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bdiggidy

Account Executive Mid-Market

Opinionated
Executive
Valued Contributor
+4

Acquired. Ever been through it?

we were acquired and things are all up in the air. no idea what to expect with roles, comp plan, benefits. vested shares paid out unvested shares thrown out (is this normal?) no consideration in equity for new company. 

anybody been acquired? what do we expect? should we be lookin for next love?
🧠 Advice
🎈 Mentorship
🤓 Sales Tech
26

22 comments

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CuriousFox
WR Officer
11
🦊
Oh yeah. My advice remains the same. Keep your head down, do your job, and update your resume just in case. Processes are gonna be screwed up so be prepared for things to change daily.
ChumpChange
Politicker
3
Channel Manager
Agree with everything here. Typically, there's a short list being created for who stays and goes if there is a restructuring. You can't change any of that btw. Just keep performing and hedge your outcomes by updating your resume quickly to prepare for any disruptions.
Gasty
Notable Contributor
6
War Room Community Manager
A week after I left my last company, it got acquired. Sometimes, I tell myself I made it happen.

Nonetheless, folks there tell me it's actually better now. So it depends on who's acquired you, why, and what are their plans.

Reveal all this and we'll tell you what to expect :D
Sunbunny31
Politicker
5
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Been through it. It was actually fantastic. We were notified by our CEO but told it was confidential, but also told when we could discuss openly. The acquiring company also was very up front, onboarded us all as a group, and kept us informed all along the way. Some things changed, but there was communication all along the way that made a huge difference to keeping us informed and aware of what was happening.

But if that's not happening and the acquisition isn't really all that smooth, the best thing to do where ever you work is to keep doing your job until you're told not to.
braintank
Politicker
4
Enterprise Account Executive
Yes. It's a crapshoot. Can't hurt to stat looking elsewhere. They're messing with your equity, when I was acquired we got paid on vested shares and unvested converted to stock in our acquirer.
TennisandSales
Politicker
4
Head Of Sales
dude. YEP been there before! it sucks.

it is also normal to NOT get answers right away. i would allow 6 months to pass before you start pressing ppl for answers. there is so much shit to work through at the exec level.
jefe
Arsonist
4
🍁
I know someone whose company got acquired last week, all but most senior staff were laid off.

I also left a company I worked at years ago a few months before they got acquired. Everyone was laid off but got pretty good packages. Nobody had shares or anything, it was owned by a very large company.
antiASKHOLE
Tycoon
3
Bravado's Resident Asshole
It's always a rough transition for the first year with integrating systems and what not.
aiko
Politicker
2
Sr. Account Executive
My company was acquired in 2018 and mostly everyone who stayed through it, said it took 2-3 years to adjust. If you're willing to wait it out, go for it. But I think its a long time to just wait and see if you are a go getter.
BigS221
Catalyst
2
AE
I'm going through one at the moment (acquisition happened back in March). I think it totally depends on the reason for your company got acquired, if it's a Broadcom/Vmware situation - make sure you get your resume in order because it's likely you're out the door pretty quickly. However, there's a lot of instances where they actually want to keep your company almost running independently from the parent which is what's happening so far in my case. A lot of factors in play and would take CuriousFox's advice to just keep trying to hit your numbers and do your job cause you just don't know exactly what's gonna happen.
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
2
Rolling 20's all day
Vested paid out and unvested thrown out can be normal unless your leadership does something special to pay you a bonus for your unvested shares.
Definitely keep doing your best and keep your head down.
revenuegenerator
Praised Answer
2
Sales Management
I've been through it. How big your company is plays a role in it, as well as what their current go to market/sales situation looks like. (DM me if you want more info on this)

A LOT of the time (and this happened to me) "go to market" roles (sales, marketing) are duplications of each other and ultimately the duplications get let go.

A lot of early stage startup acquisitions are referred to as "aqui-hires" because the purpose of the acquisition is to acquire the engineering talent and customer base.

All this aside. If they paid out my vested equity and told me I had zero equity in the new venture! I would blast out of that place asap.

Is there a sales rep who covers your territory at the company who acquired you? If so, it's thunderdome time. But again, no equity.. see ya later.
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
1
Sales Rep
Never been acquired, but have been at a company that did acquire another. So much is unknown at our level it takes awhile to get a clear answer
balbazar
Opinionated
1
Enterprise Account Executive
I worked at a small start-up that got acquired by a much larger software company. My then boss gave me the advice to network as much as possible with the new account teams and build a network internally. That advice paid dividends when I was brought in on a number of deals and closed business I didn't even have on my radar prior to the acquisition. It can turn out in your favor if you're selling a complementary solution that makes everyone more money.
GDO
Politicker
0
BDM
I’m in M&A so I’m at thenother side of the table.
therealmilsch
Executive
0
VP Sales & Deal Flow
Yes - it's rarely pleasant. Two different organizations with different styles and tactics. Also, the same goal, minimizing cost and increasing revenue.

It's definitely scary. If you are a top performer, you have less to worry about. Do what you can do and lean on your bosses/VPs who have the most pull to try and set yourself up with the best chance for success. Don't overthink it.

Your equity/share docs should spell out what happens in these situations. Most of the time, a change of control means a payout.However, they may screw you over and just mush your equity/shares into the new company and new share plan.

If you want to stay there:
1.Ask to lead or be involved in trainings
2. Ensure you make the case to keep your top accounts based on your relationships
3. If you really want to kiss ass, lend assistance to incoming execs who are looking for help
4. Stay top of mind and make sure your boss isn't checked out. If so, then you need to find out who your new boss will be

If you want to leave:
1. Get your resume together
2. Don't burn any bridges
TJR47
0
Senior Area Sales Manager
Yes, my company was acquired in 2016. Like you said, everything was up in the air for awhile. But, when the dust settled it worked out better for a lot of the employees that stayed. We were vested automatically in our 401Ks with the new company, company departments were streamlined, and the employees that stayed ended up eventually getting salary increases due to marketplace changes.
ADK
Opinionated
0
VC Associate
Yeapp been there. It will be very messy for weeks/months of nobody really knowing what to do, who to report. Everyone will be expecting changes but no one will really know the details. It will take much longer to iron out a GTM strategy and a possible integration between technologies. It would give you a hint, what kind of comp plan/stock options they are giving after the acquisition to see if they are willing to keep the business as it is. I evaluated the process like this back then:
- do I believe in this acquisition of these two technologies coming together?
- does the acquiring company have a similar culture?
- is it an interesting company? opportunities may be under your nose than trying to find something outside
- did the acquiring company do other acquisitions before? how did that vision turn out? did the people and technology integrate well?
- it's nothing personal if your role/skills are being reviewed, someone wants to listen into your demos etc.

In general, where there is chaos there is opportunity. If you don't wanna deal with chaos, it doesn't hurt to start looking around. It's normal to expect waves of people leaving right after the acquisition.

Personally, I sticked around but it wasn't easy at all. Looking back, it wasn't a bad decision
TheDinosaur
0
National Sales Manager
I sold a regional company with 7 sales reps and various operational support staff. A requested "contingency" of the sale was taking care of employees ... all of which went to hell when my 6 month employment contract was up.

It wasn't my house any more and they changed everything including paint on the walls ...

In other words, start looking but keep one foot in your current job until you are "sure" new management will or will not make it worth your while to stay.
dogmother
0
Technical Sales Engineer
Hi, This happened to me and they offered me the opportunity to earn my same job at my same pay with the new company but I was technically laid off. I consulted with HR and was told I did not have to sign anything to leave and earn my severance (which was very generous) so I chose to leave and went and worked for a competitor 100% work from home at higher pay. It was a gamble for me but it paid off to leave.
Snowbird
0
Vice President
Going through it right now. Acquired by competition in a very small market space—with no team-building activities. Our competitors are now our colleagues within 24-hours. No clarity, lots of confusion, stalled sales. It’s been an interesting 8 months. Advice: Keep head down and do your work. Don’t engage in the BS swirling around you. Stay authentic and let your customers know they can trust you. Speak the truth—your word is your value.
Embedded
Personal Narrative
0
Director
yes, several times. Do you have a role that could be considered redundant with the company which acquired you? Is the group or business unit your in, profitable? How much overlap in product/services will you have?

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