📖 free to read in beta

Git Acquired

The developer's guide to getting acquired

Learn how to get through the acquisition process with the best financial outcome

Written by an M&A insider

Technology companies are cash rich and time poor. When they want to enter new markets, improve existing features or grow revenue it's often faster and more efficient to acquire.

Git Acquired is written by an M&A insider who's spent over a decade researching, designing and developing new products... before making acquisitions when that turned out to be too hard.

This book is designed to lift the lid on what makes an acquisition target compelling in the eyes of an acquirer, what the M&A process entails and how to come through it with the best financial return for the time you've invested.

What's in the book?

1. Welcome to M&A – an introduction

Once upon a time software was sold on contract and built to specification. Somewhere along the line that all changed.

Today, you can spend your spare time developing a solution to a work problem, release it Open Source and before you know it, have a whole community of other developers (and their organisations) relying on your code. Now you have two full-time jobs.

In "Welcome to M&A" we introduce acquistion as an option for getting paid for the time you've already put in and the value your users are already getting out.

In this section

What's coming up
Who this book is for (and what we assume)
Why the author is a relevant source of information
The whole point of acquisitions
The motivations and models behind acquisitions
Acquirers, getting acquired and profitability
Planning for an acquisition before you’re ready to sell

2. Types of projects – problems worth solving

Lots of problems can be solved with software, but not all problems are worth solving. It’s too easy to waste time on the ones that don’t matter.

In “Types of projects” we look into the sorts of solutions that end up getting acquired, and introduce Strategy as a way to understand the mindset of an acquirer.

In this section

Introduction to strategy
What’s hard about Strategy
Signs your solving a problem worth solving
Signs you’ve developed the right solution

3. Getting value out – through acquisition

Building something of value is just the start. Next it’s time to build the infrastructure to get paid for what you’ve created, and that means working on solving marketing and sales problems.

You’ll have to do some of this in order to validate the value you’ve built, but acquisition is a good way to sidestep the hassle of building a whole business in earnest. Especially if you prefer to spend your time engineering software.

That doesn’t mean being acquired is the easy way out.

In "Getting value out" we look at how to get the most from being acquired, and run through the complexities involved in this route.

In this section

Being acquired is a great way to release value, quickly
Selling a business is harder than selling a product
Understanding the complexities of the acquisition process

4. Defining 'value' – understanding valuation models

There are – broadly speaking – two types of people who are interested in valuing what you’ve built; the spreadsheet people and the product people.

The spreadsheet people sit in the finance part of an organisation, and use financial models to assess the health and value of your business. They want to understand what will happen to the balance sheet and income statement of the acquiring business after they’ve bought what you’ve created.

The product people sit in the product engineering part of the business, and use market data and their own product metrics to assess the health and value of what you’ve created. They want to understand what becomes possible when they acquire you.

In "Defining value" we show how the strongest business case for acquisition satisfies both of these concerns.

In this section

Sharing sensitive information
Valuation models that product people use
Valuation models that spreadsheet people use
Information that helps make the best case overall

5. Negotiating the deal – from start to finish

In "Negotiating the deal" we cover the acquisition process in detail, explain the roles of the people you'll meet along the way and the questions you'll be expected to answer in pursuit of negotiating the best deal.

In this section

A detailed look at the stages of the acquisition process
Who’s involved, when they get involved, and what they care about
The strongest negotiating position is not wanting/needing to sell
Doing your own due dilligence; can they pay?
Having a clear idea of what you want and principles that'll guide you