Nathan Rust, Senior VP of Corporate Development, Salas O'Brien

Salas O'Brien has completed 30+ mergers with a 100% success rate and 93% cumulative leadership retention. 

That doesn't happen by accident.

Nathan Rust, Senior VP of Corp Dev, explains the system behind those numbers. He shares how they screen bad fits on the first call, why their CEO meets every employee from acquired firms, and how a founder-driven sourcing flywheel attracts inbound deals.

In this episode: You’ll learn how they screen 200+ opportunities a year down to the ones worth closing, why their initial diligence list is 10 questions, how reverse due diligence works as a real screening tool, and what CEO-led integration meetings mean for retention.

The core argument: Cultural fit isn't a soft metric. Believe it or not, it's the primary filter for deals. EBITDA tells you what you're buying, but people tell you whether it survives. 

If you run corp dev at a people-intensive business and wonder why your post-close retention doesn't match your pre-close promises, this episode is for you. 

‍

What You'll Learn

• Why retention is one of the most overlooked risks in M&A
• How cultural compatibility is assessed during early conversations
• Why many buyers damage their reputation by retrading deals
• How equity rollovers align incentives between buyers and sellers
• Why simplicity in diligence often produces better results
• How direct outreach and referrals drive proprietary deal flow
• The role of reverse diligence in evaluating buyer credibility