- Introduction
- Conversations: Maria Giudice, Who Founded Hot Studio and Sold It to Facebook in 2013
- Advisor Teams & Specialized Roles
- Conversations: Gavin Lew, Who Founded User Centric and Sold It to GfK in 2012
- Valuations & Multiples
- Conversations: Christian Barnard, Who Was the COO at T3 When It Was Acquired by LRW/Material+ in 2019
- The Roadshow
- Conversations: Sue and Alan Cooper, Who Founded Cooper and Then Sold It to Wipro/Designit in October 2017
- The Letter of Intent
- Conversations: Phil Barrett, Who, With His Wife Debre, Founded Flow Interactive’s African Presence and Sold It to Deloitte in 2014
- Retention Agreements & Earnouts
- Conversations: Matthew Robinson, Who Was Responsible for Integrating Idean Into Capgemini After It Was Acquired in 2017
- Getting It in Writing
- Conversations: Crystal Rutland, Who Founded Particle Design and Sold It to Wind River in 2021
- Diligence
- Conversations: Chris Conley, Who Founded gravitytank and Then Sold It to Salesforce in 2016
- Secrecy
- Conversations: Max Burton, Who Founded Matter and Then Sold It to Accenture in 2017
- Losing Control of Your Brand
- Conversations: Doreen Lorenzo, Who Was the CEO of frog design When It Was Acquired by Aricent in 2006
- Cultural Collisions
- Summary
- The End to End Acquisition Journey
- Example Letter of Intent (LOI)
- Sample Diligence Requests
- Sample Earnout Language
- Thank You
Thank You
The best parts of this book are the stories, and I didn’t write them—I just listened and shared them. The people I interviewed deserve the credit for the ideas in those stories. Thank you to Maria Giudice from Hot Studio, Gavin Lew from User Centric, Christian Barnard from T3, Sue and Alan Cooper, Phil Barrett from Flow Interactive, Matthew Robinson from Idean, Crystal Rutland from Particle Design, Chris Conley from gravitytank, Max Burton from Matter, and Doreen Lorenzo from frog—thank you all for sharing your experiences in such detail and with such candor.
Thank you to all of the others I spoke with who were instrumental in shaping my understanding of the acquisition experience for design consultancies, particularly Theo Forbath, Nick Gould, Abby Godee, Kevin McDonald, and Collin Cole.
Thank you to John Cooper from 7 Mile Advisors, who was our M&A advisor during our company sale; to Julie Dale from Heyman & Associates, our CPA; and Brian Spross and Robyn Siers from Jones & Spross, our attorneys.
Thank you to Tiffany Braden, proofreader extraordinaire.
Thank you to Matt Franks and Chad Fisher, my partners at Modernist Studio, and to Chrissy Cowdrey and Swava Hooks, additional partners at my new studio, Narrative.
And endless thank yous and appreciations to my wife, Jess, who supported me through the entire sale process and has been my love and partner for 23 years and counting. Jess, I promise I won’t say “EBITDA” any more at home :)
