Tech companies spent more than $100 billion on acquisitions in 2010, often to create a bottle-rocket effect of fast growth, yet industry leaders estimate 70-90 percent of tech acquisitions fail. A “techquisition” lives or dies by its own set of rules – a mix of financial and cultural, along with a business boost, but rarely in equal parts. Two Austin companies – HomeAway and WhaleShark Media – were inquisitive before they were acquisitive. The companies set out on a deliberate course with each acquisition, to avoid ending up grasping at the tail of a bottle rocket so their propulsion forward was without a loss of control.
In six years, HomeAway navigated 17 acquisitions, with huge successes and a lot of lessons learned. Across town, WhaleShark brought aboard more than eight companies into its portfolio of online coupon websites in two years. In this session, HomeAway and WhaleShark pull back the curtain and give insider advice on how to keep control of a potential bottle rocket.
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