This is a detailed view of our acquisition process. For more information about our acquisitions approach visit our acquisitions handbook.
The process is comprised of four key stages:
#acq-company_name) and add the internal GitLab document to the top. Add VP of Product Management and the relevant product and engineering leaders to help with the initial assessment of the opportunity.#acq-code_name.The Corporate Development team is responsible for overseeing and facilitating the integration of the acquisition post-closing, working closely with Legal, Product, Engineering, and Finance.
The integration process is outlined in our acquisition integration page.
An acquisition team will consist of the following GitLab functional team members:
To assign the product manager, after the product call or as soon as it's clear which product category the features will be implemented into, contact the category product director for the assignment.
To assign the engineering team member, contact the engineering manager of the relevant category for assignment.
| Function | Role | Deliverables |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate Development | 1. Main POC for acquired team 2. Identify potential areas for integration 1. Create case for acquisition and customer transition story 3. Integration |
1. Business case with deal structure |
| Product | 1. Outline current product features to be implemented into GitLab 2. Outline potential future functionalities to be built into GitLab after the integration period |
1. Integration strategy |
| Engineering | 1. Technical diligence | 1. Code quality review 1. Integration strategy validation - feasibility and timeline |
| Finance | 1. Lead financial diligence 2. Validate business case and deal structure |
|
| Legal | 1. Review entity, assets and existing agreements 2. Evaluate sunset and customer transition path |
1. Term Sheet 1. Acquisition agreement |
| People Ops Business Partner | 1. Lead the compensation review 2. Lead the interview process during the early and due diligence stages to completion |
|
| Security | 1. Identify and summarize Security Risk Posture as part of Early Diligence 2. Perform Application Security review |
1. Security Risk summary detailing the security risk impacts to GitLab |
At GitLab, we treat all acquisition discussions as confidential and share any information internally on a need-to-know basis. We apply compartmentalization for the various topics coming up during the acquisition process in order to maintain confidentiality and reduce unncessary exposure.
To ensure confidentiality during the acquisition process, we assign code names to each potential transaction once we enter the Early Diligence stage.
To maintain confidentiality, we follow the following guidelines:
name here before inviting people to the channel or related docs."Each quarter the Corporate Development team defines a set of three categories which are prioritized for that quarter for outbound activity. We commonly refer to them as Quarterly Focus Areas. While this is true especially for our outbound efforts, these categories will be at the center of our overall efforts and focus for that quarter, taking into account inbound prospects as well.
Although we have our quarterly focus areas, we are open to discussing potentially pursuing an opportunity outside of those. For us to look into an opportunity outside of our quarterly focus areas, it needs to satisfy one, or more, of the following criteria:
Every opportunity we explore is constantly evaluated against our prioritization as well as our bandwidth (including active engagements).
If you wish to propose an opportunity you believe we should pursue and is outside of our quarterly focus areas, please contact the Corp Dev team with the rationale behind that specific opportunity.