Post-exit financial planning is too late. Jacqueline Johnson learned from her banker that founders should be interviewing and establishing relationships with firms like Goldman Sachs or UBS *during* the sale process to create a full strategy for taxes and investments beforehand.
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An exit presentation isn't a typical business update. The immense pressure of the sale, combined with uncertainty about their future roles, can undermine even confident speakers. Training builds confidence specifically for this high-stakes, unfamiliar scenario.
To ensure Day 1 alignment and retain key talent, treat integration planning as a collaborative process. Share the developing integration plan with the target's leadership during due diligence. This allows them to validate assumptions, provide critical feedback, and feel like partners in building the future company, rather than having a plan imposed on them.
An M&A lead's primary skill isn't deep expertise in every domain, but the ability to assemble and manage a team of specialists (tax, IT, ops). They must know enough to spot issues and deploy the right expert, coordinating findings to assess valuation and integration hurdles, much like a general contractor on a build site.
To avoid a broken handoff, embed key business and integration experts into the core deal team from the start. These members view diligence through an integration lens, validating synergy assumptions and timelines in real-time. This prevents post-signing surprises and ensures the deal model is operationally achievable, creating a seamless transition from deal-making to execution.
Instead of a traditional 100-day plan, TA Associates' value creation process begins by defining what the business must look like in five years to achieve a successful exit. All subsequent initiatives are then mapped backward from this end goal, ensuring every action is aligned with the ultimate liquidity event.
An M&A lead's role isn't to be an expert in tax or IT, but to assemble specialists. Like a general contractor, they must know enough to spot issues ('wires sticking out of the wall') and deploy the right expert, synthesizing findings to assess valuation and integration hurdles.
The value creation process begins long before the deal closes. The 3-6 month due diligence period is used for weakness identification, strategic planning, and recruiting key personnel. This makes the post-acquisition 100-day plan a seamless continuation of pre-close work, rather than a fresh start.
Effective negotiation avoids getting bogged down in details initially. Instead, focus on reaching a high-level agreement on five key pillars: valuation, capital structure, governance, strategy, and exit plan. Only after this framework is set should you dive into the details.
To avoid post-close surprises and knowledge loss, marry diligence and integration leads before an LOI is even signed. This ensures real-world operational experience informs diligence from the start. The goal is to have a drafted integration thesis by LOI and a near-complete plan by signing, not after closing.
QED Investors realized they were misusing their famous founder, Nigel Morris, by only bringing him in for the final call. They now strategically deploy him early in the process to open doors and build relationships with target companies, using his reputation as an asset for outreach, not just a closing tool.