Perspective and lessons learned from mergers and acquisitions

COMMENTARY: Since 2020, my company has completed 19 successful acquisitions.

That’s taught us a lot about how to execute a successful M&A.

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If you are embarking on your first acquisition, or perhaps reflecting on your own experience with these opportunities, it is important to understand that every acquisition starts with a single question: build or buy? When approached with an opportunity in the market, it is always important to first ask ourselves whether we should build a capability or whether acquiring a company would get us there faster. Over time, I’ve learned that the best acquisitions are those where it’s clear that buying would allow us to move faster or do something better than we could do on our own.

Should you choose to move forward, there are some key strategic moves that will help you drive to a successful close.

Stay focused on the product

Think about the product first. If an acquisition would help you accelerate your roadmap, expand your capabilities, or give you a strategic leap ahead, then it deserves serious consideration. Oftentimes this means going after less obvious companies — smaller, early-stage organizations that might not look perfect on paper but are align with where you’re headed.

Put simply: if the product fit is right, other considerations, like cultural integration and financial modelling, become easier to justify.

Prioritize face-to-face interactions with leadership

For years, it was believed that you couldn’t really understand a company unless you physically walked into the office and met everyone in person. After COVID, and due diligence became remote. It wasn’t perfect, but you could make it work.

You don’t necessarily need to fly out to a company’s office and walk the halls, but it is important to prioritize meeting leadership in person, if at all possible. You’re not just trying to get a sense of the company, you need to understand the people who run it — essentially, who is driving the culture.

In most companies, culture flows from the leadership down. Meeting those people face-to-face helps you understand what’s important to them, how they manage the organization, and how they think about culture. That means answering questions like:

This is important because ultimately, a cultural fit far outweighs any financial decisions.  

Learn from your successful acquisitions

When I think about acquisitions that truly worked, one in particular always springs to mind. It taught out company several crucial lessons about what makes an acquisition successful.

First, buy companies that already have measurable traction. This particular organization had a loyal user base, strong adoption, and clear relevance in the market. That mattered. We weren’t guessing whether customers cared, because we could see it.

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Second, structure the leadership transition deliberately. This organization’s founder didn’t just disappear on day one. We arranged a clear handoff period, knowledge transfer, and time to preserve the product’s identity. That’s how you protect customer trust and internal confidence. Leadership has context that doesn’t show up in diligence docs — it's worth keeping them on board for their knowledge and advice, and to ensure the integration works for all staff and customers.

Third, make sure that the strategic logic is obvious. We didn’t need a complex narrative to justify our acquisition; it just made sense, because it strengthened capabilities we already believed were core to our direction.

Finally, scale what already works. Instead of overhauling processes or rebranding aggressively, we focused on supporting growth and integrating thoughtfully. Preserving what made the product successful in the first place was more important that imposing uniformity.

And grow from the acquisitions that don’t go as planned

Not every acquisition unfolds the way you expect, but often the deals that challenge your assumptions teach you more than those that go smoothly.

With a MDR acquisition we pursued, the market opportunity was strong, but the integration exposed several realities that changed the way I think about M&A execution. I learned that:

The main lesson here is that strategy sets the direction, but execution — especially around go-to-market — determines the outcome.

Be clear on why you’re buying, before you buy

If this is your first acquisition, the best advice is to be clear on why you’re doing it. If you can’t explain the strategic purpose simply and confidently, you’re not ready to move forward.

Don’t let price or deal structure drive the decision too early. A low price won’t fix a poor fit, and the right acquisition often looks expensive before its value shows up.

Finally, remember that closing the deal is just the beginning. The real outcome will be determined by how well you integrate, execute, and stay focused on the reason you bought the company in the first place.