We've been through three acquisitions now.
The first 100 days were each chaotic.
Not bad - just what you expect from two businesses, two cultures, two sets of systems, and a bunch of people suddenly sharing the same future whether they asked for it or not.
Here's what I've learned.
1. Rip the Band-Aid Off on Communications
When I sold my first company, we had a three-month transition plan. Part of that plan was keeping communications separate. We stayed on Gmail and Slack while the acquiring company ran on Outlook and Teams.
The idea was to ease people in gradually. It was a mistake.
Every cross-team conversation was painful. Nothing was in one place, context got lost constantly and led to a game of he said, she said.
Three months later when we finally merged everything - it was even more painful than if we'd just done it on day one, when everyone was already expecting change.
Rip the band-aid off. Do it early, when people are already in change mode.
Here's what that looks like in practice:
- Slack: Get everyone into the same workspace immediately. Not next month. Day one.
- Email: Set up a new email address for the outgoing founder or CEO, and redirect all incoming mail to the new owner.
- Support inboxes: Consolidate them. Every separate inbox is a separate place for things to fall through the cracks.
The communication infrastructure is the nervous system of the business. Unify it quickly.
2. Get in Front of Customer Communications
This is the one that keeps founders up at night before a deal closes.
"What are my clients going to think?"
In our experience, there are two types of clients. The ones who won't care as long as their problems keep getting solved. And the ones who feel deeply loyal to the founder and almost betrayed if they find out through the grapevine.
You can't let the second group find out the wrong way.
There's no single right approach to the announcement - blanket email, dedicated calls with strategic accounts, or no announcement at all can all work depending on the business. What matters is having a plan before day one, not figuring it out on the fly.
The goal is to control the narrative before someone else does.
In every acquisition we've done, we've focused on proactively showing clients they're in good hands, and moved quickly to get some early wins on the board - a resolved support ticket, a faster response time, a new update they'd been waiting on.
Early wins kill the panic faster than any announcement can.
3. Stabilise the Team
The second fear most founders have after ensuring they get the money they deserve is: "What's going to happen to my team?"
That fear doesn't disappear on settlement day. It transfers to the team themselves.
Most agency acquisitions are asset sales, which means employment agreements change. That's unavoidable. But how you handle the change determines whether your best people stay or start looking for new jobs.
Here's what we've learned:
- The small things matter more than you think. Changing someone's PTO from 16 days to 14 days might seem trivial to you. To them, it's a signal about how much you value them. Every change to benefits, bonus structures, and leave policies needs to be communicated clearly and managed carefully.
- A small pay bump goes a long way. In every acquisition we've done, we've given team members a modest increase on the way in. It's not about the dollar amount. It's about the message: you're valued here, and we want you to know that immediately.
- Expect some turnover, and don't take it personally. An acquisition is a natural inflection point for people to reassess where they are in their careers. Some will leave and others will step up.
Every acquisition we've done has created a new set of leaders.
4. Keep the Momentum from DD
By the time you close a deal, you know more about that business than almost anyone - including most of the people who work there.
You've spent weeks in the data so you think you know the issues, opportunities and things to fix.
The risk is that all of that context stays in your head, and the team never sees it.
The way we handle this is simple: a prioritised roadmap with three columns - Now, Next, Later.
- Now is what we're doing this week and this month.
- Next is what we're doing in the next quarter.
- Later is everything else.
You'll probably never get to the Later bucket. But you will get to Now and Next - and that's enough to give the team a sense of direction and stop them from spinning on problems that aren't the priority.
Don't try to fix everything at once. Pick the things that matter most, communicate them clearly, and execute.
5. Beat the Drums
Momentum is the most important ingredient in any business. And in the first 100 days of an acquisition, momentum is fragile.
The way you build momentum is through consistent and visible wins. Celebrate the wins loudly and make sure people can feel the drums of success - that things are getting bigger and better.
The first 100 days will rarely go as you planned. But if you've stabilised the team, controlled the narrative, and kept the momentum moving - you've done the hard part.
Thinking about selling your agency? Let's talk.