Startup CEO, 2nd Edition

Chapter 53Transition and Integration

The morning after your deal closes is not the time to start figuring out what comes next. No matter how hard you've been working while simultaneously running the business, managing the transaction, and managing your emotions, you have to make ample time during the transaction process to plan how you're going to “win the peace” – how you're going to transition yourself and your organization and potentially integrate into your new owner.

The Most Important Thing

How you approach the transition and integration period will obviously vary quite a bit based on the circumstance. Being acquired by a private equity firm and remaining the company's CEO will be a very different process than being acquired by a strategic buyer who keeps you intact as a business unit, which will be very different than being completely absorbed into a larger organization. Also, your personal circumstances will be very different if you have earn‐out and/or if you're staying with the new organization, you're leaving right away, or you're staying for a defined transition period. This chapter is generally written from the perspective of helping your company and your employees transition into a new operating organization, and getting ready to leave or significantly change your own role.

But fundamentally, the most important thing you can do is remember that once the deal is over, it's over. You may or may not be the CEO, but now you definitely have a new boss, and in many ...