Jim Buckley, Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions Integration at VMware Integration planning is one of the most important aspects of M&A pre-close. Planning after the fact will cause massive delays and value leaks for the entire deal. It is why the integration team must be involved during the due diligence phase.  In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, we will talk about how to create an executable integration plan during the diligence, featuring Jim Buckley, Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions Integration at VMware. Things you will learn in this episode: • How to work as an integration leader • Building an integration plan • Pre-LOI integration planning • Connecting diligence with integration planning • Defining 'done' in M&A integration This episode is sponsored by FirmRoom. FirmRoom provides 80% cost savings over VDRs that bill by page and delivers a far better user experience to boot. Sign up in under 2 minutes by going to https://firmroom.com ****************** Episode Bookmarks 00:00 Intro 04:41 Navigating corporate transitions 08:31 Aligning the integration leader with the north star 10:02 How to work as an integration leader 11:25 The role of an integration lead 13:31 Building an integration plan 16:25 Focus on revenue and integration 18:51 Pre-LOI integration planning 25:08 M&A due diligence 27:37 Employee integration and customer satisfaction 29:56 Connecting diligence with integration planning 36:20 Approach to team collaboration 39:06 The details of integration plan 41:11 Complexities of M&A integration planning 44:57 Aligning with the target company 46:46 Defining 'done' in M&A integration 49:12 Integration teams leading due diligence 51:38 Leveraging diligence data for effective planning 53:13 Advice for M&A practitioners 55:45 Craziest thing in M&A