The M&A Science Podcast

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Hosted by Kison Patel
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Featuring guests from leading companies

Learn from leading M&A practitioners

Join Kison Patel, Founder and CEO of DealRoom and Chief Scientist at M&A Science for weekly episodes where he explores the complex world of M&A with industry leaders and practitioners. Here's to the deal.

"There’s nothing harder than letting the wrong one in. Culture fit isn’t negotiable—you’ve got to know who you’re doing business with."
Michael Belluomini
Senior Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions, Carson Group
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“Adjusted EBITDA just means deferred lawsuit. Negotiate at the jump to make sure that everyone's on the same page.”
Tina Kassangana
Corporate & M&A Lawyer, Associate at Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP
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“You’re not really ever done assessing culture until the day you close. It’s the most important thing in professional services where your people are your product.”
Rob Brown
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All Episodes

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Live Podcast
Jan 17, 2022

Hiring A Head Of Corp Dev That Fits Your M&A Strategy

Charles Breed
, 
VP Corporate Development at Corel Corporation (NASDAQ: CREL)
Live Podcast
Jan 17, 2022
M&A is a tool to achieve your strategy, and your strategy should dictate how you hire your head of corporate development. In this episode, Charles Breed, former VP of Corporate Development at Corel Corporation, talks about the skills and roles of a great corporate development leader.
Live Podcast
Jan 10, 2022

Creating a Better People Experience in M&A

Klint Kendrick
, 
Chair of the HR M&A Roundtable and Former HR M&A Leader at Oracle & Boeing
Live Podcast
Jan 10, 2022
The biggest value leak in an M&A deal is people leaving your company after the deal is done. In this interview, Klint Kendrick, Chair of the HR M&A Roundtable, talks about how empathy, strategy, and integration can all contribute to a better people experience in M&A.
Live Podcast
Jan 3, 2022

Making M&A GTM Successful

Gwen Pope
, 
Senior Managing Partner, Tiger Team M&A
Live Podcast
Jan 3, 2022
A go-to-market plan should be a top priority during an acquisition. In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Gwen Pope, Head of Global Product M&A at eBay, talks about how to make our M&A GTM successful.
Podcast
Dec 27, 2021

M&A Market Trends from a Banker’s Perspective

Kunal Jain
, 
Vice President, Corporate Development & Strategy at GCX
Strategy
Strategy
Podcast
Dec 27, 2021
The markets change all the time, and the M&A industry is no exception. Especially with COVID-19, changes in the market have been crazy these past years. Helping us understand the M&A market trends from a banker's perspective is Kunal Jain, Director, at William Blair Health Care Investment Banking.
M&A Science Summit Videos
Dec 20, 2021

Leadership Lessons to Overcome Change Management

Harry Kraemer Jr.
, 
Professor of Management and Strategy at Kellogg School of Management
M&A Science Summit Videos
Dec 20, 2021
Change management is the tilting point of every M&A deal. Preserving the value that you just acquired is dependent on how you retain key employees. In this episode of the M&A science podcast, Harry Kraemer, Jr, Professor of Management and Strategy at Kellogg School of Management, talks about how effective leadership helps overcome change management challenges.
M&A Science Summit Videos
Dec 13, 2021

Why You Should Update Your M&A Management Approach

Jim Buckley
, 
VP, Strategy, Planning and Operations at Omnissa
Integration
M&A Science Summit Videos
Dec 13, 2021
M&A practitioners love to go into details. And while that could be beneficial, it doesn’t often help with team alignment. According to Jim Buckley, former Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions Integration at VMware, keeping integration simple is the real key to success.
Live Podcast
Dec 7, 2021

How to Succeed in M&A Integration and Measure Success

Jim Buckley
, 
VP, Strategy, Planning and Operations at Omnissa
Live Podcast
Dec 7, 2021
We all know that integration can make or break the deal. In this interview, Jim Buckley, former Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions Integration at VMware, talks about how to succeed in M&A integration and measure that success.
Nov 29, 2021

How to Structure Teams Approaching M&A Diligence

Ken Bond
, 
Head of Corporate Development at Cetera Financial Group
Diligence
Nov 29, 2021
In this interview, Ken Bond, former Head of Corporate Development at Cetera Financial Group, talks about how to structure your M&A team as you approach diligence, look for a project manager, and source deals.
Live Podcast
Nov 22, 2021

How to Negotiate and Structure NDAs in an M&A Deal

Mark Khavkin
, 
CFO at Pantheon Platform
Live Podcast
Nov 22, 2021
An NDA is not a routine document in an M&A deal. It is vital in setting up the relationship of both parties as they move forward. Discussing in-depth how to negotiate and structure NDAs in an M&A deal is Mark Khavkin, CFO at Pantheon Platform.
Live Podcast
Nov 15, 2021

Buy or Build Considerations in M&A

Cameron Weiner
, 
Vice President of Strategic Development and Head of M&A at Shopko Optical
Strategy
Live Podcast
Nov 15, 2021
Before you start any acquisition, you should always consider whether to buy it or build it yourself. In this episode of the M&A science podcast, Cameron Weiner, VP of Strategic Development, Head of M&A at Shopko Optical, shares how they source deals and determine whether they should buy or build.
Live Podcast
Nov 4, 2021

Engineering Deals for Success

Punit Minocha
, 
Executive Vice President, Business and Corporate Development at Zscaler
Live Podcast
Nov 4, 2021
M&A deals are never easy, and requires rigorous planning. In this interview, Punit Micocha, Executive Vice President, Business and Corporate Development at Zscaler, is going to help us execute successful deals by planning the end game.
M&A Science Summit Videos
Oct 25, 2021

Managing M&A Sourcing, Diligence and Integration

Aaron Whiting
, 
Chief of Staff and Transformation at Crownoeak
Sabeeh Khan
, 
Director, Corporate Development at Infoblox
M&A Science Summit Videos
Oct 25, 2021
In this interview, we are going to talk about managing sourcing, diligence and integration from a project manager's perspective featuring Sabeeh Khan, Director, Corporate Strategy & Development at Syniti and Aaron Whiting, M&A Integration and Strategic Programs at ContinuumCloud
Live Podcast
Oct 25, 2021

Making GTM a Success

Pragnya Kashinath
, 
Director of M&A at Cognizant
Live Podcast
Oct 25, 2021
A GTM strategy is one of the most important parts of an integration plan. In this episode, Pragnya Kashinath, M&A Consultant at Deloitte, talks about creating a successful GTM strategy from the very beginning of the transaction and the challenges that go with it.
Live Podcast
Oct 18, 2021

Staying True to Culture in M&A

Trish Mosconi
, 
Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer & Corporate Development at Synchrony
Live Podcast
Oct 18, 2021
Culture is one of the most controversial and hot topics in the world of M&A. Most people say that Culture isn’t a deal killer. But not for Trish Mosconi, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer & Corporate Development at Synchrony. In our interview, she talks about how they walked away from an almost perfect deal due to cultural differences.
M&A Science Summit Videos
Oct 11, 2021

How to Commit to Integration from Start to Finish

Karen Ashley
, 
Vice President, Corporate Development Integration at Cisco
Integration
Strategy
M&A Science Summit Videos
Oct 11, 2021
Fully committing to integration starts with a deep partnership between corp dev and integration. Learn all about it featuring Karen Ashley, Vice President of Corporate Development Integration at Cisco.
Live Podcast
Oct 4, 2021

How To Make Transformational M&A Successful

Duncan Painter
, 
Chief Executive at Ascential Plc
Strategy
Divestiture
General
Live Podcast
Oct 4, 2021
We all know that M&A can transform a business overnight if the deal is done correctly. However, not everyone knows how to make transformative M&A successful. In this interview, Duncan Painter, former CEO at Ascential Plc, talks about transformational deals for their company and how they make it successful.
M&A Science Summit Videos
Sep 27, 2021

Execute a Divestiture Without Using a Bank

Russ Hartz
, 
VP of Corporate Development at ANSYS, Inc.
M&A Science Summit Videos
Sep 27, 2021
Bankers have a massive role in the M&A industry, and often, they help buyers and sellers connect and close deals. But regardless of popular belief, with the right amount of dedication and resources, a company can execute divestitures without a bank.
Live Podcast
Sep 20, 2021

Managing Infrequent Acquisitions

Peter Linas
, 
CPO and EVP of Corporate Development at Bullhorn
Live Podcast
Sep 20, 2021
In this episode, Peter Linas, CPO & EVP Corporate Development at Bullhorn, talks about how his corporate development team looks like in an infrequent acquisition environment, and how they hire external consultants to make their deals successful.
M&A Science Summit Videos
Sep 13, 2021

Evolving Your M&A Integration Function

Christina Amiry
, 
Head of M&A Strategic Operations at Atlassian
Integration
M&A Science Summit Videos
Sep 13, 2021
Executing an entire M&A deal can be done remotely. Catch this interview as Christina Amiry, Head of M&A Strategic Operations, Integration at Atlassian, shares with us how to work in a fully remote environment, the tools that they use, and how they engage with people all over the world.
Live Podcast
Sep 6, 2021

Buy and Build Strategy

Adam Coffey
, 
Founding Partner CEO Advisory Guru LLC
Live Podcast
Sep 6, 2021
PE firms have a very short-term holding period and need to grow businesses fast. Adam Coffey, former CEO at CoolSys, Refrigeration and HVAC Systems, is an expert on growing these companies using the buy and build strategy. In this article, he will share what it is and how to create sustainable success.
Live Podcast
Aug 30, 2021

How to Preserve Value in M&A

Jay Dettling
, 
Chief Executive Officer at Ansira
General
Live Podcast
Aug 30, 2021
In this episode, Jay Dettling, former CEO of Ansira, talks about preserving value in M&A. Learn how Jay creates value during integration, retains value when being acquired, and the importance of communication. Jay shares his experience being on both sides of the deal, the best tips for communicating, how you can manage FUD, and what CEOs going through acquisition should expect and prepare for.
Live Podcast
Aug 23, 2021

Assessing Value Realization

Michael DeVita
, 
Success Strategy Lead at Salesforce
Live Podcast
Aug 23, 2021
Kison interviews Mike DeVita, Business Value Advisor at Salesforce, about how to assess value realization, what is it, how it works, the steps, and the common challenges. Mike has an impressive career history, previously serving as Salesforce's Success Strategy Lead and prior to that as Director of M&A Integration at Walgreens.
Live Podcast
Aug 16, 2021

How to use Multiple Deal Structures to Make Partnerships Successful in India

Darshan Mehta
, 
President and CEO at Reliance Brands Limited
Strategy
Strategy
Live Podcast
Aug 16, 2021
Reliance Retail is one of the fastest-growing retailers in the world. Learn how they manage multiple deal structures to make their partnerships successful directly from their President and CEO, Darshan Mehta.
Live Podcast
Aug 9, 2021

Executing Divestitures

Rhonda Rein
, 
Director of Corporate Development at Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI)
Live Podcast
Aug 9, 2021
Divestiture is not the reverse of an acquisition, and it certainly takes more work and more preparation. In this episode, Rhonda Rein, former Director, Corporate Development at Thomson Reuters, helps us understand where divestiture starts, how TSA work and what happens after close.
Live Podcast
Aug 2, 2021

How to Build an M&A Team That Can Support Multi-Vertical Strategies

Ailene Holderness
, 
Head of M&A at IAC (NASDAQ: IAC)
Live Podcast
Aug 2, 2021
Managing a multi-vertical M&A strategy requires a high-performing team, full of perpetual learners and with a strong appetite for risk-taking. In this episode, Ailene Holderness, former Head of M&A at IAC, talks about how they manage their multi-vertical strategy and how to build a high-performing M&A team.
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