Startup – Page 29 – Dr. Mazlan Abbas

Find the strategic fit

Guess what? As a Startup Founder, you either expand your business through investors, or you might want to find a strategic merger or acquisition.

Great mergers and acquisitions are not just about combining businesses, but about igniting new possibilities.

Here are some tips to make your startup a strategic fit for potential acquirers:

Understand Your Potential Acquirers: Research potential acquirers in your industry to understand their business models, strategies, and focus areas. Understanding what they are looking for can help you position your startup to meet those needs.
Align Your Product/Service: Develop products or services that complement those of potential acquirers. This could enhance their existing offerings or fill a gap in their product line.
Target the Same Customer Base: If your startup serves the same customer base as a potential acquirer, this could increase your strategic fit. It allows the acquiring company to cross-sell or upsell its services to your customers and vice versa.
Adapt to Their Technology: Ensure your technology is compatible with potential acquirers. This could reduce the cost and complexity of integration post-acquisition.
Focus on Shared Values and Culture: Acquisitions often overlook cultural fit. If your startup shares similar values and corporate culture with a potential acquirer, it could make the transition smoother and increase your strategic fit.
Address Market Gaps: If your startup can address a market gap that a potential acquirer cannot currently fill, it makes your company an attractive prospect.
Provide Strategic Advantages: This could be in the form of unique intellectual property, market presence, key partnerships or anything else that can give a potential acquirer a strategic advantage in the market.

In acquisitions, the true value lies not in the transaction, but in the transformative possibilities it creates.

Remember, being a strategic fit isn’t about losing your identity as a business but instead aligning your unique strengths with the needs and strategy of a potential acquirer.

Acquiring a startup is not about taking over another company; it’s about empowering it to reach its full potential.

Download the latest eBook: Startup Survival

https://mazlanabbas.gumroad.com/l/startupsurvival

At the end of the 2016 visit, I had the opportunity to visit Silicon Valley with the MDEC delegation in the Silicon Valley Immersion Program. This trip transformed the way I look at entrepreneurship – “Anything is possible” and “Have a grand vision, and you can turn it into a reality” attitude.

I have never thought in my whole life to become an entrepreneur. All I think was to become a CTO in any big corporate organisation – that’s all. However, that business trip changed my whole life! On my return home, I decided to build a Startup in IoT – and that’s how FAVORIOT was born in early 2017.

The Inspiring Logos

For a first-time visitor, I was excited watching the Logos of famous companies on buildings, offices, parks, and shops – it’s the everyday hardware and software that we used back home. Hewlett Packard, GE, Cisco, Apple, Google, Facebook are among the logos that inspired me. My heart was beating fast to be at the place where the technology or product that I used daily was born!

The History

For any computer enthusiasts, the Computer History Museum at Mountain View is an excellent place to visit. You can see how computer history began here, starting with the vacuum valve to integrated circuits and the first PC and Apple computer. What you see in photos can now be seen physically, and that already amazes me. Imagine the power of our computers and smartphones begin with a small step from the brilliant minds of the inventors and innovators of Silicon Valley. For a first-time visitor, I was excited watching the Logos of famous companies on buildings, offices, parks, and shops – it’s the everyday hardware and software that we used back home. Hewlett Packard, GE, Cisco, Apple, Google, Facebook are among the logos that inspired me. My heart was beating fast to be at the place where the technology or product that I used daily was born!

Birth Place of Unicorns

Many Unicorns started with a humble beginning, and some started at Plug and Play Tech Center. For example, Dropbox started from within a small cubicle in Plug and Play, and it has now valued at USD 10 Billion. Other examples are PayPal, LendingClub, Guardant, Hippo, and many others. Seeing that logos on their walls made you believe, “If they can do it, why can’t we?“

Pitching Valley

We had the opportunity to pitch in front of investors at Hero City, Draper University. It was a very nerve-wracking experience – even though we had practiced the pitch many times before arriving in Silicon Valley. It seems to pitch is like an everyday thing here, and you can either pitch on an official platform or pitch to an individual investor after the event. Personally, the term “pitch” is synonymous with a short talk to convince investors about your Startup.

Sharing Culture

Almost all the people we talked to here are amicable and keen to listen to our ideas and give constructive feedback. They are more than willing to recommend us to other parties if they see their peers or friends benefit from our solutions.

Startup Ecosystem

The place is always bursting with new ideas, and no one seems to get worried if their ideas get stolen or not. Maybe it’s because many of these ideas are not unique to them, and they would instead share with others so that they can help to improve the ideas further. There are so many Startup Founders and Investors, and you might be lucky if you happen to have lunch or dinner in a restaurant and meet them.

The highlight of the visit is the walk-around on Google and Facebook Campus. It’s like a small Google or Facebook city!

Anything is Possible!

The energy, enthusiasms, and excitement made you believe that your ideas could soar higher and conquer the world. Age doesn’t matter anymore – anyone can start their entrepreneurship journey with a small cubicle or co-working space. Ideas can spark quickly and maybe can fuse with other ideas to make it better. The conducive Startup ecosystem of supporting each other made you believe that you are not alone in this world, and everyone here seems to be open enough to help you.

I will share the rest of the entrepreneurship journey in another article – why I choose the Internet of Things (IoT) as our business focus and why we build the first IoT solution that we think can conquer the world!