The Real Work Behind the Close: When Judgment Beats the Checklist

The Real Work Behind the Close: When Judgment Beats the Checklist

June 11, 2026 · 57 min · Episode 419

About this episode

Four corporate development professionals discuss the real challenges faced in M&A transactions that go beyond standard checklists.

Brent Baxter , Sam Delestienne , Steve Hoffman , John Strenger , and Matt Melsen Winning a banker-run auction at 5% under the highest bid. Closing a deal when co-sellers have not spoken in months. Getting through 22 countries of employment complexity with a client who refused to work with EOR providers. Acquiring a Netherlands-based public company and discovering the due diligence documents were in Dutch. These are the problems that no playbook prepares you for. Four corp dev professionals share how they handled them, and what it cost when they got it wrong. What You'll Learn How to win a competitive auction when you're not the highest bidder What seller conflict at the closing table looks like (and how to get a deal back on track) When an employer of record works in a cross-border carve-out and when it creates permanent establishment risk Why management trust in the buyer can outweigh the highest bid number What a first European acquisition actually costs in compliance, legal, and cultural surprises If you're running deals where the numbers are right but the relationship isn't, or you're in a market you haven't operated in before, DealPilot, powered by M&A Science, connects…

People in this episode

Host: Kison Patel

Guests: Brent Baxter, Sam Delestienne, Steve Hoffman, John Strenger, Matt Melsen

Topics covered

Keywords

Sponsors

DealRoom

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: M&A Science

Places: Netherlands, 22 countries

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