CorpDev (M&A) Intern at Inspiration Commerce Group – Toronto, South Dakota

Hi - my name is Brett and I'm part of the leadership team at Inspiration Commerce Group (ICG). We've grown from $0 to double-digit millions in revenue in under 12 months, and we're now looking for our first Corporate Development (M&A) Intern to join us. This job description is rather long, but we're strong believers in sharing as much information as we can to make sure that you can make an informed decision on if we are the right fit for you (and in the interview process we will expect the same in return!).
About ICGWhen a retailer or ecommerce brand wants to advertise online they spend across dozens of different channels/platforms, with Meta & Google often being the top 2 sources of spend. We are on a mission to buy, build and consolidate the smaller channels and platforms, becoming a meaningful alternative for merchants globally. ICG is the fastest-growing performance marketing platform in Europe and the US — we currently drive >$250 million in annual sales for 5,000+ Merchants with 25 high-intent owned-and-operated digital properties in 15 markets and 7 languages.
About this RoleWe are looking for a Corporate Development (M&A) Intern to work directly with our leadership team to support our global expansion strategy. This is an entry-level, generalist role where you'll see the full lifecycle of corporate acquisitions from end to end. You will work primarily remotely, with ~1 day biweekly spent in-person with our team in Toronto. This role is open to both current Students and New Graduates.
Key Focus Areas:

Pipeline/Data Management: you will help to manage our internal M&A pipeline, researching companies/leaders and keeping their data/information up to date at all times. This will include general research around prospects, lead sourcing (finding email addresses, etc.), maintaining internal databases and resources, etc.

Scheduling & Coordination: you will help to schedule calls throughout the M&A process, take notes, and prepare the team ahead of key calls and meetings.

Modelling/Analysis: you will support the team in building and maintaining financial models and various forms of data analysis

Examples of Projects we need to tackle right away:

• Helping to re-organize and categorize all information/resources/material in our current due diligence processes, using Google Drive, Notion and various external/third-party data rooms
• Conducting market research into publicly-available data around recent acquisitions and transactions in our industry, to better inform and develop our internal benchmarking and valuation systems
• Reviewing and updating our full M&A Prospect Pipeline, ensuring that all company and contact information is as accurate as possible

About You

• You are a current student or recent graduate from a post-secondary Commerce program with previous work/co-op experience in a CorpDev/Finance/Banking setting
• You have excellent Excel/Sheets skills and can build and maintain complex models (we will be testing this!)
• You have a solutions-oriented mindset and are willing to wear multiple hats and put in the work required to get things done in a scrappy/creative way
• You have a side project, side hustle, work experience or some indicator of an interest in entrepreneurialism/M&A/business

What we can offer you...

• A very hands-on opportunity to see behind-the-scenes in what the acquisition of global technology companies looks like. This will be a crash course into pipeline/lead generation, scheduling, due diligence processes, data analysis, financial modelling and market research.
• A flexible, remote environment (we meet together in Toronto every few weeks)
• The chance to have a meaningful impact on a business and see the results of your work.
• In full transparency we do not yet know what compensation will look like for this role. It will be an hourly rate, to be determined based on the candidate.

What we can't offer you...

• We will not always be able to guarantee work-life balance or perfect stability. Part of growing quickly is that everything isn't perfect — there are times where we work in the evenings, over weekends, and put in much more than a "typical work week". This isn't an everyday thing, but to thrive in this role you'll need to be comfortable with the fact that balance isn't always there.
• A ton of people and resources. We operate lean teams and, in an effort to maintain profitability and free cashflow, we are very careful about where we spend and what we spend on. This means that you will wear multiple hats and will sometimes need to improvise to get the job done.

Our Process:

Applications: your application will be reviewed within 48 hours, and you will hear back from us no matter what. We'll either invite you to move forward in our process, let you know we aren't moving forward + provide feedback, or let you know we need a little more time to decide. No ghosting, and full transparency, always.

Interviews: you will meet with Brett, Andrew and/or another member of our team. Our interviews are a mixture of conversational/qualitative discussions, behavioural interview questions, and giving you a chance to ask as many questions as possible. These are typically 30-60 minutes each, conducted over Google Meet.

Case Study: we will test your financial modelling/analysis skills with a short assignment.

Offer: this is the fun part — we'll make an offer, and start getting ready for you to join us!

If you have any questions throughout the process, feel free to reach out to Brett. Thank you, and hopefully we talk soon!