M&A Science

Kison Patel has turned M&A Science into the single most comprehensive podcast on deal-making, period. With over 400 episodes and counting, Patel -- who founded DealRoom, an M&A optimization platform -- interviews everyone from Fortune 500 corporate development leads to mid-market investment bankers to integration consultants who have seen hundreds of transactions up close. The format is straightforward: Patel asks probing questions, his guests give honest answers. No fluff, no PR talking points. You get real stories about blown-up deals, lessons from botched integrations, and the unglamorous mechanics of due diligence that actually determine whether an acquisition creates or destroys value. Recent episodes have tackled topics like high-volume acquisition guardrails, reverse due diligence, and the evolving role of AI in deal execution. What sets this apart from other M&A shows is the sheer depth of the guest bench. One week you might hear from a pharma corporate development head explaining how they evaluate bolt-on targets; the next, an integration leader walking through how they merged two enterprise software teams without losing key talent. The conversations lean practical rather than theoretical. Patel records biweekly on Thursdays, and the associated DealRoom membership offers additional resources, but the free podcast alone delivers more actionable M&A insight than most expensive conference panels. If you work anywhere near the deal pipeline, this is required listening.