Building a multi-product company inorganically is no easy feat. It requires a strong product team, tight alignment among executive leadership, and a solid M&A function to identify and pursue the targets of interest. This is a fairly common strategy, but how does it work?

On this episode of In/Organic, we are joined by Chris Barnes, former SVP of Corporate Development at Syndigo, a SaaS and services business backed by Summit Partners and The Jordan Company. Syndigo was scaled to hundreds of millions in revenue through a sophisticated roll-up strategy. Under Chris's leadership, the company acquired twelve companies over 5 years. In this episode, we will discuss how Chris and the team at Syndigo ran their process with a lean team.

Takeaways

- Multiple acquisitions can be a strategic approach for SaaS CEOs to solve specific problems or drive platform expansion.

- Identifying and prioritizing acquisition targets requires thorough research and consideration of factors such as market size, growth potential, and cultural fit.

- Successful integration of acquired companies requires a focus on culture, process alignment, and a great customer experience.

- Investor partners can provide valuable resources and expertise in valuation, pricing strategy, and customer / market feedback.

Highlights

00:00 Introduction

01:23 Chris Barnes’ Background

04:53 Syndigo's Acquisition Model

07:21 Key Players on the M&A Team

09:08 Identifying Acquisition Targets

10:55 Prioritizing Acquisitions

12:18 Qualifying Potential Targets

14:03 Managing Multiple Acquisition Outreaches

17:43 Running Plays to Assess Targets

19:24 The Role of the Acquisition Team

22:38 Evaluating Business Growth Potential

25:17 Valuing an Acquisition

27:10 Involvement of Investor Partners

33:02 Lessons Learned

33:45 Limitations and Risks of Multiple Acquisitions

34:52 Key Takeaways

Connect with Christian & In/organic Podcast

Christian's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hassold/

In/organic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inorganic-podcast

In/organic on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InorganicPodcast/featured

Connect with Chris Barnes on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-barnes-a0a7022/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In/Organic Podcast

Overview

Outlines

Mindmap

Transcript

Keywords

Highlights

Shownotes

AI Summary