claude-skills-reference/c-level-advisor/ma-playbook/references/integration-playbook.md

Post-Acquisition Integration Playbook

The 100-day plan for integrating an acquisition. Most acquisitions fail not because of bad deals but bad integration.

The Integration Paradox

Move too fast → you break what you bought. Move too slow → talent leaves, customers churn, value evaporates.

The rule: Decide on day 1 what stays separate and what merges. Then execute without wavering.

Pre-Close (Day -30 to 0)

Integration Lead

• Appoint ONE integration lead (not a committee)
• This person reports to the CEO, has authority over all workstreams
• Full-time role for 100 days minimum

Planning

Workstream	Owner	Day 1 Decisions
People	CHRO	Who stays, comp alignment, reporting lines
Technology	CTO	Systems to merge, timeline, migration order
Customers	CRO	Communication plan, account ownership
Product	CPO	Roadmap integration, feature consolidation
Operations	COO	Process alignment, tool consolidation
Finance	CFO	Entity structure, billing, reporting
Legal	External	Contract assignments, IP transfer

Communication Plan (ready before close)

• Employee announcement (both companies) — Day 1
• Customer notification — Day 1-3
• Partner/vendor notification — Week 1
• Public announcement — per deal terms

Week 1 (Days 1-7): Stabilize

Goal: No one leaves, no customer churns, operations continue.

• All-hands meeting (both companies together)
• 1:1 with every acquired leader (within 48 hours)
• Retention packages confirmed for key employees
• Customer communication sent (personal for top 20 accounts)
• Systems access provisioned (email, Slack, tools)
• Integration FAQ published internally

The First All-Hands

What people want to hear:

1. Why this happened (honest version)
2. What changes (be specific, not vague)
3. What doesn't change (equally important)
4. Their job security (be direct)
5. Timeline for decisions

What NOT to say: "Nothing will change." (It will. They know it.)

Month 1 (Days 1-30): Orient

Goal: Teams know each other, quick wins shipped, blockers identified.

People

• Org chart finalized and communicated
• Comp band alignment completed
• Benefits transition timeline published
• Cross-team introductions facilitated (not forced)
• Culture assessment: what's different, what's compatible

Technology

• Architecture assessment complete
• Migration priority ranked (quick wins first)
• Shared development environment established
• Code access and permissions set up
• Technical debt from both sides documented

Customers

• Top 20 accounts contacted personally by leadership
• Unified support channel established (or plan for it)
• Pricing/contract transition plan for overlapping customers
• Product roadmap communication (what's coming, what's being deprecated)

Quick Wins

Ship something visible in the first 30 days. A feature that combines both companies' strengths. This proves the acquisition works better than any memo.

Month 2-3 (Days 31-100): Integrate

Goal: Core systems merged, one team operating, value creation visible.

Systems Integration Priority

1. Communication (Slack, email) — Week 2
2. Identity (SSO, accounts) — Week 3
3. Development (repos, CI/CD) — Month 1
4. Data (analytics, CRM) — Month 2
5. Product (shared platform) — Month 2-3
6. Finance (billing, reporting) — Month 3

Culture Integration

• Don't: Force the acquired team to adopt everything immediately
• Do: Find the best practices from BOTH cultures, adopt the winner
• Don't: Rename everything on Day 1
• Do: Co-create the combined identity over 60 days
• Watch for: "Us vs them" language, meeting exclusions, information hoarding

Measuring Integration Success

Metric	Target	Frequency
Employee retention (key people)	> 90% at 100 days	Weekly
Customer retention	> 95% at 100 days	Monthly
Cross-team collaboration (PRs, meetings)	Increasing trend	Weekly
Synergy revenue (combined offerings)	First deal within 60 days	Monthly
Integration milestones hit	> 80% on time	Weekly

Post-100 Days

Integration isn't "done" at 100 days. But the foundation should be solid.

Ongoing

• Quarterly integration retrospective (what's working, what isn't)
• Culture health check at 6 months
• Full financial integration assessment at 12 months
• Earnout milestone tracking (if applicable)

Common Failure Modes

Failure	Root Cause	Prevention
Key talent leaves at month 4	Retention cliff, culture mismatch	Longer earnout, culture attention
Customer churn spike at month 6	Product changes without warning	Over-communicate product roadmap
"Two companies in a trenchcoat"	Incomplete integration	Force cross-functional projects
Value never materializes	Wrong acquisition rationale	Kill the deal if rationale was wrong
Acquirer culture overwhelms	"Our way is the only way"	Adopt best of both explicitly

The Kill Switch

Sometimes acquisitions don't work. Signs it's failing:

• Key people leaving despite retention packages
• Customers churning above baseline
• Integration milestones consistently missed
• Culture clash worsening, not improving
• Revenue synergies aren't materializing at month 6

Options:

1. Double down with new integration lead and plan
2. Operate as semi-autonomous unit (less integration)
3. Spin off or divest (expensive, but sometimes necessary)

Admitting failure early costs less than dragging it out.