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> The call must include the Product champion and may also include Stage Leaders I was not familiar with these roles before this article. Are they more colloqui

> The call must include the Product champion and may also include Stage Leaders I was not familiar with these roles before this article. Are they more colloquially known in the M&A world ?

jsty 4y ago
From the context Product Champion would seem to be using "champion" as in the B2B sales world - usually someone advocating the purchase of a particular vendor's solutions, here someone inside GitLab advocating to buy a particular company.
dnsmichi 4y ago
GitLab team member here. "Stage leaders" is specific to GitLab, referring to the stages of the DevOps lifecycle [1]. Stages are part of the product hierarchy definition [2], with sections, stages, groups, categories, features. Maybe the term is similar to "product group leader" in other areas. FYI, created a merge request to link the product handbook from the acquisitions handbook, providing more context on stage leaders. [3] [1] https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#devops-stages https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#devops... [2] https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#hierarchy https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#hierar... [3] https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/-/merge_requests/120118 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/-/merge_request...
rubidium 4y ago
They’re roles (intentionally flexible in the who) ascribed for the particular acquisition target. In M&A you have 2 main stages, the (1) find interesting targets and confirm they’re interesting, and (2) the purchase and integration. The champion will often lead (1) but if they’re too busy may have a defined stage leader to make sure the trains keep moving well. In the later stage of (2) the stage leader will typically be someone with experience integrating companies. It’s an art. I wouldn’t say they’re agreed on definitions, but I got what they meant from my exposure to M&A.

> The call must include the Product champion and may also include Stage Leaders I was not familiar with these roles before this article. Are they more colloquially known in the M&A world ?

jsty 4y ago

From the context Product Champion would seem to be using "champion" as in the B2B sales world - usually someone advocating the purchase of a particular vendor's solutions, here someone inside GitLab advocating to buy a particular company.

dnsmichi 4y ago

GitLab team member here. "Stage leaders" is specific to GitLab, referring to the stages of the DevOps lifecycle [1]. Stages are part of the product hierarchy definition [2], with sections, stages, groups, categories, features. Maybe the term is similar to "product group leader" in other areas. FYI, created a merge request to link the product handbook from the acquisitions handbook, providing more context on stage leaders. [3] [1] https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#devops-stages https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#devops... [2] https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#hierarchy https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#hierar... [3] https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/-/merge_requests/120118 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/-/merge_request...

rubidium 4y ago

They’re roles (intentionally flexible in the who) ascribed for the particular acquisition target. In M&A you have 2 main stages, the (1) find interesting targets and confirm they’re interesting, and (2) the purchase and integration. The champion will often lead (1) but if they’re too busy may have a defined stage leader to make sure the trains keep moving well. In the later stage of (2) the stage leader will typically be someone with experience integrating companies. It’s an art. I wouldn’t say they’re agreed on definitions, but I got what they meant from my exposure to M&A.