Why Start Small: Building M&A Muscle with Small Acquisitions

Stefan Williams - Vice President of Corporate Development and Snowflake Ventures at Snowflake

Stefan Williams, Vice President of Corporate Development and Snowflake Ventures at Snowflake, leads the company's acquisition strategy, corporate venture capital, and startup accelerator programs. In this episode, Stefan takes us inside Snowflake's disciplined, culture-first approach to M&A—from building the corporate development function from scratch to executing 20+ acquisitions while maintaining breakneck organic growth. He shares hard-won lessons on integration accountability, why relationships matter more than auctions, and how to balance proactive deal-making with the realities of a fast-moving AI landscape.

Things You'll Learn

• Start small and build M&A muscle – Why Snowflake began with sub-50 person acquisitions to prove integration capabilities before scaling to larger, more complex deals

• Integration accountability drives success – The critical importance of assigning DRIs (Directly Responsible Individuals) with clear timelines at 30, 60, 90, and 180 days post-close

• Buyer-led beats reactive – How investing time in proactive CEO relationships and strategic alignment dramatically improves deal outcomes versus responding to banker processes

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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.

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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

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Episode Chapters

[00:02:30] From Banking to Building – Stefan's journey from investment banking to building corporate development teams at ServiceNow and Snowflake

[00:04:30] How the "amp it up" mentality shapes every aspect of operations, including M&A strategy

[00:07:00] Why high-growth companies must begin with digestible acquisitions to develop integration capabilities

[00:10:00] Week One Playbook – How to build a corporate development function from scratch by interviewing product leaders and aligning on strategy

[00:14:00] Managing internal relationships across product, engineering, and go-to-market to maintain strategic clarity

[00:21:00] Strategic Ventures, Not Financial Bets

[00:27:00] Integration DRIs and the Marriage Analogy 

[00:37:30] Managing Three Concurrent Deals 

[00:42:00] Why nearly all 20 Snowflake acquisitions involved prior relationships and how buyer-led strategy wins

[00:48:30] Navigating the AI Explosion – Staying current in a landscape where companies scale from zero to $100M in years, not decades

Questions, comments, concerns?Follow Kison Patel for behind-the-scenes insights on modern M&A.