Received an email

lcharm

I received a random email yesterday from someone saying they run a similar online business to me and wants to aquire mine if I'm interested in selling.

I was really suspicious but I checked out his name on a company director site and he wasn't lying! He runs an almost identical business to mine but he's only launched it in May of this year.

I've always said I wanted to get my business up to the point of selling it and then move on to another project but this seems a bit odd as I don't think it's quite 'sellable' yet.

Any thoughts?

ada1988

you can ask for more information and to be sure to do something.
Also you can look for more by yourself.

lcharm

My suspicion is he's trying to do competitor research so he can get his hands on my accounts.

paulwf

Ask for a number and call him up. You'll be able to tell a lot easier if he is genuine or not on the phone than by email. If you aren't looking to sell yet then just tell him that, there's no obligation to give figures. You could also just state a range (e.g under or over £100K).

Everyone wants to know what their competitor turns over, he might want to buy it or he might not. Having a chat might be beneficial either way, business competitiors don't have to be enemies and you might be able to help each other out or swap tips from time to time.

paddyrg

May be quite genuine - guy is trying to get his business to a sustainable state and acquisition of the competition (and their client list) is the easiest way to get there. Maybe he had a redundancy or inheritance, or some VC money to expand. Have a chat with him about the industry, ask about his background, maybe even form an alliance before buyout or whatever.

lcharm

Thanks guys, I declined the offer but he's asked me to reconsider so I may just see what his proposal is, he seems nice in his emails so will be interesitng to speak with him!