ReddRadar
Agent skill
ma-playbook
M&A strategy for acquiring companies or being acquired. Due diligence, valuation, integration, and deal structure. Use when evaluating acquisitions, preparing for acquisition, M&A due diligence, integration planning, or deal negotiation.
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills/tree/main/skills/c-level-advisor/ma-playbook
Metadata
Additional technical details for this skill
- author
- Alireza Rezvani
- domain
- ma-strategy
- updated
- 1772668800
- version
- 1.0.0
- category
- c-level
SKILL.md
M&A Playbook
Frameworks for both sides of M&A: acquiring companies and being acquired.
Keywords
M&A, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, acquisition, acqui-hire, integration, deal structure, valuation, LOI, term sheet, earnout
Quick Start
Acquiring: Start with strategic rationale → target screening → due diligence → valuation → negotiation → integration.
Being Acquired: Start with readiness assessment → data room prep → advisor selection → negotiation → transition.
When You're Acquiring
Strategic Rationale (answer before anything else)
- Buy vs Build: Can you build this faster/cheaper? If yes, don't acquire.
- Acqui-hire vs Product vs Market: What are you really buying? Talent? Technology? Customers?
- Integration complexity: How hard is it to merge this into your company?
Due Diligence Checklist
| Domain | Key Questions | Red Flags |
|---|---|---|
| Financial | Revenue quality, customer concentration, burn rate | >30% revenue from 1 customer |
| Technical | Code quality, tech debt, architecture fit | Monolith with no tests |
| Legal | IP ownership, pending litigation, contracts | Key IP owned by individuals |
| People | Key person risk, culture fit, retention risk | Founders have no lockup/earnout |
| Market | Market position, competitive threats | Declining market share |
| Customers | Churn rate, NPS, contract terms | High churn, short contracts |
Valuation Approaches
- Revenue multiple: Industry-dependent (2-15x ARR for SaaS)
- Comparable transactions: What similar companies sold for
- DCF: For profitable companies only (most startups: use multiples)
- Acqui-hire: $1-3M per engineer in hot markets
Integration Frameworks
See references/integration-playbook.md for the 100-day integration plan.
When You're Being Acquired
Readiness Signals
- Inbound interest from strategic buyers
- Market consolidation happening around you
- Fundraising becomes harder than operating
- Founder ready for a transition
Preparation (6-12 months before)
- Clean up financials (audited if possible)
- Document all IP and contracts
- Reduce customer concentration
- Lock up key employees
- Build the data room
- Engage an M&A advisor
Negotiation Points
| Term | What to Watch | Your Leverage |
|---|---|---|
| Valuation | Earnout traps (unreachable targets) | Multiple competing offers |
| Earnout | Milestone definitions, measurement period | Cash-heavy vs earnout-heavy split |
| Lockup | Duration, conditions | Your replaceability |
| Rep & warranties | Scope of liability | Escrow vs indemnification cap |
| Employee retention | Who gets offers, at what terms | Key person dependencies |
Red Flags (Both Sides)
- No clear strategic rationale beyond "it's a good deal"
- Culture clash visible during due diligence and ignored
- Key people not locked in before close
- Integration plan doesn't exist or is "we'll figure it out"
- Valuation based on projections, not actuals
Integration with C-Suite Roles
| Role | Contribution to M&A |
|---|---|
| CEO | Strategic rationale, negotiation lead |
| CFO | Valuation, deal structure, financing |
| CTO | Technical due diligence, integration architecture |
| CHRO | People due diligence, retention planning |
| COO | Integration execution, process merge |
| CPO | Product roadmap impact, customer overlap |
Resources
references/integration-playbook.md— 100-day post-acquisition integration planreferences/due-diligence-checklist.md— comprehensive DD checklist by domain
Recommended Agent Skills
Expand your agent's capabilities with these related and highly-rated skills.
LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills
audit-website
Audit websites for SEO, performance, security, technical, content, and 15 other issue cateories with 230+ rules using the squirrelscan CLI. Returns LLM-optimized reports with health scores, broken links, meta tag analysis, and actionable recommendations. Use to discover and asses website or webapp issues and health.
LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills
firecrawl
Web search and scraping via Firecrawl API. Use when you need to search the web, scrape websites (including JS-heavy pages), crawl entire sites, or extract structured data from web pages. Requires FIRECRAWL_API_KEY environment variable.
LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills
computer-use
Full desktop computer use for headless Linux servers. Xvfb + XFCE virtual desktop with xdotool automation. 17 actions (click, type, scroll, screenshot, drag, etc). Unlike OpenClaw's browser tool, operates at the X11 level so websites cannot detect automation. Includes VNC for live viewing.
LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills
social-media-analyzer
Social media campaign analysis and performance tracking. Calculates engagement rates, ROI, and benchmarks across platforms. Use for analyzing social media performance, calculating engagement rate, measuring campaign ROI, comparing platform metrics, or benchmarking against industry standards.
LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills
business-growth-skills
4 production-ready business and growth skills: customer success manager with health scoring and churn prediction, sales engineer with RFP analysis, revenue operations with pipeline and GTM metrics, and contract & proposal writer. Python tools included (all stdlib-only). Works with Claude Code, Codex CLI, and OpenClaw.
LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills
contract-and-proposal-writer
Contract & Proposal Writer
Didn't find tool you were looking for?