Did you ever dream about building a company then selling it for millions? Who hasn’t?  

According to CB Insights, less than 7 percent of companies that raised their third round of funding make it to acquisition. The long-winded process of a company acquisition can be intimidating even for the seasoned business owner, but it’s a process you may need to be well versed in should the opportunity ever arise.

Or, as a business strategy, you can literally reverse engineer a company acquisition, like Ander Michelena, founder of Ticketbis, did. The company, which sold to eBay for €165 Million, came to be after Michelena scouted out proven business models in the US and launched a similar technology in new markets like Europe, Asia, and Latin America.  

In a recent episode of the Unmessable show, Michelena — now a founding venture partner in All Iron Ventures– and I discussed this brilliant move, which landed him a spot as the most successful exit in Spain at the time. Although using this strategy today may require a little more thought, given the tendency for globalization, this could help derisk high-risk venture opportunities in specific markets. 

[Listen to full episode here]

Michelena shared these 4 strategies that helped him land millions in the bank. 

Arbitrage play: take a proven business and launch in a new, untapped market.

While Michelena had qualifications to fall back on, such as a business degree and a high-paying day job at Morgan Stanley, he knew instinctively that the entrepreneurial path was one he would walk. As a launching pad, he looked for arbitrage opportunities, which is when you take a proven business model in one market and replicate it in a new market. In Michelena’s case, he stumbled upon StubHub, a ticketing platform that powered a large portion of US ticket sales online. He took inspiration from this business model and launched it in Europe to start, then expanded to Asia and Latin America.

Around the time of the acquisition, Ticketbis had significant traction, producing over $100 Million in Gross Merchandise Volume annually. It was more strategic for Stubhub to acquire Ticketbis to fuel international expansion then go up against them. A lot was on the line, but Michelena inked the all-cash offer after 7 years of founding Ticketbis. 

Build strategic relationships from the onset.

A significant portion of acquisition deals are inked because there was a relationship that developed between key people in each company. Michelena, in a highly strategic play, nurtured the relationship with the key players at Ebay two years before the acquisition. In fact, their terms stipulated that Michelena and his team stay onboard for three years to run and transition the company into its new ownership once the acquisition deal was official. In business, relationships are everything. The Ticketbis deal would have never materialized without this fundamental level of trust. 

Keep your eye on metrics.

Acquisition deals almost never happen overnight. It’s often 6-12 months of hard due diligence before deals are made. On top of your regular responsibilities as a founder, it can be a full-time job. Despite being in due diligence for a year, Michelena knew he couldn’t take his foot off the gas. He needed to continue to show growth and charge full steam ahead with Ticketbis. 

Emotions run high when a potential acquisition deal is lurking, but staying focused on the core business is fundamental. In case the deal falls apart, and many do, you need to have a solid plan B —  a viable and growing business.

Maintain mental discipline.

Entrepreneurship in itself requires nerves of steel, but add onto that a multi-million dollar deal that can set your family up financially for life, and the pressure cranks up tenfold. At the time of sale, Ticketbis was burning $1 million of their capital per year in addition to the revenue it produced.  The company would eventually need additional capital to finance its endeavors, but Michelena didn’t want to fundraise because they would have to further dilute themselves right before a potentially lucrative liquidity event. Ticketbis was walking a tightrope between bullish risk-taking and possibly committing a fatal error. 

Maintaining a clear and level headed mindset for Michelena during this period was critical. He shared with me that after he spent months without sleeping, he realized that he had done everything he could and released himself from the mental grip of this uncertain time. 

While an acquisition can be an arduous process, perhaps one filled with uncertainty and maybe even self-doubt, as long as you keep looking to see if you have done everything you could to materialize the partnership, you can release yourself from the downward spiral of what ifs.