Startup Acquisition Lessons: Key Takeaways and Insights

The recent acquisition of EditMe, a startup that I have been working on, came with a lot of new lessons, which I am going to share in this blog. But, if you are a successful entrepreneur or a big shot, this post on startup acquisition lessons is not for you. If you are a struggling entrepreneur, still toiling away with your idea and vision, hoping to achieve success and fulfill your passion soon, this one is for you. 

Key Takeaways From Startup Acquisition

So, here’s all that I learned from the entire acquisition process, and what perhaps other people would not tell you:

Ignore The Naysaying ‘Experts’

Now, I do not claim by any measure that EditMe was perfect. But when meeting other entrepreneurs, successful startup ecosystem individuals, and industry ‘experts’, I realized how many of the ‘experts’ focused on belittling the business, highlighting how it was nothing but a waste of time. From comments about EditMe being outdated and unnecessary, to how it was wrongly priced, and how there was no value for it, and that I am doomed to fail, the comments were endless. But, I was also lucky enough to spend time with some smart people like John Prendergast, Brian Balfour, and David Cancel, who helped me refine the business through constructive criticism. These were the inputs that made a positive impact on the business. 

From this I learned that there really are no ‘experts’ when it comes to building a successful entrepreneurial venture. There are those that have succeeded, those that are on the path to attain success, and then there are the naysayers whose only aim is to make you feel like a failure. So, an important startup lesson we gain from this is to seek mentorships and listen to those that are successful, and can give actual information about what can help. Another path is to find emerging successes, and partner up with them or hire them, but when you see a naysayer, turn around and RUN!

Prioritize Core Values, Outsource Everything Else 

When you have a startup, the amount of work that needs to be done is endless, which makes you realize that money ain’t the scarcest resource for a startup, even for a bootstrapped startup like EditMe; rather, it is time. Getting everything done to build and lead a successful startup demands a ton of precious time, which realistically, isn’t possible. Now mix in your social life, making time for family, friends, life in general, the task is simply too big to accomplish for any human. 

This gets even more tricky. Why? Because, well, when it comes to money, you know how much you lack, but with time, you simply never know how much time you need, and how much of it you lack. This becomes even more overwhelming when the startup starts gaining momentum and starts achieving new milestones. There are always more things to do: more improvements on products, developing more products, acquiring more customers, the list just keeps going on. 

So what’s the startup lesson here? Outsource! Outsource as much work as you can, even if every fiber of your being yells ‘this is a waste of time’ in the beginning. Any task which is not core to your business, whether bookkeeping, social media marketing, or others, outsource everything you can, and as the business starts growing, you will see the results of not taking on everything yourself. 

Automate! 

Automation will be your best friend, especially if you start investing in methods to streamline tasks early. This will circle back to saving time! Simple automation practices like using Google Mail's Canned Responses for automating tech support responses, MailChimp's Email Marketing Autoresponder for basic AI-based customer communication capabilities, Amazon Mechanical Turk for deactivating obsolete user accounts, and Wiki for maintaining detailed notes on steps required for task completion are some of the basic automations you can adopt early. Pick and choose a few of them, and it's like you have dedicated departments handling specific tasks expertly, leaving you with the opportunity to focus on more pressing matters. 

Customer Feedback Loops For The Win

Now, I did warn you against people who can come off as harsh, but, there is an exception to that rule: the customers. They pay for your products and services, gain first hand experience, so, if your products are bad, they have the right to offer harsh feedback. Instead of a negative comment, see it as an actual opportunity to understand how and why your idea is failing in the real world. Only that will help you improve. Make customer feedback a critical process, and really put value on it, listen to what they have to say. Sometimes, along with the many harsh words, you also get a few gems of advice that can completely transform the business. This startup lesson also leans somewhat on lean startup principles, and you will find figures like Eric Ries, Sean Ellis, Dave McClure, and others, backing it up. 

Do whatever it takes to get genuine feedback, surveys, emails, even getting proactively in touch, whatever opens the doors for candid conversations about the product. Go in with some strategic questions to seek out answers that you really want to find out, like, does the product actually add value? 

Execute, Iterate, Repeat. 

Getting ready to start your entrepreneurial journey, well, know this: it is a consistent test of your resilience. A big part of your journey, at least till you start seeing success, and even after that, is a series of confidence-shattering failures, complications, and setbacks. Now whenever this happens, you can either dwell on the setbacks and lose focus, or, you can learn to adapt, continue to focus on addressing the faults and glitches in your product, and work on one problem until it is solved completely. 

In my journey with EditMe, making massive blunders was a part of the process, but an important lesson I gained was that consistency is the key to surviving. Learn what you did wrong, and do everything to resolve it enough so that you can move on to solving the next problem. 

A Call To Arms

Now, as someone who has had some success, first with Embarc and then with EditMe, I bring you insights that I have learned and that have reshaped my approach. Did it help you out? Do you think it was complete garbage? Let me know below, and then, get back to executing your products, making changes, and celebrate every big and small milestone. It is what will keep you encouraged. 

Learning

From this blog, we learn that the path to success in an entrepreneurial venture is tough, tests your resilience every day, and you come across people of all kinds, some who are kind enough to help you out with good advice, and some that simply want to make you feel horrible. At the end of it all, the key takeaway lesson from the startup acquisition of EditMe is to learn to filter out useful criticism from unnecessary comments, focus on your work and on improving it, automate, outsource, make the most efficient use of your time, and give it your all to achieve success.