Shows
Inorganic PodcastE29: SaaS M&A Market Report - July '25 ft. Verisk & DescartesSummaryIn this episode of the Inorganic Podcast, Christian Hassold discusses five notable acquisitions in SaaS, specifically those where larger companies acquired smaller or earlier-stage companies. As a part of this discussion, Christian highlights deal values (announced and speculated), the industrial logic of acquirers, and other key details surrounding the acquisitions.Acquisitions CoveredVanta + Risky on July 17, 2025Rokt + Canal on July 17, 2025Darktrace + Mira Security on July 21, 2025Verisk + AccuLynx on July 30, 2025 Descartes + Finale Inventory on August 4, 2025Chapters00:00 Introduction03:17 P...
2025-08-2125 min
Inorganic PodcastE28: Digital Agency M&A Market Roundup Q225SummaryIn this episode of the Inorganic Podcast, hosts Ayelet Shipley and Christian Hassold, co-hosts of the In/organic Podcast, discuss the current state of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the agency sector, focusing on Q2 activity. They explore market trends, deal multiples, notable acquisitions, and the importance of strategic fit in the current M&A landscape. The conversation also touches on the valuation of tech-enabled agencies, the luxury market's unique characteristics, and expectations for future market activity in Q3 and Q4.TakeawaysDeals still happening, but the market is pickier.Timing...
2025-08-1432 min
Inorganic PodcastE27: Agency Valuations & Structuring 201b w/Ayelet ShipleySummaryThis is part two of a two-part series where Christian Hassold and Ayelet Shipley demystify the complexities of agency valuations, exploring the interplay between buyer and seller motivations, and discussing real-world scenarios that illustrate various deal structures. They emphasize the importance of understanding the unique dynamics of the agency market, including the factors that influence valuations and the creative structuring of deals to meet the needs of both parties. Discussion HighlightsReviews a $3.4M revenue, $1.7M EBITDA agency valued at $10.2M (6x multiple). Creativity is needed for deals under $2M...
2025-07-0624 min
Inorganic PodcastHot Take: First Time Sellers - Don't count your winnings until the deal docs are signed!Summary While recording episodes 26 and 27 of the In/organic Podcast, Ayelet and Christian delved into a small rabbit hole, discussing buyer and seller dynamics in transactions involving unsophisticated buyers and sellers - a term commonly used in the industry. We clarify in the video that unsophisticated really means buyers who do not do a lot of acquiring or sellers who are usually selling their company for the first time and do not have good M&A counsel. We did not get into the details in this recording, but the key takaways are: If you...
2025-06-2304 min
Inorganic PodcastE26: Agency Valuations & Structuring 201a w/Ayelet ShipleySummaryIn this episode, Christian Hassold and Ayelet Shipley delve into the complexities of agency valuations, exploring the interplay between buyer and seller motivations, and discussing real-world scenarios that illustrate various deal structures. They emphasize the importance of understanding the unique dynamics of the agency market, including the factors that influence valuations and the creative structuring of deals to meet the needs of both parties. In this conversation, Ayelet and Christian delve into the intricacies of business valuation, particularly focusing on earn-outs and creative deal structures. They explore how earn-outs can bridge the gap between current cash...
2025-06-1633 min
Inorganic PodcastE25: The Art & Science of Sourcing DealsSummaryIn this episode, host Christian Hassold chats with Ayelet Shipley, the head of corporate development and deal management for Speed M&A by Jones-Spross. Ayelet shares her unique journey from aspiring therapist to corporate development leader, emphasizing the importance of sales skills and psychological insights in the M&A process. The conversation delves into sourcing opportunities, qualifying conversations, and understanding client expectations, drawing the connections between the similarities of enterprise sales and M&A deal origination.In this conversation, Ayelet and Christian delve into the intricacies of the acquisition process, focusing on understanding...
2025-05-1440 min
Inorganic PodcastE24: Centric SW $223M Acquisition of Contentserv ft. Armin DresslerSummaryIn this episode of the Inorganic Podcast, host Christian Hassold discusses the recent acquisition of ContentServ by Centric Software with their co-founder and former board member Armin Dressler. Their discussion spans the history of Contentserve, its journey from an on prem to SaaS solution, transition of leadership to the current CEO, Michael Kugler, and the details of the M&A process. This episode discusses the acquirer, their rationale and some of the inside baseball on the deal valuation. Chapters0:00 Introduction2:54 How Contentserv Built Its Market Position10:01 K...
2025-03-1241 min
Inorganic PodcastE23: The Take Private of a Zombie by Bending Spoons for $233MSummaryIn this episode of the Inorganic Podcast, hosts Christian Hassold and guest Erik Morton delve into the planned acquisition of Brightcove by Bending Spoons. They explore the dynamics of the deal, the market context, and the implications for both companies. Brightcove, a pioneer in online video hosting, faced challenges in a competitive landscape that evolved substantially due to digital video creation and storage innovation, notably the free models offered by YouTube and Vimeo. Christian and Erik discuss Bending Spoons' pattern of being an acquirer of distressed businesses and how they typically run the businesses post-acquisition to...
2025-01-2932 min
Inorganic PodcastE22: Case Study on Getting M&A Right in Early Stage SaaS ft. CrispSummaryIn this episode of the Inorganic Podcast, host Christian Hassold delves into a case study on the startup Crisp (gocrisp.com), which has successfully executed four acquisitions over the last 2 years. The discussion covers the company's background, the leadership dynamics, and the strategic rationale behind its inorganic investments. The episode serves as a case study to demonstrate what good M&A looks like in an early to mid stage SaaS company and what features of M&A targets companies should be thinking about at that stage. As a part of the discussion, Christian dives into some...
2025-01-1228 min
Inorganic PodcastE21: Deal Review - Amplitude's $45M Acquisition of Command.AISummaryIn this episode of the Inorganic Podcast, host Christian Hassled discusses the acquisition of Command AI by Amplitude Software. The conversation delves into the deal's details, including the financial aspects, the rationale behind the acquisition, and the implications for both companies. Christian highlights the challenges faced by early-stage startups in the current economic climate and the strategic decisions that founders must make to exit now or continue burning cash not knowing if the fundraising market will the there for them when they need it. The episode concludes with key learnings from the transaction, emphasizing the importance of...
2024-12-0412 min
Inorganic PodcastE20: The How: Taking Smartsheet Private for $8.4 Billion with Erik MortonSummaryIn this episode of the Inorganic Podcast, Christian and Erik delve into the complexities of take private transactions, using Smartsheet's recent acquisition as a case study. They discuss the economic challenges facing public companies, the lifecycle of a business transitioning from public to private, and the strategic considerations for boards contemplating such moves. The conversation highlights the importance of fairness opinions and the intricate dynamics of investor strategies in these transactions. In this conversation, Erik and Christian delve into the complexities of take-private transactions, focusing on the negotiation dynamics, the role of advisors, regulatory considerations, the im...
2024-11-1852 min
Inorganic PodcastE19: Kantar Divestment Deep Dive with Keith AndersonSummaryIn this episode of the In/organic Podcast, host Christian Hassold and guest Keith Anderson delve into the evolving landscape of data measurement, focusing on WPP's potential divestment of Kantar. They discuss the implications of this move, the importance of independent measurement in advertising, and the future of Kantar in the market. The conversation also touches on the challenges agencies face in adapting to a rapidly changing media environment and the need for collaboration and innovation within the industry.TakeawaysWPP is exploring the sale of its stake in Kantar to streamlines...
2024-10-3036 min
Inorganic PodcastE18: Why Mastercard Acquired Recorded Future for $2.6 BillionSummaryIn this episode of the In/Organic Podcast, host Christian Hassold explains the “why” behind MasterCard's $2.6 billion acquisition of Recorded Future. Christian’s breakdown of the acquisition story explains Recorded Future’s role in cybersecurity, national security, and how the CIA venture arm, In-Q-Tel landed on their cap table. The discussion includes context on the origins of Recorded Future, its unusually limited capital requirements, and how Recorded Future has likely out performed many other companies that achieved near billion-dollar valuations over the past five years.TakeawaysMasterCard acquired Recorded Future for $2.65 billion.Recorded...
2024-09-2219 min
Inorganic PodcastE17: Deal Report: SPS Commerce $206M Acquisition of SupplyPikeSummaryIn this episode of the In/Organic Podcast, host Christian Hassold provides a teardown on the massive $206 million acquisition of Bentonville-based SupplyPike by SPS Commerce (NASDAQ: SPSC). In this episode, Christian provides a deep dive into the deal's details, its structure, and an informed hypothesis on the deal multiple. Christian also explores the backgrounds and business models of both SPS Commerce and Supply Pike, highlighting their roles in facilitating commerce between brands and retailers. Further, he analyzes the strategic rationale behind the acquisition and the implications for investors, founders, and employees. The episode concludes with key...
2024-08-2521 min
Inorganic PodcastE16: SaaS M&A Market Trends Q324SummaryIn this episode, Christian Hassold, host of In/Organic Podcast provides a mid-year market update for the M&A market in the SaaS industry. He discusses the macro conditions and factors influencing M&A activity, such as interest rates and FTC oversight. He also reviews his prediction on the increase in startups buying startups and analyzes four specific deals completed in the past six months. Overall, M&A activity is slightly up, but valuations are down, and deals are stalled due to disagreements on purchase prices. However, deals are getting done, likely at lower valuations
2024-08-0725 min
Inorganic PodcastE15: Inside the Mind of a Serial Founder with 3 ExitsEpisode SummaryThere are plenty of problems to solve in the ecommerce space. As the market gets larger it also gets more complex with new problems to solve arriving almost daily. Throughout my career in ecommerce, I have come across a “mafia” of founders - that is people who see and experience the problems firsthand, build a software solution to solve it, get the business to the right scale for an exit; rinse, and repeat. We are oversimplifying some of the complexities, but it can never be understated how much focus and commitment is required to build and...
2024-06-2642 min
Inorganic PodcastE14: Ecosystem Mapping 101 (f.k.a. Market Mapping)In this episode of the In/organic Podcast, our host, Christian Hassold discusses the concept of ecosystem mapping and its importance in corporate and inorganic strategy. He emphasizes the shift from market mapping to ecosystem mapping and provides insights on building a comprehensive ecosystem or market map. Christian also shares his approach to gathering information, categorizing companies, and creating market maps. In this conversation, Christian discusses the process of market mapping and rank stacking in the context of M&A strategy. He provides examples of market maps, explains the relationship between market maps and company strategy, and outlines the...
2024-06-0440 min
Inorganic PodcastE13: Getting the First SaaS M&A Hire RightM&A in scaling SaaS companies is on a gradual incline. It's become a great way for SaaS companies to expand their reach into TAM, grow their share of wallet, or expand into new geographies. There is also a large pool of companies available to acquire. The challenge is the M&A function in scaling SaaS companies is often put at risk by hiring an inexperienced leader, not having any clear owner, or not setting the function up for success. In this episode, Christian Hassold, host of the In/Organic Podcast provides a detailed understanding of...
2024-05-0829 min
Inorganic PodcastE12: Field Report from Deloitte M&A Exec Forum with Kimberly BairdThis episode was recorded at Deloitte University in Westlake, Texas during the Deloitte M&A Executive Forum on March 7 & 8, 2024. I was joined by my friend and colleague Kim Baird, Principal at M&A Maximizer, a boutique integration consulting firm based in California. In this episode, Kim and I took a break from the rich sessions we enjoyed at the Executive Forum to share our key learnings and insights from a series of panel sessions that included dealmakers and leaders from Deloitte's M&A practice, Bank of America, DLA Piper, and Generac Power Systems. Our discussion covers th...
2024-04-1216 min
Inorganic PodcastE11: Running a DIY Sale Process with Jon GreggIt’s a tough decision to exit a business, but it says a lot about a leader who can make a call on when it's the right time and gets it done. The alternative is kicking the can forward and risking the possibility that you lose control of your destiny. When selling a SaaS business, you optimize for 3 things; 1) best outcome for investors, 2) doing right by your people, 3) doing right by your customers. The trade-offs are never easy and it’s hard to 100% optimize for each. In this episode of In/organic, I sat down with Jon G...
2024-03-2641 min
Inorganic PodcastE10: Integration Success for Team Sizes of Less Than 1,000SummarySuccessful integrations are required to achieve the full value of any acquisition. Most know that the odds are stacked against the acquirer from the start - so how does one move the odds in their favor? How should a SaaS leadership team plan and execute an integration process with an acquired team of less than 100 people and the acquirer is less than 1,000 (roughly)? This is a large company buying a much smaller company and the assumption is the buyer is a first-time acquier. Deal economics certainly impact acquired founder and employee sentiment, but how the actual...
2024-03-1235 min
Inorganic PodcastE9: Running a Rollup Play in a SaaS Co with Chris BarnesBuilding 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...
2024-02-1336 min
Inorganic PodcastE8: From Zero to One: M&A Function Basics with Loran GuttIn this episode, our host Christian Hassold is joined by Laurent Gout, VP of Corporate Development at Auctane, a Thoma Bravo-backed SaaS company that powers shipping businesses all over the globe. In this episode, Christian and Loran walk through building an M&A function from scratch with a SaaS company. Topics they cover in this episode include who should run the M&A function, what kind of support will they require, what is the leaderships role in the M&A process, how to inform M&A strategy, and working with financial sponsors. Laurent shares valuable insights and lessons learned...
2024-01-2336 min
Inorganic PodcastE7: Why SaaS M&A Will Skyrocket in 2024In this episode, we discuss the prediction that M&A activity among fast-growing SaaS companies will rise substantially in 2024. In support of this prediction, we share both data and reasoning for this prediction, including startup acquisition activity, shutdown and funding trends, and a broader market view of M&A activity. We also offer advice to founders considering M&A in 2024, emphasizing the importance of preparation and developing decision-making criteria in advance of contemplating M&A.Discussion TopicsM&A activity among SaaS companies is predicted to increase in 2024.Startup acquisitions have been observed to increase...
2024-01-0319 min
Inorganic PodcastE6: Getting Stock Deals Over the Line with Lesley Adamo and Meredith BeuchawStartup shutdowns are at an all-time high in 2023. According to Carta, hundreds have shut down or gone bankrupt in 2023. Amid the gloom of these shutdowns is a positive trend, startups buying other startups, giving those short on cash a second chance at an exit. In a market where cash preservation is critical and borrowing costs are high, stock-heavy deals are more and more common. But, how do they work and what are the key considerations founders should consider before starting a process?In this episode, Christian Hassold, host of the In/organic Podcast sat down with...
2023-12-2136 min
Inorganic PodcastE5:AM&A: Running Early Stage BD with an M&A Mindset with Alyshah Walki The business development function in early-stage SaaS companies tends to be a ‘catch all’ for partnerships, competitive intelligence, and increasingly, identifying potential acquisition targets. In a world where 90% of startups fail and of those that succeed, 90% exit to a strategic versus going public, every successful startup should know what potential acquisitions (of any size) can do to accelerate the business. But, where to start?In this first edition of Ask the Expert, Alyshah Walji was kind enough to come on the pod and take on some burning questions on his mind as an up-and-coming business development lead...
2023-11-2937 minInorganic PodcastE4: M&A Strategy for Category Defining SaaS with Rob GonzalezThere are plenty of playbooks for developing an M&A strategy, but the kind of strategy that is best for one SaaS company versus another is less clear. For example, should one only buy tech they can integrate behind the scenes, or should you add new products that stand alone? How far outside your product focus should you expand, especially when pre-IPO? People are an important element of M&A success, how best to approach people integration?In this episode, Rob Gonzalez, co-founder and CMO of Salsify, a category-defining SaaS company that helps brands win the...
2023-11-0630 minInorganic PodcastE3: Expanding from Europe to the U.S. with Marcel Hollerbach of ProductsupWhen is the right time to expand internationally? What are the moving parts of growing a SaaS company in a foreign territory that operates at a different timezone when you don't have market proof or boots on the ground? In today's episode, Marcel Hollerbach visits us to talk about how it is to land in the U.S. market from the other side of the pond. Marcel is the Chief Innovation Officer and supervisory board member at Productsup, a founding partner of venture capital fund Cavalry Ventures, the founder of the video streaming platform hiClip, and t...
2023-10-2328 minInorganic PodcastE2: Anatomy of a Sell Side Banker with Juan Mejia of Bright TowerAs a SaaS or startup founder, aren't you curious about how it is on the other side of an M&A? Today, in our first episode together, I'm joined by Juan Mejia, Managing Director at BrightTower, to explore the sell side of an M&A, unpack a banker's role in it, and analyze the relational component of these operations. Juan started his journey as an IT guy, went in and out of business school, and switched to investment banking, accumulating 20 years of experience working for companies like Morgan Stanley, AGM Partners, Solomon Partners, and Drake Star b...
2023-10-0932 minInorganic PodcastE1: Art of the M&A Funnel with Erik Morton of CommerceHubBuilding a great M&A funnel starts with top of the funnel. Just as it is in sales, you need to cast a wide net at the top and make sure you advance both the right companies and relationships from top to bottom. Not all opportunities are are equal, some are sourced organically and some through banker led inbounds. Some have time urgency and some may require a long time to develop. What are other considerations in managing the M&A funnel?In this episode, Erik Morton joins us to share his approach to building M...
2023-10-0339 minInorganic PodcastE0: The "Why" on The Launch of this Podcast and What to ExpectIn venture-backed SaaS companies that are (generally) under $200M in revenue, it is a luxury to have someone dedicated to corporate development. When it becomes a need the c-suite often reaches for someone with subject matter expertise on the business and good business acumen, but limited experience in running an M&A function. Even if you have some experience with M&A, running it inside a venture-backed company requires some tailoring to make it work for those businesses.The In/Organic podcast was born out of years of experience working on M&A and business development...
2023-10-0306 min