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> Deciders on M&A [do] not include the VP corp dev or the corp dev managers. Those are good relationships to have, but they don’t initiate large offers.

What is corp dev’s role then?

Maybe they like an in house recruiter: they conduct negotiations and ease the process by meeting with both parties, but the yay/nay decisions are made by the hiring manager?

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No, they're less recruiters or negotiators and more as scouts.

They are supposed to go out and find interesting things in (or adjacent to) your space, get to know them, understand how they measure up among their peers and competitors, and bring all that information back to the company.

They're all waiting for the company - usually the CEO, CPO, or CRO - to say something like "we have a need for X."

Background: I was at Okta through the Stormpath, Azuqua, and Auth0 acquisitions. I didn't have a role in any beyond knowing the M&A team and observing it throughout.

Thank you, that’s a useful explanation. I suppose, in that sense, the way corp dev operates between businesses is the same way that diplomats and business envoys operate between nations. The public role is about developing new opportunities but there’s a good amount of intelligence work (spying) going on at the same time.

You just literally described recruiting (for anything other than low/mid level employees).

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