Happiness and stress post-acquisition?

September 25, 2020

by a searcher from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in Cambridge, MA, USA

Can anyone speak to the happiness and stress levels of searchers post-acquisition?

Most people go into entrepreneurship/search, because they think it will lead to a better life. Certainly, some acquisitions will lead to default., while others will be an outlandish success. What % are having fun? What % are constantly stressed? How long does it take searchers to feel comfortable that they know how to run the business?

16 Likes

19 Replies

399 Views

Replies

Reply by an investor
from Hampden in Lexington, NC, USA

I can only speak to my experience -as long as you do a good job of purchasing a business that matches your personality I don't think there is a better path in life. While the stress level is higher than when I was an employee I am way happier as an owner operator with the ability to steer the ship in whatever direction seems best. I was very lucky and had the prior owners stay on for an extended amount of time after closing so the learning curve wasn't so steep/stressful for me. I think most will find that the stress post close is more than manageable considering I crammed it into one heck of a year - got married, moved to a new state to run the business, became a dad, and now working on finalizing another acquisition all while operating the business through Covid. This is a lot different from when I made a previous purchase that was way out of my comfort zone - in the retail space with multiple locations that was on the verge of being shut down (I knew this and paid accordingly). While it turned out to be a financial success in the end, it was a nightmare and beyond stressful for me to run because the traits that business required were my weakest (resulted in personal growth, but very painful). My take away is make sure you consider if the opportunity is in the right industry and you have the required traits to be a successful operator in that industry along with the financials.(maybe this is common sense to everyone else on here, but I was a little too arrogant in my first "search" and thought I could put on any hat and be great at it if needed - tiny company so had to cover a lot of different roles myself).

Reply by an investor
from Harvard University in Dallas, TX, USA

Well I can speak to it from a personal point of view (operated 11 years post search). Plus the people I've invested in and I've had 2200 searchers call over the years. Though mainly that's before search. So nok scientifically I'd say the following. It doesn't make you happier or unhappier. You do however get a strong sense of purpose. It isn't a job, it's who you are and what you do. There is a great article by aj wasserstein on what it's like after selling. We were one of the most successful and that definitely did not lead to some higher level of happiness. As the company becomes more successful it leads to more material wealth. I'd say for me fun and stress were in equal portions. Compared to a job the highs are higher and the lows lower. At times the stress is extreme, but honestly the business stress is a problem to solve and you have a lot of levers at your disposal. So it's more life stressors, such as relationships and geography , that are the harder ones to handle. At the toughest times I never questioned whether I was the right person to be doing it, nor whether I was in the wrong line of work. The purpose , the jobs you create, the families you're impacting, the control of your own time (even if that means working all hours) are all things that I found make a better life. I sold, it was a great result, but I'd take being a search fund ceo again in a heartbeat.

+17 more replies.

Join the discussion