This is the fourth post in our blog series unpacking Silicon Foundry’s full suite of offerings and the thinking behind each one. In this installment, Managing Director Erik Terjesen delves into Corporate Development as a Service, or CDaaS, an on-demand, embedded solution that accelerates strategic growth by extending corporate development capabilities. With the AI landscape evolving rapidly, Erik explains why CDaaS is more relevant than ever to help corporate development teams identify growth opportunities, cut through market noise, and move with the speed and clarity today’s environment demands.
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Let’s start with the “why.” What inspired Silicon Foundry to create Corporate Development-as-a-Service (CDaaS) offering?
Many of the partners and team members at Silicon Foundry have backgrounds in corporate development, a category that broadly includes partnerships, M&A, and, in some cases, investment. We’ve worked inside large corporates in these roles and have seen common patterns across organizations when it comes to the corporate development function. It’s typically very strategic, often reporting directly to a CFO or even a CEO. However, these teams are rarely large. They’re usually made up of a small group of specialists with deep experience in transactions, and depending on the company’s activity level, they can quickly become stretched thin.
We’ve experienced that firsthand within large organizations. That’s why we view our offering as an extension of those teams, supporting not only the identification of acquisition or partnership targets, but also assisting in diligencing and evaluating paths to a transaction. Our Corporate Development-as-a-Service model is designed to add value by filling resource gaps and providing strategic support where it’s most needed.
Why do you believe CDaaS is particularly relevant right now?
Across a wide range of sectors, we’re seeing a noticeable increase in activity around M&A, partnerships, and investment. AI is a major driver behind this surge. Many companies are actively exploring how AI will impact their business, both in terms of internal operations and customer-facing tools. As a result, corporate development teams are often tasked with shaping an AI strategy and establishing engagement criteria, which is no small feat.
The AI landscape is evolving rapidly, with hundreds of startups already in the space and new ones emerging daily. That’s where a partner like Silicon Foundry becomes especially valuable. With our broad view of the ecosystem, we help corporate development teams identify relevant startups, build the case for collaboration, and support them in moving toward a partnership or transaction. The urgency around AI as a strategic imperative continues to grow, and it’s not limited to tech. We’re seeing this across industries, as companies look to AI not just as a buzzword, but as a real enabler of business transformation.
In your own words, how would you explain the impact the CDaaS offering has for corporate leaders?
I think the fundamental impact, if I’m speaking to someone who oversees or directs a corporate development function, is the ability to accelerate and expand the scope of what that team can accomplish. There’s a lot of noise in the space right now, especially around emerging areas like AI, and there’s also increasing pressure to move quickly and identify the most relevant opportunities. So if I were to explain our impact, it’s in helping to speed up those capabilities.
Many corp dev teams are already fully engaged with current priorities, including active M&A deals, and when new areas of interest like AI come into play, they’re often stretched thin. Our goal is to help make these teams more efficient and more accountable. We come in as a strategic advisor, not just to surface options, but to ask the right questions: Have you looked at this angle? Have you considered that sector? Instead of selecting companies based on first impressions, we offer a broader lens and help pinpoint which opportunities are truly the best fit.
What’s a misconception people often have about this offering?
I’d say there’s sometimes a misconception that we engage with these companies, go off on our own, develop a thesis, and then return with a report saying, “Here’s what you should do.” In reality, it’s much more collaborative than that. As we’ve said, we aim to become part of the team. In past engagements, we’ve worked with corporate development teams on a weekly basis, maintaining close, ongoing communication. That’s especially important because corporate development priorities can shift quickly.
The M&A activity or areas of interest you see in one month might look very different just a few months later. We’re built to adapt to that. So the idea that we’re just handed a task and go execute in isolation doesn’t reflect how we work. These CDaaS relationships are typically not project-based. They’re often structured as year-long engagements, which allows us to adjust as priorities evolve and to take real ownership of a longer-term partnership.
Can you share a favorite anecdote or example where this offering really made a difference for a client?
We had a client recently that was exploring a new space, specifically looking at the impact of a group of companies focused on biodiversity. They were examining how environmental science might influence corporate priorities and decision-making. It’s an emerging area, but we were able to identify a significant number of relevant companies, most of which had only been funded in the past three to four years. Several stood out as compelling candidates, and that engagement ultimately led to a direct investment by the client in one of the biodiversity startups we recommended. It was a tangible outcome that resulted in both a partnership and an investment.
What’s something you personally learned or found surprising while building or delivering the CDaaS offering?
I think we’ve had the benefit of working across a number of sectors, industrials, pharmaceuticals, energy, and others, and what’s interesting is that, despite the differences in sector, the approach and methodology we use with corporate development functions tends to be quite similar. The specific topic or focus may change based on internal priorities, but the way we engage remains consistent. That’s been somewhat surprising, because you’d expect very different approaches across industries. In reality, corporate development is almost a meta-function, with a lot of common characteristics and traits regardless of the sector. So while the subject matter shifts, there’s a lot of reusability in how we work across different industries.
How do you see this offering evolving in the next 12-18 months?
I do believe, based on the experience we’ve had recently and the traction we’re seeing, that CDaaS will become an increasingly significant part of the work we do at Foundry, though our scope certainly extends beyond CDaaS. The value proposition is clear, and as I mentioned, the market forces are in place. We’re seeing a wave of innovation across certain tech segments that many corporates are still working to fully understand. A few years ago, for example, many companies in the semiconductor space had a solid grasp of their acquisition options. But AI has changed that dramatically.
Now we’re seeing AI tools being used for chip design, testing, and even within R&D workflows. These capabilities are evolving fast, and it’s been striking to see how quickly companies are realizing the scope of what’s possible and what they need to do to stay competitive. Corporate priorities are shifting rapidly. When CEOs hear that peers in their sector are cutting design cycles by 30% using AI, they start to take a serious interest in what their own organizations could be doing.
If you could give one piece of advice to a corporate leader considering this offering, what would it be?
I think the advice would be, first, to create a sense of urgency, because with this offering, companies can accelerate their new initiatives. Corporate development is often about augmenting the existing business, but in many cases, it’s also about exploring entirely new markets or areas. The idea that we can help accelerate that exploration is really significant.
The second thing I’d highlight about CDaaS is how we deliver them. If we agree to work together, we can start as soon as next week. We have the staffing, the capability, and the experience to make an immediate impact. The alternative for a corporate leader is to try and build the team internally, and we’ve seen that with several clients. They launch searches for people with this skill set and often spend six months or more just finding one or two hires. In many cases, you hope those hires work out, but when they don’t, you’re essentially back to square one.
That’s why we focus on being able to plug in quickly, add value immediately, and work in a way that aligns with how corporate development teams operate—their cadence, their priorities, their decision-making timelines. All of that makes this model a strong and flexible option.
What excites you most about working in this space?
I think corporate development groups across a variety of industries are truly the tip of the spear when it comes to how companies act on new ideas and technologies. Many corporates try to build their own internal systems or drive innovation from within, whether to improve operations or explore new market segments. But the reality is, especially for large organizations, the most transformative innovation often comes from outside the company, and frequently from startups. That’s why it’s critical for corporate development teams to stay closely connected to the startup ecosystem across a range of technologies.
Pharmaceuticals is a great example. The industry has shifted to a model where a significant portion of R&D is essentially outsourced to startups. Corporates monitor early results, and when a startup shows promise, they’re willing to make an acquisition to bring that innovation in-house and build out a new product line. It’s exciting to think about how these kinds of acquisitions aren’t just about bolting something onto an existing system. They can actually open the door to entirely new opportunities across the organization.
