M&A Science

In this episode, Kison asks Paul Weiskopf, a professional who has worked over 25 years with companies in the technology industry such as Hewlett Packard, Adobe Systems and smaller companies, about his professional experience on M&A.

Weiskopf shares his knowledge about strategy common errors that lead companies to failure and about the best ways to build integration plans for acquisition teams.

In this episode, Kison interviews mergers and acquisitions attorney Luke Fedlam, who shares his knowledge on working with and outside counsel, representing the seller, sending letters of intent, setting up a financial plan, and how to transaction showstoppers beforehand.

00.00 / 05.00 / help from the outside council

05.00 / due diligence and letters of intent, bankers

10.00 / 15.000 timeline and risks, showstoppers

15.00 / 20.00 renegotiating terms

20.00 / 25.00 renegotiation purchase price

25.00 / 30.00 financial leverage

30.00 / 35.00 integration process

35.00 / 40.00 cultural and transparency

40.00 / 47.00 outgoing owners and engagement, CEOS sabotaging transaction

In this episode, Kison interviews Armando Biondi, Co-founder and COO for AdEspresso. Biondi shares his personal experience on the AdEspresso and Hootsuite merger. They discuss selling, communication during the integration process, and negotiating.

In this episode, Kison interviews Ken Marlin, author of The Marine Corps Way to Win on Wall Street. Marlin has a very diverse background going from corporate development to CEO of a company to running an investment bank. They discuss advising buyers, business strategies, and setting clear business objectives.

In this episode, Kison interviews International Strategy and Business Optimization Specialist Abhik Jain. Together they talk through the differences between M&A, PE and investment banking, proprietary and auction deals, and Jain's personal advice on handling negotiations and transactions both from the sell side and the buy side.

This special episode of M&A Science is an audiobook written by Nitin Kumar, a Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting, on the strategy of wargaming. In an era of disruption and uncertainty, developing and executing successful M&A transactions require new strategic approaches. Business wargaming is one such approach, significantly increasing overall M&A effectiveness by providing valuable foresight, stress-testing strategy and maximizing the potential for successful integration.

Authored by: Nitin Kumar

Narrated by: Conor Mahood Produced by: Kison Patel

"Are you doing things that could be perceived negatively that would create a higher bar for that next acquisition? Those things can come back and haunt you"

Scott Hile is an M&A professional with two decades of experience. He also teaches Entrepreneurial Law and Global Business Transactions in Clemson University's MBA Program.

0:00 - 5:05 Prioritizing investment and legal concerns during due diligence

5:00 - 8:40 Focusing on value drivers

8:40 - 10:50 Presenting risks to sellers

11:55 - 15:35 Legal team battles

15:35 - 17:00 Planning for integration during due diligence

17:00 - 19:05 Accounting for integration costs

19:05 - 25:25 International transaction challenges

25:25 - 32:41 Validating for cultural fit

32:41 - 38:30 Score-carding synergies

38:40-end The importance of patience

"This is the first time I've been acquired by a company that felt like it had a soul." That's what John Derusso was told after leading an integration. John is the Director of Corporate Development Integration with Cisco Systems and has been for the past four years.

0:00-0:10 John's background with Cisco and supply chain

0:13-2:12 Successful acquisitions

2:12-6:42 Retaining people

6:42-9:36 Big picture view of integration

9:36-13:30 Excitement and adrenaline in integration (step-by-step process)

13:30-20:21 Planning considerations, diligence, and key indicators of success

24:22-30:20 Taking care of customers

30:20-42:19 Complexity, decision-making, and communication

42:19-46:37 Degree of integration (depth and speed)

46:37-52:25 Difficult aspects of integration

52:25-End Lifetime lessons learned and key traits

M&A Science by Kison Patel ([email protected])

DealRoom: Data Science and AI for M&A (www.dealroom.net)

Sean Peace has a captivating story to tell about selling and exiting an unprofitable business in a unique niche: a fintech startup dealing with entertainment in the Southeast. In 2013, he founded Royalty Exchange, an auction marketplace selling music royalty streams as memorabilia to the highest bidding fans. After two years and $100K in revenue, the company landed $2 million in venture capital financing to accelerate their growth – or so they thought.

0:20 – 2:22 Background on SongVest leading up to Royalty Exchange business idea

2:23 – 3:49 Formation of Royalty Exchange and running it for the first 2 years

3:50 – 6:41 Attracting first $2M venture capital injection and how funds were invested

6:42 – 11:10 Pivot point to switch marketing strategy when proven ineffective

12:06 – 16:50 Deciding to exit and splitting sale of company to two buyers

16:51 – 19:13 Finding buyers without hiring an advisor & paying down debts

19:14 – 25:17 Discussing deal surprises and lessons learned

25:18 – 27:01 Sean answering would he start another company and raise from VCs again

M&A Science by Kison Patel ([email protected])

DealRoom: Data Science and AI for M&A (www.dealroom.net)

As former VP at Huron Capital, Mark Miller is very familiar with the start-to-finish private equity process. He's responsible for transaction teams involved in all aspects of deal sourcing, execution, and portfolio management. Mark has a wealth of experience executing deals on the buy side – managing due diligence, negotiating legal documents, setting the ultimate capital structure, and lining up financial documentation.

0:00 – 2:18 Summary of Mark's background

2:19 – 5:18 Worse thing that could happen during a deal

5:19 – 7:24 Steps to first start planning for an exit

7:25 – 11:14 Setting up strategic initiatives from Day 1

11:15 – 18:49 Selecting advisors for the deal

18:50 – 25:24 Sanity checking valuations

25:25 – 28:02 Where advisors differentiate themselves / customizing their process & outreach

28:03 – 32:45 The important of valuations and certainty to close

32:46 – 35:33 Buyer engagement and deal rooms

35:34 – 37:07 Post-closing transactual obligations

37:08 – 39:43 Biggest challenges of process

39:44 – 42:25 Unburdening management team

42:26 - 46:50 Most important lessons learned

46:51 - 51:43 Tackling deal hiccups, touch decisions, and sell vs. hold scenarios

51:44 – 52:56 Considerations for future process improvements

M&A Science by Kison Patel ([email protected])

DealRoom: Data Science and AI for M&A (www.dealroom.net)