Tomer Stavitsky

Yes, I can very much relate to this. In my experience doing M&A, when the company is new to M&A, often leadership will not think through about building the functional specialty muscle - even when there is a solid expectation M&A is part of the strategy, and this could lead to team members being swapped out throughout diligence, causing interruptions and a sub optimal process. Further, when too many resources are allocated to a given M&A, that is also not good. As you can get duplicate roles, and people stepping on each other toes. As M&A experts, our role is to help educate leadership and provide clarity, and balance resourcing for M&A to help avoid missteps and march towards a successful deal.

Good quality ex-SPAC companies are worth watching in 2024 and 2025 in my view. Stock markets have seen a torrent of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies when money was relatively cheap 2020-2022, and returning to somewhat normal levels in 2023. As a group, SPAC stocks performed quite poorly, and led to significant losses to shareholders. The companies were more often than not simply not ready for primetime, as certain things were broken. Now in 2024, some of these companies were overhauled, broken things fixed, management replaced, and we are starting to see some positive signs on a case by case basis. This creates nice M&A opportunities for mature companies in a variety of spaces.

No partnership is without conflicts and challenges, these are bound to happen at some point. Always be mindful of the partner's priorities, deliverables, roadmaps etc. and how these connect to the partnership at play. Actively listen to the issues that are brought up, and consider multiple points of view. Put your self in the partner's shoes, their team's shoes, and their manager's shoes. Consider their cultural norms and leverage that as how to best resolve conflicts in challenges. In some companies, conflict resolution is consensus driven, while in others, a certain function and seniority may be called in to make a decision that drives towards the solution. Be mindful of the context and circumstances to solve issues effectively.

To clear up any miscommunications on project roles, you would best start by going back to the original premise of the project and understanding if that still holds today in connection with roles and responsibilities. Then it is worth mapping what each team member is actually doing in the project and understand whether each member individual strengths and development areas are coming through in the project as a function of their specific role in the company. Finally, after doing all of that, it is critical to present a cohesive plan that takes into account the team's views, and pitch to them the logic of this new approach to get their buy in while documenting everything.

When providing feedback, be as specific as possible. Ideally, you have a foundation of trust with the person prior to giving the feedback. When possible and appropriate, I prefer to start by acknowledging the positive things. This is especially important when the feedback is mostly negative. This is a psychological process that reinforces the other person and prepares them for the negatives. Further, it is important to be as specific as possible, including examples, and then as appropriate based on the nature of the relationship and context, suggest action items, resources to solve the gaps (such as coaching).

When crafting a proposal for a partnership it is important to put yourself in the senior executives shoes. Imagine you are them - what each of them cares about most? For example, in a major partnership deal I pitched last year, the CFO worried about dilution, higher expenses, and accounting treatment in connection with potential partnership. Be ready with a narrative that addresses this, and backup in your back pocket. The trick is to craft a great story that explains the why, how, and when, but also that jives with each of the execs. Prior to the presentation, discuss with relevant stakeholders associated with the execs to ensure alignment (and depending on the company culture, perhaps also to the execs themselves).