Competitor Acquisitions: The Migration Playbook
SaaS consolidation is accelerating, not because it’s fashionable, but because it’s practical. With many assets trading at 3x to 5x revenue and organic growth harder to manufacture, investors are leaning on consolidation to create scale, take out cost, and build credible AI capabilities on top of larger install bases.
But competitor acquisitions don’t succeed in the model. They succeed in migration. Retention, timing, and cost discipline matter more than headline synergies, especially when AI raises the penalty for split platforms, fragmented data, and delayed unification.
This piece lays out a practical playbook for migrating customers without destroying value, why some churn is not only inevitable but rational, and how front-loading migration thinking in diligence leads to better deals, better execution, and more believable valuations.
Why the Real Synergy in SaaS M&A Is GTM, Not Cost
Most M&A models still lead with cost takeout because it’s easy to count and easy to defend. But in SaaS, the value that actually compounds is usually commercial: attach, bundles that earn pricing power, workflow depth that lifts NRR, and distribution that accelerates cycles. This piece lays out a simple taxonomy of GTM synergies, why “modeled” revenue upside so often fails to show up, and the underwriting checklist that forces reality: eligible base, proof motion, capacity, integration depth, and the metrics that tell you early whether the flywheel is real.
AI-Ready M&A: How Acquirers Should Evaluate AI Compatibility
Most AI vendors can produce a great demo. The real question is whether their underlying product, data, and engineering foundations can support AI at scale inside a larger platform. Learn how to spot the difference between "demo-ready" and "AI-ready" before you sign the LOI.
How to Build a Repeatable M&A Engine That Increases Enterprise Value for SaaS
Most SaaS companies talk about M&A as a one-off decision. The ones that consistently create enterprise value treat it as a repeatable operating model. This article breaks down how leading platforms build disciplined, programmatic M&A engines that compound value over time. It lays out a practical operating model spanning strategy, sourcing, evaluation, SteerCo governance, integration, and early success metrics. The piece also clarifies the roles of the CEO, CPO, CFO, CRO, and Corp Dev leader, and highlights where most companies succeed or fail.
Build vs Buy: The Hybrid AI Strategy Reshaping CX
As AI reshapes customer expectations and compresses product cycles, most CX vendors are being pushed into a critical decision: build AI internally or buy it. The truth is that neither path works on its own. This post breaks down why a hybrid model is emerging as the most realistic way forward.