

>>Pitching the company on why they should acquire you doesn't seem like a position you want to be in

Curious to know why not? Seems exactly what I want...

Re: Ask HN: How would I sell my company to RackSpace, EMC, RedHat, VMWare?

#7

Post by kogir »

Get a substantial number of their current (or now former) customers using it.

Until you can demonstrate your offering is real and the market thinks you matter, they won't think you do. There's really no way to skip this step unless you already have a personal relationship with someone who can drive the acquisition at the acquiring company.

Re: Ask HN: How would I sell my company to RackSpace, EMC, RedHat, VMWare?

#8

Post by lbotos »

throwaway_fish wrote: post #6
eschutte2 wrote: post #2

With the disclaimer that I haven't done that, you would do it by getting press that their executives notice that leads to meetings, or (more often, and in tandem) your networks overlap and people are talking about you, which is why it's so valuable to have VCs with a vested interest in your success (their networks overlap heavily with CxOs). Alternatively, they could discover and try out your offering and decide they…

>>Pitching the company on why they should acquire you doesn't seem like a position you want to be in Curious to know why not? Seems exactly what I want...

Big fish eat little fish. Sure, You could be "enticing" but if you are trying to convince them to acquire you, you are already behind.

Re: Ask HN: How would I sell my company to RackSpace, EMC, RedHat, VMWare?

#10

Post by nopzor »

You want them to be aware of you already. Ideally, a few desks should have already been pounded by frustrated people at $buyer, while screaming "damn those guys at $seller!".

If you haven't demonstrated traction (eg. have users, customers, revenue, etc) it's going to be hard to get them interested. "market need" is just the tip of the iceberg.

(Unless your software is something truly insanely special and ground breaking, in which case kudos to you I guess)

Hiring an investment banker to run the process and shop you can be helpful. But if there's no "business" around the software you've created, then they probably wouldn't know where to start ;)

My $0.02..

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