Meriplex Exec On Finding Your ‘Superpower’ And Selling Business Without Regret

Meriplex M&A guru talked to partners about considerations when buying or selling a business that will add to personal growth.

Meriplex’s Neil Medwed

Neil Medwed helped engineer the acquisitions of 10 managed service providers (MSPs) in the span of two years, so he’s plenty qualified to offer advice on buying and selling a business.

Partners listened as Medwed, executive director of strategic partnerships for Plano, Texas-based Meriplex, laid out some M&A strategies during his talk at XChange August 2022 last week.

Medwed said people often get overwhelmed and neglect some of the things he’s found most helpful during the selling or merger process. Considering your own happiness is just as important as the monetary considerations, he said. Understanding your “superpower” - that is, understanding what current role in your company makes you the happiest - is an important step in the process. “Make sure that if you’re going to merge with a company, that lane you’re going to be in is going to be the right one to make you happy,” Medwed said. “You will no longer be the sole decision maker.”

It’s also important to consider that this big decision is not just about you, he said. “Think about it from an employee’s standpoint – their whole world was just hit by an earthquake. What was stable yesterday is unstable today unless you can paint the right picture for them,” he said. “Can you look them in the eye? The couple of people who got you to where you are today? Is it good for them? Can you look them in the eye and say it’s good for them?”

A successful merger means a successful integration that will benefit both employees and customers, Medwed said. “When two companies merge, if they‘re not integrated effectively… it’s probably not just the employees are going to be unhappy, but the customers are going to drop off. Think about that for a second. What’s the most important thing when the sale happens? Making sure customers are happy. What‘s the story for people?”

And it’s also important to consider the parts that are all about you, he said. “Is it all about money? Money is very, very important. How the money is paid is very important. But your happiness is important. Not being happy with the compensation certainly leads to regret. How important is your quality of life? If you get to this stage, you might get a financial windfall… but guess what? You don’t call the shots (in the business) anymore.”

But at the end of the day, “If it’s not good for your customers, run the other way… if it’s not good for your employees, run the other way,” he said, adding that the transaction should make business owners feel like “Clark Kent coming out of the telephone booth as Superman.”

Scott Warner, president and chief executive at Connecting Point based in Greeley, Colo., said he could relate to much of what Medwed discussed. As a second-generation IT services provider, Warner went through the acquisition process with his father. “It was just interesting to hear some different perspective around M&A in this room. Being in a position now where we’re trying to grow our company and to ultimately position it for another sale, it was good to get feedback of an expert and his unique perspective.”

Warner added, “I really appreciated his perspective on making sure that it was good for your clients, as well as good for your team members and that it was the financially correct decision.”