Program Description

Ian Smith delivers a high-impact, interactive workshop designed for CEOs and senior leaders who are considering—or actively pursuing—growth through acquisition. Drawing on 40+ years of hands-on deal experience, 40+ completed transactions representing over $1 billion in enterprise value, and the frameworks outlined in The Acquirer’s Playbook, this program equips leaders with a proven, structured model for evaluating, approving, and executing acquisitions with confidence and discipline. The program is built around Ian’s proprietary six-phase Acquisition Approval model — the same framework detailed in The Acquirer’s Playbook and refined through decades of real-world deal execution. What makes this model distinctive is its central thesis: integration thinking must permeate every phase of the acquisition process, not just the final step.

Concepts Covered:

• Strategy & The Acquisition Profile
• Target Identification & Assessment
• The Investment Paper
• Deal Structure Driven by Integration Strategy
• Due Diligence as Integration Validation
• Post-Acquisition Integration & The IMO
• AI-Enabled M&A: The Emerging Solution