Don't just hand an integration plan to functional leaders post-close. Involve them early in the process as co-architects. Their input is crucial for validating financial models and strategic assumptions, ensuring realistic expectations and fostering ownership of the deal's success.

To prevent acquisitions from becoming orphaned "CorpDev deals," F5's process requires a senior product manager and a sales leader to co-sponsor every transaction. This ensures operational ownership. The product lead owns roadmap integration, and the sales lead signs up for the revenue target, making the business case tangible.

Involve the integration lead early in the deal process to act as a 'red team.' Their role is to challenge the business case and probe the plan with practical, ground-level questions, preventing strategic 'echo chambers' and ensuring the deal is executable.

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.

With a PE-owned target, engage its leadership on operational partnership details while simultaneously discussing the long-term acquisition case and financial horizons with the PE owners. The Corp Dev leader must orchestrate these parallel, distinct conversations.

A separate Integration Management Office (IMO) creates a risky handoff. A better model for agile teams is for the Corp Dev professional who sourced and led the deal to pivot and own the integration plan post-close. This ensures the original deal thesis is carried through execution without loss of context.

Founders who wait until they need to sell have already failed. A successful exit requires a multi-year 'background process' of building relationships. The key is to engage with SVPs and business unit leaders at potential acquirers—the people who will champion the deal internally—not just the Corp Dev team who merely execute transactions.

Corporate Development facilitates M&A but should not be the "sponsor." The true sponsor is the internal leader from product or engineering who will own the acquisition's success post-close. This distinction ensures clear accountability and prevents deals that lack a dedicated internal champion.

In a company with misaligned views on strategy, Corp Dev's first job is to interview stakeholders at all levels (board, leadership, middle management). They must diagnose discrepancies and build a unified inorganic strategy that everyone can rally behind, acting as the central hub.