Key Challenges

• The company was relatively young, yet it had experienced robust growth across a number of different product lines.
• Despite its robust growth, there were few internal resources available to support the execution of an acquisition.
• The company’s ownership had potentially competing objectives and priorities.

Our Solution

Using our strategic framework and acquisition approach, we worked with the company’s leadership team to develop an acquisition strategy and gain alignment across key stakeholders.

1. Client Education – We helped the company understand the various acquisition strategies and their implications for the business.
2. Guiding Principle Creation – We developed a list of guiding principles that aligned with the organization’s strategic vision. Using those principles, we collaborated to identify primary and secondary objectives to be accomplished through an acquisition.
3. Scoring Mechanism Development and Refinement – We developed a scoring mechanism and several acquisition archetypes to assess potential acquisition targets. Using those archetypes, we identified a short-list of “strawman” targets to help further crystallize what an optimal target looks like, the key traits they possess and how they fit within the overarching acquisition strategy.

The Results

With a clear acquisition strategy, the company was able to share with key investors how acquisitions fit into the broader enterprise growth strategy. The strategy helped the company take a proactive rather than reactive approach to identifying and initiating their search for potential targets. As such, the organization is better prepared to capitalize on opportunistic events as they occur and to help ensure the success of future acquisitions.