Best Practices for Sourcing Conversations Without Signaling M&A

Curious how people in corp dev approach initial conversations with founders and CEOs when exploring potential strategic fit. Specifically, how do you frame those calls so they are productive without immediately signaling “we want to acquire you,” since some founders can be sensitive to that angle early on?

Looking for thoughts on:
• General frameworks for first conversations
• Useful talking points and questions
• How to position the conversation (strategic interest, industry landscaping, partnership exploration, etc)
• How to keep things exploratory without implying hard intent

Any tips or examples from others who have navigated this would be appreciated.