Dan Pollock, Vice President of Corporate Development/M&A at SAM Companies

Dan shares how he built SAM Companies’ M&A function from the ground up—executing over 30 deals and transforming M&A into a strategic growth engine. Backed by Peak Rock Capital, SAM Companies focuses on acquiring founder-led geospatial and infrastructure services businesses. Dan dives deep into how he balances disciplined diligence with relationship-first sourcing, how his team integrates small companies into a larger framework, and why culture and seller alignment matter as much as price.

Whether you're building out corp dev from scratch or refining your playbook, this conversation offers tactical insight into how to scale M&A the right way.

Things you will learn:

How to build an in-house M&A engine with a lean corp dev team
How to source proprietary deals through trust and local relationships
How to structure earnouts and retention payments to align incentives

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Episode Chapters

00:03:00 – Dan’s background: from audit to M&A leadership at SAM
00:05:00 – Building SAM’s M&A muscle from the ground up
00:08:30 – Creating buy-in and accountability for integration success
00:10:00 – Getting the company ready to integrate acquisitions
00:11:00 – Sourcing: proprietary relationships vs. cold outreach
00:13:30 – Case study: renewable energy firm acquisition
00:15:00 – Thinking through revenue vs. cost synergies
00:16:30 – The psychology of earnouts and why they changed their approach
00:18:30 – How to open conversations with founder-led businesses
00:21:00 – Why founder retention is tied to valuation
00:24:00 – Turning relationships into actionable deals over time
00:29:00 – Competing with PE: how SAM positions better long-term fit
00:33:00 – Retention bonuses vs. earnouts: what's working better
00:39:00 – Why diligence and integration must run in parallel
00:41:30 – Managing team fatigue and repeatability with DealRoom
00:45:00 – Letting sellers speak with past acquired founders
00:47:00 – Private equity partnership governance at SAM
00:51:00 – Diligence red flags and small business surprises

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Building Trust in Acquisitions with Dan Pollock

M&A Science