209. The M&A Window You Can’t Afford to Miss ft. Ilya Mikin

Ilya Mikin is Vice President of Technology M&A at Corum Group, one of the leading technology M&A advisory firms globally. His background spans more than two decades across enterprise marketing at Intel and Unilever, executive and CEO roles at companies including iHerb, multiple founder exits across AdTech, MarTech, and FinTech, and now advising founders through acquisitions. He has been on every side of the M&A table, which makes his perspective unusually grounded.This episode gets into what has fundamentally changed about how technology and e-commerce companies are built, valued, and sold. The old playbook of raising VC money, growing at all costs, and gunning for IPO has largely collapsed. What replaced it is a market where M&A has become the primary liquidity event for founders, and where the rules for what makes a company attractive have shifted significantly.Eitan and Ilya dig into what acquirers actually look at today: why NRR, GRR, and low churn have become the cornerstones of valuation, why private equity now represents up to 40-50% of buyers in some sectors, and what it means to be an AI-native company versus an AI-enabled one. They also cover the mechanics of the M&A process itself — the four to eight week preparation phase, how Corum builds competitive tension among buyers, why the narrative around a business often matters more than the financials, and the internal deal killers that founders rarely talk about openly.Ilya also shares his take on where shoppable video sits in a world increasingly shaped by agentic AI, why he believes emotional product categories are protected from agent-driven purchasing, and what he is personally watching in the space. Founders who are building toward an exit, or who have never seriously thought about timing one, will find this conversation both practical and clarifying.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netCommerce Untold: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Ilya Mikin, Vice President Technology M&A, Corum Group, Ltd.Ilya Mikin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyamikin/Corum Group, Ltd.: https://www.corumgroup.com/Watch the full Youtube video here:https://youtu.be/2lFD9JXIjIgKey Takeaways:VC investment in D2C e-commerce collapsed more than 90% from its 2021 peak, while M&A deals in that same sector grew 47% in 2025 — the exit path has fundamentally shiftedIPO is no longer the default liquidity event for most founders; M&A is now the primary outcome to plan aroundAcquirers today prioritize NRR, GRR, and low churn over raw growth rate — the stickiness and profitability of your customer base drives valuation more than top-line momentumPrivate equity now represents up to 40-50% of buyers in some sectors, and PE buyers lead with EBITDA, not vision — a minimum of $2-3M ARR and $500K EBITDA is roughly where serious interest startsBeing an AI-native company can increase your valuation by 20-30% or more; for true AI-native businesses, multiples can reach up to 20x EVFor AI companies, proprietary data sets matter more than the technology itself — the model is the moatMarket consolidation follows a cycle: the first quartile of a consolidation window has the most buyers, the most competition, and the highest multiples. Waiting too long means the music stopsThe narrative you build around your company matters more than your financials in the early stages of a buyer conversation — buyers need to feel fear of missing outRunning a competitive process with multiple interested buyers is the single most powerful lever a founder has in an M&A negotiation — inbound interest from one buyer puts the founder in a weak positionDeal fatigue and co-founder misalignment are the two most common internal reasons M&A deals collapse before closingAgentic AI will likely commoditize purchasing for basic, emotionally neutral products — but shoppable video remains essential for fashion, luxury, and any category where emotional decision-making drives the purchaseMore than 20% of WallID's customers now come through AI search channels like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, with zero marketing spend — a real signal of how discovery is changingChapters:[00:00] Introduction and Guest Background[00:57] Ilya's Path from Intel and Unilever to E-Commerce and M&A[02:07] How the Approach to Building and Exiting Startups Has Changed[03:29] Why VC Investment Collapsed and M&A Deals Are Rising[04:40] What Acquirers Actually Look at Today: NRR, GRR, and Profitability[05:58] The Rise of Private Equity