Inorganic Podcast

Building a great M&A funnel starts with top of the funnel. Just as it is in sales, you need to cast a wide net at the top and make sure you advance both the right companies and relationships from top to bottom. Not all opportunities are are equal, some are sourced organically and some through banker led inbounds. Some have time urgency and some may require a long time to develop. What are other considerations in managing the M&A funnel?

In this episode, Erik Morton joins us to share his approach to building M&A pipeline in a SaaS company. We’ll double-click on the top funnel, including the criteria to consider when deciding what belongs in it or not. We also talk about the importance of building relationships with sell-side advisors, too. Erik is the Strategy SVP at CommerceHub and has over 20 years of experience in e-commerce and SaaS. Interestingly, he started as a software developer and product manager, which adds some superpowers to the way he is able to evaluate potential partner or acqusition opportunities.

Throughout our conversation, you'll hear about Erik's background and the moment he realized the most exciting place in a software business wasn't in finances but in engineering and product. He also shares his thoughts on the M&A funnel, the software development role in SaaS, and how to develop relationships and identify opportunities that can turn into revenue-driving partnerships or M&A opportunities. 

Tune in to Episode 2 of In/Organic Podcast and learn the secrets to building a strong M&A pipeline. 

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• About Erik's background and his passion for the engineering and product side of software businesses (1:20)
• How to maximize tools and partners to develop a great top funnel (6:00)
• Eriks view on the whole funnel in an M&A context (8:30)
• How Erik deals with organic versus banker-led inbound opportunities (15:40)
• Erik discusess differences in view on what qualifies as bottom funnel (27:50)
• Erik shares lessons learned from over 20 years in the industry (34:00)

Connect with Erik:

• LinkedIn

Let's connect: 

• LinkedIn
• Website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In venture-backed SaaS companies that are (generally) under $200M in revenue, it is a luxury to have someone dedicated to corporate development. When it becomes a need the c-suite often reaches for someone with subject matter expertise on the business and good business acumen, but limited experience in running an M&A function. Even if you have some experience with M&A, running it inside a venture-backed company requires some tailoring to make it work for those businesses.

The In/Organic podcast was born out of years of experience working on M&A and business development initiatives that led to M&A in early-stage SaaS companies. In this series, we talk with founders and industry experts who are or have worked on the front lines of venture-backed M&A and business development.

My name is Christian Hassold, and I have over 24 years of experience as an operator in SaaS companies. After several successful endeavors as a CEO, where I had founded companies, grew them, and led them to successful exits, I decided I no longer wanted to be a CEO. Instead, I shifted my focus to helping CEOs scale their companies through a combination of inorganic and indirect growth initiatives.

In this episode, you will hear my background, and the "why" for launching this podcast.

Tune in and listen to the first episode of In/organic. Join me every two weeks as we shed light on organic, inorganic, and indirect growth strategies for hyperscale SaaS companies.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• A bit about Christian's background (1:10)
• Why this podcast was created (3:50)
• What can you expect from In/organic podcast (5:30)

Let's connect: 

• LinkedIn
• Website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.