Sometimes a search goes wrong. It’ll start with a sense of unease, and only really become apparent after the acquisition, but it can be a stressful, morale-crushing experience when it happens. That’s the experience that Nick Bamford had at one point during his own search journey. That case study forms the basis of this important session of the inaugural EtA Forum. Nick – who is now happily running SRO Technology, found himself in a situation with an (eventually) hostile seller and management issues across the board when he took over a business. Analysis and due diligence indicated that the acquisition was worth pursuing. However, when the seller embarked on an extended holiday immediately, Nick was forced to become far too active in the first hundred days, and it became rapidly apparent that there were cultural issues within the business. Ultimately, Nick felt the situation was unsalvageable and decided to exit. Fortunately, the agreement protected him from liability. After a period of reflection, he was able to resume his search journey, eventually finding SRO Technology and now growing that company through acquisition. It’s rare to get such an open and frank dialogue as you’ll hear in this session. Nick and SMEVentures’ Jake Nicholson had a free-flowing conversation that holds back nothing. Consequently, it’s essential, both in learning how to identify the red flags that a deal will be challenging, to highlighting the kind of change management mistakes that can occur early into an acquisition. Connect with Jake Nicholson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakenicholson/ Connect with Nick Bamford: https://www.linkedin.com/in/njbamford/ What we discussed: 2:01 Jake and Nick kick off their conversation by discussing the big lessons learned from Nick’s search. 3:05 Nick summarises his pre-search background, and what inspired him to start his search. 5:13 Nick describes the company that he eventually found to make an offer on. 7:09 Nick summarises the criteria that made the business an attractive target to make an offer on. 9:46 Structuring the offer – Nick describes how he undertook this from a position of inexperience. 11:18 The seller started to have second thoughts deep into the process. Nick explains where those stemmed from. 12:32 Ultimately the seller pulled out, five months into the process. Nick describes what his next steps were. 14:20 The seller actually then came back, and Nick summarises what happened next as discussions were started again. 15:27 Nick describes the first day in the company after having closed the deal. 16:24 Nick explains the diligence process that led to the closing of the transaction. 17:42 Nick describes his first few weeks after taking over the company. 20:11 Nick describes his first experiences with the management team, with the seller being away. 22:16 Nick also brought some new people in early, and describes the experience of making his first hires. 24:35 Another area where Nick saw the need to improve the business was in the finances, so he describes his first efforts to grapple with that. This, too, ended up producing headaches for him. 28:29 The next challenge that Nick needed to grapple with was a cash crunch. He explains how that occurred and how he responded to it here. 32:35 At this point the seller flagged interest in coming back in to run the operations site of the business, or even take the business back over completely. Nick talks through how he managed this. 34:57 Having decided he needed to exit the business, Nick explains his next steps. 38:36 Nick explains what he did after to recover from the ordeal and get back on track, and how his new company, SRO Technology, is in a very strong position. 44:19 Pete provides a summary and analysis of the session. Quotes: Nick: “One of the big reflections I had from the experience of my first search was, the way that someone behaves during a negotiation is pretty much how they're going to be in business.” Nick: “My mindset during t