How To Buy A High Tech Startup
from the practical-lessons dept
An interesting article that looks at the ways in which companies tend to mess up acquisitions of technology startups. In general, they point out that technology acquisitions tend to be different than other acquisitions – since the point is often to focus on future streams of products. Then there are questions about how to integrate the new company into the old. The biggest problems tend to be at the extremes – either when an acquired company is left entirely seperate or when they’re immediately integrated completely. Of coure, many of the decisions depend on exactly what the acquiring company needs. Do they need the engineers for R&D? Do they need the top management for their vision? Definitely worth reading, but putting these things into practice isn’t always so easy. I’d bet it’s a lot easier in retrospect. Companies make choices, and then realize how they should have done it after it’s too late.
