M&A Science Podcast

Jeremy Segal of Progress explains how to build a pre-LOI deal model precise enough to outbid PE on competitive acquisitions without overpaying or retrading.

Commvault’s Haseeb Jawad on how to build retention before close, so the people your deal thesis depends on actually stay.

Matt Arsenault of Jamf breaks down how to buy venture-backed companies priced at future value, closing the deal when the math doesn't add up.

Eight deal professionals share the M&A moments the CIM never shows -- from birthday cake mid-presentation to a buyer who died before close

Sam Delestienne won at $15M below the highest bid. Five corp dev leaders tell us what closes deals when process runs out.

Jörgen Wigh explains the Nordic serial acquirer model: governance, 10% failure rate targets, cross-border friction, and what it takes to build from scratch.

Jörgen Wigh built a billion-dollar M&A company with 85 acquisitions and zero exits. Learn how to maintain pricing discipline, operate autonomous companies, and compound without traditional integration.

Integration leaders from Intel, Coursera, Ansys, and UKG debate what tools and workflows deliver real value in M&A integration (and what just creates expensive noise).

Tomer Stavitsky, SVP Corp Dev at Omnicell, explains how partnerships can strengthen pre-acquisition strategy, covering PE dynamics, ROFR structures, and milestone design.

Chandradev Mehta of Hexion on using M&A to transform a commodity chemical business into a technology-enabled, chemistry-as-a-service model.

Keith Levy spent 30 years inside strategic acquirers and growth equity. Here's what it actually takes to build a consumer brand a strategic will buy. Part 2 of 2.

Keith Levy backed an exit of just under $1B and a $400M exit using the same five-pillar framework. Here's how he evaluates a consumer brand before writing a check. Part 1 of 2.

Matt James, EVP, CFO & Chief Acquisition Officer at Oakbridge Insurance, co-founded the platform in 2020 and has since closed 60+ acquisitions. In this episode, he breaks down how Oakbridge built integration into the deal process from day one, what he's seen go wrong at billion-dollar platforms that didn't, and how he structures deals, teams, and data systems to hold up under serious buyer scrutiny.

Dan Caruso on the IRR framework that replaced budgets at Zayo, the negotiation tactics behind 45+ deals, and how he engineered a competing bid when buyers tried to retrade at the finish line.

Dan Caruso built Zayo from zero to a $14B sale. Here's how he sourced deals, integrated fast, and measured what actually mattered.

Rodrigo Dominguez Sotomayor of White & Case breaks down what actually drives deal success in Latin America — from regulatory traps to cultural dynamics most buyers miss.

Chrissy Cox of Booz Allen Hamilton on building proprietary deal pipeline through partnerships, testing culture before LOI, and why the best deals start years before the process does.

Nathan Rust reveals how Salas O'Brien screens 200+ opportunities a year — and why cultural fit, not EBITDA, is their real deal filter. 93% leadership retention. 30 mergers. Zero failures. (They call them mergers for a reason.)

Mauro Sambati and Donato Romano of Gianni & Origoni break down Golden Power, Italian labor law, and the cultural dynamics that make or break cross-border deals in Italy.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Robert Lovegrove, President & CEO of The ChemQuest Group Inc. Previously, as VP of Corporate Strategy at Milliken & Company, shares how one of the company’s largest acquisitions was shaped by focus, discipline, and internal alignment.

Learn board-level guardrails for high-volume acquisitions (and why roll-ups fail when teams under-estimate people + integration risk.)

After 400 episodes and nearly 100 founding members, Kison wanted to give you a real update - where M&A Science has been, what we're building, and where this is going.

Ciprian Stan of SALESIANER Gruppe explains why culture, trust, and execution must shape M&A strategy before a deal is signed.

Ciprian Stan, Integration Manager at SALESIANER Gruppe, tells us why seller-led M&A no longer works, and what top acquirers do differently after close.

Carlos Cesta (125+ deals) breaks down how experienced buyers structure deals for outcomes, not transactions. The deal spiral, earnouts, and integration.