Clarity before commitment.

A new owner should not mean discovering the operating model in month three. We discuss the important principles and document the deal-specific arrangements before completion.

Our starting principles

Identity. We seek to preserve the established name, customer relationships and market presence that made the company successful.
Leadership. We value the people who understand the business. Leadership continuity and succession are discussed according to the owner’s plans and the company’s needs.
Product. Product decisions should remain informed by the team closest to customers and the market.
Customers. Continuity of service, relationships and market knowledge is central to transition planning.
Culture. We do not assume that a successful company needs to adopt a standardized operating culture.

What changes with ownership

Reporting. Financial and operational reporting.
Governance. Board oversight, and approval for defined major decisions.
Capital. Access to additional capital for growth.
Shared capabilities. Use of selected shared services where they help.
Leadership arrangements. Agreed continuity or succession, planned before completion.

A transaction creates real changes. Which of these apply depends on the company and the agreed operating model, and each one is settled before completion rather than discovered afterward.

Autonomy, as it looked afterward

Independence is easy to assert and hard to evidence. AutoSoft Dynamics joined the wider group and then went on deciding for itself where to spend, who to invite, and which markets to show up in.

None of what follows was directed by an owner above it. They are the ordinary decisions of a company still running its own business.

What the company did next

Its own stand at GITEX Africa, on its own budget (opens in a new tab)AutoSoft Dynamics on Facebook, June 2023
Its first users conference, convened for its own customers (opens in a new tab)AutoSoft Dynamics newsletter, PDF
A second users conference, across several cities, with banking stakeholders attending (opens in a new tab)AutoSoft Dynamics on LinkedIn

What is documented

Before completion, the agreed operating arrangements set out company identity, leadership responsibilities, reporting, decision authority, employee implications, product governance, capital allocation, shared services and any founder transition.

Each item is addressed for your company specifically, in writing, while there is still a decision to make.

Identity

The name the company trades under, its brand, and how the transaction is communicated.

Leadership

Responsibilities after completion, and any agreed succession.

Reporting

What is reported, in what form, and how often.

Decision authority

Which decisions stay with the company, and which require agreement.

People

Employee implications, including any overlapping functions.

Product

Product governance and how development is funded.

Capital

How capital is allocated and requested.

Shared services

Which functions may move to shared teams.

Founder transition

The role, duration and expectations of an owner after completion.

The purpose is not to promise that nothing will change. It is to make the important changes visible and understood before the decision is final.

Thinking about succession?

The beginning does not need to feel like a process.

You do not need to have decided to sell. You do not need a data room. You do not need to present the business to us. An initial conversation is simply a way to understand whether our long-term approach matches what you want for the company.

Confidential
No pitch deck required
Handled directly by Bilal Mahmood and Hira Zainab

Start a confidential conversation

Or write to m&a@bosongroup.com. It reaches the same two people.