Post-acquisition integration
The deal closes and the real work begins. Staff wonder if they still have jobs. The seller's knowledge walks out the door at the end of the transition period. Most value lost in acquisitions is lost here, in the first months. We help buyers plan the handover before closing and stay beside them afterward, with Ali's team embedded where the business needs it.
What you leave with
You are running the business with its staff, customers and cash flow intact and the seller's knowledge captured.
Who it is for
- First-time buyers taking over an operating business in BC
- Owners who have acquired a competitor and must merge two teams, systems and customer bases
- Investors who have bought a business and need a manager and systems in place
What we deliver
- A written plan for the first months: people, customers, suppliers, cash and systems
- A staff retention and communication plan for the announcement and the weeks after
- Customer and supplier transition, and knowledge capture from the seller
- Finance and reporting set-up so you know the numbers from the first month
- Marketing, sales systems and technology improvements from Ali's team where needed
How it runs
01Plan before close
During diligence we draft the integration plan so day one is organised rather than improvised.
02Take control
We help you announce, meet staff and key customers and set up finance and reporting in the first weeks.
03Capture
We structure the seller's transition so their knowledge, relationships and routines are documented.
04Improve
Once the business is steady, we help you make the changes you bought it for.
Engagement and fees
Scoped per acquisition after a Business Acquisition consultation at $399. Larger integrations, or those where Ali's team embeds for a period, are priced as a retainer or a Growth Partner arrangement. Every engagement is scoped after a call and confirmed in writing. See consultations and fees.
The first weeks decide the first year
Staff decide in the first days whether to stay based on whether their pay arrives on time. Customers decide in the first weeks whether anything has changed for the worse. Suppliers decide whether to extend the same credit to a new owner. Your job in this period is not to improve the business. It is to keep it exactly as good as it was while you learn how it actually works. Changes come later, once you know which habits are load-bearing.
Capturing what the seller knows
The transition period in the purchase agreement is the only time you have the seller's full attention, and buyers waste it. The seller knows which customers need a call before the invoice goes out, which supplier will negotiate, which employee holds the place together and which machine fails in winter. We run the transition as a structured handover: a schedule of introductions, a list of routines to document, shadowing on the tasks the seller still does alone and a clear end date.
Merging two businesses
When an owner acquires a competitor, the integration is harder. Two teams with different habits, two sets of systems, overlapping customers and suppliers who now have less bargaining power but more reason to be nervous. The temptation is to fold the acquired business into yours immediately. The better path is usually to stabilise it first, decide deliberately which practices from each business survive and then merge in stages with the people affected involved. Ali's specialists in operations, finance, sales systems, data and technology join by function.
Industries where we run this most
Questions about this service
When should integration planning start?
During due diligence, not after closing. Everything you learn in diligence feeds the plan: who the key people are, which customers matter most, what systems exist and what the seller does personally.
How long should the seller stay on?
Long enough to hand over relationships and routines, and short enough that staff and customers see you as the owner. The period and role should be defined in the purchase agreement, with a schedule for what gets handed over.
What should I change first?
Usually nothing visible. Set up your financial reporting, meet everyone, learn how the week actually runs and keep paying people on time. The improvements you bought the business to make come after you understand it.
Can your team run parts of the business for a period?
Yes. Ali takes fractional CMO and CTO seats and his team of more than thirty specialists joins by function in finance, operations, sales systems, data, marketing and technology. For some acquisitions that becomes a Growth Partner arrangement.
Start with a confidential conversation.
Tell Ali where the business is and what you want to happen next. You leave with a straight read on value, timing and the two or three moves that matter, whether or not we work together.