If you have enough power to purchase another company, you're probably making at least 500k year. If the company you acquire does great, then you'll probably get a small bonus. And if they tank, you'll get fired. Thus the individuals within the company doing the acquiring have a strong incentive to be extremely conservative. (Unless there are unusual circumstances, like a stock market bubble, some new technology, or a competitor buying a rival startup.)
So basically to get acquired, you need to look like you're not going to embarrass the person doing the acquiring. The best way to do this is to have a longterm relationship with that person and their colleagues. This makes you feel like much more of a known entity in the eyes of the acquirer. Because at the end of the day, regardless of what the book say you never really know what you're getting when you buy a company. Everything piece of the company could be independently audited, but that's not going to stop a critical 5M dollar machine from breaking in half the day after you buy the business.
Anyway I'm not an expert, this is just what I've heard from other people who have been acquired.
If you have enough power to purchase another company, you're probably making at least 500k year. If the company you acquire does great, then you'll probably get a small bonus. And if they tank, you'll get fired
I wish (speaking from my own experience). It may be true for very large companies acquiring really small ones, but there is an entire world out there of acquisitions of small players by slightly larger companies. Neither the 500K salary nor the small bonus apply. Such acquisitions almost look like mergers: they can make or kill the entire company. We are not talking about a small bonus here, it's the livehood of the entire startup. It matters a lot.
So basically to get acquired, you need to look like you're not going to embarrass the person doing the acquiring. The best way to do this is to have a longterm relationship with that person and their colleagues. This makes you feel like much more of a known entity in the eyes of the acquirer. Because at the end of the day, regardless of what the book say you never really know what you're getting when you buy a company. Everything piece of the company could be independently audited, but that's not going to stop a critical 5M dollar machine from breaking in half the day after you buy the business.
Anyway I'm not an expert, this is just what I've heard from other people who have been acquired.