Strategic M&A at Scale: Insight Partners' Buyer-Led Approach with Byron Lichtenstein

Sep 1, 2025

Byron Lichtenstein, Managing Director at Insight Partners and a veteran in scaling M&A operations, shares his insights on buyer-led M&A strategies. He discusses the importance of strategic positioning and how to align acquisitions with customer needs. Byron also outlines types of M&A deals and emphasizes the need for dedicated integration efforts. He highlights the significance of transparent communication in navigating the emotional landscape of M&A, ensuring successful partnerships across Insight's extensive portfolio.

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INSIGHT

Scale As A Differentiator

Insight Partners scaled portfolio support from a tiny team to large on-site expertise to help 500+ companies.
They use scale to provide access, data, and operational help across stages.

ADVICE

Classify Every Acquisition First

Categorize M&A into consolidation, product expansion, or geographic expansion before executing.
Tailor diligence and playbooks to the category you chose.

ANECDOTE

NMI’s Focused Add‑On Play

At NMI Insight bought a stake and used M&A to expand the product suite into its existing million customers.
The head of strategy declined most opportunistic deals to keep strict focus.

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Byron Lichtenstein, Managing Director at Insight Partners Byron brings over a decade of experience scaling M&A operations across one of the world's leading software investors. In this episode, Byron breaks down how Insight executes buyer-led M&A at scale, supporting CEOs across their 500+ portfolio companies from sourcing through integration. He shares frameworks for strategic positioning, the critical difference between types of M&A deals, and why strategy must drive every acquisition decision. M&A professionals will learn how to build repeatable M&A processes and avoid the common trap of unfocused deal-making.

Things You'll Learn

Strategic positioning framework: How to "write the S-1 on day one" and create a clear 5-year vision that guides every M&A decision
M&A categorization strategy: The three core types of M&A (market consolidation, product expansion, geographic expansion) and how to execute each differently
Integration execution: Why integration must be 100% of someone's job and how to build flexible 100-day plans that actually get executed

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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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Episode Timestamps:

[00:02:00] Building M&A at Scale – Byron's journey scaling Insight's portfolio support from 6 to 120 people across 500+ companies

[00:06:30] The Evolution of Software Roll-Ups – How the market shifted from simple consolidation plays to product-focused strategic acquisitions

[00:10:30] The NMI Case Study – Real example of product expansion M&A strategy in the payments infrastructure space

[00:14:00] Focus vs. Expansion Dilemma – When to stay focused on core customers versus expanding to new segments and markets

[00:28:30] Strategic Positioning Framework – The "write the S-1 on day one" approach to creating long-term M&A vision

[00:35:00] Founder-Led But Not Founder-Limited – Key qualities that determine which founders scale successfully through M&A

[00:38:00] Integration Planning and 100-Day Plans – Why someone needs to own integration full-time and how to build flexible execution plans

[00:48:30] AI and the Future of M&A – How AI is changing software M&A and the Optimizely orchestration layer case study

[00:52:30] Market Sophistication – Why software buyers are becoming more discerning and what this means for deal strategy Questions, comments, concerns?Follow Kison Patel for behind-the-scenes insights on modern M&A.