Our CEO Arye Schreiber was interviewed by Zack Miller for Tradestreaming.com, hear it here: http://soundcloud.com/tradestreaming/predict-the-next-m-a-with-arye 

Merjerz was featured in Venturebeat: http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/10/merjerz/

Merjerz is writing articles on SeekingAlpha: http://seekingalpha.com/author/merjerz.

Merjerz has guest written an editorial for Crowdsourcing.org, and over 3,000 people have read and admired it. See http://www.crowdsourcing.org/editorial/crowdsourcing-mergers-and-acquisitions-a-disruption-whose-time-has-come/15645. 

Merjerz was written up on Killer Startups, see here: http://www.killerstartups.com/startup-spotlight/crowdsourcing-mergers-and-acquisitions-is-the-future-with-merjerz/

 

There are many ways to stay connected to Merjerz. Here are some ideas:

1. Follow @merjerz on Twitter for updates on tech M&A and Merjerz news.

2. Sign up for the Merjerz newsletter (see bottom of this page). 

3. Give Merjerz a Like on Facebook to stay up to date via FB.

4. Read the Merjerz Blog, where we share the latest disruptive and innvoative ideas on M&A in general. If you're an M&A star, and want to guest write for the Merjerz Blog, be in touch with us to discuss.

5. Follow People, Companies and Deals and get regular updates straight to your inbox (coming soon). 

Research consistently shows that M&A is usually value-destroying! As M&A professionals we continually take steps to try to limit the damage, and make M&A work: we get bankers and strategy consultants to opine; due-diligence drills leaves no stone unturned; we model the synergies in revenues and costs and sensitivity tables drive our risk assessment; we add layers of legal protection such as escrow holdbacks, liability carveouts, and earnouts; and we hire the best and the brightest for CorpDev and Strategy, because in the corporate tech world, that´s where huge business opportunities are realized and mistakes are made.

There is a lot in our nature that prevents us from seeing bad deals for what they are. We are all victims of Confirmation Bias – we see what we want to see and dismiss contrary evidence. 3 months into a deal we considerably discount any evidence against the deal, and give undue weight to evidence confirming our hypothesis that the deal is a good idea.

There is also Optimism Bias, in its various forms, which leads us to believe that we can do the deal or lead integration better than average, better than last time, better than others. Attribution Bias leads to us believe that others screw-up their deals, whereas our bad deals are the results of bad-luck.

In the meantime, time acts mostly against us. As a deal drags on – because we´re doing due-diligence, modeling, drafting etc – the target often losses interest since they realize they could have gotten a better deal elsewhere. Conversely, targets are terrified because often the distraction is considerably damaging to their ongoing business, and if the acquisition doesn´t materialize they will have a long difficult road to recovery ahead. As we´re more committed in time and resources, we´re less likely to see the deal in realistic hues.

Merjerz helps you see the deal for what it is, from the day you first think of it you´ll see the company for what it is, warts and all, and make an informed, balanced decision with eyes wide open.

Because they can have an impact. We all have many avenues to share our opinions, speak our mind, and give a voice to our passions. Web 2.0 has enabled each of us to share our opinions widely, but not to make our views visible and impactful to the relevant decision makers. A blog or a tweet has wide dissemination, and we may generate consensus, but since our audience is generally not focused on our subject (eg tech M&A) our opinions are not particularly impactful. By contrast, a meeting with a potential acquirer can help us get our message across very clearly, but our opinion will be discounted because it is self-serving and stands alone. Merjerz enables us to voice our opinions to the people who need to hear it, such as potential acquirers, and simultaneously to generate consensus and support for our views. In this way our best ideas and insights are delivered to the recipients with support, credibility and impact.

Think of Merjerz as online-dating for corporations. You wouldn´t click to marry a spouse – that requires a relationship of trust and intimacy. Same goes for corporate M&A - you won´t click to acquire or be acquired, but we can help you get in the room with the right people. Merjerz cuts through the noise, the months-long vetting processes, the false-starts and time-wasters, and pairs acquirers and targets that know and need each other.

Some contributors have better insight than others, and we provide many tools to help you determine the quality of content on Merjerz. Firstly, users can rate other contributors´ content, and add to it. Verified 'real name' users are obviously putting their reputations behind their comments. The volume, specificity and quality of comments will determine how valuable they are. Remember, no corporation has control of the comments and insights others make about it on Merjerz. The founder´s grandmother can write a rave review, but a disgruntled customer, disillusioned investor, or industry skeptic can equally voice their opinion. Again, as more opinions are floated, you get a better insight on the company and any proposed deals. Sure, there will be some noise, but the quality comments quickly break out of the pack and gain the most visibility.

Any professional or organization that is involved in M&A for hi-tech corporations. CorpDev departments in tech companies use Merjerz to cut through tiresome, and often fruitless, sourcing. Instead of the frustration of looking for a target like a needle in a haystack, they use Merjerz to get the right information. Business Units and CorpDev groups can also use Merjerz to promote the creation of various startups that will meet their needs. M&A advisors use Merjerz to find the best deals for their clients, and cut through the sourcing process, greatly increasing their deal flow and prospects of actually proposing a viable value-accretive deal that the client needs and wants.

M&A advisors all want deals to close, and we all want deals to succeed. Merjerz helps cut the Intro-to-Closing timeline drastically, and improve the proportion of deals that close. Many advisors are paid based on deals closing, and closing successfully, and the surest way to generate repeat business is to have a record of success. Merjerz supports everything you do and helps you do it better, making your client and you more successful. And by taking so much of the friction out of the process, Merjerz puts your role back in the spotlight, making your role in the deal´s success visible, central and obvious.

Merjerz democratizes the M&A process, helping you find the best possible exit. We all know that startups are working toward an exit – even if we don´t say it outright, our investors and employees all know it. Startup executives frequently give up enormous value by going for the first significant deal that comes their way. After spending tremendous energy on getting through the door at some big acquirer, they go into a no-shop, don´t know what alternatives they have, and generally have little or no visibility on the value they add to the acquirer. This puts them at a huge disadvantage when selling their company: they expend significant resources (especially time) chasing what they think is the best acquirer, they don´t know their true value to the acquirer, and they never discover if there are other potential acquirers. In the meantime, these negotiations often lead nowhere, and the distraction has been expensive and costly to the startup.
Merjerz opens the door to give startups the visibility they need on their value to prospective buyers, and the identities of the best possible buyers. No less importantly, Merjerz raises corporations´ visibility to potential acquirers. Let´s restate that: Merjerz gets you to an exit – quicker and better.

Being featured in a Merjerz deal doesn´t mean you´re ´for sale´, it just means that someone out there ought to buy your company. Only you decide if you want to sell. You don´t have to sell, you don´t have to negotiate, you don´t even need to think about it. Being featured in a Merjerz deal doesn´t mean you´re for sale; it just means an acquirer should want you. An acquirer might just make an offer you shouldn´t refuse. If being featured in a Merjerz deal means you get a great offer for your company, you´ll decide if you take it or not.