What product people can learn from mergers and acquisitions - Vincent Jong (CPO, Dealfront)

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Mar 26, 2025

In this engaging conversation, Vincent Jong, CPO at Dealfront, shares insights from his experience navigating product leadership during mergers and acquisitions. He emphasizes the importance of product leaders as key stakeholders in M&A processes. Vincent discusses how to spot red flags and the critical need for clear objectives and cultural alignment. He also offers tactical advice on managing integrations, highlighting the significance of adaptability and strategic communication to ensure success amidst complexity.

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INSIGHT

M&A Success Rates

Over half of acquisitions destroy value for the acquiring company, according to Boston Consulting Group.
Integrations often fail because they don't meet the company's initial goals, despite the tempting growth opportunity.

ADVICE

Leading Party in M&A

If possible, choose an acquisition where one party clearly leads.
Mergers of equals, while sometimes necessary, can create complexities in decision-making and integration.

ANECDOTE

Examples of Acquisitions

ZoomInfo's acquisition of Ringlead strengthened its enterprise offering and improved data quality.
Dealfront's acquisition of WiredMines expanded its presence in the DAF region.

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Mergers and acquisitions are often seen as boardroom strategy – but it's becoming ever more important for product leaders to be key stakeholders in the process. In this live interview recorded at #mtpcon London 2025, Randy sits down with Vincent Jong, CPO at Dealfront, to explore the real, unfiltered lessons of product leadership during M&A.

Vincent shares stories from inside two major integrations offering tactical insight into what product teams need to know, how to spot risk before it's too late, and why defining success early is critical.

Featured Links: Follow Vincent on LinkedIn and his website | Join Vincent at Saas on The Beach event in May | Buy Vincent's book 'Product-Led Sales: Combine the Best of Product-Led Growth and Sales' | 'What we learned at #mtpcon London 2025' feature by Kent McDonald and Louron Pratt

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Our Hosts
Lily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She’s currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She’s worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.

Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury’s. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group’s Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether...