Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

by Tony Fadell

When you’re selling, the same questions apply. What are you looking for? Some hope to use a larger company’s resources to accelerate their vision. Others are looking for financial gain. Then there are the companies who are having problems and are trying to sell off the business to someone who believes in it. Bill Campbell liked to say, “Great companies are bought, not sold.” If you’re being acquired, you want the buyer to be desperate to buy rather than you being a seller desperate to sell. If you’re considering an acquisition, you want to be wary of anyone throwing themselves at you, pitching you too hard. However, there’s no manual for a good acquisition. There are a million things to watch out for, but they change with every company, every deal. Just don’t ignore the hard stuff simply because it’s hard. Don’t forget to talk about culture just because nobody quite knows how to talk about culture. Unfortunately, you can’t truly know a culture until you’re in it. It’s like dating—when two people are interested in each other, they put their best foot forward, keep up appearances. Things get much more real when they move in together and get married. That’s when you learn your wife leaves dishes in the sink to “soak” for a few days. It’s when you realize your husband always forgets to clean up his toenail trimmings. So the dating phase of any potential acquisition is crucial. You have to check the sink for dirty dishes. You have to spot the toenail on the dining table. Look a...