When you decide that you would like to explore selling your business to a strategic buyer, put away your cookie cutter investor deck that you used to start your company to raise seed or venture funding. Early investors and VCs want to know all about your market size, your IRR, your value proposition, your vision, etc.…
Strategic buyers are different. Strategic buyers don’t want to buy your business as it is today. They want to buy it for what they can make it into tomorrow. They want to know how your product or service will fit into and enhance their business.
If you get a meeting with a potential strategic buyer, your generic pitch will magically make crickets appear. Conversely, if you do your homework and tailor your presentation to your audience, you will find interest, enthusiasm, and probably pleasantly surprised looks.
So, when you prep for that meeting, put yourself in the strategic buyer’s shoes. Ask yourself what their mission is? What are their goals as a business and how can your business help them achieve those objectives? What is the strategic fit between your two companies? How will 1+1 = 3?
Financial buyers are a different breed. More on that in a future post.
In the meantime, don’t be vanilla.
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