hire the takeover lawyer you didn't take, the proxy solicitors you left behind, and one or more investment bankers to aid and advise them. A word of caution is in order. If you feel the need to be loved or prefer the sound of two hands clapping, you do not have the ideal temperament to be a corporate raider. It's not a fatal flaw but it is better if you are content with the sound of one hand clapping. Once you've made the offer, you want the other side to find you completely repugnant. You want to be the last person on earth to whom they are willing to sell. Now the time is ripe to go public with your hostile tender offer. You must construct the terms of the offer carefully. It should play on human weakness, appeal to human greed. It should incite hasty decisions made in a sense of panic. Here the most perfect vehicle is the two-tiered offer that agrees to pay a higher price in sound currency for the stock of those who accept early but a lower price in securities of debatable value for those who hang back. Those shareholders who are terrified of being left behind will tender or sell as the price of their shares responds to the tender price on the open market. Pricing the offer is risky business. Price it too low and it will not be taken seriously. Yet you don't want to leave money on the table by pricing it any higher than necessary to get the job done. You may even want to leave a little margin so you can increase the price to counter any offers that are prompted by yours. A premium of 30% over the prevailing market may be as low as you can go and get the game started. While this may not buy the company it will be high enough to excite all the other players and parasites into action. 7.