Selling Your Business to Google

It’s every small business owners dream to be bought by Google. The good news is that they are buyers and they have plenty cash.

We are all familiar with the high profile large deals like its acquisition of Youtube for $1.65 billion but there are plenty of small, low profile purchases too.

There are 7 criteria you need to consider:

1. What types of companies do Google buy?

Google is an engineering centric company focused on hiring the greatest computer scientists in the world. They first build products internally and then pursue acquisitions.

Most acquisitions fall into a well defined set of groups.

Initially, those groups were search, advertising, maps and a general interest/social networking/blogging category.

The groups have now extended to mobile, enterprise and security.

They seek potent engineering talent, high IQ and great IP.

If the company is related to traffic, they require high value traffic that can generate money. They don’t do traffic for traffic’s sake!

2. Deal sizes tend to be small.

At the recent AGM, Brin was asked if they would be making another large purchase like Doubleclick and he said there aren’t many large things. Google prefer smaller acquisitions as it’s easier to integrate smaller teams.

3. Focus on the end user.

Most business owners forget the importance of focussing on the end user. Business start ups focus on competition not end users. Google expects the business owner to understand the end user as they must care about your product, nothing is worse than indifference.

4. Don’t be afraid to tackle the big boys.

Large companies like Ebay and Microsoft have significantly greater manpower and financial resources but they also have drawbacks. They aren’t as hungry or driven as start up businesses who are also more flexible and willing to make sacrifices.

Google bought Youtube which was far superior to Google Video. Ebay bought Paypal as very few people were using Ebay’s Billpoint.

5. Pay attention to details.

When your product is 80% done, that means you have another 80% not 20% to go.

To get something close is easy but it’s vital to focus on the little things. This will set you apart from your competition. You can have the best algorithm in the world but if the user struggles to find out how to click a box, you wont succeed.

6. Will you get swallowed up or retain autonomy?

The answer depends on the role your company will play. If you’re small, you’re more likely to fill a gap and get absorbed in the culture and existing teams. If you’re larger, you may retain more autonomy. Google don’t insist people relocate.

7. What makes deals fail?

The biggest obstacle is lack of openness and honesty.

Disclose everything upfront, even if it’s difficult e.g. disclose you have a contract with a competitor whose terms you can’t legally disclose. If they discover something later, the value of your deal goes to zero not half, but zero. If you disclose tough issues upfront, they’ll work with you to make it happen. If you aren’t open, the trust is gone.

At the recent AGM, Schmidt confirmed that they weren’t going to see more large acquisitions, but they would continue to focus on acquiring talent and technologies.

Harvey Zemmel is a top business exit strategist and author of The Secret to Exceptional Wealth and founder of www.maximizeyourexit.com.

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