Microacquiring solo consultancies
Hardian is actively seeking to microacquire solo consultancies in the healthtech and medical device sector.
You’re a consultant, and you work alone. You have your own limited company, client book, accountant, website and social media profiles. Business is doing well, but you are limited as to how many clients you personally can take on. Soon your growth will slow, to the point where you are maximally busy. We get it, we’ve been there. Or maybe you struggle to fill your inbound pipeline and are spending increasing amounts of time and energy on marketing? You need a way to grow, but don’t have the resource or inclination to expand your overheads, hire a team, and operate your business at the same time as serving your clients. Maybe microacquisition is an option for you?
Microacquisition ensures an exit plan
A solo consultancy business is only worth what you are worth - simply because you are the only person working in the business. If you leave or become ill, business stops. For that reason solo consultants can struggle to realise the value of their business via a sale or takeover, providing little opportunity for an exit.
A microacquisition of your company can provide a valuable future exit plan. By aligning your specialist consultancy area within a larger business you can benefit from the growth of the whole company over time. By taking joint ownership of the acquiring company in the form of vested equity, and working together as a single unit, the value you build adds to the whole. One day, when it comes to retiring or moving on, you can sell that equity back to the company or wait for an exit event - the upside only limited by the total growth in value of the larger business, not only your own effort. To use an analogy, you exchange all of a small pie for a slice of a bigger one.
Benefits of microacquisiton
It’s not only superior value growth that makes microacquisition attractive. There are many other benefits to joining a larger business:
Constant deal flow - working as part of a wider team allows better deal flow through cross-selling services and a wider inbound source.
Bigger deals - working in a team enables you to take on larger, more valuable projects beyond your own scope.
Operational and administrative support - you don’t have to worry about corporate accounting, taxes, subscriptions, or operational management.
Stronger branding - joining a trusted brand can elevate your professional profile and expand your network.
Continued learning - as part of a wider team you expose yourself to more opportunities to learn from others, improving your knowledge.
More autonomy - growing a team can eventually lead to you stepping back from the day-to-day client work.
How does it work?
Microacquisition is a relatively simple process. Once parties agree in principle, a valuation of your business occurs, looking at factors such as your client book, market area and trends, as well as company revenues. This is then compared proportionally to a valuation of Hardian, and negotiations on equity commence. Once a decision is made, your company ceases trading and becomes dormant (still allowing you to extract any remaining profits), and you become a shareholder and member of the Hardian team. Your clients also switch over to Hardian too. Your Hardian equity vests over time, typically 5 years (a way of guaranteeing your commitment to helping Hardian’s growth) and ultimately becomes significantly more valuable than the initial exchange valuation.
Consultants who want to help grow internal teams can negotiate for directorships and board positions, and those who prefer to be managed, or are less senior, can become salaried employees, complete with an option scheme and pension.
What we are looking for
Hardian is focussed on getting healthtech to market, so microacquiring solo consultancies in this sector is our aim. This may be in any one of our five core verticals - clinical, strategy, regulation, IP or health economics. Additionally we are keen to explore other healthtech verticals that Hardian does not yet offer that could synergise well with our client demands.
Ideal attributes for Hardian consultants are specialist excellence, a driven mindset, honesty and transparency, and a touch of fun.
We work remotely and flexibly, with a wide range of international clients from start ups to large corporations and academic institutes.
