Why? How? Who? Telling the world about the acquisition of our business.
A couple of weeks ago, Nicolas Alpi and I announced that our software agency CookiesHQ had been acquired by a client. And with the announcement came a lot of comments and questions — most of which we expected, because it’s the kind of questions I ask myself when I see these announcements. Here are some answers…
Why?!
It’s no secret that running a business is hard work and a rollercoaster of emotions. Now try doing it with your spouse whilst raising 3 young children (now 9, 7 and 3yo), no family support, and throw in a global pandemic — tada! 🥴
When we started CookiesHQ 10 years ago, we had no idea what it would become. It was just the two of us and a handful of clients. We have loved all the work we have done for our clients, big or small, in Bristol or further away. We have also thoroughly enjoyed growing our team, and learnt so much along the way. I’m really proud of everything we have achieved.
But 10 years in, and it increasingly felt like we were going to work every morning. Some of the joy and fun had slowly been taken away by stress, pressure and problems. Every Sunday afternoon a sense of dread was creeping in the pit of my stomach, for what the Monday morning would bring. It grew slowly over the past few months and became too obvious to ignore. Something had to change. I was very close to burnout, impacting my work, my team, my marriage and my children.
Our plan for 2022 was to grow the business to the next level, so we could hire managers who would take some of the pressure off Nic and I, and allow us to step away from the day to day a little bit more. Something that I know all agency owners with a few years under their belt will understand. Financially, we were in a great position and about to reach the million £ in turnover. We had already started putting in place some of the stepping stones.
And then our client, whom we had just built an MVP for and who was already getting some serious traction, made us an offer.
Are you both happy with the change?
Yes! We didn’t need to sell our business. It was perfectly profitable, despite a slower Covid year. We had a full pipeline and were addressing the issues that we had identified with talent retention.
However, the acquisition offer we received was too exciting to let go. We’ve been working with the founder for the past 10 years on and off on various projects. Nic first met him when he was still freelancing!
The startup itself has exciting tech, ambitious plans and is genuinely trying to make a change in the world. It ticks all the boxes.
It also means a change of pace and a shift in responsibilities. I’m happy to say that I no longer dread the Monday mornings, quite the opposite!
Who acquired you?
Probably nobody you’ve heard of before as this project has been confidential from the start. We’ve never talked about it publicly and it doesn’t appear in our portfolio.
What we can say is that it’s an early stage health tech startup. We’re hoping to share more very soon — bear with us!
What is your new role?
Chief Product Officer. I’m going to focus on ensuring that the product we are building is what the market and our clients need, and make sure that we manage development and innovation effectively and successfully.
In a word, I go back to working on the fun stuff! 😄
What about your team ?
The team is what the acquisition was all about. The knowledge, the skills, the processes, the passion — they all know their stuff inside out and are crazy good!
Sadly, we weren’t able to keep our whole team as it was just too big for an early stage startup. We’ve had some really tough decisions to make and communicate.
But everybody who got offered a role in the new company accepted it and is excited by the change. We’re now a smaller team of 11, all fired up to make this product a success! 🚀
