One of my friends shared some unfortunate news that he may lose his job because the company he has been working for was acquired by another well-established company.
Here’s the story.
The former CEO allowed a brokerage to invest in the company, and they seemed excited to start working together.
A few years later, the brokerage company insisted on letting their sister company, an investment bank, get involved as well, and the former CEO approved it partly for nepotistic reasons.
At the end of 2020, he gets a phone call from his lender saying that they sold part of his debt to someone else.
Then he gets a phone call from another person, who happens to be both the chairman of the brokerage company and the managing partner of the investment bank, and he revealed that he was the one that bought that portion of the debt.
Soon after, the chairman bought the rest of the debt.
At that point, he gave the former CEO two options:
1. Shut down his company.
2. File for bankruptcy and let the brokerage company buy the company.
And just like that, he lost control of his company.
If they heard this story, certain people would blame capitalism. At the same time, the entire situation could’ve been avoided if the former CEO did some due diligence before letting those companies get involved.
But because he failed to do so, it not only affected himself, but his employees and existing customers too.
Just like bringing in bad partners, bringing in toxic customers and clients can damage your business too.
That’s why it’s important to constantly remind people who your products and services are for, and who they’re not for, especially when you send out your email newsletters.
To learn more about my ways of writing emails, check out How to Become an Email Titan.