What’s the Purpose of Corporate Development?

Do you sometimes sit back after a long week at work and ask, “what’s the point of my particular tech job?” Not, “why am I doing this?” but actually, “what’s the purpose of my specific job junction?

For some, it is apparent and straightforward — their job is selling a product or service, writing new code, or bringing a new product to market. What’s the purpose of Corporate Development or “Corp Dev,” in technology settings? that particular function at a company that is described as helping one company buy another company?

The purpose of Corp Dev is to get a qualified “no”.

Three Principals for Corporate Development

1. Not buying a company is better than buying a company; otherwise Corp. Dev. would be similar to running a long-only mutual fund, just buying companies all day to add to a portfolio or balance sheet.
2. Qualifying a decision to buy a company is the hardest part of Corp Dev. Why you want to buy, why you don’t want to buy a company. Once you have this down, you know what you want. Without qualifying, you are hungry at the grocery store with no grocery list in your hand.
3. Qualifying a “no” helps you buy the companies you need, not the ones you want. Thinking through a decision to the end, defending a decision to say no, and then using the no not as a negative but as a positive to build on your thesis of what makes a company a significant purchase is the hard work of Corp Dev. It separates the function from…