By Founder & CEO Mark Addison
During San Francisco Tech Week I overheard that a Nordic manufacturer of automotive seat belts was reportedly scouting for an AI company to acquire. Seat belts? AI? Whaaat? A little research reveals two such manufacturers, Autoliv and Holmbergs,¹ both based in Sweden. I also learned that Volvo is already using billions of real-world driving data …
With all the noise in the marketplace it can require some audacious claims to stand out and be a sector leader. However, doing so with technical integrity and authenticity is what achieves true competitive advantage vs. being a short-term PR stunt. Nick Uresin from interviewed me about our real-life success examples for his Audacity of …
An EMARKETER analysis published today contains a remarkable statistic: social media captures nearly 30% of all U.S. advertising dollars while accounting for only 12.5% of adults’ daily media time. And they expect that imbalance to grow. [1] How can businesses justify such an imbalance, and yet keep spending? One big reason, because it happened to …
IN ALL OUR YEARS working among cybersecurity companies and other clients with ‘high reputational risk,’ the first rule of crisis communications was containment. This month we saw two examples of disclosures that appear to have flipped the script entirely, and it’s a fascinating analysis. Typically, when a product malfunctions or servers are breached or something …
TL;DR: Private-equity roll-ups create value two ways: 1) increasing EBITDA at each of the acquired companies; and, 2) moving the combined company into a higher valuation tier. The second method is essentially “free” and a lot less work than growing revenues. While you are working 996 to grow your EBITDA from $2M to $4M to …
This is the second in a series of excerpts from my podcast interviews where I am asked about Communications Strategy. Q: Mark, an article in the Harvard Business Review describes your work as “the most successful (strategy) in human history.” What is that all about? A: That HBR article was about a grass-roots “protest movement” …
This is the first in a 4-part series of excerpts from my podcast with Marketer Interviews about Communications Strategy. In this excerpt I explain our groundbreaking “Culture Hacking” method, which is a powerful way for companies to cultivate viral influence, direct the narrative, and create consumer demand. Q: Could you explain the genesis of your …
How to Optimize Valuation by Finding Your Peak Synergy Window TL;DR Most founders think maximum valuation is achieved by scaling as much as possible and exiting as late as possible. In reality, the optimal exit can occur the moment a company finds itself to be disproportionately more valuable within an acquirer who is willing to …
We just learned that 50Pros.com has named Rocket Science “Top 10 Rated” agency globally for 2026! We love earning badges ;-) We also love delivering above-and-beyond results for our clients: https://www.50pros.com/agency/rocket-science…
TL:DR: Worldwide M&A activity last year reached approximately $4.6 trillion[1], an increase of 49% from the prior year and the strongest annual result since 2021[2]. If an unsolicited acquisition offer arrived tomorrow, would your company be ready? Acquisition readiness begins by stepping outside your day-to-day operations and looking at the business from the perspective of …
Rocket Science is proud to announce we just earned two Webby Awards’ special Anthem recognition for our work in the non-profit sector. The two winning campaigns, both of them for our client Canine Companions, earned the prestigious awards celebrating mission-driven work on a global level. The Anthem Awards is considered to be the largest and …
Welcome to M&A Masters podcast. Today my guest is Mark Addison, who explains how he has seen too many entrepreneurs, especially first-timers leave money on the table when they exit. His firm helps optimize key valuation drivers during M&A negotiations to maximize the money owners and founders take home. In one case, he and his …
