I’ve been bought a few times. Well, not me, actually, but the company for whom I was working was acquired by a larger one. Once or twice, I was on the acquired side too, but, with many small tech companies developing ideas which require much more money than the owners can find between the couch cushions, being acquired is a common occurance. And it rarely happens friction-free.

The so-called “cultured clash” usually has more to do with communication than differences in how to run a business, which is not to say there aren’t real issues. One experience I’ve seen repeated without fail is the feeling of employees at the smaller company that the red-tape and bureaucracy of the bigger is costly and a waste of time. ‘We never had to do that before we were acquired and we got along just fine!’

There’s just one big flaw in this thinking. You, dear acquired company employee or business owner, did not get along just fine. Otherwise, you’d have had little reason to be bought! Sure, there are exceptions. When the price offered was just too rich to ignore by the folks who stood to make a bundle, but those situations are rather rare–just look at how many successful acquisitions there are compared to failed ones–the acquired companies are struggling, somewhere, at least a little bit.

Once we realize that what looks like a bunch of annoying extra work may actually be covered by things like economies of scale, it’s easier to adapt to the new procedures. They are making you enter your orders at a company thousands of miles away, and you have dozens of new passwords for your e-mail; how can this be better? Maybe tracking business costs is exactly what propelled the bigger company to the top and keeping e-mail secret is more critical to their success than to a little $10 million dollar business.

Of course, the acquiring company may really have much it could learn from the acquired. The first step is to get things working well in whatever system the big-unmovable force needs, and only then suggest improvements. Ego during this process rarely helps anybody, and if you find the other side (remember, you’re on the same side now) is too arrogant to learn from you, it’s hardly the mature thing to cross your arms, stamp your feet and insist: no, you know better!

Some little companies grow up all by themselves, proving their business model and way of doing things really is the best thing out there. Most, though, go through some pretty big changes as they transition from five to twenty-five, to two thousand and five employees. Acquired or not, you’re likely to be doing business differently than you did before if you’re lucky enough to stick around through all that. Enjoy the ride!