Reflection: Storytelling

Challenge & Selection:

Being able to present and persuade why a company, business unit or joint venture needs to be  merged or acquired is of paramount importance and sometimes it goes beyond the financial returns  this investment opportunity may offer. My line of work – mergers and acquisitions – strongly depend  on our competency to present what makes an opportunity unique. In today’s environment where  there is an excess of companies and start-ups looking for investors, there is a myriad of opportunities  of where to grow and/or place financial resources in.

Storytelling is critical to maintain the attention of different stakeholders. When I work with buyers,  you have to be able to present and persuade sellers to transact with clients. Same when I work with  sellers. In addition to the much-needed ability to be able to persuade, equally important is the ability  to listen to others stories so we can thoroughly understand their motives and incentives to transact  (or not). Active listening turns out to be equally powerful as we are able later on to weed-out those  buyers or sellers who are mostly looking to gain access to privileged information and lack the right  priorities when starting a transaction process.

Application:

When we are engaged to sell a business, the first thing we typically do is spend a great deal of time  brainstorming what makes this opportunity unique and special. We reflect on the company’s value  proposition, their place in the industry and its competitive landscape, we think about how strong the  management team is vis-à-vis others, and also make sure we identify -early on- the key investment  opportunities or traits for every business. Having ideas or opinions about what makes it special is  usually the easy part, despite how much time we may spent on it, the hard part really is ensuring we  prepare a compelling document (or offering memorandum as sometimes it is referred to) that  thoroughly and appealingly describes all these story components and that rapidly draw attention  from the potential investor to be sufficiently intrigued to make an offer.

Insight & Approach:

Once investors submit offers, our work requires that we meet these investors and do a better job at  telling the next part of the story. This is typically the hardest as it is when things get a bit more  serious. Updated offers tend to be binding in nature and client’s management tends to be involved.  More money is spent on travel, consultants, lawyer fees, and needless to say: time. Many key  stakeholders – from both sides – have incentives to stop the deal, whether is fear of losing their job,  biases or sudden risk aversion.

Frequent communication to both sides and persuasion is critical to keep deals alive. Being  “intentional” and aware at how we are communicating and captivating people’s attention is of the  utmost importance to deal-making. After completing Design Thinking for Innovation, we have  dramatically broadened our perspective as we go into storytelling and are more self-aware of what  investors are looking to understand about our clients. We also have made it a point to be more  aware of biases and made sure to document ways to improve as we keep a script of the main points  that are to be presented, as well as a reflection log to document how did we do and what could have  been made better.


Reflection : Storytelling Challenge & Selection : Being able to present and persuade why a company , business unit or joint venture needs to be merged or acquired is of paramount importance and sometimes it goes beyond the financial returns this investment opportunity may offer . My line of work – mergers and acquisitions – strongly depend on our competency to present what makes an opportunity unique . In today ’s environment where there is an excess of companies and start - ups looking for investors , there is a myriad of opportunities of where to grow and/or place financial resources in . Storytelling is critical to maintain the attention of different stakeholders . When I work with buyers , you have to be able to present and persuade sellers to transact with clients . Same when I work with sellers . In addition to the much - needed ability to be able to persuade , equally important is the ability to listen to others stories so we can thoroughly understand their motives and incentives to transact ( or not ) . Active listening turns out to be equally powerful as we are able later on to weed - out those buyers or sellers who are mostly looking to gain access to privileged information and lack the right priorities when starting a transaction process . Application : When we are engaged to sell a business , the first thing we typically do is spend a great deal of time brainstorming what makes this opportunity unique and special . We reflect on the company ’s value proposition , their place in the industry and its competitive landscape , we think about how strong the management team is vis - à - vis others , and also make sure we identify -early on- the key investment opportunities or traits for every business . Having ideas or opinions about what makes it special is usually the easy part , despite how much time we may spent on it , the hard part really is ensuring we prepare a compelling document ( or offering memorandum as sometimes it is referred to ) that thoroughly and appealingly describes all these story components and that rapidly draw attention from the potential investor to be sufficiently intrigued to make an offer . Insight & Approach : Once investors submit offers , our work requires that we meet these investors and do a better job at telling the next part of the story . This is typically the hardest as it is when things get a bit more serious . Updated offers tend to be binding in nature and client ’s management tends to be involved . More money is spent on travel , consultants , lawyer fees , and needless to say : time . Many key stakeholders – from both sides – have incentives to stop the deal , whether is fear of losing their job , biases or sudden risk aversion . Frequent communication to both sides and persuasion is critical to keep deals alive . Being “ intentional ” and aware at how we are communicating and captivating people ’s attention is of the utmost importance to deal - making . After completing Design Thinking for Innovation , we have dramatically broadened our perspective as we go into storytelling and are more self - aware of what investors are looking to understand about our clients . We also have made it a point to be more aware of biases and made sure to document ways to improve as we keep a script of the main points that are to be presented , as well as a reflection log to document how did we do and what could have been made better .