Get Acquired: Learn From The Head Of Acquistions For eBay – Ian Bednowitz

Learn the strategies and tools that you will need to sell your tech or internet business to a Fortune 500 company

Learn how to form strategic partnerships with major companies that will benefit your business tremendously

• Have a leg up to all other entrepreneurs who just hope that they’ll be bought sometime
• Know exactly how to get to the finish line
• Learn how to incorporate an exit plan in your initial business plan 
• Get a foot into the door at Fortune 500 companies by networking effectively 
• Sell your company for the highest price 

Understand how you’ll be evaluated when you walk into that boardroom

Building relationships with Fortune 500 companies early on is essential to build credibility for your business. Imagine how many doors will open when you can say that you partner with Amazon, eBay or Google. 

Learn exactly how the CEOs, heads of Mergers and Acquisitions and heads of business development companies of Fortune 500 companies evaluate companies to buy, understand what it is that they are looking for. 

This course teaches you from my experience running the M&A team at eBay for five years. I met with hundreds of entrepreneurs and invested over a billion dollars of capital. You’ll learn from real life examples and I’ll share exactly what I was looking for in companies and how I evaluated teams. 

To illustrate the principles of this course, we’ll look at different type of acquisitions and different ways that entrepreneurs were successful in selling their companies. I’ll also share specific case studies of companies that failed to be bought and explain what went wrong and what the mistakes were so that you can avoid these. 

These are all going to be pragmatic case studies, I’m not going to teach you any theory, nothing academic, this is a practical course, I teach the same that I would teach someone who I’d bring on my team at eBay.

Course content

I’ll start by teaching you everything you need to know before you’ve even started a company or if you have a small startup already.

I’ll then explain why your leadership will determine the destiny of your company by studying top entrepreneurs who have sold their companies or raised billions of dollars like Kunal Bahl, CEO of Snapdeal, the largest eCommerce marketplace in India. 

Next I’ll dive into why companies get acquired. We’ll look at why eBay bought Paypal and why Google bought Youtube. We’ll look at the synergies and how you can find these for your company. 

I’ll also teach you how WhatsApp managed to get bought by Facebook for $19B and what that can teach you about getting the most money for your company, stuff that you won’t find in any finance books. 

Finally, I’ll tell you exactly what not to do, how not to pitch your company and the most common mistakes I see entrepreneurs make. We’ll look at why acquisitions fail, what can we learn from eBay’s unfortunate foray into telephony with Skype and eBay’s almost purchase of…well that’s a secret but I can still share the pitfalls with you.

Who this course is for:

• Entrepreneurs who own a tech or internet business
• People who want to work as an M&A professional
• Anyone who aspires to start a tech or internet business in the future
• People who are already working in M&A
• People who are interested in the world of mergers and acquisitions
• People who are curious to know how eBay made $39B dollars on acquiring and selling Paypal

Course content

5 sections • 29 lectures • 2h 18m total length

• I’ve spent $1B investing in and buying startups and will teach you all about M&A (03:0)
• Think like a Fortune 500 CEO or head of M&A when evaluating startups (8 Lectures – 43:0)
• Learn to find synergies, the reason eBay bought PayPal and Google bought YouTube (6 Lectures – 32:3)
• Practical Valuation: Get the best price for your deal with the power of options (7 Lectures – 25:20)
• When the honeymoon ends and acquisitions fail (7 Lectures – 34:35)

About the Instructor

 

 

Ian Bednowitz

 

Former Head of Mergers & Acqusitions, eBay; Bain consultant

Ian Bednowitz established and led the Mergers & Acquisitions team for eBay’s largest business unit for five years. During that time, he and his team invested over $1B in capital in dozens of startups across the world after evaluating and meeting with hundreds of entrepreneurs. He has a deep understanding of entrepreneurs and the challenges they face, as he not only invested money in their companies, but he would also coach them on challenges ranging from growing their business, raising funds and staying healthy while living an incredibly busy lifestyle.

Prior to his role at eBay, Ian worked for over seven years at Bain & Company, a leading strategy consulting firm, where he helped work on strategy, marketing and operational issues in a broad range of Fortune 500 technology, financial services and consumer products companies. Bain sponsored Ian to attend the Kellogg School of Management, where he earned his MBA, focusing on strategy and entrepreneurship. Ian graduated with B.A. in Economics from Cornell University.

Ian realized his greatest passion at eBay was working with and coaching the entrepreneurs. As a result, in 2015 he stepped away from his role at eBay to focus exclusively on coaching entrepreneurs both one-on-one and through his Udemy courses which reach thousands of students worldwide.