M&A Science

Andrew Morbitzer, VP of Corporate Development, Life360 (ASX: 360) Your standard teaser tells a buyer everything about your company and nothing about why you fit their strategy right now. When sellers expect the buyer to figure out that alignment, the deal dies on the desk. Andrew Morbitzer has led more than $2 billion in acquisitions at Intuit and GoDaddy, worked on the sell-side as an M&A advisor, and returned to the buy-side as VP of Corporate Development at Life360. What You'll Learn Why do corp dev teams default to no on inbound deals before the first conversation How banker incentives and buyer incentives point in opposite directions How to research a buyer's strategy and priorities using only public information What a realistic projection signals to a corp dev leader versus what a hockey stick signals How to apply Buyer-Led M&A™ thinking from the sell side If you're advising on deals and want a framework for how buyers actually evaluate fit, DealPilot, powered by M&A Science, has Buyer-Led M&A™ frameworks to help you pitch into the buyer's strategy instead of handing them a data sheet. ____________________ This episode of M&A Science is presented by DealRoom. DealRoom just launched the only MCP server built for Buyer-Led M&A™ — so your AI and your deal data finally work together. Connect Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot directly to DealRoom and let your AI read your pipeline, analyze due diligence documents, and automatically write findings back.  See for yourself: dealroom.net/mcp ____________________ Episode Chapters [00:00] Introduction [07:12] Why Inbound Deals Rarely Fit [09:40] Rationalization Over Strategy [10:01] The Inbound Problem Is Not Just About Bankers [15:43] When a Bank Actually Does the Work [18:12] The Banker's Incentive Problem [20:51] How to Actually Land the Pitch [22:12] Cash Flow and Finance Partnership [24:53] First-Hand Research on the Buyer [29:42] How Detailed to Get on Value Creation [34:30] What a Misaligned Banker Actually Costs You [37:50] Cold Outreach vs. Warm Relationships [40:45] Moves That Accelerate Trust [43:07] Applying Buyer-Led M&A on the Sell Side [42:48] The Year One Mistake That Bit Us [46:12] Assessing Culture Fit Before Close

Nathan Rust, Lutz Lehmann, Troy Pospisil, Jeremy Segal, Patrick Mumman, Tej Brahmbhatt, George Helock, and Angie Astle Eight deal professionals share the M&A moments that never make the CIM. A birthday cake in a management presentation that confirmed a culture fit and influenced a bid. A buyer who died before close, forcing a nine-month restart from scratch. Eight years of customer revenue data on a 1980s IBM that management claimed did not exist. A target quietly heading toward Chapter 11 while diligence was underway. Unexpected events mid-deal are not exceptions. They are the deal. How you read them is what separates experienced practitioners from everyone else. What You'll Learn: How cultural signals in a management presentation can influence a bid decision What to do when a buyer dies before close and the sell process has to restart How to find data that management says does not exist Why late-stage valuation surprises from founders are a signal you could have caught earlier How to take a bankrupt target through Chapter 11 and still close the deal Why experienced advisors document every surprise the moment a deal closes If you're running deals and want pattern recognition built from thousands of real M&A situations to back your judgment, DealPilot, powered by M&A Science, gives you the deal guidance and advisor access to know which surprises you push through and which ones mean walk away. ____________________ This episode of M&A Science is presented by DealRoom. DealRoom just automated Pipeline Management with AI so you can spend less time updating deals, and more time working them.  Automatically push deal context from Outlook to DealRoom Pipeline and use AI to keep deal target data and tasks updated, so follow-ups never slip through the cracks. No manual logging. No stale pipeline data. See for yourself: https://hubs.ly/Q045fXp50 ____________________ Episode Chapters [00:00] Intro [04:11] Birthday cake in the management presentation [07:10] Recruiting bankers from the sell side [09:04] Culture fit as a bid decision factor [10:03] When the buyer dies before close [11:46] Nine-month restart from scratch [17:04] Management says the data does not exist [18:39] Finding Susie and the 1980s IBM [22:25] IP ownership surprise at signing [24:43] Bootstrap founders and commitment signals [27:43] When bankers favor PE over strategics [30:40] 78-year-old seller, a fistfight, and an earn-out [32:25] The 12-year sales cycle [35:23] Teaching a CEO to speak like an investor [43:14] Aviation IPO pulled mid-road show [45:52] Background check kills the deal a week before close [50:03] Forever corporation: how Chugach approaches M&A [54:47] HVAC target heads toward bankruptcy mid-diligence [55:59] Becoming the secured creditor to save the deal

Brent Baxter, Sam Delestienne, Steve Hoffman, John Strenger, and Matt Melsen Winning a banker-run auction at 5% under the highest bid. Closing a deal when co-sellers have not spoken in months. Getting through 22 countries of employment complexity with a client who refused to work with EOR providers. Acquiring a Netherlands-based public company and discovering the due diligence documents were in Dutch. These are the problems that no playbook prepares you for. Four corp dev professionals share how they handled them, and what it cost when they got it wrong. What You'll Learn  How to win a competitive auction when you're not the highest bidder What seller conflict at the closing table looks like (and how to get a deal back on track) When an employer of record works in a cross-border carve-out and when it creates permanent establishment risk Why management trust in the buyer can outweigh the highest bid number What a first European acquisition actually costs in compliance, legal, and cultural surprises If you're running deals where the numbers are right but the relationship isn't, or you're in a market you haven't operated in before, DealPilot, powered by M&A Science, connects you with advisors who have closed deals in exactly that situation. ____________________ This episode of M&A Science is presented by DealRoom. DealRoom just launched the only MCP server built for Buyer-Led M&A™ — so your AI and your deal data finally work together. Connect Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot directly to DealRoom and let your AI read your pipeline, analyze due diligence documents, and automatically write findings back.  See for yourself: dealroom.net/mcp ____________________ Episode Chapters [00:00] Intro [03:12] Partners who came to blows over valuation [03:37] The closing table walkout [05:47] Every deal craters on Friday [07:54] Why managing emotions is the hardest job after LOI [13:30] A door blows off an Alaska Airlines jet mid-process [16:00] Winning at $15M under the highest bid [18:23] Trust and reputation as deal currency [23:09] The "baby ugly" lesson [25:06] Preempting banker processes [32:14] What EOR is and when it works [33:52] Permanent establishment risk with C-level hires [34:48] CBA compliance across 22 countries [40:38] First European cross-border acquisition [42:38] Dutch documents and data residency surprises [46:20] Why in-person matters more in Europe [50:38] The $100M tax exposure that was not real [55:57] Outro