The Anatomy Of An M&A Deal – Hootsuite’s Acquisition of Adespresso

Adespresso explain the evolution of their deal to be acquired by Hootsuite … and it lays bare the trials and tribulations of the M&A process. It’s a must-read for any founders looking to take their mid-market business into a deal.

In Adespresso’s case the original M&A enquiry didn’t play out and they explored a partnership instead. Working in a partnership with a company before entering into M&A negotiations does have its advantages, but that’s not detracting from the hard work, persistence and smart play by Adespresso in this case.

The author helpfully highly all the main lessons learned along the way. Look out for the “Pro Tips” in the article.

We also wanted to give some visibility to the actual mechanics. M&As (Mergers and Acquisitions) are so rare and there’s always a high confidentiality/pressure involved. So much so that they are by far *the* most obscure processes of the startup industry…

A few minutes after having signed on the dotted line, there was only one thing in my mind. Four words. “Ok, that was terrifying”.

And I don’t mean it in a nice catchy and hyperbolic way. I mean “terrifying” in the most literal way possible. What follows is the insider’s story of how it all went down.  Read the story here.