Corporate Development Strategy: Notion's M&A Approach with Hilary Shirazi
Release Date: 09/30/2025
Integration Focused M&A: Why Execution Should Inform Strategy Before You Sign
M&A Science
, M&A Integration Manager at SALESIANER Gruppe Most M&A deals fail because integration was “something to figure out later”. By the time execution realities, cultural risks, and people impacts surface, the deal is locked, and teams must work around untested assumptions. In this episode of the M&A Science podcast, Ciprian Stan, M&A Integration Manager at SALESIANER Gruppe, explains that integration must be a strategic input to increase chances of success. Things You'll Learn The importance of involving Integration early in the process Pre LOI preparations and...
info_outline
How Experienced Buyers Actually Make M&A Work with Carlos Cesta
M&A Science
M&A isn’t just about closing deals, it’s about making the deal actually work. , M&A advisor and founder of his own boutique advisory practice, spent 30 years on the buy-side at Verizon, Dentsu, Presidio, and NP Digital. He's worked 125+ deals across telecom, advertising, and digital marketing. Now he's flipped to advisory, bringing that buy-side operator mindset to entrepreneurs preparing for exit. In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Carlos Cesta, Partner at Makanta Services, breaks down how seasoned buyers really think about M&A. Not as a linear process, but...
info_outline
A Founder's Guide to Lean M&A Strategy with Christian Hassold
M&A Science
, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategic Partnerships at Wpromote x Giant Spoon Christian has been on both sides of M&A as a serial founder and corporate development leader. In this episode, Christian shares his hard-earned lessons about culture as the ultimate deal-breaker in M&A. He breaks down the subtle red flags that founders miss when evaluating acquisition targets, explains why he interviews employees before talking to investors, and shares the fascinating story of acquiring a competitor that was shutting down—where culture assessment made all the...
info_outline
How Integration Debt, Cultural Friction, and Communication Failures Kill M&A Deals with Donara Jaghinyan
M&A Science
– Transformation and Integration Leader , returns for Part 2 of our conversation on what actually breaks integrations after the deal closes. This episode tackles the messy reality of post-merger execution: integration debt that piles up when long-tail items don't get done, change management as a practical framework (not corporate fluff), and the cultural friction that surfaces in cross-border deals. Donara shares firsthand experiences navigating gender-based hierarchy in Middle Eastern TSA negotiations, building trust across geographies, and managing the communication breakdowns that create...
info_outline
Why Integrations Break: TSAs, Carve-Outs, and the Hidden Dependencies That Derail M&A Deals with Donara Jaghinyan
M&A Science
– Transformation and Integration Leader joins us to pull back the curtain on why integrations break—and what it actually takes to make them work. With deep experience across healthcare, SaaS, professional services, and financial services in both public and PE-backed environments, Donara has led diligence, post-close integration, TSA execution, and enterprise system implementations. This episode tackles the hard truths about carve-outs, TSA management, day-one readiness, and the cross-functional dependencies that most teams miss until it's too late. If you've ever wondered why integration...
info_outline
Building Your M&A Reputation: Why Relationships Beat Transactions Every Time with Andrew Cohen
M&A Science
Andy Cohen, Vice President of Corporate Development at F5 Andy has built a career that proves M&A is fundamentally about relationships, not just transactions. With 30 years of experience and 60 deals closed across high-growth tech companies including Citrix, Acquia, and F5, Andy has cultivated the kind of reputation where every CEO he's worked with will take his call tomorrow. In this conversation, he reveals why zero-sum thinking kills deals, how to convince people to sell without convincing them to sell, and why walking away on principle matters more than closing at any cost. ...
info_outline
My Daughter Interviews Me About M&A | Holiday Special Episode with Shyla Patel
M&A Science
In this special father-daughter episode, My daughter interviews me on my new book on Buyer-Led M&A™. We break down the framework built from over 400 practitioner interviews—covering why traditional M&A is flawed, how to shift from reactive auction-chasing to proactive deal sourcing, and why integration planning must begin during diligence. Things you will learn: Why integration planning during diligence (not after) determines deal success How the five pillars of buyer-led M&A transform reactive processes into strategic engines Why proactive deal sourcing beats bank-led...
info_outline
How to Score Culture Fit in M&A with Sharon Van Zeeland
M&A Science
, Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Rockwell Automation brings a unique engineer's perspective to the softest parts of M&A. In this episode, Sharon reveals how Rockwell developed a systematic scoring system for evaluating culture fit during due diligence—complete with numerical rankings across key dimensions like decision-making authority, adaptability, and mission alignment. She also shares unconventional tactics for getting deals across the finish line, from negotiating hunting rights to sponsoring 4th of July parades, and explains why marrying your diligence...
info_outline
Making M&A Boring (And Why That’s a Good Thing) with Leon Brujis
M&A Science
, Partner and Co-Head of U.S. at 65 Equity Partners shares how his firm is redefining private equity through non-control investments in founder-led businesses. In this conversation, Leon breaks down why the best companies are never for sale, how immigrant adaptability translates to investing success, and why boring, disciplined deal-making consistently outperforms flashy transactions. He also walks through his framework for negotiating term sheets and building relationships that span years before cutting checks north of $200 million. Things You'll Learn Why non-control "partnership capital"...
info_outline
Integration Starts with Hiring, Not the Deal with Brandon Batt
M&A Science
– Chief People and Transformation Officer at Quadient joins us to discuss how successful M&A integration starts long before you sign an LOI. Brandon shares how Quadient built M&A capability across the organization through strategic hiring, created a transformation office that breaks down traditional silos, and executed portfolio transformation through dozens of acquisitions and divestitures. Learn why the secret to integration success isn't just about playbooks—it's about building M&A muscle into your team from day one. Things You'll Learn Why hiring for M&A experience...
info_outlineHilary Shirazi - Head of Corporate Development at Notion
Hilary Shirazi, Head of Corporate Development at Notion, brings over a decade of M&A experience from LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Zendesk to discuss building corporate development strategy at high-growth tech companies. She shares her proven deal thesis methodology, the "Four T's" framework for categorizing acquisitions, and why integration without an IMO might be the better approach for agile teams.
Things you will learn:
-
The Deal Thesis Framework – How to crystallize strategy before identifying targets using Hilary's proven document template
-
The Four T's of M&A – Talent, Tech, Traction, and Terrain categories that determine your acquisition approach and integration strategy
-
Integration Without IMO – Why embedding integration throughout the process beats traditional handoff models for most deals
___________________
The Buyer-Led M&A™ Summit is back.
The virtual event built for dealmakers who want to eliminate chaos and take control from sourcing through integration.
📅 October 30, 2025
🕚 11:00 AM – 2:30 PM ET
💻 Free & Virtual
Learn from leaders who’ve built scalable, repeatable strategies that keep deals on track - Register now.
____________________
Join us for the 3rd M&A Science Fair IN PERSON
Get pure, off-the-record collaboration between corporate development, private equity, and integration leaders. Instead of passive listening, you’ll be sharing real frameworks, trading ideas, and testing what actually works in modern deal execution. Everything’s practitioner-led, and every topic is surfaced by the attendees themselves.
October 16th — NYC
8AM-7:30PM
Request an invite here: https://luma.com/khkuh6yw
____________________
Episode Chapters
[00:02:00] Hilary's career evolution and why in-house M&A beats advisory work
[00:05:00] Building M&A Best Practices – Why starting at a mature organization teaches critical fundamentals before going solo
[00:08:30] Getting to know executives' M&A fears and biases before sourcing deals
[00:11:00] The Deal Thesis Methodology – Creating strategy documents before naming targets to avoid "solution shopping"
[00:16:00] Deal Sponsor Selection
[00:20:00] Front-Loading Vision Alignment
[00:30:00] The Four T's Framework – Categorizing acquisitions as Talent, Tech, Traction, or Terrain deals
[00:35:00] Integration Without IMO – Why Corp Dev should own integration instead of handing off to separate teams
[00:42:00] Using Notion for M&A
[00:51:00] AI in Corporate Development
Questions, comments, concerns?
Follow Kison Patel for behind-the-scenes insights on modern M&A.