DealRoom Blog - The Art and Science of M&A

Agile project management methodologies are more often embraced by the IT and manufacturing sectors than by Corporate Development teams. Further helping Agile’s cause in these disciplines is that their own products are developed in an Agile-like manner. This does not mean, however, that Agile’s principles cannot be applied to Corporate Development and the world of M&A and its stakeholders.

Data storage is everything. Most businesses are made up of information in the form of documents, graphics, emails, presentations, CRMs, spreadsheets and more. The applications that help a business run smoothly require copious amounts of storage.

Culture plays a critical role in deal speed and Agile methodologies can help. Moving away from a predetermined plan or chain of events and becoming more flexible, adaptive to change, and small-task oriented will help all stakeholders navigate the waters of M&A more effectively, saving both time and energy...and ultimately, money.

M&A is a meticulous business. It requires a thorough process, swift decision making, and strategic planning. During diligence, information that is highly confidential is gathered, which requires the utmost security and control.

If there ever was an industry that needed project management software, it would be M&A. Deals are infamously known for being time consuming, complicated, and extremely intricate, yet constantly happening.

Whether you are shopping for due diligence software for M&A or other data sensitive realms, there are four central areas to consider: security, ease of use, cost, and the opinions of industry insiders.

Our objective is to provide small, practical steps that can help executives as they work to introduce Agile into the workplace and disrupt the common Waterfall approach.

In business terms, due diligence is the research and analysis of a company or organization done in preparation for a business transaction, such as a potential acquirer evaluates a target company and its assets.

Employee productivity is at the forefront of all business leaders’ minds, but what happens when working more doesn’t equate to being more productive?

In any deal, whether buy-side or sell-side, or if it involves an investment bank, private equity firm, or corporate development business, there are a lot of necessary steps to take. There are many hands involved, confidential information shared, and hard decisions to make.

As the capabilities of IT deployments and infrastructures evolve, so are the features that virtual data room providers offer.

Let’s be frank: change management is often the neglected child of the M&A family. Some might even view change management as trivial when compared with other burdensome tasks of M&A; however, this could not be further from the truth. In fact, poor practices related to change management have long been the achilles heel of mergers and acquisitions.

Most C-suite executives turn to mergers and acquisitions to jump-start growth or for financial gain, but without these clear systems in place deals often (70% of the time) fail - whether during negotiation, diligence, or integration.

The process of due diligence is often classified as chaotic, stressful, and fast-paced and, historically, nothing drastic has been done to disrupt the way this procedure is approached. We now know, however, Agile methodologies for M&A practitioners have proven to improve diligence speed and quality.

Investment bankers rely on data room analytics to gauge buyer activity. Some bankers even restrict bulk downloading to capture incremental download activity. Restricting bulk downloads makes the experience agonizing for buyers and slows down their diligence process.

Say goodbye to answering duplicate requests. With the help of machine learning, the system will pull up previously related documents and responses.

Unorganized communication is a common issue during due diligence. But it doesn't have to be. With the right project management software, communication can be efficient and organized.

Imagine a world where analytics can not only make work more efficient, but can also make banks smarter by providing data to help better understand buyer behavior.

It is predicted that in the next year we will see not only an increase in mergers and acquisitions, but also an increase in the size of these business deals. With more and larger deals taking place, organizations are becoming necessarily smarter about how to navigate the process of M&A.

In this episode, Kison interviews business consultant Joseph Feldman, who works with middle companies on acquisitions.

Typically when you hire an investment bank your looking at their track record, industry expertise, relationships with buyers, maybe even a culture fit. The following distinguish the difference between just good and great investment banks.

There is an old adage comparing the process of mergers & acquisitions to trying to complete a large puzzle when your right hand & your left hand have never worked together. To put it lightly, mergers & acquisitions revolve around a plethora of moving parts; further complicating matters is the fact you suddenly have two companies & additional stakeholders that now need to work & communicate together fairly seamlessly in order to bring the deal to completion.

DealRoom vs. FirmRoom: Which platform is right for your business? At Day 1, we’ve launched a new stand-alone, enterprise-grade data room based on our successful project management platform, DealRoom. Both tools provide businesses with a centralized, secure, and transparent work location that can help them become more productive, methodical, and efficient.

In this episode, Kyson interviews corporate and business development consultant Judah Karkowsky. They discuss best ways to approach cultural integration, handling ownership issues, the surprises you can find during preliminary due diligence, international entities’ approach on diligence, being transparent with employees during an integration and confidential data protection.

Using a per-page pricing model can be very expensive and can lead to unplanned additional costs. With the right flat-rate terms, you can avoid surprise bills and end the need to constantly monitor data usage.

M&A deals can overwhelm buyers & sellers, burying them in an avalanche of paper, repeat requests, & wait-time. However, with efficiency & effectiveness at its core, DealRoom provides a smarter approach to the complex practice of M&A.

Broken promises and technology that does not live up to the marketing hype are just two results of poorly chosen technology. The decision-making process is now more complex than ever since organizations want representation of all the stakeholders that will either use or benefit from the technology.

In this episode, we explore M&A in the tech world. Paul’s experience includes more than 25 years of experience in tech industry with companies such as Hewlett Packard and Adobe Systems. He shares his knowledge on common strategy errors that lead companies to failure and the best ways to build integration plans for acquisition teams.

There are 100s of documents to upload to a data room, a tracker to update with what’s been added, emails, follow-up emails, more uploads, updating a tracker again ect. The solution to this is to automate the workflow so management teams spend far less time answering requests and stay focused on running their business.

Agile M&A practices transform M&A into a simplified, efficient set of processes. Once a business adapts Agile M&A practices, the company can transform into an agile, data-driven enterprise without sacrificing quality or taking on additional risk.

Are you an “old school” M&A practitioner? Being “old school” means that maybe you are holding on to traditional practices, because they work for you. These methods are tried and true, and have been proven over the years. However, there are many new ways in which to approach the M&A process.

M&A professionals often find themselves jumping between spreadsheets, email, and the data room during due diligence.

Agile M&A promises to identify and eliminate waste that otherwise contributes to poor customer service, lost business, higher business costs and lost employee productivity.

n this episode, Kison interviews mergers and acquisitions attorney Luke Fedlam, who shares his knowledge on working with and outside counsel...

Back and forth emails can easily overwhelm a management team.

Typical project management tools are not efficient.

Although Agile is considered to have originated and have specific application to the technology world, it did not originate in IT.

Biondi shares his personal experience on the AdEspresso and Hootsuite merger.

DealRoom Listed in FINRA's Compliance Vendor Directory

Advising Buyers, Business Strategies, and Setting Clear Objectives

It starts out straightforward: You kick off due diligence by creating a spreadsheet with the list of...

“It is important for advisors or the folks who are trying to sell a business to engage in the conversation with..."

Agile M&A is a management system derived from Agile software development and Lean manufacturing

Agile seems to be a corporate buzzword.

Quality of Earnings are used to validate earnings.

It’s not uncommon to have the legal and business aspects of an M&A deal at odds.

Several large virtual data room providers are focused on generating revenue by charging for every individual page used in M&A transaction.

“When you walk into the deal knowing how you want to use the assets..."

Consolidation of the US banking industry continues.

What should you look for when you pick an advisor for your deal team?

Like entering into a romantic relationship, an M&A deal is a lot about finding “the right fit.”

“This is the first time I’ve been acquired by a company that felt like it had a soul.”

10 Reasons to Outsource Innovation in Agile M&A

If you work in M&A, you know due diligence is a costly and time-consuming process.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is valuable because it captures intellectual capital.

As a professional with 29 years’ experience in M&A corporate development, financial operations, and management,

Sean Peace has a captivating story to tell about selling and exiting an unprofitable business in a unique niche

Vamsi Maddipatla’s first job was with Deloitte & Touche in South Africa as a Management Consultant Trainee working at the largest...

The evolution of financial services is not slowing down.

Greg DellaFranco is currently a Senior Manager of Corporate Development at Deloitte Consulting. Prior to joining Deloitte, he served as...

Andrew Jordan is a Principal at Riveron Consulting where he provides transaction advisory services. He’s had his hand in mergers and acquisitions for the last 8 years and has incredible insight regarding quality of earnings (Q of E) and M&A deals.

When asked what he would teach a younger version of himself, Scott Kaeser had a surprising answer…