Podcasts about Bain Capital

Episode 310 opens with Steve Dennis reporting back from an invitation-only Amazon analyst day in Seattle, two days focused on Prime and grocery. Steve unpacks the breadth of the Prime flywheel, Amazon's push into sub-one-day delivery, the drone facility he toured just before the company announced an expansion to roughly 500 markets, and why Amazon's rise to the number two grocer in North America should have rivals looking over their shoulders. Then, the numbers. US retail sales grew about 5% excluding fuel. Walmart delivered a lackluster 2.6% US comp, its weakest in six years, offset by a 46% jump in global advertising and nearly $3 billion in tariff refunds the company says it will reinvest in price. Target posted a nearly 4% comp with traffic up 3.6%; real progress, though Steve cautions the invitation can be better than the party. In off-price, TJX comped 4% while Ross Stores turned in a second straight double-digit quarter. And Simon Property Group made the case that great physical retail is alive and well. The interview, recorded live at the CommerceNext Growth Show in New York, features Scott Friend, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, and Indy Guha, General Partner at VMG Partners. Scott co-founded price optimization pioneer ProfitLogic before joining BCV twenty years ago; Indy co-leads VMG's commerce infrastructure fund after scaling Signifyd. Together they tackle a hard question: when AI makes everything easier to build, how do you tell a real company from a pitch formula? Their answer centers on founder clarity and earned domain expertise, because a couple of quarters' head start has never mattered more. The conversation ranges across whether personalization and merchandising optimization are now table stakes, the surveillance pricing debate, AI-driven homogeneity versus the promise of the "N of one" customer journey, and Indy's memorable "Claude-proof" test for anyone building in commerce. Both push back on agentic commerce hype, arguing agents will own low-interest replenishment missions while people keep the treasure hunt. Scott points to the revenue ramp of AI-native companies as evidence this cycle is real, not overhyped. Both land in the same place: brand, community, and authenticity are the last durable moats, and retail teams must become architects rather than assembly-line workers. Back in studio, on the radar: Steve tracks the bond market, with 30-year Treasuries at a 19-year high and the 10-year at 4.75%, squeezing discretionary income and retailer expansion plans alike. Michael watches Canadian icon Roots, newly sold to New York's Marquee Brands with Joe Mimran advising on merchandising, and asks whether the brand can reclaim its former glory. Registration is open for a special webinar featuring Steve in conversation with Placer AI's Head of Analytical Research RJ Hottovy. From changing shopping patterns to emerging market opportunities, shifting consumer demand continues to reshape the industry. So don't miss this data-driven session unpacking the most important trends defining today's marketplace and the strategies leading brands are using to win retail's future. It's all brought to you by Placer.AI and It all happens on Tuesday September 29 at 1pm ET..Register here today:https://www.placer.ai/discover-events/discover-shifting-consumer-demand About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

Alan Portela is the CEO and Co-Founder of DEPTH Health. Before this he spent 12 years running AirStrip, deployed in 750 US hospitals, and has advised Masimo, Bain Capital, and Apollo Hospitals. Touring hospitals after the pandemic, a Vanderbilt physician took him past the emergency department waiting room and into the hallway where admitted patients board. Portela treated it like a traffic jam and asked where the accident was. It was triage. Most boarding patients score ESI 3, and roughly half are stable enough for a bed they aren't waiting for. In this episode of DGTL Voices, he tells Ed why pilots don't work, why he spent a year with St. Luke's University Health Network defining what to measure before claiming anything, and how he started this company the same week he started treatment for recurrent prostate cancer. Connect with Marx Advisory at https://bio.marxadvisory.com/

Shannon Spotswood – CEO, RFG Advisory Choosing a platform isn't just about technology or economics. It's about finding a partner that helps you build the business you actually want to own. Shannon Spotswood explains why growth without compromise starts with choosing the right partner. In Summary What should advisors really look for in a platform partner? Jason Diamond sits down with Shannon Spotswood, CEO of RFG Advisory, to discuss why the best platforms do more than provide technology and operational support—they help advisors build stronger businesses. Shannon shares lessons from helping grow RFG into one of the industry's leading supportive independence firms, covering everything from private equity partnerships and advisor experience to enterprise value, branding, and overcoming the fear that keeps many advisors from pursuing the business they truly want. The Storyline Most advisors evaluating independence compare technology, payouts, and service offerings. Shannon Spotswood believes they're asking the wrong first question. After spending two decades in institutional investing and later helping to rebuild RFG Advisory from the ground up, Shannon has developed a philosophy centered on partnership. She argues that the best platforms function less like vendors and more like long-term business partners, helping advisors spend more time with clients, build enterprise value, and create businesses aligned with their vision rather than forcing compromises. Jason and Shannon discuss what meaningful support actually looks like, why the right private equity partner can accelerate growth rather than restrict it, and why advisors should demand evidence – not marketing promises – when evaluating a platform. The conversation also explores one of the industry's biggest obstacles to change: fear. Shannon explains why outdated assumptions about transitioning firms continue to prevent advisors from building businesses they enjoy, even though data suggests the experience is often far less disruptive than many believe. Ultimately, the discussion reframes independence itself—not as the destination, but as the beginning of choosing the right long-term partners. Topics Covered Evaluating advisor platforms as long-term business partners Building an independent business without compromise Enterprise value and organic growth Private equity as a strategic growth partner Advisor experience and client experience Branding and authenticity in wealth management Overcoming fear and transition myths Technology, outsourcing, and operational leverage Leadership, succession, and organizational growth The future of supportive independence   > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors Why should advisors think of a platform as a business partner? (10:00) Shannon explains why technology and service alone aren't enough—and why the right partner should help advisors build the business they ultimately want to own. What does “growth without compromise” actually mean? (10:00–17:30) RFG's philosophy centers on helping advisors focus on their highest-value work while surrounding them with integrated support designed to drive enterprise value. Can private equity make a firm better? (25:00) Rather than debating whether private equity is good or bad, Shannon explains why success depends on choosing a partner whose values and long-term vision align with yours. How should advisors evaluate competing platforms? (43:00) Her advice is simple: don't rely on marketing. Speak with advisors already using the platform and ask firms to demonstrate – not simply promise – how they solve problems. Why does fear keep so many advisors from making a change? (48:30) Shannon discusses the “PTSD” many advisors carry from outdated transition stories and why today's reality often looks very different. What does the future of advisor platforms look like? (34:00–42:00) The conversation explores advisor demand for greater personalization, stronger brands, AI-enabled efficiency, and partners that help advisors grow without sacrificing independence. Key Takeaways The best advisor platforms function as long-term strategic partners—not simply service providers. Enterprise value grows when advisors spend more time serving clients and less time managing operations. Private equity can be highly beneficial when partners share a common vision and respect management autonomy. Advisors should evaluate firms based on demonstrated execution rather than marketing claims. Fear remains one of the biggest barriers to advisor movement despite significant improvements in transition support. Authentic branding and deeper client relationships will become increasingly important as AI reshapes wealth management. https://youtu.be/jaSt3-mO0so Quotable Moments “The right partners make you better. The wrong ones can quietly hold you back.” “Don't tell me. Show me.” “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” “Your team deserves to be happy. You deserve to be happy.”   FAQs What should advisors look for when evaluating an advisor platform? Shannon believes advisors should look beyond technology and economics and evaluate whether a platform acts like a true long-term business partner that helps them grow and build enterprise value. How does RFG define “growth without compromise”? By providing integrated support – from technology and compliance to marketing and coaching – that allows advisors to spend more time with clients while maintaining control of their businesses. Is private equity always good or bad for advisor firms? No. Shannon argues that success depends less on private equity itself and more on choosing partners who share the firm's long-term vision and values. Why do advisors hesitate to make a move? Fear and outdated perceptions about transitions still influence decision-making, even though today's transition experience is often much smoother than advisors expect. How should advisors compare competing platforms? Talk directly with affiliated advisors, ask for measurable evidence of results, and focus on how a platform responds to advisor feedback rather than marketing claims. How is AI changing advisor businesses? AI should enhance – not replace – the advisor relationship by creating operational efficiencies that allow advisors to spend more time delivering personalized advice. Shannon believes advisors should look beyond technology and economics and evaluate whether a platform acts like a true long-term business partner that helps them grow and build enterprise value. By providing integrated support – from technology and compliance to marketing and coaching – that allows advisors to spend more time with clients while maintaining control of their businesses. No. Shannon argues that success depends less on private equity itself and more on choosing partners who share the firm's long-term vision and values. Fear and outdated perceptions about transitions still influence decision-making, even though today's transition experience is often much smoother than advisors expect. Talk directly with affiliated advisors, ask for measurable evidence of results, and focus on how a platform responds to advisor feedback rather than marketing claims. AI should enhance – not replace – the advisor relationship by creating operational efficiencies that allow advisors to spend more time delivering personalized advice. Related Resources How to Evaluate a Firm Beyond the Obvious: A Framework for Advisors Why You Should Stay at Your Current Firm   Shannon SpotswoodCEO Shannon Spotswood is a 25+ year industry veteran with a tremendous amount of experience across both retail and institutional finance and an outstanding reputation built on her passionate leadership and ongoing success in investment banking, hedge fund portfolio management, business development and retail wealth management. Joining RFG in 2015, Shannon recognized the opportunity to channel her entrepreneurial experience and passion for service into leading a mission to create an Advisor-focused RIA of the Future delivering a supported independence platform that empowers Financial Advisors to build the businesses they want to have, without compromise. Shannon's career has been characterized by her determination to build something bigger than herself. Having fallen in love with finance at only age 14, she was focused on making an impact in a male-dominated industry. After graduating from college, Shannon spent 20 years in San Francisco working in institutional finance. She began her career in investment banking and eventually achieved her dream job as a Portfolio Manager of a long- short equity fund at Symphony Asset Management. The company was acquired by Nuveen in 2001. After a decade at that firm and now a mother of 3 young children, Shannon turned her entrepreneurial passion in a new direction with a drastic pivot to start a luxury children's clothing brand, Busy Bees. Taking her years of experience in qualitative analysis of retail companies, Shannon and her business partner built the brand from the ground up, ushering its' growth from a garage to “Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop” over the course of a few years. Shannon and her family made the decision to move from the Bay Area to Birmingham, Alabama to be closer to family. And shortly after, the call to return to her first love, finance, grew to great to ignore. In 2015, Shannon joined RFG Advisory as President, leading RFG as the firm has grown from $1.8B to over $5B. In July of 2024, Shannon was named CEO of RFG Advisory and currently serves in that role. NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Diamond Consultants. Neither Diamond Consultants nor the guests on this podcast are compensated in any way for their participation. View the transcript of this episode… Growth Without Compromise: Building Around the Advisor Experience A conversation with Jason Diamond and Shannon Spotswood, CEO of RFG Advisory. Jason Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for Financial Advisors. Today’s episode is Growth Without Compromise: Building Around the Advisor Experience. It’s a conversation with Shannon Spotswood, the CEO of RFG Advisory. I’m Jason Diamond, and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education-driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at 908-879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual advisor transition report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Jason Diamond: The right partners make you better. The wrong ones can quietly hold you back. Most conversations about independence focus on platforms as providers of technology, service, or infrastructure. Shannon Spotswood sees them differently. She believes advisors should evaluate a platform the same way they’d evaluate any long-term business partner, by asking whether it will help them build the kind of firm they ultimately want to own. That’s exactly what we explore in this episode. Shannon is the CEO of RFG Advisory, a firm that has grown from a startup into one of the industry’s leading supportive independence platforms. Along the way, she’s developed a unique perspective on what advisors should be looking for beyond economics and technology, and why the right partner can accelerate growth, strengthen culture, and help create a business that’s built to last. It’s a conversation that goes well beyond advisor platforms. We explore why Shannon believes so strongly in growth without compromise, what private equity can look like when the partnership is aligned, why firms shouldn’t try to be everything to everyone, and how advisors can separate marketing promises from meaningful support. We also spend time on a topic that comes up in nearly every transition conversation my team has with advisors, fear. Shannon shares her perspective on why outdated assumptions about making a move continue to hold advisors back and why asking better questions and demanding evidence instead of promises can fundamentally change the way advisors evaluate every opportunity in front of them. Whether you’re considering independence, evaluating your current platform, or simply thinking about what comes next for your business, I think you’ll find Shannon’s perspective both practical and though-provoking, especially the sage advice in her words, “Don’t tell me, show me.” There’s a lot to take away from this conversation, so let’s get to it. Shannon, thanks so much for joining me. Thrilled to have you here. Shannon Spotswood: It’s excellent to be here. I’m really looking forward to it. Jason Diamond: Me too. Let’s dive right in. I want to start with your background. You spent 20 years in San Fran as an investment banker, then as a portfolio manager at Symphony Asset Management before even touching the world of wealth management. So what made you walk away from, we’ll call it the institutional world and enter the world of wealth management? Shannon Spotswood: It’s a little bit of a circuitous story, but I’m going to take us on the short route. I fell in love with Wall Street as a teenager, so I knew I wanted to work on Wall Street. My dream job was actually the time that I spent at Symphony Asset Management. I was a hedge fund manager for them for six years running a long/short equity fund. I then had three children in three and a half years. The firm was acquired by Nuveen Investments, and we grew very large, and I was on this really interesting trajectory within the institutional investment management world. And somewhat of the unexpected happened to me in 2010, we’d come through the financial crisis. I looked around the room, I had these three young children, and having loved finance since a very early age, I couldn’t crawl on an airplane anymore. I fell out of love with what was honestly my first love. And I made a pretty radical pivot. I left Symphony, the tallest building at the time in San Francisco, and I partnered with a woman, and we built a luxury children’s clothing company for the next three years. So about as radical of a move as you can make, a $30 billion firm, big team, a tremendous growth ahead of us to upside down boxes of infant cashmere in a garage that flooded when it rained. So I had my startup in a garage moment. And while I was running the children’s clothing company, my husband and I took a big leap of faith and decided to move from San Francisco to Birmingham, Alabama to get closer to family, to raise our kids in the South, and just manifest the life that we wanted. In the third year of running the kids’ clothing business, we checked every box of our initial business plan, and I turned to my business partner and I was like, “Now what? Should we raise capital? Should we open stores? Should we diversify manufacturing?” And we realized this beautiful little luxury brand that we had created was exactly what it needed to be. And so we restructured the company and I punched out of that. And I spent, really for the first time in my life, about five months in deep contemplation. What was the first hedge fund that I was a part of in San Francisco, my tour of duty through investment banking as an analyst associate and helping them start an M&A group. This incredible decade that I’d spent at Symphony, and then this wild out of left field moment of building a luxury children’s clothing brand. And it had such an epiphany, Jason. And it was this, that I was on the ground floor of all of those businesses. And my aha moment was, oh my gosh, I’m a builder. What I love more than anything is sitting at the intersection of talent and opportunity and what I think is truly one of life’s greatest gifts, and certainly I think the most fun way to live your professional life, which is building something. So I put my resume together and I titled… It wasn’t even really a job search. It was more, I was new to Birmingham. I wondered if there was anything I could be of service in being a part of building something. So I put that resume together and I titled it Seeking the Intangible. And I was looking for that opportunity of talent and building something bigger than myself. And it was through some networking with my across the street neighbor who went on to become a board member of RFG who thought all I did was sell his wife incredibly expensive clothing who networked me to Bobby White, who’s the founder of RFG. And in the first 10 minutes of my conversation with Bobby, and I’ll tell you, both of us went into that meeting thinking it was going to be a filler meeting. He was doing a favor for a friend, and I had seen a little bit of the wealth management industry after Nuveen had acquired Symphony and was like, “That’s not really my bag. My jam is more on the institutional side of things.” And 10 minutes into our very first meeting, we both canceled the rest of our day, and we spent the next two and a half hours in his office having a conversation that really started with what if. What if we took RFG, which had been founded in 2003, and at the time was an OSJ with LPL, what if we took that business and we tore it all the way down to the ground? And we rebuilt it from the ground floor up to be a platform that is designed, that is intentionally engineered, to serve independent advisors? What would it look like to be a client experience company first, a technology company second, and a corporate RIA third? And I’ll tell you, walking out of that meeting, I was like, “This is it. This is it. This is the intangible. This is an opportunity to really build something very special.” And that’s how I found myself sitting in this talking to you today. Jason Diamond: Wow. So there’s a lot to unpack there. Thank you for sharing. And you shared it with a degree of vulnerability that I personally, I have a two-year-old and a three-week-old as of this recording. So it resonates with me. I think it resonates with a lot of advisors, people in our, and honestly, probably most industries, the constant pull in multiple different directions. And I love what you called it, seeking the intangible. And it sounds like you didn’t go in with any preconceived notion about… Many of our guests, by the way, that is the case. They walk in saying, “I knew since I was two years old I wanted to be in wealth management. I wanted to help be a steward of client…” And I love that your circuitous route took you a different direction. I want to talk more about the firm, and we’ll dive in on some of these elements of your background also. But before we do, you mentioned a little bit of, at a high level, what RFG is. Give me a little more context, types of advisors you serve, types of clients you serve. And if you don’t mind, provide some stats around size as well. Shannon Spotswood: Absolutely. So we are on a mission to help independent advisors build their business without compromise by driving organic growth to create enterprise value. And I share that because in our mission statement is the passion that links us all together, which is helping independent advisors build what they want to envision for their clients, what they believe is the best representation of their vision and their values. So we are a platform, a full turnkey platform for independent advisors. We talk about our services as a flywheel. There’s a very intentional interdependency from technology to marketing to compliance to talent to investment management to coaching, operations, transition services, and capital solutions. All of it is knit together very thoughtfully in order to be able to deliver to the advisors on our promise to help them operationalize and professionalize their business, to serve their clients and to generate that organic growth, which is what translates into enterprise value. What is so cool about the RFG advisor community, and I think is really the thread that binds between our teams and our advisors team is this servant heart growth mindset that you find it in every nook and cranny of RFG and certainly within all of our advisor partners. So the advisor profile for us, we do tend to skew a little bit younger. Average age is 45 years old. Organic growth across all of our advisors is north of 10%. So we’re very focused and leaned in on growth. We do have advisors that are lifestyle. We talk about them as lifestyle scaling and enterprise, and they run all along that growth at growth spectrum, depending on what do they want to build in their lives, what is going to help them really realize their dreams? And we’ll talk about this a little bit and just the growth of the firm and what we’ve been building, but we are at $9 billion. So it’s been a big run in 2026, as I say, 10 years of pre-game warmup to be able to really talk about that level of growth. So just knocking on the door of $10 billion and truly, Jason, I can tell you, I feel like we’re just getting started. I feel like we are just at the beginning of the J-curve as advisors are really realizing that their most valuable asset is their time and the amount of enterprise value that they can create being independent. There’s a lot of different flavors of that. We’ve got some incredibly well-capitalized and very strong competitors, but the collective awareness around this bull market for advice that we’re sitting at the very beginning of is shining such a bright light on what does it mean to be independent? What does it mean to be really supported by a partner who’s all in to help them win? And that’s where we find ourselves. And by design, that’s where we find ourselves. Jason Diamond: Yeah, and it’s an exciting time. I completely agree. The space, the vertical you’re in, probably as much or more than any other pocket of the industry. You took the words out of my mouth, the J-curve. I completely agree with the story you’re telling. There’s one component of your background that I do want to ask about, which is many RIAs, platforms, and the like, the leadership team is intentionally ex-advisors in their own right. So I’m curious, do you think of it as a benefit or maybe to what degree is it not a benefit that you have never been an advisor and served clients? I do love the idea that you’re a business builder and you’re helping advisors to build a business. That’s not lost on me, but I’m curious specifically about never having been an advisor. Shannon Spotswood: I think it is so critical that we were advisor-founded. What we like to say is we’re advisor-founded and professionally-led. Bobby founded the firm in 2003. We partnered in 2015. Our third partner, Rick Wedell, who’s our chief investment officer, managing partner, joined in 2016. So the three of us really co-founded the version of RFG that is- Jason Diamond: The right version. Shannon Spotswood: … expressed in the market today. But you’re a hundred percent right to double click on this. And I think it is such an important area for reflection for advisors in terms of where are their greatest skills? Where does their passion lie? And what are they interested in building? That very first day that I met Bobby, his telling of the story is he looked at my resume the morning that we were meant to meet, and he is like, “Well, why would I hire her? She could do my job.” And he often talked about that where you get to this point as an advisor where the business is scaling and growing. And we certainly are seeing this in a lot of the larger teams that we’re talking to and the relationships that we’re beginning to build within the pipeline of these advisors who were attracted to the industry because they wanted to serve clients and find themselves as accidental CEOs, COOs, their chief cook and bottle washer to advisor to all of these C-suite titles. And it’s not amplifying their natural skillset and it’s not aligned with what is actually their passion for the business. So I give a tremendous amount of credit to Bobby for recognizing more than 10 years ago really what it would take and how he could align team around him and build partnerships around him to be able to maximize the impact that we can have for advisors. So that north star of keeping advisors front and center is truly our, it is woven into our DNA and it is our north star. So we are a client experience company by design. We talk about it all the time, whether it’s how we’re building our team, how we’re thinking about investing in technology, how we’re soliciting feedback for advisors. I always say one of our greatest strengths as an organization is we’re active listeners and then we actually execute on it. Our best ideas come from our advisors, but you’ve got to have that posture as a firm that everything you do is orienting around how do we help advisors operationalize, professionalize, drive organic growth, and create enterprise value? And you can’t do it sometimes. You’re either all in, chips all in, only winning when your advisors win, and only having that lens of will this benefit the advisor and their team or not. It’s not something that you can just dip your toe in and out of. And I think RFG, having that foundation from which to always build is absolutely critical. Jason Diamond: Can I try and paraphrase or synthesize, and you tell me if I get this right? The pitch is something to the effect of, “We are really good at what we do. Let us take all the BS off of your plate so that you can go out and be an advisor. Service your client and prospect.” Do you find that story is resonating more over time? I mean, you’ve been with the firm now long enough to see this kind of cycle of movement towards independence. How has that story evolved over time? Do you find it easier to tell? Shannon Spotswood: Oh my gosh, without question. And I would even put a shorter term window on it. I would say in the last 12 to 15 months- Jason Diamond: Oh wow. Shannon Spotswood: … there has been a collective awakening by advisors, and I think there’s a lot of contributing factors to that. One is obviously as we are all aware, the majority of the industry is now private equity backed. There has been a real focus on the aggregator model, transitioning advisors into a W-2 model. And as that has played out and that financial engineering has translated into some incredible valuations and returns, there has also been simultaneously advisors picking their head up and like, wait a minute, I wanted to get independent so I could serve my clients in a way that I felt best represented my vision and my values. And I’m finding myself increasingly in a captive environment. All the while the technology is getting better, the valuations are getting larger, the ability to control both your branding and what that means for your family legacy is increasing. So over the course of the last 15 to 18 months, that story has just, while it’s been there for a long time, the independent movement was obviously sparked more than, gosh, now 16, 20 years ago in earnest. Now it’s just the passion and the knowledge that advisors are showing up to conversations in recognizing I want more. I want to spend my time where I want to spend it. I want to serve more families. I want to be well-positioned for generational wealth transition. I want to own the enterprise value. I want to build my team and I want the best tech. And that to me is exactly why we’re at the beginning of this J-curve. Jason Diamond: Yeah, I think you nailed it. And I agree with you that this notion of independence is not a destination in and of… It’s too broad of a term I think to use. And there are plenty of advisors who either started at one version of independence and need something different now, or to your point, thought they were going independent only to realize perhaps there’s elements of the business that aren’t as independent as they realized. And that’s where I think a firm like RFG to me, it’s not an accident that your firm fills this niche. This was advisor demand driven. Advisors said explicitly and implicitly, “We want to be independent. We want to own our equity. We want to have control over the things we like, but we want a support partner that helps us with all the back office, the middle office, investment management, the flywheel,” as you call it. Shannon Spotswood: That’s right. Jason Diamond: One other element of your journey to this point that I want to ask about, the succession journey or the journey to CEO, and I’m only asking because it’s somewhat recent, I think it was 2024, so we’re about two years in CEO. For the eight years prior to that, you were president. Shannon Spotswood: Yes. Jason Diamond: And this dynamic is near and dear for a lot of advisors. This idea you’re the heir apparent, but the date hasn’t happened until it happened. Was that a smooth transition date or did you find yourself, and I hope you can be honest about it, and if not, I understand, but I think this is something that a lot of advisors in their own businesses struggle with. So as somebody who’s gone through a major succession journey in the last two years, I’m curious what your thoughts are. Shannon Spotswood: The timing coincided with us bringing on a growth capital partner. So we closed on that partnership with Long Ridge in the fall of 2023, and we really set our sights on how do we bring this capital into the business and invest in our team, invest in our technology, invest in this desire to help independent advisors build their business. And Long Ridge really shares that long-term strategic belief that independence and the corporate RIA model is the ultimate winning model. So we have a lot of room to run there. So entering into that growth partnership with Long Ridge really provided a natural opportunity for that succession conversation to take place and to be able to take the company to the next leg. So we’ve tripled the size of the company over the course of the last two and a half years. Jason Diamond: Good for you. Shannon Spotswood: And as I said, I feel like we’re just getting started. I always joke we’ve had the longest pre-game warmup in history. In a lot of ways that’s by design. For me, the way that I can sleep at night is knowing that we are waking up as a team in this unified front to walk the walk for our advisors. It is incredibly important to us to honor the promise that we’ve made, whether it’s on tech or talent or transition services or marketing growth. So being able to lean in and deliver that, it takes a long time to build that institutional know-how and to be uncompromising in consistently making hard decisions, whether it’s around talent or the investments that you’re making or how you’re running and growing and building the firm. And so Bobby reached and Long Ridge and all of us reached this point where it was just a very natural way. And I think it was such a gift that I had such a long warmup, if you will, in the bullpen, running the day-to-day of the business as president, being so close to sweating the details of how we built the foundation, how we run the firm. And then obviously Ed Swenson joined us as president in last fall in October of 2025, having joined our board when we partnered with Long Ridge. So he joined our board in September of ’23, and he and I set up a call every other week. So we just became this incredibly trusted confidant of mine as we made a lot of strategic investments and key strategic decisions in that first 15 to 18 months of our partnership with Long Ridge. So to be able to build and attract the caliber of talent that we have to RFG, I mean, I’m totally biased and talking my own book, but I think we have the best leadership team. Doug Nelson joined us from Long Ridge as our CFO in November of last year, just bringing that rigor, particularly around capital strategies into our C-suite. So it was the right time to make that transition. And what I would say for founder advisor-led firms, it’s all about what are your growth ambitions? It’s what are your growth ambitions? Without question, when I joined and Bobby and Rick and I set upon this journey to tear the entire company down and build this robust tech stack and be at the forefront as an innovator in that space, that was experience that I had from my 20 years in San Francisco. And Rick had this incredible institutional pedigree having spent 12 years at Bain Capital plus two years at Stanford Business School, complimenting this authenticity that Bobby brought as an advisor, bringing that together. So recognizing as a founder advisor, if you have growth ambitions to 10X your business, it’s going to require that you bring high caliber talent to the table and allow for that room both from an equity participation perspective, but also just from what does the business need as it continues to scale up? Jason Diamond: That’s exactly right. And part of this gets back to private equity sometimes gets a bad rep in our space, but the reality is capital from private equity enables a lot of what you’re talking about. And I give you a lot of credit. I mean, you make the half joke about the longest pregame warmup ever, but I think of it as you learned on your own dime and you built all the kinks and ironed out all the kinks prior to having this critical mass of advisors on your platform. And we’ve seen certainly plenty of firms go that route too. So I give you credit for that. I think because we’re on the topic, let’s talk about it, private equity. Positive experience, negative experience, neutral, neither good nor bad. Just give me your… I don’t want to make the episode about the perils- Shannon Spotswood: Right. Jason Diamond: … and benefits of private equity capital, but just curious what your experience has been. Shannon Spotswood: I think this is one of those life lessons. Choose your partners wisely and great things can happen, whether it’s in your marriage or your friendships- Jason Diamond: Spouse. Yep. Shannon Spotswood: … or your business partners. And Long Ridge found us very serendipitously. I mean, we were probably two years from even contemplating bringing in a growth capital partner. They were introduced to us by a former board member and they were in our offices in January of 2023. And the most important things for us were twofold. Number one, they shared our vision and belief that the corporate RIA independent is the winning model for the industry and for advisors and clients. And number two, who they are as people is very much who we are as people. They’re builders. Jason Diamond: Culturally. Shannon Spotswood: They have this servant heart growth mindset that they share with us. So I feel incredibly blessed to say they’re amazing partners. And what’s interesting, and I’ll share this very openly, they’re the majority owners of RFG. We were very early in that time of bringing them on. They have always honored the promise that they made to us, which is we run the business. They are a strategic partner. They’re a great thought partner. They are the capital provider, but there has been multiple examples where we have made business decisions where there’s been some heat in the kitchen, in the boardroom, and we’ve felt very strongly about it. So I just couldn’t say enough great things about them. And one thing that I will just share, and I say this because they’ve shared this with me, I have had this incredible personal journey of growth bringing such a deep bench in Long Ridge into the firm. And that has been certainly challenging at times. Do hard things, get comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s the ultimate definition. But I really think that is something that never gets talked about is what it means in upskilling the caliber of your talent, yourself, how you have to grow and evolve as an individual has been really, I won’t say it’s been easy, but I look back on what I’ve learned over these two years and just feel prepared as a leadership team, how we operate as a team, what is expected of us to be able to deliver and execute for our advisors in this next leg of growth. Jason Diamond: I think your marriage analogy is the perfect one, and I’m going to use it. And honestly, in a lot of ways. First of all, marriage is hard, good or bad. It’s hard. Second of all, it’s the ultimate… The institution of marriage is not good or bad. Private equity capital is not good or bad, but your answer is the right one. Pick your partner very wisely. My favorite part of your answer, because it’s the most original, was around a good capital backer, a good partner, whatever you want to call it, pushes you to be better. And I think that you’re surrounding yourself with, by definition, some of the smartest people in the industry, and that can’t be a bad thing. And the proof is in the pudding. The growth trajectory you’ve seen, it’s certainly no accident. I think part of it is tied to your incredible stewardship. You don’t have to answer that. You don’t have to be humble, but I’ll attribute it to you. That brings me to my next question. Shannon Spotswood: I do have to say really quickly. Jason Diamond: Please do. Shannon Spotswood: I will be celebrating my 27th wedding anniversary in October. So yeah, pick your partners. Jason Diamond: Congrats. And I feel equally blessed, I assume as you do. I have a great partner, I’ll say. I don’t know if she’s listening right now, but she’s a great spouse. What I was going to say though, good segue, I think there’s been more in recent years, but not a ton certainly of female C-suite wealth management executives. How do you feel about your role? Do you feel an increased burden? Is it an honor to you? Is it something that you don’t think much about at all? I’m curious what your thoughts are. Shannon Spotswood: I feel immense gratitude. I mean, just in general, leading RFG and locking arms with our team and our advisors is, I mean, a gift of a lifetime. I was incredibly fortunate to not just have mentors during my 20 years in San Francisco, but to have true sponsors. Whether it was the first hedge fund I worked at, I took that job because it was a female portfolio manager and at the time one of the only in the country. And she really opened up her heart to me and poured into me. And then 10 years at Symphony, the founding partners of Symphony, they dropped me into the deep end of the pool and gave me a lot of rope to make a lot of mistakes and continued to invest. So I have this foundation from which to build and to lead and to be ready for this role. I couldn’t do any of this without my partners. Rick and I have been partners for more than 10 years. It really does take a village in the same way that it takes a village to raise your family. It takes a village to find the courage and the strength to lead in a way that really honors the gravity of the mission. But I’ll tell you this. One, I knew I wanted to work on Wall Street from a very young age, so I chose this. I knew what I was getting into, that it was a male-dominated industry. I have made particularly, this is one of the unique facets of the wealth management business, we have phenomenal both male and female talent, and I have made the strongest female relationships on this side of the business as compared to the institutional side of the business. So I think there is a richness to our side of the industry that doesn’t get enough air cover. There are just phenomenal leaders, and I think increasingly so, we’re seeing more women stay in the game and raise into positions within the C-suite and leading these firms. I will tell you one thing in 2019, and I really give a lot of credit to Bobby for this in coaching me, is I was raised by wolves on Wall Street without question. I sat on a trade desk, I was completely comfortable with compartmentalizing emotion, and I made it a mission to develop intentionally my emotional intelligence. And that truly unlocked everything for me, and I think plays such a huge part of who I want to be and who I challenge myself to be as a leader. And so it’s funny when I get the question asked of me about being a female CEO, because I think that’s what people feel must be like came very intuitively to me, but I had to learn it. I had 20 plus years of being able to run with boys and I needed to develop that skill. And it is a skill that I challenge myself on a daily to continue to lean into. And I think it is increasingly important both for men and women who aspire to leadership to hone the strategic and execution alongside that emotional intelligence. Jason Diamond: Great answer. And I think you know I admire a lot about you, but it’s certainly one of the things I admire most about you is over the last couple years in particular you’ve been a real beacon of positivity, of empowerment in that regard. You’re active on socials, you’re active at industry events, you’re always willing to talk to people. And honestly, that to me is the answer. A lot of people complain about this as a problem, and I want to just take a second to applaud you because I think you and your firm actually do something to at least try and actively solve some of this. And also you mentioned it earlier, but same thing with some of the next gen dynamics. You skew much younger than the average firm on the industry. And I think that too is to your credit around, okay, we’ve identified that we have a major succession problem in our industry. What are we doing to solve that? Shannon Spotswood: Absolutely. Jason Diamond: Let’s talk about growth a little bit. I agree with your thesis. This space you occupy, no better time to be in it. We’re at the perfect spot on the J-curve. Unfortunately, we are not the only two people to think that. There are also, I think, some other firms. This space has become crowded. What do you think about that? Just the fact that there’s more competition than ever. I mean, my view of it is there are enough quality advisors to go around, but curious what you think. Shannon Spotswood: Anytime I find myself wading into the waters of fear and scarcity around this topic, I’m reminded that 67% of the assets still remain within the wirehouse and IBD space. We got lots of room to run. I believe in a mindset of abundance. The data will tell us that the demand for advice is increasing by 30% over the next decade while the number of advisors is decreasing by 1%. So we’ve got, find me another industry where you see a graph that looks like that. On top of that, next gen, which I think this is so fascinating, next gen actually wants more advice when compared to the baby boomers. So baby boomers created our industry, and here we are sitting on $87 trillion worth of generational wealth that’s going to begin to transition. That doesn’t even include all of the wealth that will be monetized through real estate and family-owned businesses. It is a tsunami. And what is, I think, really interesting is that next gen recognizes the value of their time. I’m sure if I had a conversation, Jason, with you and my husband about how intentional you want to be in terms of showing up for your children and the equal nature of parenting, that alone is changing the way the next gen thinks about both their professions as well as their family life, which means you by default have to hire professionals to do the things that you don’t want to spend the time doing. Jason Diamond: Really good point. Shannon Spotswood: So we have this incredible convergence that’s happening right now, and it’s coming at a time that technology is finally going to allow us to serve more families more intentionally along that wealth spectrum. So it is like, bring it on. There is more than enough to go around. We are in an era of abundance. And what I worry the most about, and this, it’s like climb up on the soapbox and let’s roll, about independence because I see and have so many conversations with advisors where they have been willing to accept such a compromised service experience that they would never allow to be delivered to their clients. So advisors are delivering this 24-hour concierge, high-touch, deeply thoughtful experience, estate planning, tax planning, financial planning, multi-generational conversations. They’re in it. They’re in the trench. And then they turn around and their service partner is so subpar. They’re compromising their growth. They’re burying them in compliance and ops and clicks and swivel chair and tech that doesn’t work. So we’re at the very beginning of this bull run for advice. And I think advisors who recognize, I want to serve more families, I want more control over my time, I want to be able to build enterprise value on my personal balance sheet, have room to do it. So I welcome the competition. I think the best way to talk about it is iron sharpens iron. I learn so much from our peers and like, ah, they did this or they did that. How do we think more disruptively, more innovatively? How do we do it differently? So I think there’s a lot of room for all of us. You’re going to be busy, my friend. You’re already sitting there advising the lion’s share of the big deals, and I think you guys are just getting started as well. Jason Diamond: Yeah, it certainly feels like a bull market for advice and also I think a bull market for some of the… You allude to an interesting paradox, which is some of the biggest and most sophisticated advisors in the industry have really high-touch impressive service models, but they don’t seem to demand the same in return. I have some thoughts as to why. I think one could just be Kool-Aid drinking, like you don’t know any better and you’ve been there for so long. There’s just so much friction associated with moving a business and fear associated that it’s unless things get really dire or unless I find something that’s better enough or meaningfully better enough, I can gut it out. But the third one that comes to mind is these firms we’re talking about have unequivocally, they do a lot of good, a lot of bad, but unequivocally one of the things they do really well is brand. Shannon Spotswood: Yeah. Jason Diamond: How do you reconcile that question with a firm that obviously doesn’t have a brand that the average American consumer would know? Shannon Spotswood: We take a posture on this that is rooted in an Accenture study that was conducted several years ago, but I think still remains so true today, is that advisors think that the value proposition that their clients are looking for, either it’s that big monobrand that’s advertising at the Super Bowl or the alpha they’re ever able to generate or the portfolio investments. But the clients tell us that what they’re looking for in an advisor is, do you get me? Do you share my values? And do I want to spend time with you outside the office? And that is basically distilled down the way we talk about it is people connect with people. So now more than ever, particularly if you take a big step back and you think about the influencer economy and how brands, big brands, Nike or big consumer brands have really leaned into niche branding. How do I get my brand into the hands of someone who’s very passionate about it? So advisors who develop their own brand, who have a presence on social, who have a presence in AEO and SEO, who are leaning in and expressing not only their client experience, but their vision and their values through their brand, I actually think as this generational wealth unfolds, that authenticity carries so much more weight than is my name on a football stadium. So it is those three factors. It’s just I’m comfortable. I don’t want ripple. It is friction and fear for sure. And then it’s like that branding is up for grabs because we certainly see one of the most fun parts of advisors joining RFG, this is a big part of what we do is helping them design and develop or reimagine their brand name, their logo, all the rest of it. Once that creative energy is unlocked and you get to tell your story, your my why, that connective tissue is so powerful with the clients and with the growth that comes from that because I mean, I truly believe people connect with people. They’re looking for that. And I think more so now than ever with AI. Jason Diamond: You just took the words out of my mouth. Do you think AI perpetuates that? Shannon Spotswood: I think people are craving that. And this is why advisors who are powered by AI without question are going to win. Advisors are not going to be disrupted by AI unless they haven’t made the move to get themselves in a position to be able to leverage the technology, the brand, the talent, the maximizing of their time. But especially with something as important and as personal as money, as you walk through life, I mean, you are at the very beginning. I’m sending, I’ll have all three kids in college. But as you make these critical decisions in your life, whether it’s getting married or starting a business or changing jobs or buying your first house, buying your vacation house, all of these things, you can go right or you can go wrong. And having a trusted partner who really understands you, I actually think that we’re going to see the fees paid for advisors increasing as there is a greater premium placed on, I want deeply personal relationships that are tailor-made for me. Jason Diamond: But I assume the flip side of that is you have to do more. You as a firm and you as an advisor have to do more, and you can’t just raise fees with the same service model. So I think what is the corollary of that? What are some of the ancillary growth areas that you do beyond the financial planning and asset management that says, “We’re worth that money you’re going to pay us”? Shannon Spotswood: It is, and I love the work that wealth.com is doing here. I mean, the estate planning and tax planning, making that more accessible along that continuum of wealth spectrum, the blurring of the lines between ultra high net worth and high net worth, and then mass affluent is so exciting. Better, more robust planning is good for our industry overall. Obviously there’s a huge amount of demand on the tax side of things, particularly the 1040. It’s easy to find a CPA to do the cool complex stuff. It’s increasingly more challenging for advisors. That’s an area that I know a lot of firms have leaned into. We’re certainly doing a lot of work. But so much of this, Jason, is showing up at the right time for clients with the resources. It’s a really interesting conversation about, yes, you have to do more for your clients, but you don’t have to do more for all your clients at exactly the same time. Jason Diamond: That’s well said. The flip side of that is as an advisor, because ultimately the advisors are the ones making this decision. There are a lot of firms, and not even just firms that you would be competitors with, because the reality is you and I understand the industry landscape and where various firms fit in. For many advisors, it’s a long list of various firm names that they’ve heard. So what are some things that you think advisors should be asking a firm like you or a business development person at your firm to suss this out? How does an advisor go about understanding if a platform is empty or is really going to be able to deliver in all these areas? Shannon Spotswood: Remember back in the day when the Wall Street Journal used to run have a monkey throw a dart and see if you can beat the pros on stock picking? I love to do that with regards to our advisors. We always tell our prospects, “Throw a dart at any advisor that’s affiliated with RFG and call them. Certainly we can provide a list of advisors who we think you’re going to most align with in terms of what your growth ambitions are or the way you want to run your business or who you are, life stage, all the rest of it.” But I do think that getting that unfiltered experience, the good, the bad, the ugly. We always are like, “Are we perfect? Absolutely not. Do we though immediately want the feedback so that we can iterate to excellence to get better? Absolutely. Get that firsthand testimony.” So that’s number one. Number two is don’t tell me, show me. There are so many, and it always pulls at my heart because as much as I love to win business and transition advisors, and I think that we’re working certainly at RFG on some really interesting technology that is anchored around removing that friction and fear by speeding up the time that you can make that transition in. And the tech is finally there to allow for this. So I think we’re going to be able to take variable number two and at least make that box a little bit smaller. But if I’m sitting as an advisor, I would want to see the evidence. Show me how you’ve solved the problems that advisors have brought to you. How have you refined your tech stack? How have you invested in your team? How have you made the decisions where the ROI can be measurable and tangible? And I think too often I’m surprised that advisors get, it’s almost as if they get overwhelmed by the amount of information that they’re taking in trying to compare all these different firms. If I’m ever asked, I’m like, please work with a third-party recruiter. You need someone not only to act as an interpreter, but you need someone to help really keep your top three priorities at the front of your decision-making matrix, because it really is apples to oranges to orangutans and you get decision fatigue. And then advisors end up making this decision that is anchored in like, well, this is the highest payout, and I’m willing to take all of these sacrifices and paper cuts for this highest payout. And that is just such a travesty. So it’s like, know what you want. What are your top three problems that you’re trying to solve? Talk to advisors that you get to pick just so you can do some secret shopping, and then demand evidence of how the firm, the platform has responded to feedback and gotten better as a result because that will tell you, are they really going to walk the walk or are they just going to talk the talk? Jason Diamond: I’m super grateful that you gave specifics there because it’s an easy question to dodge and talk around. So I completely agree. Your first answer, actually all three of those points you just made, but certainly doing name-blind calls, and I say name-blind because advisors worry about confidentiality. I think that’s one of the best and most underrated tools to learn about a firm is advisors now have so many colleagues. There’s been this diaspora of advisors where advisors know advisors everywhere. And that’s a benefit if you wanted to go and just network and have conversations with other advisors on your own. But if you’re worried about confidentiality, there’s certainly the mechanisms, and we do this all the time for advisors to set up name-blind calls. You dial into a conference line, it’s John Smith, and you pick an advisor’s brain and say, “Hey, you moved your book from LPL to RFG, and tell me what that experience was like and what were the positives? Give me all the negatives.” To your point, you want advisors to ask those questions in advance. It’s better to ask those questions than to end up in the wrong marriage with the advisor. Shannon Spotswood: Absolutely. And the other thing is what an easy answer to BS around is tell me who’s a good fit for your firm. And it’s like, “Everyone’s welcome here.” Jason Diamond: Everybody. Yeah. Shannon Spotswood: It’s just not true. RFG is not a good fit for an advisor who is not open to using technology, who is not interested in outsourcing investment management, who doesn’t want to have a conversation about how are you spending your time and do you want to create enterprise value? Do you want to grow? So it really is important to have that vulnerability and that honesty and the answer to that question. Jason Diamond: I love it. We have time for one more. I can’t believe it’s been almost an hour. Shannon Spotswood: I know, it flies by. Jason Diamond: We speak with plenty of advisors who aren’t considering a move, but I’m interested. I think you have a really nice lens into the industry. What is one thing you wish advisors knew? You have a megaphone to just talk to advisors who maybe are considering change, but maybe aren’t. What’s the questions they should be thinking about? What keeps you up at night? Just what would be your public service announcement? Shannon Spotswood: I’m going to focus on the friction and fear because that’s the number one barrier to making a move is PTSD, either first person PTSD or the collective negative experience that the industry has had. It took me 90 days to transition. I got sued by my former firm. I lost all these clients. I didn’t have income. The wise tales of fear are very widely trafficked and widespread. And what I would say to an advisor is everything you want is on the other side of fear. And I look at all of this data that suggests exactly the opposite, which is you have the relationship with the client. You have the trust with the client. You are the one who they call on Sunday night when they need a shoulder to cry on or sage advice for making a decision. Just believe it with the core of your being because what we see is 99% of assets transition, whether it’s a restrictive transition or you’re taking full data, that the majority of assets are transitioning within 30 days, that this is still a free country, and you can make a move while honoring your contract around non-solicitation, non-competes, and non-associations. So it is like this fear of holding advisors back is preventing them from realizing and monetizing this enterprise value, but equally as importantly, loving their business. Have fun. This should be fun. We spend the majority of our life at work. And so being able to surround yourself with people who win when you win, with a team who’s aligned and isn’t just drudgery with all their operations compliance headaches that they’re dealing with. Your team deserves to be happy. You deserve to be happy. And that fear factor is holding so many advisors back. So that’s my advice is that it just doesn’t have to play out that way. And I think not just at RFG, collectively where we are as an independent industry with technology, with the way that AI is changing and our ability to harness data and business intelligence, getting to that point of next best action, how am I spending my time, how am I realizing, what is the blueprint for realizing my growth goals is more tangible now than ever. That’s immediately where I go. Jason Diamond: I’ve never been an advisor. I’ve never had a book of business, so I don’t want to minimize the fear, but I will say this. If we speak to advisors, let’s say a year post-transition, by far the number one thing we hear from them is, “I wish I did this sooner.” Shannon Spotswood: Wish I did it sooner. Jason Diamond: And that to me is the most telling data point there is to your point about fear and getting over it. Shannon Spotswood: So I do this exercise all the time with our team as we’re onboarding advisors is I want you to go home and look at your spouse and tell them, “I’m going to leave my job. I have no certainty that everything is going to work out. We might not receive any kind of compensation. Are you cool with that?” Walk that emotional journey. And while there’s plenty obviously that we can do with Capital Solutions to ease the financial fear associated with it, I still think at the baseline, it’s a great exercise to keep everyone very humble. You are asking an advisor to take their life’s work. And someone was sharing this analogy with me the other day and I was like, “Oh my gosh, that’s so good,” which is imagine moving houses. It’s such a hassle packing up moving one house. Now imagine moving 400 households or 1,200 households. It’s a lot, but I always hear the same thing, “I wish I’d done it sooner.” Jason Diamond: Thank you for sharing. You had some really sage wisdom that you shared with our audience. I can’t wait to see the next chapter, the continuation of the J-curve. This has been a fantastic episode, Shannon. Thank you. Shannon Spotswood: I love being with you, Jason. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. Mindy Diamond: As a financial advisor, you hold yourself to the highest standards of integrity, honesty, and credibility. You are successful because you take your professional responsibilities seriously and are dedicated to your clients. But are you living your best business life? Are your goals aligned with your firms or could a better option exist? Should I Stay or Should I Go? is a book written with you in mind. It’s a self-guided journey that walks you through the key steps that we take with our advisor clients. This strategic thought process and roadmap to professional self-discovery is designed to help you ask the right questions and think critically and objectively, whether you’re considering change or not. Learn how to get your copy at diamond-consultants.com/thebook.   Growth Without Compromise: Building Around the Advisor Experience A conversation with Jason Diamond and Shannon Spotswood, CEO of RFG Advisory. Jason Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for Financial Advisors. Today’s episode is Growth Without Compromise: Building Around the Advisor Experience. It’s a conversation with Shannon Spotswood, the CEO of RFG Advisory. I’m Jason Diamond, and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education-driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at 908-879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual advisor transition re

Our playbook to $100K a month is free, and it comes with an AI tool that builds a plan for you: ► The $100K Playbook: https://capitalism.com/100K Dr. Benjamin Hardy is the co-author of the books, "10x Is Easier Than 2x" and "Who Not How" with Dan Sullivan. I read his new one, "The Science of Scaling," and then I couldn't sleep. Step one is to set a goal so big you don't believe you can hit it, and I got stuck there, so instead of interviewing Ben about his framework I asked him to run it on me live. He pulled my own goal three years forward and made me say out loud what would have to go, which is when it clicked: the goal is not a prediction, it's a tool for deciding what you cut. Mentioned on the podcast: ► The $100K Playbook: https://capitalism.com/100K ► Bootcamp waitlist: https://capitalism.com/bootcamp ► The Science of Scaling by Dr. Benjamin Hardy ► 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy ► Who Not How by Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy (0:00) Very talented entrepreneurs could be getting 100X the results they are (0:38) Step one of the book: set an impossible goal (1:02) My challenge to you before we start, and the number I want you to aim at (2:21) "I have a bone to pick with you." The book that cost me a night of sleep (3:10) How Ben made his money, and the coaching company he sold (4:15) Why he walked away from social media, masterminds, and his old business (6:27) Most people think scale means doing twice as many things (8:03) High-rep, low-rep, and Joseph Nguyen's "no-rep" learning (9:59) Five pathways that were all decent, and not one of them powerful (11:09) I got stuck on chapter one with seven goals that all seemed related (14:20) Using time as a tool: shorten the window, filter out the seven-figure decisions (15:53) "How blunt do you want me to be?" Ben moves my 2030 goal to 2027 (16:53) The first thing that falls apart is a role we manage instead of hire well (18:29) Acquire bigger brands, or install better operators (19:20) The honest answer for why I never just changed the timeline (20:44) Nobody is monitoring your goal, which is exactly what makes it a tool (23:30) Your impossible goal does not have to be a billion dollars (24:46) What happens after $100 million, and why a billion feels unclear (26:05) My seven goals out loud, and the four I had already forgotten (27:20) The Cleveland Guardians, and the goal I stopped believing in (30:34) Your goal and the company's goal are two different goals (32:20) The Bain Capital founder who could not answer "how do you choose the right goal?" (33:39) "Just choose" versus optimizing for the wrong thing (36:02) The purpose of the goal is whatever it forces you to face (37:58) Physician's Choice cut profitable SKUs to build a $100 million company (39:55) Why every event and every scroll hands you four more goals (41:47) Alicia Alt went from 10 customers to 8,000 in one week (43:20) The power law, and why a great one is worth 10,000 average ones (45:20) Margin for error: what a superstar does for everyone else on the floor (46:03) "The who often comes with the pathway" (48:15) Tom Brady and Odell Beckham Jr. had the same game and different goals (52:43) José Ramírez took $100 million below market to be the greatest Cleveland player ever (53:37) How many goals Ben actually has (54:48) The Logan Paul problem, and what Musk is really optimizing for (57:41) You are not sacrificing the other six goals, you are sacrificing them for now (1:00:37) Raising the floor is the conscious choice to let things go (1:04:07) "I'm not capable of that." Why belief is not required at the start (1:08:44) Hidden commitments: the $31 million founder avoiding his father's collapse (1:12:45) Big visions and a life you actually enjoy DISCLAIMER: The information contained on this Podcast Channel and the resources available for download/viewing through this Podcast Channel are for educational and informational purposes only.

Bloomberg reported that a Singapore-based data center operator confidentially filed for a US IPO targeting about $5 billion. The confidential process allows initial SEC review before public disclosure. A deal of this size would likely list on NYSE or Nasdaq and include multiple bulge-bracket underwriters. Data center demand from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, as well as AI workloads using Nvidia GPUs, is driving higher-density builds and new cooling investments. Singapore's policy shifts since 2019 have steered some development to Johor and Batam. Public comparables include Equinix, Digital Realty Trust, and GDS Holdings, while Chindata was taken private by Bain Capital. Proceeds would likely fund new capacity, power connections, acquisitions, and debt refinancing, with investor focus on contracts, power sourcing, and execution discipline.Learn more on this news by visiting us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The global dietary supplement market just witnessed a massive $1.2 billion acquisition. In this deep dive, I'm breaking down how the family-owned Vitabiotics Group caught the eye of private equity giant Bain Capital. From fleeing geopolitical adversity during the 1947 Partition of India to achieving prime-time television fame on the BBC's Dragons' Den, the story of Vitabiotics is anything but ordinary. But behind the celebrity endorsements and household name recognition lies a brilliant corporate strategy. So, I'll analyze the mechanics of Bain Capital's massive buyout, the powerful supply chain cost-arbitrage moat fueling their valuation, and what this means for the future of the global supplement industry. Is Bain preparing for a massive horizontal roll-up maybe by syncing Vitabiotics with its 1440 Foods active nutrition brands? Let's look at the strategic playbook.

US equity futures are pointing higher, with S&P 500 contracts up 0.8% as markets look to recover after US equities posted their second consecutive negative week. Bonds are firming across the board, with the US 10-year yield falling 5 bps to 4.6%, Bunds down around 4 bps to 3.1%, and Gilts leading the move lower, dropping roughly 7 bps to almost 5%. In commodities, WTI crude is down sharply—off about 5.5% to around $84/bbl—following a revival in Middle East diplomatic efforts, while Brent is trading near $91/bbl. The US dollar is weakening slightly, pulling back from three-week highs, and precious metals are catching a bid with both gold and silver trading higher. Bitcoin is also rebounding. Risk appetite is recovering as markets latch onto a fragile Middle East truce. The US-military paused attacks on Iran amid ammunition shortages, with Tehran reciprocating, though the Houthis struck Saudi oil facilities in the interim. Investors are treating the pause as a broader de-escalation signal, sending Brent crude sharply lower. Companies Mentioned: DCC Energy, Argenx, Forte Biosciences, Carlyle Group, Bain Capital

In this episode of Future Finance, Paul Barnhurst and Glenn Hopper are joined by Nick Jain and Daniel Settel, co-founders of Eagle Rock CFO. They discuss how AI is changing FP&A, why finance teams still need human expertise, and how their platform helps CFOs automate financial analysis while improving decision-making.Nick Jain is a Harvard MBA and former CEO, CFO, and investor with experience at McKinsey, Bain Capital, and multiple high-growth companies. Daniel Settel is a Stanford engineer, Harvard MBA, former investment professional at Primecap Management, and co-founder of a venture secondary marketplace. Together, they founded Eagle Rock CFO to combine technology with fractional CFO services for growing businesses.In this episode, you will discover:How AI can automate FP&A without replacing finance professionalsWhy clean financial data is essential for better analysisThe role of humans in AI-powered finance workflowsHow fractional CFOs can use technology to serve more clientsWhere businesses can uncover hidden value in their financial data AI-powered finance tools are changing how businesses analyze data, but success still depends on combining automation with sound financial judgment. Nick and Daniel share practical insights into how finance leaders can use technology to save time, uncover opportunities, and make better decisions. Follow Nick:Website: https://www.eaglerockcfo.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickmjain/Follow Dan:Website: https://www.eaglerockcfo.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsettel/Follow Glenn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbhopperiiiFollow Paul:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thefpandaguyFollow QFlow.AI:Website - https://bit.ly/4i1EkjgFuture Finance is sponsored by QFlow.ai, the strategic finance platform solving the toughest part of planning and analysis: B2B revenue. Align sales, marketing, and finance, speed up decision-making, and lock in accountability with QFlow.ai. Stay tuned for a deeper understanding of how AI is shaping the future of finance and what it means for businesses and individuals alike.In Today's Episode:[02:24] – Why Eagle Rock CFO Was Founded[04:35] – Building AI for FP&A[09:12] – The Human Role in AI-Powered Finance[10:38] – Why Fractional CFOs Need Better Tools[14:18] – Cleaning Financial Data & Chart of Accounts[16:21] – White-Labeling the Platform[17:17] – Time Savings and Business Impact[19:18] – Final Thoughts

John Connaughton is chair of Bain Capital, the Boston-based private equity firm with roughly $225 billion in assets under management.  Discussion begins with John's childhood in Baltimore and the pace set by his Irish emigre parents.  College at UVA and business school at Harvard followed.  John joined Bain in 1989, an early employee in the private equity effort that spun out of the Bain & Co. management consulting firm.   He and the hosts take a fast-paced tour through early days at Bain Capital, the mindset of Mitt Romney and other leaders, his ascent in the practice, John's own tenure in leadership, and Bain's determination to remain private even as its peers entered the public market. One constant theme:  the pursuit of extraordinary returns on every deal.   

In this episode of the ASC Podcast with John Goehle, we cover the latest ASC industry news — Surgery Partners rejecting a $3.2 billion buyout from Bain Capital to stay independent, new VMG Health data on surgeon recruitment and the shift in anesthesia staffing, and a leadership piece on why “chasing volume” can be a surge to the bottom. We also share recent experiences from the field on board certification versus medical-staff bylaws, what surveyors are focusing on right now, and how preparation paid off during a real emergency. Then, in our focus segment, John sits down with Terry Bohlke for an interview on “Leadership in the Trenches.” This episode is sponsored by Surgical Information Systems, RFX Solutions, Medserve and  Ambulatory Healthcare Strategies. Notes and Resources from this Episode: Surgery Partners rejects Bain Capital buyout — Becker's ASC (June 2026) North Star Health Alliance to close its Watertown ASC & orthopedic group — Becker's ASC: beckersasc.com beckersasc.com Biggest physician risks facing ASCs in 2026 (VMG Health survey) — Becker's ASC  |  Anesthesia staffing models — Becker's ASC   |   Chasing volume is a “surge to the bottom” — Becker's ASC beckersasc.com/asc-news Guest: Terry Bohlke — “Leadership in the Trenches” INFORMATION ABOUT THE ASC PODCAST WITH JOHN GOEHLE ASC Central is our one-stop site for ASC bootcamps, on-demand conferences, and membership programs: conferences.asc-central.com Patron Membership — our base membership for podcast listeners: regular group Zoom sessions, a full resource database to help run your ASC, and several free conferences (Conditions for Coverage, Medical Director, Credentialing, and Finance & Accounting). Become a Patron Member Premium Access Program — includes Patron membership PLUS unlimited Bootcamps (Administrator and Director of Nursing, normally $1,899.99 each), our Credentialing, Conditions for Coverage, Medical Director and Infection Control programs, weekly drop-in Zoom sessions, and up to five hours of private consulting. Sign up for Premium Access Compare both programs: conferences.asc-central.com/membership-programs-2   Important Resources for ASCs: Conditions for Coverage: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&rgn=div5&view=text&node=42:3.0.1.1.3&idno=42#se42.3.416_150 Infection Control Survey Tool (Used by Surveyors for Infection Control) https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/som107_exhibit_351.pdf Updated Guidance for Ambulatory Surgical Centers - Appendix L of the State Operations Manual (SOM) https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/som107ap_l_ambulatory.pdf https://www.cms.gov/medicareprovider-enrollment-and-certificationsurveycertificationgeninfopolicy-and-memos-states-and/updated-guidance-ambulatory-surgical-centers-appendix-l-state-operations-manual-som Policy & Memos to States and Regions CMS Quality Safety & Oversight memoranda, guidance, clarifications and instructions to State Survey Agencies and CMS Regional Offices. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Policy-and-Memos-to-States-and-Regions Other Resources from the ASC Podcast with John Goehle: Visit the ASC Podcast with John Goehle Website Books by John Goehle Get a copy of John's most popular book - The Survey Guide - A Guide to the CMS Conditions for Coverage & Interpretive Guidelines for Ambulatory Surgery Centers

El gigante sueco de la moda H&M presenta unos resultados semestrales marcados por la caída de las ventas en un contexto de transformación interna y ajustes en su red comercial. La compañía registró una facturación de 9.200 millones de euros entre diciembre de 2025 y mayo de 2026, lo que supone un descenso del 7% respecto al mismo periodo del año anterior. Renault planea recortar 800 puestos de trabajo de ingeniería en Francia para finales de 2027, con el fin de optimizar su organización y competir mejor con sus rivales chinos. Y Volkswagen firma un acuerdo exclusivo con Bain Capital para la venta de su participación mayoritaria en Everllence. Bruselas plantea que los servicios en la nube de Amazon y Microsoft se sometan a reglas comunitarias más estrictas y, por otra parte, ultima una propuesta para reformar la legislación tributaria común. Entrevistaremos a Miguel Angel García Tamargo, fundador de NatureBrain, que nos hablará del próximo estreno de Helena AI, el "Bloomberg" de los activos naturales y el capital verde. En la Tertulia de Cierre de Mercados, debatiremos la actualidad con Isabel Giménez, directora de la Fundación de Estudios Bursátiles y Financieros, y Javier Rodríguez, de AERI.

Part I: The Architecture of the Guest ExperienceLa Bottega Collective designs and produces the physical and sensory touchpoints of the luxury hotel stay, from bathroom formulations and textiles to amenities, gifting, and retail, working with 15,000 properties across 117 countries, from the world's most recognized hotel groups such as Aman and Four Seasons, to the finest independent properties such as Passalacqua and Il San Pietro di Positano. Tommaso Pacini, CEO of La Bottega Collective, argues that the guest experience is not a collection of amenities but a coherent sensory language, and that the hotels who understand this are the ones building something guests cannot find, replicate, or buy anywhere else.In Part I of this episode, Tommaso walks through how La Bottega Collective reads a property before designing a single touchpoint, why the choice between licensed and fully custom product programs is ultimately a question of time and conviction rather than budget, and how the most effective guest experience artifacts extend the emotional memory of a stay well beyond checkout.Thank you La Bottega Collective for making this episode possible. Learn more and get in touch with La Bottega Collective ⁠here⁠.Follow La Bottega Collective on Instagram ⁠here⁠.Part II: The Developer's Playbook: Building a €3B European Lifestyle & Luxury Hotel Portfolio with David ZisserEpisode starts at (17:22)David Zisser is the founder of Omnam, a €3 billion European hotel development and investment platform with a portfolio concentrated in lifestyle and luxury assets across Italy and key European markets. His recent projects include the Edition Lake Como, W Rome, which he credits with catalyzing what W Hotels internally called its 2.0 positioning, and the Hotel Bauer Venice, acquired out of a bankruptcy process in partnership with Mohari Hospitality and flagged with Rosewood. He is currently developing a proprietary hotel brand, with a Paris property featuring Pharrell Williams as creative director serving as its first expression.Omnam operates across the full development stack, from site identification and capital structuring through to brand selection, design intent, and operational oversight. Omnam's LPs include institutional investor Bain Capital, and Mohari Hospitality, with whom David has built a partnership centered on a shared conviction about where luxury hospitality is heading. Omnam has worked with several major third party operators, and that breadth of exposure now informs both its underwriting discipline and its decision to build its own brand from a position of genuine industry knowledge rather than ego.In this episode, Nadine sits down with David to explore what it really takes to build a multi-billion euro development platform in luxury hospitality, from navigating fundraising from institutional capital and large family offices to acquiring one of Venice's most storied hotels out of bankruptcy.INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTSDavid's deal framework, and why any project where success is contingent on factors outside Omnam's control is a passHow the Hotel Bauer acquisition came together out of a bankruptcy process, with competing global bidders, layered political dynamics, and a timeline that tested everyone involvedUltra-luxury brand dilution and which operators are most exposed as generational wealth transfer acceleratesDavid's view on ADR stabilization, total in-hotel spend capture, and why the P&L conversation that matters most is not the one most investors are havingWhy David believes hotel operators should exit F&B operations, and what a properly aligned fee structure looks like from an owner's perspectiveThe tension at the center of building a scalable brand from a singular, heritage-driven flagship assetWhat David learned from managing institutional capitalLearn more about Omnam's portfolio ⁠here⁠.Follow Omnam on Instagram ⁠here⁠.

The ASX 200 closed down 21 points at 8604 (0.2%), well off its lows for the day, with most sectors rallying throughout the session and the banking sector staging a turnaround. CBA fell 0.3%, with the Big Bank Basket easing only slightly to $265.42 (0.4%). Financials were generally firm, with MQG up 0.7%, while the insurance sector also performed well, led by QBE up 0.9% and MPL higher. REITs enjoyed a solid session, with GMG up 0.3% and SCG rising 1.6%. TLS also had a strong day, gaining 2.2%, although REA was a disappointment, falling heavily. Both WOW and COL posted gains as defensive buying in the supermarket sector helped push them higher. Retail stocks were also in demand, led by WES up 1.3% and APE rising 4.3%.Healthcare was another bright spot, with CSL recovering a further 1.6% and RMD also posting gains. Elsewhere, technology stocks remained under pressure but recovered from their lows, with XRO down 1.1% and WTC off 4.6%, while the All-Tech Index fell 0.1%.It was a different story in resources, although the sector also bounced from early lows. BHP fell 1.9% and RIO dropped 1.8% as iron ore and copper prices weakened. Gold stocks were also under pressure, with NST down3.3% and NEM lower. Lithium stocks slipped away, with MIN falling 2.6% and LTR off 3.3%. In energy, WDS rose alongside STO, although gains were relatively muted. Uranium stocks came under heavy pressure, with PDN dropping 8.8% and DYL down 7.6% as short sellers gained the upper hand.In corporate news, OML had a good day, up 9.6%, after receiving yet another NBIO, this time from Bain Capital. QUB rose 0.4% after the PNG competition regulator backed the company's planned takeover by Macquarie. On the economic front, NAB is now saying the next move in local interest rates is likely to be a cut. Business confidence rebounded as price pressures softened, according to the NAB Business Survey. However, Australian consumer confidence slipped back towards record lows, with the Melbourne Institute-Westpac Consumer Sentiment Index falling to 80.6, one of the lowest readings in its history.Asian markets mixed. Japan up 2.1%, Hong Kong up 0.1%, and China up 0.8%. South Korea jumps 8%.US futures: Dow up 8 and Nasdaq up 170. Oil down 1.5%. Europe opening slightly easier. Marcus Today – Daily Market Insights Marcus Today provides clear, practical commentary for self-directed investors – covering markets, portfolios, education, and decision-making without the noise. If you'd like to go further: Start a free 14-day trial of Marcus Today http://bit.ly/mt-trial-podcast Join Marcus Today Use code MTPODCAST for 10% off http://bit.ly/mt-join-podcast-offer MT20 – Managed ETF Portfolio A professionally managed portfolio run by Marcus Padley and the team, using ASX-listed ETFs with active market timing. http://bit.ly/mt20-podcast Principles – How We Think About Investing A short video series on timing, behaviour, and decision-making. No stock tips. http://bit.ly/mt-principles-podcast — Disclaimer This podcast is general information only and does not consider your personal circumstances. It is not personal financial advice. 

Anjali Sardana grew up in northern Virginia, studied biology at Georgetown, worked at Bain Capital — and then, without telling her parents, flew to India and founded Pronto: a platform building the world's largest labor organization network, starting with home services.In this episode of Unstarted, Anjali breaks down how she picked an operations business over a product business (and why), why she sees India's informal labor market as a trillion-dollar opportunity, and the founder mindset that got her through the messy, chaotic, sleep-deprived early days.She also gets brutally honest about faking confidence, hiring missionaries not mercenaries, and why she thinks most human limitations are completely made up.Chapters0:00 Intro — Meet Anjali Sardana1:20 Growing up in Virginia, studying biology at Georgetown3:10 The evolution framework that shaped her business thinking5:00 Product vs. operations vs. distribution — how she chose8:30 Why India? The labor-market thesis12:00 Moving to India with zero experience — and hiding it from her parents15:40 Fake it till you make it: raising a seed round at Bain Capital19:15 Running pilots, vibe-coding the app, and getting the first bookings24:00 The Kapil story — recruiting 30 workers in one afternoon28:00 Operating 24/7 with 5 people, sleeping in shifts31:30 Building culture: missionaries vs. mercenaries36:00 Urgency as a core value — actions beget information39:30 Conviction vs. market signals — how to balance both

Kevin Hettrich walked into a conference room with a whiteboard full of numbers and a problem no one had fully articulated. QuantumScape's leadership team was discussing how to scale an expensive R&D tool used to produce early battery materials. Hettrich had spent two weeks gathering data, talking with engineers, and analyzing manufacturing economics. Then he laid out the comparison: QuantumScape's current performance, the best anyone had achieved in any industry, and what would ultimately be required to succeed in automotive production. There were “six orders of magnitude” separating the industry benchmark from what the company would eventually need, Hettrich tells us.That moment became an early proving ground for a finance leader who had entered QuantumScape from a background shaped by McKinsey & Company, Bain Capital, and Stanford's joint business and engineering program. Rather than staying confined to finance, Hettrich immersed himself in the company's technical environment. He tells us he would contribute to at least one patent application each year and spent time “changing targets out of that tool” and mixing chemicals alongside engineers.The broader strategy behind QuantumScape has remained equally ambitious. The company's goal is not incremental improvement, but batteries that are “smaller and lighter,” “faster charging,” “longer lived,” “safer,” and “lower cost at the same time,” Hettrich tells us. Today, the company has commercial partnerships with Volkswagen and collaborations with Corning and Murata Manufacturing as it works to commercialize its solid-state battery platform.

「食べログ」のアイコンＬＩＮＥヤフーは１４日、グルメサイト「食べログ」を運営するカカクコムに対し、米投資ファンドのベインキャピタルと共同で買収提案を行ったと発表した。 Japan's LY Corp. said Thursday it and U.S. investment fund Bain Capital have jointly proposed acquiring Kakaku.com Inc., in a move to counter Swedish investment fund EQT AB's tender offer for the operator of the Tabelog user-generated restaurant review website.

The secret service says there was no threat at the TPUSA event in Georgia, Victor Marx's old social posts show he was the first person to announce that Charlie Kirk was dead, and a Utah judge unseals an ATF report in the case against Tyler Robinson. 00:00 - Start. 01:21 - Secret service says there was no threat. 23:43 - Victor Marx first to announce Charlie Kirk's death. 29:30 - Victor Marx response and the IDF allegations. 39:18 - Bain Capital and Robert Maxwell. 41:38 - ATF summary released. 47:40 - Comments. ​PreBorn!​ ​To donate, dial #250 and say they keyword “BABY" or by visiting https://preborn.com/candace Nimi Skincare​ ​ Save 10% on your order with promo code CANDACE10 at http://www.NimiSkincare.com PureTalk​ ​ Switch to America's wireless company! http://www.PureTalk.com/Owens Paleovalley​ ​ Get 20% off your order with promo code CANDACE at http://www.paleovalley.com American Financing​ NMLS 182334, http://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.196% for well qualified borrowers. Call 800-795-1210 for details about credit costs and terms. Visit http://www.AmericanFinancing.net/Owens. Candace Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ClipsCandaceOwens Candace Official Website: https://candaceowens.com Candace Merch: https://shop.candaceowens.com Candace on Apple Podcasts: https://t.co/Pp5VZiLXbq Candace on Spotify: https://t.co/16pMuADXuT Candace on Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/RealCandaceO Candace en Español: https://www.youtube.com/@CandaceOwensEnEspanol Candace Owens em Português: https://www.youtube.com/@CandaceOwensemPortugues Candace Owens en Français: https://www.youtube.com/@CandaceOwensEnFrançais Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Raees Chowdhury is the co-founder and chief investment officer of Tok-Edge, a London-based regulated DeFi hedge fund built around a novel cryptoasset structure called the Redemption Token. With a career spanning senior roles at BCG and Bain Capital, a managing partner position at Revolt Ventures — a fund sitting beneath a $10 billion AUM vehicle — and deep roots in on-chain markets dating back to the ICO era of 2016–17, Raees brings rare dual fluency in institutional finance and DeFi to one of crypto's most ambitious new fund structures. Why you should listen Tok-Edge emerged from stealth on the day of this recording, and the timing is deliberate. Raees argues that the current drawdown — with Bitcoin sitting roughly 50% off all-time highs and many altcoins down 90% or more — is precisely the moment to be allocating capital to DeFi. The fund is built on a contrarian but rigorous thesis: that crypto is a genuinely new liquid asset class, that existing token models are structurally flawed, and that the teams best positioned to capture the next cycle are those who can hold TradFi infrastructure and DeFi-native thinking in the same hand. The centrepiece of what Tok-Edge is building is the Redemption Token — a new category of cryptoasset designed to solve what Raees calls the duality problem that has undermined most token models to date. Unlike governance tokens, which trend towards zero, or utility tokens, which are constrained to their native blockchain, the Redemption Token is permissionless and composable in DeFi while carrying a genuine defined function: the ability for fund investors to redeem underlying fund shares at net asset value. The model Raees reaches for by analogy is MicroStrategy — a structure designed first, then deployed as a product. Tok-Edge is doing the same, with the Redemption Token as the architecture and the Tok-Edge Fund as its first application. The fund itself is built to institutional standard — custodians, regulated directors, and governance structures you'd expect from any tier-one equities vehicle — but applied entirely to crypto and DeFi strategies. Raees walks through the team's approach to on-chain yield generation, active capital allocation between strategies, and why sitting in stablecoins and earning on-chain yield is a feature rather than a concession. He also shares his conviction that DeFi yields are far from dead, why on-chain flows will identify the winners of the next cycle before most people see them coming, and how the Berkshire Hathaway model — long-only, actively managed, comfortable holding cash — translates surprisingly well to liquid crypto asset management. With a TGE capped at $21 million targeting a $100 million first close later in 2026, this is a conversation worth hearing early. Supporting links Stabull Finance Tok-Edge Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

In this episode of The Get Down: Beyond Bitcoin, Ritzy P and Cleve Mesidor host TuongVy Le, General Counsel at Veda and former SEC official. They discuss bridging the gap between federal regulation and decentralized finance, moving past the "Degen phase" toward institutional-grade consumer protection.All Things ButterscotchEcosystem Updates: Cleve Mesidor highlights the expansion of Butterscotch Media and the rise of niche, founder-led journalism.Events: A preview of the EVE Wealth Summit in Arizona and plans for Consensus 2026 in Miami.Real Talk AI: Ritzy P introduces her new virtual workshop focused on AI ethics and community education.Interview with TuongVy LeFrom SEC to Veda: TuongVy discusses her transition from SEC enforcement to building crypto infrastructure.DeFi Vaults: How Veda abstracts complexity into "Vaults," functioning as the on-chain equivalent of a 401k or ETF.Policy vs. Innovation: Using the "automobile analogy," she argues for policy centered on safety (seatbelts) rather than banning innovation.The Design Partner: Why modern crypto lawyers must help design products that earn the trust of both regulators and everyday users.About TuongVyTuongVy “Vy” Le is General Counsel at Veda, a crypto infrastructure company helping to make DeFi programmable and accessible for all. She has held senior legal and policy leadership roles across the crypto industry, including as General Counsel of Anchorage Digital, Partner and Head of Regulatory and Policy at Bain Capital's crypto venture capital fund, and Deputy General Counsel and Compliance Officer at the digital identity company Worldcoin. Earlier in her career, Vy was Senior Counsel in the Enforcement Division and Chief Counsel of the Legislative Affairs Office at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, advising Congress on emerging financial markets and legislation. Vy has served on the CFTC digital assets advisory committee and on the boards of multiple blockchain policy associations, and began her career at the law firm WilmerHale LLP. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and speaks and writes frequently on how emerging technology can help modernize markets, including in Bloomberg, Fortune, Law360, and CoinDesk. She co-hosts the weekly crypto legal podcast “DEX in the City.”Links from the episodeCONNECT WITH TuongVy Le:X (formerly Twitter): @TuongVyLe12LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/TuongVytle/DEX in the City: https://unchainedcrypto.com/dex-in-the-city/CONNECT WITH BUTTERSCOTCH MEDIA:Register for TRUST MEDIA: https://tr.ee/aYftUgRitzy P's Real Talk AI: https://www.ritzyperiwinkle.com/realtalkaiWebsite: butterscotch.mediaSubscribe to Chews Tipsheet: https://butterscotch.media/subscribeFollow us on X: https://twitter.com/butterscotch360

This Flashback Friday is from episode 743, published last October 25, 2016. Guest Ed Conard is an economist who worked with Mitt Romney at Bain Capital, he is the New York Times Bestselling Author of Unintended Consequences: Why everything you've been told about the economy is wrong and his upcoming book, The Upside of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class promises to educate and enlighten. Discussions during this podcast include misnomers about CEO pay, why the technology sector is wildly profitable and how a complex web of regulations may be only benefiting the big players in the market. Mentioned in This Episode: Jason Hartman - Now with New Features! Hartman Education Edward Conard @edwardconard on Twitter    _______________________________________________________________ Follow Jason on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM & LINKEDIN Twitter.com/JasonHartmanROI Instagram.com/jasonhartman1/ Linkedin.com/in/jasonhartmaninvestor/ Call our Investment Counselors at: 1-800-HARTMAN (US) or visit: https://www.jasonhartman.com/ Free Class:  Easily get up to $250,000 in funding for real estate, business or anything else: http://JasonHartman.com/Fund CYA Protect Your Assets, Save Taxes & Estate Planning: http://JasonHartman.com/Protect Get wholesale real estate deals for investment or build a great business – Free Course: https://www.jasonhartman.com/deals Special Offer from Ron LeGrand: https://JasonHartman.com/Ron Free Mini-Book on Pandemic Investing: https://www.PandemicInvesting.com

Vineet Bansal, Chief Information and Technology Officer at The Mutual Group, joins hosts James Benham and Rob Galbraith to explore how technology leadership, disciplined AI adoption, and a shared operating model are shaping the future of mutual insurance — from inside a two-year-old, Bain Capital-backed startup built to help community-based carriers compete and grow.Vineet brings over 20 years of financial services and insurance technology experience to the role — from engineering roots in Nagpur, India, to nearly two decades at Fidelity Investments across ten different business lines, to building a greenfield digital platform as CTO at IptiQ by Swiss Re. Now at The Mutual Group, he's architecting a shared technology and operations platform designed to scale across multiple member companies — starting with GuideOne Insurance in Des Moines, Iowa.In this episode:Why insurance is a deliberately risk-managed industry — and what that means for responsible AI adoptionHow The Mutual Group is building a multi-tenant platform to help smaller mutual carriers access enterprise-level capabilitiesWhy clean data, API-driven ecosystems, and strong governance are the real foundation for AI success — not the tools themselvesWhat it means to hold the combined CIO and CTO role — and how Vineet divides his focus across operations, applications, strategy, and multi-member platformThe shift toward hyper-personalized insurance: policies sold by the hour, by the day, or only when the risk event is happeningKey Quotes:"The winners will be the ones with the strongest foundation.""Insurance sits at the intersection of risk, regulation, economics, and human behavior.""AI won't solve your data issues. It's garbage in, garbage out.""There's no easy answer. It takes meticulous planning and thoughtful execution.""We may have insurance products sold by the hour, by the day."

David Gross, managing partner of Bain Capital, also discussed investing in Japan with Barron's editor at large Andy Serwer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Business, Finance, and Soul, Shaun sits down with Nick Jain, Founder and CEO of Eagle Rock CFO, to unpack what it really means to run a business with clarity—not just confidence. Nick's journey from studying math and physics to working in private equity at Bain Capital shaped a mindset rooted in analytical thinking, experimentation, and understanding how businesses truly operate as interconnected systems. But as he shares, the real learning didn't happen in theory—it happened in the messy, unpredictable reality of execution. Together, Shaun and Nick explore the gap between spreadsheets and real life, why growth alone can be dangerous, and how founders can start asking better financial questions that actually drive outcomes. This conversation is especially valuable for founders and operators who want to move beyond surface-level metrics and start making decisions with intention, discipline, and clarity.

Chris Klomp, Director of Medicare and Deputy Administrator of CMS, and Senior Advisor to HHS Secretary RFK Jr., has big ambitions to reshape how healthcare works in the United States.This week, ​​Steve sits down with Klomp to discuss how his experience as a digital health entrepreneur is guiding his current role overseeing a roughly $2 trillion department. Klomp shares the government's strategy for restoring trust between providers and payers, driving down costs, and addressing a system where approximately 90% of healthcare dollars are still spent in a fee-for-service arrangement. We cover:Why 90% of US healthcare remains fee-for-service after two decades of reform.The intentional design of the new Access model to be deflationary and fuel entrepreneurship among insurgents.The commitment from the payer industry to make prior authorization invisible to patients and providers by 2027.CMS's aggressive stance on data interoperability and funding enforcement against data blocking.How the Most Favored Nation policy is re-wiring global prescription drug supply to lower prices without compromising innovation.—About our guest: Chris Klomp is the Director of Medicare and Deputy Administrator of CMS, and Senior Advisor to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. With extensive experience in healthcare payment reform and data sharing, he built and led Collective Medical, the largest U.S. real-time care collaboration data network, acquired by PointClickCare in 2020. There, he partnered with health systems, plans, providers, post-acutes, and state governments to advance value-based care through enhanced data access and insights.Chris has driven healthcare reform at state and federal levels, focusing on value-based care and interoperable health technology. Through Endurance Companies, a San Francisco-based multi-family office he co-founded with Stanford classmates, he has co-founded, invested in, advised, and served on the board of many innovative healthcare organizations, including Nomi Health, Maven Clinic, InnovaCare Health, and Health Joy. He also served as a Utah Senate-confirmed commissioner of the Utah Digital Health Services Commission, where he focused on leveraging technology for cost-effective, healthier outcomes. Previously, he was Vice President in Bain Capital's North American Private Equity group and worked at Bain & Company. Recognized as Utah Business' CEO of the Year and EY's Mountain Region Entrepreneur of the Year, Chris holds a B.A. with honors in Economics and English from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Stanford.—

Iggy Ioppe, CIO of Theo Network, joins Stable Up to break down how Theo is generating native yield on tokenized gold, why they built on Hyper Liquid, and more.Iggy Ioppe is the Chief Investment Officer of Theo Network, a gold-backed yield stablecoin protocol built on Hyper Liquid. Iggy brings 15+ years of traditional finance experience spanning private equity at Bain Capital, prop trading at Credit Suisse, and crypto investing at Polygon Ventures.The Rollup is where the leaders of digital assets and finance converge. Live from the financial capital of the world.Timestamps:00:00 Intro00:47 Iggy's TradFi Background02:45 The RWA Tokenization Vision04:34 Why They Built on Hyper Liquid05:47 Iggy's Hyper Liquid Bull Case07:05 How Big Can Hyper Liquid Get?09:15 Why Tokenize Gold?13:10 The Gold Basis Trade Explained16:54 How the Yield Gets to Holders18:06 Deploying the $100M Pre-Deposit22:07 Multi-Venue Yield Strategy22:43 Do They Need a Token?24:21 How Big Can TH-USD Get?Website: https://therollup.co/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd...Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcastFollow us on X: https://www.x.com/therollupcoFollow Rob on X: https://www.x.com/robbiek__Follow Andy on X: https://www.x.com/ayyyeandyJoin our TG group: https://t.me/+TsM1CRpWFgk1NGZhThe Rollup Disclosures: https://goodidea.ventures

Software default rates could hit double digits as AI disruption spreads and loans come due, according to Bain Capital. “We’re going to see real stress,” said Angelo Rufino, the firm’s head of special situations in North America and corporate special situations in Europe. “We will see a full credit cycle as the reckoning really comes to resize capital structures to the earnings power of these business models,” he tells Bloomberg News’ James Crombie and Bloomberg Intelligence’s David Havens in this episode of the Credit Edge podcast. They also discuss investment-grade private credit, data center debt and asset-based finance, including the rise of music-royalty deals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Overview:In this episode, Alex Rawlings speaks with Richard Fitzgerald of CapitalSpring, a private equity firm specializing in foodservice and multi-location consumer businesses. Richard shares insights into CapitalSpring's differentiated, sector-focused approach, how they've scaled over 20 years, and the recent $1B+ exit to Bain Capital. He also unpacks their latest fundraising success in a tough market and the importance of specialization in today's crowded PE landscape.Timestamps & Key Topics:00:00 – Introduction Overview of CapitalSpring's focus and two key topics: fundraising success and a $1B+ exit.00:54 – Richard's Background From investment banking to founding CapitalSpring in 2005 with a sector-specialist mindset.03:19 – Why Multi-Location Businesses? Opportunities found on Main Street—resilient, everyday consumer services often overlooked in PE.04:43 – Starting Small, Scaling Big CapitalSpring began with $3M; now 300 investments and $4B deployed across 100+ brands.06:30 – Specialization as a Differentiator Why generalist firms struggle, and how deep focus wins deals without being the highest bidder.08:55 – $1B+ Exit: Sizzling Platter to Bain Capital Growth from 400 to 800+ locations across multiple brands and markets, despite COVID headwinds.14:03 – Key Learning: Labor-Light Models Pandemic emphasized the value of operational efficiency and low labor reliance in QSR investments.15:27 – Fund VII: First Close Success How CapitalSpring raised in a tough market by showcasing portfolio resilience and a hybrid debt/equity model.17:44 – Hybrid Capital Strategy Flexibility to invest via debt, equity, or both—offering solutions to founders and mitigating risk for LPs.20:04 – Book Recommendation: Give and Take by Adam Grant The power of relationships in PE—not just financial modeling.21:57 – Connect with Richard Email: rfitzgerald@capitalspring.com | LinkedIn & website via CapitalSpring.Top Takeaways:Specialization is key in today's competitive PE environment.Hybrid investing (debt + equity) offers flexibility and downside protection.Operationally light, multi-unit businesses prove resilient—even in crises.Long-term success in PE depends on relationships, not just technical skills.Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.

Stijn Schmitz welcomes William Rhind to the show. William is the Founder and CEO of GraniteShares. Rhind provides insights into the current market landscape, emphasizing the early stages of AI development and the potential for significant transformation across various sectors. Regarding market volatility, Rhind attributes recent fluctuations to multiple factors, including potential Federal Reserve leadership changes, cryptocurrency market movements, and concerns about AI’s impact on software companies. He argues that we are in the early stages of AI development, with significant potential for innovation and disruption across industries. Rhind highlights the ongoing bull market for hard assets, driven by global economic uncertainties, central bank buying, and concerns about currency debasement. He notes that emerging market central banks are actively diversifying their reserves by purchasing gold, viewing it as a strategic hedge against paper currencies. Platinum receives special attention, with Rhind explaining its unique market dynamics. He points out that platinum is about 30 times rarer than gold and currently sits in a market deficit. The metal’s future looks promising, particularly as previous bearish sentiment around internal combustion engines has dissipated and industrial demand remains strong. Rhind suggests that while passive investing has benefits, too much concentration can potentially create market inefficiencies. He advocates for a “core and satellite” approach to investing, balancing long-term retirement strategies with more speculative investments. Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:00 – Investor Demand Trends 00:02:00 – Market Volatility Drivers 00:04:28 – AI Bubble Debate 00:06:30 – Dot-com Bubble Comparison 00:10:45 – Commodities in AI Chain 00:12:40 – Energy Sector Opportunities 00:14:12 – Currency Debasement Thesis 00:17:03 – Precious Metals Bull Market 00:19:00 – Central Bank Gold Buying 00:22:02 – De-dollarization and Dollar Outlook 00:28:00 – Silver Market Dynamics 00:32:42 – Platinum Investment Case 00:39:30 – Passive Investing Trends 00:44:40 – U.S. Equity Market Size 00:46:12 – Concluding Thoughts Guest Links: Website: https://graniteshares.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-rhind-5434367 In 2016, Will Rhind challenged himself to find a way to do things differently. As a 18-year veteran of the ETF industry with experience working at, building and running, well-established successful ETF businesses, he made a keen observation: investing just isn't as exciting as it once was. He asked himself, how do you bring back that excitement? As an experienced entrepreneur, he decided to answer that question by launching his own ETF company – GraniteShares was born. Will's focus on disrupting the financial industry has taken GraniteShares from an idea to a successful start-up garnering the attention of Bain Capital and other well-known ETF investors who support his passion to create products that will change the way people see investing. Will spends his time outside of GraniteShares with his wife and three children. He's on the Board of Directors of the Bath University Foundation, has a passion for classic cars, Manchester United, and travel – especially back to his roots in Aberdeen, Scotland, “The Granite City.” Will has over 25 years of experience in the industry.

Markets absorb an AI-driven selloff in software as Steve Pagliuca of Bain Capital argues the disruption will ultimately retool the global economy. Plus, panel insights on AI productivity, market rotation, gold's surge amid geopolitical tensions, industrial policy, Fed leadership, crypto volatility, and where investors see opportunity next. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The crew breaks down Superstate's massive $82M Series B for tokenization, the explosive rise of TradeXYZ's commodities trading hitting $1B+ volume, different tokenization models from "bootleg" to "back office," the ClawdBot AI phenomenon taking over coding, and how agent-based development is revolutionizing crypto software engineering. Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week, Robert drops news about Superstate's massive $82 million Series B raise led by Bain Capital to bring Wall Street on-chain through tokenization. The crew dives deep into the explosive growth of Hip3 markets, particularly TradeXYZ's commodities trading that's hitting over $1 billion in daily volume as precious metals rip to all-time highs. They break down the different tokenization models emerging - from "bootleg" third-party approaches to "back office" settlement tools to issuer-led official tokenization. Then the conversation shifts to the ClawdBot phenomenon taking the internet by storm, exploring how AI agents are revolutionizing coding and what this means for the future of software engineering in crypto. From vibe coding to the complete transformation of how startups will be built, the hosts examine whether we're witnessing a fundamental shift in how technical work gets done. Show highlights

The RV world always has back-channel stories and simmering controversies, and in this News Edition of the RV Podcast, we break down a couple of those stories and why they matter to RVers.In Episode 582, we dig into the growing backlash over the Harvest Hosts takeover of Escapees RV Club, where longtime members say a once-beloved community is being hollowed out in the name of profit. We examine what private equity ownership really means for RV clubs and why this story has struck such a nerve across the RV community.We also take a close look at major shake-ups in RV technician training. The sudden and unexplained departure of the president of the RV Technical Institute has raised serious questions at a time when the industry desperately needs qualified RV service techs. On top of that, we report on the reported sale of the National RV Training Academy in Texas and what it could mean for future RV tech education.There is more confusion at America's national parks as new entrance fees for international visitors are causing delays and long lines at park gates. With staffing shortages already stretching the National Park Service thin, we explain what RV travelers should expect and how to plan ahead.And finally, Marcus Lemonis may be gone from Camping World, but he is still very much in the headlines. An arbitrator has ordered Lemonis to pay more than $14 million in damages tied to his role on the TV show The Profit. We look at what this ruling means and how Camping World may navigate an increasingly competitive RV dealership landscape without him at the helm.This is the RV Podcast News Edition, released every Monday morning with insider news, industry developments, and issues that directly impact RV owners and travelers. Our main podcast, Stories from the Road, drops every Wednesday with interviews, destinations, and listener questions.Now let's dive into this week's news.Harvest Hosts vs. Escapees: A Membership Meltdown StoryIf you want to see what happens when private equity gets its hands on a beloved RV community, look no further than the Harvest Hosts takeover of Escapees RV Club. The internet is on fire with member complaints, and the details are jaw-dropping.Here's what's got everyone fired up: In July 2024, Harvest Hosts acquired the management and operations of Escapees RV Club, including the popular Xscapers subgroup for working-age RVers. What happened next has become a textbook case of how private equity-backed companies can effect beloved community organizations.Full disclosure: we've been an affiliate of Harvest Hosts for many years, and the company used to be, but no longer is, an advertiser on this podcast. We're also an affiliate of RV Overnights, a Harvest Hosts competitor that sponsors our Wednesday podcast.Jen and I really like Harvest Hosts and have used it many times. But this story still needs reporting. Because it illustrates what happens when big money gets involved in startups and independent businesses.First, you need to understand that Harvest Hosts is no longer a small, founder-funded RV startup. It is a private equity-backed platform designed to grow, consolidate, and eventually deliver a strong return to investors. In 2021, it reportedly received about $37 million in growth capital and it has been growing and expanding ever since.One of the most biggest acquisitions wasin 2024, when it bought the Escapees Club, which was a family run club started in 1978 by Joe and Kay Peterson, two full-time RVers who were traveling with their family and wanted a way to stay connected with others living the nomadic lifestyle. It grew and grew, was later turned over to Peterson family relatives who eventually sold Harvest Hosts. There was worry and grumbling from members simmering for a long time but most recently, just before Thanksgiving, it turned in to a dumpster fire. According to reports from members and a detailed timeline compiled by concerned community members, Harvest Hosts terminated the Xscapers convergence director and other Escapees staff just two days before the scheduled Thanksgiving convergence. That's what they called their gatherings - convergences. They told attendees they'd still have a place to park but the event would no longer have a host or the Xscapers brand attached to it. Imagine planning your entire holiday around an event, traveling to the location, and then being told the people running it were just fired.But it gets worse. Harvest Hosts then cancelled several future Xscapers convergences and meetups, seemingly everything except the one annual Bash event, often with little or no notice, according to Facebook group posts. For context, these convergences and gatherings were the main draw to the club for many members. The community-focused events, where working-age RVers could connect with others living the nomadic lifestyle, were what made Xscapers special. Members had planned their entire travel schedules around these gatherings.The pricing controversy adds insult to injury. An email from Harvest Hosts CEO Joel Holland promised "we're not changing the price of an Escapees membership, it's still just $49.95" while simultaneously announcing that Escapees would be folded into a $179 All Access membership bundle. Angry members called this classic bait-and-switch language designed to confuse them about what they're actually getting.When members started speaking out about what was happening, things took an even darker turn. Members report that Harvest Hosts began actively censoring and deleting complaints in the online groups they now control. Long-time community members said they were being banned. According to member accounts, they're even banned members from the public Facebook page simply for voicing their concerns about how the company is handling criticism.The complaints on Trustpilot paint an even darker picture. One review states that Harvest Hosts has "decimated" the community and fired loyal Escapees employees, calling it a "classic Manhattan Private Equity gut job" backed by Stripes, LLC. The review notes that "the only thing harvested here was the goodwill of a 40-year-old club." Stripes was the equity group that handled that private equity investment into Harvest Hosts.Adding fuel to the fire, Harvest Hosts hired Chris Smith as Senior Director of Community & Events, someone who members point out oversaw the worst membership decline in FMCA history during his eight years as Executive Director & CEO there. Members are questioning why leadership with that track record is now running their organization, especially given the mass cancellations and firings that followed his arrival.Long-time Escapees members feel completely betrayed. This wasn't just any RV club. Escapees was founded in 1978 by the Petersons and for over 40 years, it built a reputation as a member-first club where volunteers ran regional chapters and gatherings felt like family reunions. In their acquisition announcement, Harvest Hosts explicitly promised to retain Escapees employees, continue community events including "Xscapers Convergences," support Facebook groups, and be "good and earnest stewards of the Escapees and Xscapers brand." The controversy highlights a growing and troubling trend in the RV industry: venture-capital-backed companies buying beloved community organizations and strip-mining them for profit. Members on online forums say Harvest Hosts has essentially gutted Xscapers and taken away the big thing that made it worth joining. The pattern is clear: cancel the expensive community events that members loved, fire the staff who built relationships with those members, silence anyone who complains about it, and then act surprised when the core community revolts. As members point out, the people Harvest Hosts has made the angriest are precisely the community leaders and engaged members who made Xscapers worth joining in the first place.As one community member put it: "What kind of company cancels a paid Thanksgiving event that has been planned for months, that many people built their holiday plans around and traveled to, with just days' notice? A company that is making poor business decisions for profit and doesn't realize they are destroying the asset they've purchased with their own hands."The situation is being discussed across Reddit, RV forums, and has even found its way into Google's AI overviews. Despite Harvest Hosts' apparent attempts to censor and ban critics, other members are making it clear: they will not be silenced or ignored. The controversy highlights a growing and troubling trend in the RV industry: venture-capital-backed companies buying up everything in sight. Over the past 20 years, private equity firms like Bain Capital, Alliance Holdings, American Industrial Partners, and others have acquired some of the biggest names in RV manufacturing, dealerships, and services - including Heartland, REV Group, Fleetwood, Monaco, Roadtrek, Grand Design, Lazydays RV Center, and yes, Camping World. Investment banking firm Jackim Woods & Co. has tracked more than 65 private equity transactions in the RV sector over the last two decades. The goal is always the same: buy a mid-size company as a "platform investment," then triple or quadruple its size over 5-6 years through acquisitions and cost-cutting. While some of these deals have created jobs and improved operations, the Harvest Hosts takeover of Escapees shows the bumpy road this consolidation wave can create- when community and culture become subservient to profit margins and "operational efficiency."Sources:Community member timeline and documentation: Facebook groups and posts tracking the controversy - https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=excapers%20escapees Member reports of event cancellations and censorship: Facebook group discussions - https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=excapers%20escapeesRVForums.com discussion: https://rvforums.com/threads/harvest-hosts-buys-escapees-rv-club.18663/Trustpilot reviews: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/harvesthosts.comReddit complaints https://www.reddit.com/r/FullTiming/comments/1pnhrr3/escapees_dying_after_harvest_host_purchase/RVBusiness coverage: https://rvbusiness.com/harvest-hosts-takes-lead-mgt-role-in-escapees-rv-club/Harvest Hosts acquisition announcement (July 2024): https://www.harvesthosts.com/blog/harvest-hosts-acquires-escapees-rv-clubHarvest Hosts 2025 changes announcement: https://www.harvesthosts.com/blog/harvest-hosts-unveils-exciting-enhancements-for-2025-expanded-membership-options-and-seamless-access-to-rv-travel-benefitsMystery Surrounds Sudden Exit of RV Training Institute President Curt HemmelerMeanwhile, In Elkhart Indiana, there is a lot of insider talk wondering what happened at the RV Training Institute, a trade group aimed at providing training to RV technicians. After the unexpected and sudden departure of its President, Curt Hemmeler, late last month.In mid-October 2025, RVTA issued a brief statement confirming that Curt Hemmeler was no longer with RVTI, thanking him for his contributions and announcing that Sharonne Lee and Bryan Ritchie would provide interim oversight during the transition. RVB The announcement was characterized as an "unexpected leadership transition."Hemmeler had been with RVTI since December 2018, nearly seven years. He is the first and only president the group has ever had and was very well liked. Under his leadership, RVTI had grown significantly, with more than 23,000 individuals accessing the RVTI Learning Management System and over 7,000 newly certified RV technicians, with annual growth rates of 20-26%No reasons were given for the departure, but it's pretty clear this was NOT voluntary on Hemmeler's behalf. What stands out in this story is the complete lack of explanation. In an industry where Hemmeler had been so visible and clearly successful is unusual and raises questions. One report on RV News said Hemmeler declined to say he resigned and would not comment further, citing advice from his legal counsel. The industry desperately needs more RV techs. Just before the departure announcement, Hemmeler had been actively expanding Spanish-language certification options and developing partnerships with campground associations and colleges.The lack of an explanation on why such a high profile leader was removed and why a shroud of secrecy has enveloped this has spurned all sorts of rumors. And rumors are not good. The RVTA is too important to the industry to handle something like this so bush league.Source:RV News: https://www.rvnews.com/rv-technical-institute-director-leaves/?utm_source=chatgpt.comHas the National RV Traning Academy Texas been sold?On a related matter regarding another place where RV Techs are trained, I'm told by reliable industry sources that The National RV Training Academy Texas has been sold. The school trains RV service technicians and RV Inspectors, as well as RV owners interested in learning how to maintain the various systems of their recreational vehicles.The official announcement has not yet been made but the new owner is said to be Heavy Equipment Colleges, of Las Vegas, which is a similar training facility that concentrates on the construction industry and teaches students how to maintain machinery like bulldozers, cranes, and excavators. It has training across the country in several locations.We've reached out to get official confirmation and details on what all this means to the NRVTA students but have not heard back yet. Our sources say an announcement is expected soon.Sources:https://heavyequipmentcollege.edu/https://nrvta.com/National Park Entrance Delays We're getting reports now about the effect the stiff new entrance fees for non-U.S. residents are having on our national parks. According to the Washington Post, that question is causing longer wait times to enter parks and is leading some foreign tourists to turn away at the gates.Here's what's happening. As of January 1st, international visitors aged 16 and older now pay an extra $100 per person on top of regular entrance fees at 11 of America's most visited parks, including Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Zion. The nonresident annual pass also jumped from $80 to $250.To enforce this two-tiered pricing, park rangers must verify residency status and check IDs for every visitor 16 and older. That means asking about citizenship, reviewing documents like passports or driver's licenses, and sometimes dealing with language barriers.The problem? This is happening during a severe staffing crisis. The National Park Service has lost 24 percent of its permanent workforce since January 2025, nearly 4,000 people. With fewer rangers on duty and thousands more visitors needing ID verification, entrance lines are backing up significantly.Tour operators near parks like Yosemite report that many international visitors arrive unaware of the changes, leading to delays and confusion at entrance stations. Some are turning around rather than paying the unexpected surcharges.For RV travelers planning park visits: buy passes online in advance at Recreation.gov, have your government-issued photo ID ready, arrive early, and expect longer wait times at popular parks.Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2026/01/09/national-parks-immigration-checks/Marcus Lemonis ordered to pay $14 million for damaging business people he supposedly was helpingMarcus Lemonis may no longer be running Camping World - He quit as CEO Jan 1 to become the new CEO if the revitalized Bed, Bath and Beyond, which is trying to rebound from bankruptcy - but his personal style of running things as a celebrity CEO has landed him in some hot water.He was just ordered by an arbitrator to pay more than $14 million to a group of business owners whose companies appeared on the CNBC TV show he hosted called"The Profit,"In fact, of the roughly 100 businesses featured on "The Profit," more than 50 filed lawsuits, engaged in mediation talks, or settled with Lemonis and NBCUniversal over the harm they say they endured.Last week, an arbitrator found that Lemonis violated the terms of a 2021 settlement barring him from making statements that could harm their reputations, according to documents filed in New York state court. The documents were filed as part of a petition to confirm the arbitration award after a 30-day payment deadline lapsed.The business owners said Lemonis ran afoul of the settlement terms when he spoke about them negatively over the span of roughly a year, starting in November 2021.The arbitrator, retired judge Ariel Belen, concluded in a 98 page ruling that Lemonis' "disdain for the respondents, complete disregard to his obligations in the settlement agreement, and apparent lack of concern for the harm suffered by respondents were all put on full display during the arbitration hearing."While he was CEO of Camping World, Camping World significantly expanded its RV dealership footprint to over 200, but the company faced a lot of accusations of aggressive sales tactics, undisclosed fees (like "dealer prep"), high-pressure selling, misleading warranty/service contracts, and issues with quality/repairs, leading to numerous consumer complaints and lawsuits. It will be interesting to see how Camping World, without Lemonis at the helm handles a wave of new competitive pressure these days from a bunch of other aggressive and acquisition-minded RV dealership chains like Blue Compass, General RV and Campers Inn, to name a few.Source: https://www.inc.com/ava-levinson/bed-bath-beyond-ceos-trash-talk-could-cost-him-millions/91285388And that's it for this week's RV Podcast News Edition. Before we go, let me ask you whether you are planning your 2026 RV adventures? If so, I want to invite you to join me for my comprehensive RV Trip Planning Workshop, where in a live, one-hour interactive presentation, I'll walk you through the exact system Jen and I use to create unforgettable travel experiences. It will be livestreamed Feb 5, 2026 at 7 PM Eastern Time.If you are a member of our RVCommunity.com, it's free. The cost for non members is $10. You can RSVP at RVPodcast.com/workshopThis isn't about following influencer hotspots or checking boxes at overcrowded destinations. Instead, you'll learn how to design trips that match your interests, your budget, and your pace. We'll cover everything from route planning and campground selection to budgeting strategies and timing your travels to avoid crowds. Again, to register, go to RVPodcast.com/workshop

Our Chief Fixed Income Strategist Vishy Tirupattur is joined by Dan Toscano, the firm's Chairman of Markets in Private Equity, unpack how credit markets are changing—and what the AI buildup means for the road ahead.Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Vishy Tirupattur: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I am Vishy Tirupattur, Morgan Stanley's Chief Fixed Income Strategist. Today is a special edition of our podcast. We are joined by Dan Toscano, Chairman of Markets in Private Equity at Morgan Stanley, and a seasoned practitioner of credit markets over many, many credit cycles. We will get his thoughts on the ongoing evolution and revolution in credit marketsIt's Wednesday, January 7th at 10am in New York. Dan, welcome.Dan Toscano: Glad to be here.Vishy Tirupattur: So, to get our – the listeners familiar with your journey, can you talk a little bit about your experience in the credit markets, and how you got to where we are today?Dan Toscano: Yeah, sure. So, I've been doing this a long time. You used the nice word seasoned. My kids would refer to it as old. But I started in this journey in 1988. And to make a long story short, my first job on Wall Street was buying junk bonds in the infancy of the junk bond market, when most of what we were financing were LBOs. So, if you're familiar with Barbarians at the Gate, one of the first bonds we bought were RJR Nabisco reset notes. And I've been doing this ever since, so over almost four decades now.Vishy Tirupattur: So, the junk bond market evolved into high yield market, syndicated loan market, CLO market, financial crisis. So, talk to us about your experiences during this transition.Dan Toscano: Yeah. I mean, one of the things these markets do is they finance evolution in industries. So, when I think back to the early days of financing leveraged buyouts, they were called bootstrap deals. The first deal I did as an intermediary on Wall Street as opposed to as an investor, was a buyout with Bain Capital in 1993. At the time, Bain Capital had a $600 million AUM private equity platform. Think about that in the scale of what Bain Capital does in private equity today. You know, back then it was corporate carve outs, and trying to make the global economy more efficient. And you remember the rise of the conglomerate. And so, one of the early things we financed a lot of was the de-conglomeration of big corporates. So, they would spin off assets that were not central to the business or the strengths that they had as an organization.So, that was the early days of private equity. There was obviously the telecom build out in the late 90's and the resulting bust. And then into the GFC. And we sit here today with the distinctions of private capital, private credit, public credit, syndicated credit, and all the amazing things that are being financed in, you know, what I think of as the next industrial revolution.Vishy Tirupattur: In terms of things that have changed a lot – a lot also changed following the financial crisis. So, if you dig deep into that one thing that happened was the introduction of leveraged lending guidelines. Can you talk about what leveraged lending guidelines did to the credit markets?Dan Toscano: Yeah, I mean, it was a big change for underwriters because it dictated what you could and couldn't participate in as an underwriter or a lender, and so it really cut off one end of the market that was determined by – and I think the thing most famously attributed to the leveraged lending guidelines was this maximum leverage notion of six times leverage is the cap. Nothing beyond that. And so that really limited the ability for Wall Street firms to underwrite and distribute capital to support those deals.And inadvertently, or maybe by plan, really gave rise to the growth in the private credit market. So, when you think about everything that's going on in the world today, including, which I'm sure we'll talk about, the relaxation of the leveraged lending guidelines, it was really fuel for private credit.Vishy Tirupattur: So private credit, this relaxation that you mentioned, you know, a few weeks ago, the FDIC and the OCC withdrew the leveraged lending guidelines in total. What do you expect that will do to the private credit markets? Will that make private credit market share decrease and bank market share increase?Dan Toscano: I think many people think of these as being mutually exclusive. We've never thought of it that way. It exists more on a continuum. And so, what I think the relaxation of those guidelines or the elimination of those guidelines really frees the banks to participate in the entire continuum, either as lenders or as underwriters.And so, in addition to the opportunity that gives the banks to really find the best solutions for their clients, I think this will also continue the blurring of distinctions between public market credit and private market credit. Because now the banks can participate in all of it. And when you think about what defines in people's minds – public credit versus private credit, in many cases it's driven by what terms look like. Customary terms for a syndicated bond or loan versus a private credit loan.Also, who's participating in it. You know, these things have been blurring, right? There's a cost differential or a perceived cost differential that has been blurring for some time now. That will continue to happen, in my opinion anyway.Vishy Tirupattur: I totally agree with you, Dan, on that. I think not only the distinction between public credit and private credit, but also within the various credit channels – secured, unsecured, securitized, structured – all these distinctions are also blurring. So, in that context, let's talk a little bit more about what private credit's focus has been and where private credit focus will be going forward. So, what we'll call private credit 1.0. Focused predominantly on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. And we now see that potentially changing. What is driving private credit 2.0 in your mind?Dan Toscano: Well, the elephant in the room is digital infrastructure. Absolutely. When you think about the scale of what is happening, the type of capital that's required for the build out, the structure you need around it, the ability to use elements of structure. You mentioned several of them earlier. To come up with an appropriate risk structure for lending is really where the market is heading. When you think about the trillions of dollars that we anticipate is needed for the technology industry to complete this transformation – not just around digital infrastructure, but around everything associated with it.And the big one I think of most often is power, right? So, you need capital to build out sources of power, and you need capital to build out the data centers to be able to handle the compute demand that is expected to be there. This is a scale unlike anything we have ever seen. It is the backbone of what will be the next industrial revolution.We've never seen anything like this in terms of the scale of the capital needed for the transformation that is already underway.Vishy Tirupattur: We are very much on board with this idea as well, Dan, in terms of the scale of the investment, the capital investment that is needed. So, when you look ahead for 2026, what worries you about the ind ustrial revolution financing that is underway?Dan Toscano: Given all that's going on in the world, this massive capital investment that's going on globally around digital infrastructure, we've never seen this before. And so, when I look at the capital raising that has been done in 2025 versus what will be done in 2026, I think one of the differences that we have to be mindful of is – nothing's gone wrong while we were raising capital in 2025 because we were very much in the infancy of these buildouts. Once you get further into these buildouts and the capital raises in 2025 that are funding the development of data centers start to season, problems will emerge. The essence of credit risk is there will be problems and it's really trying to predict and foresee where the problems will be and make sure you can manage your way through them.That is the essence of successful credit investing. And so there will definitely be issues when you think about the scale of the build out that is happening. Even if you look just in the U.S., where you need access to all sorts of commodities to build out. And you know, people focus on chips, but you also need steel and roofing, and importantly labor.And as we talk to people about the build outs, one of the concerns is supply of labor supply and cost of labor. So, when you run into situations where maybe a project is delayed a bit, or the costs are a bit more than what was expected, there will be a reaction. And we haven't had that yet. We will start to see that in 2026 and how investors and the markets react to that, I think will be very important. And I'm a little bit worried that there could be some overreaction because people have trained themselves in 2025 to think of like, ‘I'm operating in a perfect environment,' because we haven't really done anything yet. And now that we've done something, something can and will go wrong. So, you know, we'll see how that plays out.I am very fixated in 2026 on the laws of supply and demand. When I think about what's going on right now, we usually have visibility on demand. And we usually have some level of visibility on supply. Right now, we have neither – and I say that in a positive way. We don't know how big the demand is in the capital world to fund these projects. We don't know how big that can be. And almost with every passing day, the supply – and what we're hearing from our clients about what they need to execute their plans – continues to grow in a way that we don't know where it ends. And the scale, we're talking trillions of dollars, right? Not billions, not millions, but trillions.And so, I look at that – not so much as something I worry about, but something I'm really curious about. Will we run out of money to fund all of the ambitions of the Industrial Revolution? I don't think so. I think money will find great projects, but when you think about the scale of what we're looking at, we've never seen anything like it before. And it will be fascinating to watch as the year goes on.Vishy Tirupattur: Thanks Dan. That's very useful. And thanks for taking the time to speak to us and share your wisdom and insights. Dan Toscano: Well, it's great to be here.Vishy Tirupattur: And to our audience, thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a review wherever you listen and share thoughts on the market with a friend or colleague today

We have Mike Monaghan on the show today and covering the “Birth of an ETF.” He’s going to talk about the Founders ETF and its new launch. We’re also going to talk a little bit about what it takes to get an ETF up and running. From a compliance perspective, remember, there’s no guarantee of future performance. https://youtu.be/o-m3PYHKXqk?si=qBaHkJpUt7xgdpjG Transcript of “The Birth of an ETF” 00:00 The Founders ETF Frazer Rice (00:00.986)Welcome back, Mike. Michael Monaghan (00:02.616)Frazer, it’s great to be back. Frazer Rice (00:04.4)You are at an interesting point in time right now. You’re about to start up Founders ETF and I think you’re about to get trading authorization to get going. Maybe tell us a little bit about the process to set up an ETF. Then we’ll dive into the strategy a little bit. Michael (00:21.25)Yeah, absolutely right. We should start trading on the SIBO Thursday, so two days from now. And we’ve launched our first fund, the Founders 100, that owns the 100 best founder-led companies. I’d be happy to go through some of the process that it takes to set up an ETF. Frazer Rice (00:40.014)Love it. ETFs are the main way to go now in terms of getting an inveestment cvhicle up and running. What has your experience been around? The Popularity of the ETF Structure Michael (00:52.014)Yeah, so ETFs have become the primary investment vehicle for a few reasons. Let’s outline those reasons. Then we can go through some of the steps that it takes to set up an ETF. So on the advantage side of an ETF, they’re typically a bit lower cost than traditional mutual fund products. Importantly, they’re tax advantaged. So there’s no gains or losses that occur during the normal ETF growth phase. Everything that happens within the ETF is done with what’s called an authorized participant. So you do exchanges. And so there’s no capital gains that are assigned to the investors. As long as they hold the ETF, a tax trigger only occurs when they actually sell the ETF. Finally, it’s a great way to get exposure to the market. So whether you want to own a broad market index, one of the legacy indexes, or a vehicle like ours. That gives you in one single trade, rather than having to guess who’s going to win. Is Nvidia going to win or Palantir who’s going to win? You can own a hundred of the best winners in the market in one single stock ticker. In our case, FFF. Frazer Rice (02:07.364)So let’s dive into that theme a little bit. As you said, it’s the top hundred founder led companies. First and foremost, public I assume, private, you’re not diving in those waters. Public vs Private Michael (02:20.59)Correct. So these are the hundred best publicly traded founder led stocks. And we generally fish from the 200 largest founder led publicly traded stocks. So a lot of these are names and founders that are very well recognized. Whether it’s Elon at Tesla or a Mark at Metta, Larry at Oracle, Rich Fairbanks at Capital One. These are all very well known founders. They’re great entrepreneurs who are leading highly scalable, very high performing publicly traded stocks. 02:53 Understanding Founder-Led Companies Frazer Rice (02:53.914)So let’s define founder a little bit. Obviously we have sort of the cult of personality around high-end CEOs. It sounds like you’re identifying companies that have been founded. The people who are running them not only founded them, but they scaled them. They have now gotten them to a level of maturity. That’s different from the typical public company that we find in the S &P 500. Definition of Founder Michael (03:19.104)Yeah. So first let’s define a founder. Then let’s talk about why we think the founder led companies outperform a traditional S&P company. We define the founder as being a chief executive leader. It could be chief executive officer, could be chief technology officer. Sometimes that say a scientific or medical company, would be the chief scientific or chief medical officer. And that person conceived and founded the company, took it from zero to one. It’s their imprint that has guided it over its 10 or 20 or 30 year period. That’s taken it from a small private company to a venture backed company to a large publicly traded company. And so the idea being the person that founded it continues to run it to this day. We talk about the fact that we own an Nvidia that Jensen still runs. But we don’t own Intel. We own Meta because Mark still runs it, but we don’t own Google. We own Dell computer because Michael Dell still runs it. But we don’t own Apple. We own Capital One because Rich Fairbank still runs it, but we don’t own American Express. Investment Process Frazer Rice (04:25.86)Got it. So lots of things to get into here. How does it a company get on your radar screen? And then ultimately, how does it get off of it? Michael (04:35.806)Great question. the getting on the screen is fairly mechanical. We look at the 200 largest by market capitalization founder led stocks. So we look at all U.S. listed. So it could be listed on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ, but it has to be U.S. listed. We then look at the 200 largest. And from there, we select the 100 best using a quantitative factor model. So I’m have a Sanford Bernstein background and so do some of the folks here. And so for folks who are familiar with Bernstein’s research, we use a Bernstein factor model to pick the best, the hundred best names out of the 200 largest. That’s how they get on our radar. And to get off is quite simple if they retire. So if a CEO announces he’s retiring, per the prospectus, we have 90 days to sell the stock. once we, so for example, Mr. Buffett recently stepped down from Berkshire Hathaway. And so we sell Berkshire Hathaway on his announcement and no longer own the stock. Frazer Rice (05:38.0)things like corporate mergers or divestitures or maybe even a reclassification of stock where the founder stays on in some capacity but their decision making has been reduced. How do you analyze that? 05:54 The Investment Strategy Behind the ETF Michael (05:54.326)Yeah, so there is some human overlay judgment calls here and the founder has to be an executive officer leading the company. So they can’t just run a division. They can’t just be chairman of the board. They have to be the executive in charge of running the company. Frazer Rice (06:14.0)And if for, I guess one of the exits possibly would be if, and I don’t know if this is even possible, but if NVIDIA were to take over Meta and there isn’t room for Jensen and Mark in the same suite, how do you analyze something like that? Michael (06:34.253)So in the business combinations where you have two founder-led companies or a non-founder-led company swallowed up by a founder-led company, as long as an original founder remains, it remains in the portfolio. So we’ve had some stocks that had, say, three to four co-founders. And as long as one of those co-founder remains, it remains in the portfolio. Voting Shares Frazer Rice (06:58.352)So one of the things that’s a bee in my bonnet is the concept of having shares where, in a sense, they’re super majority or voting components and then shareholders that have less decision making authority to act as a check and balance around the company. Is that something you’re not really that worried about or is it something that may be a factor that’s important later on? Michael (07:24.525)So we actually think that’s one of the opportunities that this exists. Like one of the things that we haven’t talked about yet is why is all this alpha there? Why is this uncaptured alpha there for us to go get? And we think historically in the past, active money managers have sometimes shied away from these founder led companies because to your point, Frazier, oftentimes the founder has managed to have super voting control, 10 to one shares, 101 shares. So they completely control the company. And some of these larger active money management complexes have said, well, we as the shareholder, we need to be able to have a vote and we’re going to underown these stocks. We have the opposite view. We think these founders are special. So we think that by the time a Mark or a Elon has driven their company into the public markets, they’ve showed that they know how to set the vision, ruthlessly execute and generate value for the shareholders. Concerns? And so we’re not concerned by super voting structures. Oftentimes those are the stocks that we want to own because it’s the founder that’s in control and setting the direction of the business and generating high returns for the shareholders. We view it as you either believe in them and you own the stock or you don’t believe in them and sell the stock. We’re not interested in other people’s getting on the board and monkeying with the decisions of the founders. Frazer Rice (08:30.255)Is this it? What is it about the founders, especially for those that go from zero to one, then to scale, and then to shepherding a mature business? What makes them better and what drives the alpha that you’re trying to seek? In terms of putting together a portfolio of these types of companies? 09:01 The Importance of Founders in Business Michael (09:02.891)Yeah, so the great ones tend to be a bit irreverent. They tend to be highly visionary. They tend to be charismatic communicators and relentless in their execution ability. They’ve got a great ability to pivot if a change needs to be made. And rthe moral authority to set a tone to generate very high rates of return. We see it sort of over and over and over in these founder led companies. And if you look at some of the studies that we’ve done. There’s a study that Bain Capital, Bain had done years ago in combination with Harvard Business Review, founder led companies tend to outperform non-founder led companies in say the S &P 500 by 3X. So it’s this personality type of high vision and high execution tends to drive outsize returns. And it’s a bit of a self-selecting process. What makes Founders Unique? If you think about it by the time any of these founders that we own or talk about have got to the public market. They first had to identify an opportunity to go after. They had to develop a great product by listening to their customers. And they’ve shown that they can scale all the way from a series A round, B, C, D, all the way investing and generating high rates of return in the private markets. Transitions of Founders to Executives They get to the public markets, continue to do that. And now you get a little bit of an effect of a echo of that, of now all of sudden you’re in the public markets. If you get enough scale, you have this highly effective business. Now you’re getting relatively cheap capital that you’re feeding into your business through the public markets. And now you continue to grow. Frazer Rice (10:42.096)Just to summarize at least what I’m hearing is that they’ve gotten to the point of becoming public. They’ve been able to say no to losing control in exchange for either putting some liquidity back in their pocket or otherwise moving on. And so they’ve almost ratified their vision and message and they keep going. And by the fact that they’re public, there’s enough liquidity for everyone else out there in terms of their investments. So it ends up being a win-win. Michael (11:11.157)I think so. That’s what we see. Frazer Rice (11:13.316)So one thing that I’ve been sort of reading about and thinking about is the concept that the number of public companies is becoming less, well, it’s decreasing, and that many people are able to stay private for longer. Do you worry that your universe is going to get too small to provide sort of a canvas for your ideas here? 12:02 Market Trends and Future Outlook Michael (11:37.549)Let’s talk about three phases of that. We don’t, we actually see the data showing that there’s more and more opportunities within founder led. So let’s look at history and then let’s move to the future. So historically, probably about the time you and I joined the securities business, they would actually take the, to your point, they would take the founder, they would kick out this charismatic founder. They would put in some mid-level proctor or GE middle level manager to be the you know, the suit in the room to take the company public. And that was sort of in the late nineties and people figured out that wasn’t such a good idea. So if you actually look at the chart, there’s more and more founders staying and leading their public, their, their publicly traded companies. That’s number one. Number two. Yes. We have seen some companies stay private, obviously Stripe, SpaceX, but we are now seeing, for example, SpaceX coming to the public markets. Eli is talking about coming next year. so we, we haven’t seen it so far impact the pool with which we can fish in. And as I mentioned, that’s what we saw historically. Public Markets and the Future In the future, think, Frazer, I think we’re going to start to see a conversion of public and private markets, meaning these private mega cap companies have liquidity. And I think that you’ll see more and more ability to trade those stocks almost in public liquidity. So I think these two markets are converging. So I think that Not only do we have plenty of founders in the traditional public markets, I think that the liquidity and the big privates is going to converge to a public market style shortly anyway. Frazer Rice (13:13.232)You’re in a curious time as far as launching an ETF around this concept. I know a lot of people are wary of Mag-7 and ultra valuations and issues related to that. How do you respond to that concept that a lot of the growth has taken place in seven, maybe seven out of the hundred that you’ve chosen? Debunking the Mag-7 (to the Mag-3) Michael (13:33.356)Yeah, so that’s a misconception. We see Mike Saylor get on TV and wave his arms around it, but it’s not really true. First of all, what’s interesting, if you tear apart the Mag-7, it’s actually the Mag-3. The outperformance in the Mag-7 has come from Meta, Tesla, and NVIDIA. So it’s not just the Mag-7, it’s a founder led. And now you say, well, that’s a small sample set. Let’s look at a bigger sample set. So if you look at the NASDAQ 100, for example, It’s actually the 20 founder led companies have driven most of the outperformance over the last 25 years. And what I’m about to tell you about the S &P 500 probably won’t surprise you. It’s the 37 founder led companies that have driven most of the outperforming the S &P 500. So the outperformance is coming from founders, not from any specific part of the market. And one of the things that we think is great about this ETF is to avoid concentration. 14:50 Risk Management I know you’re really familiar with the concept of active share and that’s how different you are than the S &P 500. We have an 85 % active share to the S &P 500. So if you own the founders 100 ETF, you have much different exposure to the market than say the S &P 500. And so we think it helps reduce some of that concentration. We’ve done some things to make sure that we are diversified. First of all, we do own 100 stocks. Diversification So really good diversification across that. And then number two, while we run a market weight portfolio, we cap. No stock can be bigger than 7 % of the portfolio, so we don’t get out of balance at any point. So we think that we mitigate some of those concentration risks and we allow people to invest in innovation without being over concentrated to any one name, say the MAG-7, for example. So we think that we’re giving our investors really good exposure to innovation through the founders, but not exposing them to pre-existing market concentrations. And then finally remind everyone It’s not the MAG-7, it’s not the NASDAQ-100, it’s not the S &P-500, it’s the founders within each of these are what are driving the outsized performance in those analytical groups. Frazer Rice (15:36.218)So from a diversification standpoint, obviously not everything in one name, the 7 % cap you described, do you have sector concentration guidelines as well? Michael (15:45.749)We don’t have sector concentration guidelines, but if you look at the nature of the portfolio, we were fairly well diversified. We’re slightly overweight tech and financials versus say the S &P, but we own healthcare stocks, own consumer stocks, we own energy stocks. So we’re giving you a broad exposure to the market. Leverage Frazer Rice (16:05.924)Let’s talk about leverage for a second. I know a lot of people are trying to juice returns by piggybacking off of other people’s money on that front. Does that have a place in your ETF? Michael (16:17.004)So there’s no leverage in the ETF. We sort of believe in get rich the slow way. I like to tell people that it’s very hard to make money in the stock market over the short term, but it’s not particularly difficult over the very long term. think Mr. Munger and Mr. Buffett used to talk about this. the idea being, leverage can impact you in times that are not favorable. So we believe in just owning the stocks unlevered, let them compound over very long periods of time. And we think that by doing that, we and our shareholder, we think our shareholders can generate wealth over very long periods of time. Taxes Frazer Rice (16:54.98)So tax efficiency, the concept of holding period, does that play into your process at all? Michael (17:04.316)So remember within the ETF, as long as you’re managing your trading properly within the ETF, there’s no tax implications inside of it for your shareholders. Your shareholders only would be impacted at selling. So assuming they hold the stocks for over a year, any gains would be long-term capital gains treatment. Frazer Rice (17:27.024)And when you’re describing the investor profile that you’re looking to attract here, who is this for? Michael (17:35.916)Yeah, so the person that, you we really think it’s appropriate for you if you have a five year or more holding period and you want to have long-term capital appreciation. You know, if your goal is to be exposed to the best minds and public securities, that’s the founder led companies, and you want to compound your wealth over a very long period of time and have a high probability of outperforming the traditional broad market indexes, this ETF is designed for you. 17:59 Investor Profile and ETF Positioning Frazer Rice (18:04.705)And as you’re sort of outlining that profile and for those people who are trying to figure out where this fits in from an equity allocation perspective, you’re in charge in many ways of the spoke of a hub and spoke component of people are really sort of looking at indexes as the base of their equity portfolio. What are you looking for? What kind of benchmarks do you sort of measure yourself against? Michael (18:35.007)Yeah, so we think this is absolutely a core holding. So if you’re looking to build out you or your client’s portfolio, we think this should sit at the core. It is on the growth side, so it’s core growth. We think that it is a one-for-one replacement for, the NASDAQ 100. Or, for example, somebody holding the triple Qs. We think this is a better holding than the triple Qs. So we benchmark ourselves against them and against the S &P 500. Ee look at beating those two broad market indexes, generating better risk return for our investors. Frazer Rice (19:13.019)For those listeners that are out there and want to find out more, what’s the best way that they can either get a hold of you or maybe even better, do you have a ticker symbol ready that people can discover? FFF and Contact Information Michael (19:25.215)Yeah, absolutely. So the ticker is FFF. So that’s the FFF ETF that we’ll trade on. And investors can find that at their favorite brokerage firm, whether they’re Schwab customers, Interactive Brokers customers, Fidelity customers, trades under one ticker, just like a stock. Frazer Rice (19:44.365)And let’s take, we have a few minutes to go here, which is great. Your experience in terms of establishing the ETF, maybe a couple of some of the touch points when you went from vision to execution here, what was the process? Michael (20:00.106)Yeah, so ETF has a few basic processes that are regulated under the 1940 Securities Act. And so a lot of those rules are set up to protect the end investors. So for example, the securities live within a trust. So we set up our own trust. Some people use a mingled trust. We thought it was better for our end investors to have our own trust that we set up that has an independent trust board that oversees to make sure that we’re executing our strategies as we’ve outlined in the prospectus to make sure that we’re Doing the best we can for our investors. You’ve got to set that up There’s a few firms that do the plumbing for the for the ETFs would say US Bank is probably the largest player. So US Bank provides our our fund custody and fund administration and then there’s just a few other vendors in the space that sort of help with all the plumbing to make sure that the ETF runs smoothly. So it’s probably a six month process if you stay really focused to get all of that set up. 20:58 Navigating the ETF Launch Process Frazer Rice (21:03.313)You get that set up, how do you approach the Schwabs and the Fidelitys and the other platforms to make sure that people can access, buy, sell, whatever they want to do with your ETF? Michael (21:14.347)Yeah, that’s a great question. So the online brokerages typically put you on the platform as soon as you’re listed on a major US exchange. So you’ve got to get listed on NASDAQ, NYSE or CIBO. We chose CIBO. So again, on the traditional online brokers, you’re there day one. And then the big wire houses, JP Morgan, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, BAML, they typically have a few hurdles that you’ve got to get through, whether it’s daily trading liquidity assets under management. And over time, as you run the wickets through their process, you’re added to those platforms. Macro Issues? Frazer Rice (21:48.721)We live in a political age and a time when there’s just chaos everywhere, different types of rules in order to allocate capital. If you’re an investor trying to guess what’s happening politically, et cetera, that are difficult, you must be positive as far as the environment for founders to find success in this country and beyond. Is there anything that you’re looking for to make sure that those conditions hold? Michael (22:18.225)Yeah, we don’t really look at the macro or political backgrounds. think over very long periods of time, U.S. innovation outperforms. so we sort of we think that, again, one of the great things with investing in founders is they keep adapting as the background changes behind them. So we think over very long periods of time, the U.S. has great economic growth. And for those people that have worried about little blips along the way, we think the founders are the absolute best at mitigating those blips. Frazer Rice (22:48.334)I like to say you bet against America at your own peril and it sounds like from a founder perspective it’s still a great place for them to locate their businesses and grow them here. Michael (23:01.042)Absolutely. 23:50 Final Thoughts and Contact Information Frazer Rice (23:02.971)Just to reiterate, FFF is the ticker symbol for people to find it. any other contact points for people to find you if they’re interested in what you’re putting together. Michael (23:15.613)Yeah, so we have a great website at FounderETFs.com. can go check out there or anyone’s happy to email me, just michael at FounderETFs.com. Happy to chat with anyone who has interest about the portfolio, the strategy, or what we’re building. Frazer Rice (23:32.197)Well, great to have you back on, Mike. Thank you for putting up with my attempt at looking like Steve Jobs. It’s 25 degrees in New York here, and I am the stupid one who’s not in California or somewhere warm. appreciate you taking the time to be on and talking about your new product. Michael (23:48.011)Yeah, it was great to be on here. Really a huge fan of your podcast and just the level of guests that you’re able to interview and help educate your viewers. Frazer Rice (23:56.849)Mike, thanks for being on. Michael (23:59.061)Thanks a lot, Frazer. https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Actually-Intelligent-Decision-Making-1-ebook/dp/B07FPQJJQT/ Previously with Mike Monaghan ETF EDUCATION ARTICLES ON ETF.COM

In this episode, Sasha Orloff speaks with Renato Villanueva, Founder and CEO of Parallel, about his journey from finance professional at Divvy to raising $2.4 million from Bain Capital and K5 Tokyo Black for an AI-powered FP&A platform that helps founders model financial scenarios and make confident growth decisions. Renato shares lessons on building products founders are passionate about rather than forced wedges, nurturing investor relationships, and how Parallel's approach has enabled customers to achieve significant growth—including one company that scaled from planning one sales hire to four, ultimately raising one of Utah's biggest Series A rounds. -- SPONSORS: Notion Boost your startup with Notion—the ultimate connected workspace trusted by thousands worldwide! From engineering specs to onboarding and fundraising, Notion keeps your team organized and efficient. For a limited time, get 6 months of Notion AI FREE to supercharge your workflow. Claim your offer now at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://notion.com/startups/puzzle⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Puzzle

In the first installment of this 2-part episode, John A. Hovanesian, MD, FACS, and Jim Mazzo are live from the AAO Eyecelerator with guests Julia A. Haller, MD, CEO, and David F. Chang, MD. Welcome to the Eyeluminaries podcast 00:10 Quick recap of episode 34 00:52 Intro of Julia A. Haller, MD, CEO 01:47 Tell us about changes you're seeing in leading a large academic center 02:16 How has residency changed in the last years? 06:23 Why are you involved in the Ophthalmology Foundation? 13:05 Intro of David F. Chang, MD 16:51 What do you think about the future of robotics in cataract surgery? 17:51 How do you continue to involve the patient in their care? 20:15 Dr. Chang discusses premium lenses 22:43 What's going on with EyeSustain and what are you excited about in the future? 27:00 Thank you! 35:30 Julia A. Haller, MD, is ophthalmologist-in-chief and CEO at Wills Eye Hospital. David F. Chang, MD, is a world-renowned cataract surgeon and innovator in the field. He is clinical professor of ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco, and is in private practice in Los Altos, Calif. He is also the chair of the EyeSustain advisory board. We'd love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to eyeluminaries@healio.com. Follow John Hovanesian on X (formerly Twitter) @DrHovanesian. Disclosures: Hovanesian consults widely in the ophthalmic field. Mazzo reports being an advisor for Anivive Lifesciences, Avellino Labs, Bain Capital, CVC Capital and Zeiss; executive chairman of Neurotech, Preceyes BV and TearLab; and sits on the board of Crystilex, Centricity Vision, IanTech, Lensgen and Visus. Healio could not confirm disclosures for Garg, Hubschman, Juhasz, and Lindstrom at the time of publication.

Are you building a business you could sell tomorrow, or are hidden mistakes quietly draining its value?In this episode, Bill joins a roundtable discussion with host Peter Levy, and other powerhouse leaders, including M&A dealmaker Alan Sharfstein, serial entrepreneur Bill Bartzak, strategic advisor Bill Barrett, and hands-on exit veteran John Peck. Together, they deconstruct the most urgent and overlooked truths about navigating the sale of your business, from killer red flags and ruthless buyer tactics to essential “owner's playbooks” for every stage.If you're tempted to DIY your deal, break this habit now. Tune in to protect your life's work, avoid devastating oversights, and hear real-world insights you won't find anywhere else. Listen now before the next buyer knocks. By then, you need to be ready.Timestamped Highlights[00:11] – The candid, emotional question that every seller must dare to ask[07:39] – How legendary entrepreneurs survived—and thrived—by switching lanes[09:47] – Why today's M&A market is exploding with both risk and opportunity[14:00] – The one “secret mentor” move that multiplies your business value overnight[21:27] – Shocking? How recurring revenue rewrites your exit story…or kills it[27:20] – The DIY disaster: True stories of owners who left millions on the table[34:07] – The “reverse diligence” test: Are you the buyer…or being bought?[41:12] – Fatal red flags, stealthy earnouts, and the non-negotiables in every deal[48:48] – When to bring your team into the trust circle—and how to handle it[54:28] – How top buyers quietly poach your secrets…and how to block themAbout the SpeakersPeter Levy is Senior Counsel at Mandelbaum Barrett, where he has called home for the past 11 years. As a trusted legal advisor and frequent moderator, Peter brings deep experience and pride in representing one of the finest law firms in the industry. With a longstanding reputation for strategic insight and an engaging, client-centered approach, Peter regularly facilitates panels and seminars for business owners, focusing on topics like exit strategies, business transitions, and personal growth within entrepreneurial careers. His perspective incorporates lessons from leading experts, blending practical business advice with inspiration from renowned thought leaders.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today's interview is with a wealth management entrepreneur who created one of the most consequential wealth management technology companies that has helped to shape the industry into what it is today.Bill Crager is the Co-Founder of Envestnet, which he and his co-founder, the late Jud Bergman, grew into a public company. Bill was the CEO of Envestnet during the company's time as both a public company and following Bain Capital's acquisition to take the company private for $4.5B.Bill is now back at it again, joining iAltA Holdings as a Founding Partner to build a suite of businesses at the intersection of private markets and private wealth management infrastructure alongside former Ipreo CEO Scott Ganeles, former Ipreo Executive Bill Sherman, and former Blackstone CFO and WestCap Founder Laurence Tosi.Bill and I had a fascinating conversation about wealth management and private markets. We covered:The evolution of wealthtech.What advisors are looking for when it comes to technology.How technology can help advisors deliver a high-quality experience to clients.Why private markets are now playing such a big role in the business of wealth management.What is missing in private markets infrastructure.The role of AI in financial planning.Why Bill wanted to go back to building again.What is in store for iAltA.Thanks Bill for sharing your wisdom and expertise on private wealth and private markets.Show Notes00:00 Introduction to Early Technology00:12 Sponsorship Message from Ultimus02:09 Welcome to the Alt Goes Mainstream Podcast02:12 Introduction to Bill Crager04:19 Building Envestnet and Early Challenges05:06 Evolution of Wealth Management07:00 Adoption of Technology in Wealth Management08:39 Private Equity's Role in Wealth Management10:17 Horizontal vs. Vertical Solutions14:11 Challenges in Wealth Management Technology16:22 Data and Technology in Wealth Management22:41 Customization and Future of UMA24:30 Impact of Data on Private Markets26:30 Evergreen Funds and UMAs27:45 Fusion of Public and Private Markets28:07 Data Inputs for Financial Advice28:33 Building Financial Plans at Scale28:59 The Need for Holistic Financial Connectivity29:35 Challenges in Data Flow and Infrastructure30:29 The Role of AI in Financial Planning30:49 Balancing Machine Learning with Human Assurance31:35 AI's Impact on Financial Advice32:40 Future of Financial Planning with AI35:06 Trust in Technology vs. Human Advisors35:19 The Emotional Component of Financial Advice36:31 The Evolution of Wealth Management37:02 Tokenization in Wealth Management37:46 Adoption Challenges of Tokenization38:56 Leveraging Technology in Wealth Management39:27 The Future of Financial Advisors40:59 Advice for Young Financial Advisors42:10 The Role of Technology in Private Markets43:48 The Vision Behind iAltA44:46 Building Horizontal Solutions46:14 Creating Bridges in Financial Infrastructure51:00 The Future of Financial Advice IndustryEditing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus Fund Solutions, a leading full-service fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. In an increasingly sophisticated financial marketplace, investment managers must navigate a growing array of challenges: elaborate fund structures, specialized strategies, evolving compliance requirements, a growing need for sophisticated reporting, and intensifying demands for transparency.To assist with these challenging opportunities, more and more fund sponsors and asset managers are turning to Ultimus, a leading service provider that blends high tech and high touch in unique and customized fund administration and middle office solutions for a diverse and growing universe of over 450 clients and 1,800 funds, representing $500 billion assets under administration, all handled by a team of over 1,000 professionals. Ultimus offers a wide range of capabilities across registered funds, private funds and public plans, as well as outsourced middle office services. Delivering operational excellence, Ultimus helps firms manage the ever-changing regulatory environment while meeting the needs of their institutional and retail investors. Ultimus provides comprehensive operational support and fund governance services to help managers successfully launch retail alternative products.Visit www.ultimusfundsolutions.com to learn more about Ultimus' technology enhanced services and solutions or contact Ultimus Executive Vice President of Business Development Gary Harris on email at gharris@ultimusfundsolutions.com.We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.

This episode is sponsored by AlixPartners The Disruption Matters special podcast miniseries is back for its fourth season, and this year, leading industry experts will discuss how private markets can still deliver growth, despite the headwinds of a revolution in tech, geopolitics and global markets. All season long, we've argued that PE firms need to pursue growth even in times of uncertainty and volatility. But in our final episode of the year, we're clarifying that not all growth is created equal. The right kind of growth is cost-effective and sustainable. We explore the threats to sustainable growth, the need to shape growth strategies around exit routes, how buy-and-build strategies can go awry, and how to pause a growth strategy without stalling the company's progress. Guests include Jason McDannold, co-lead of the PE practice at AlixPartners; Halvor Horten, partner at Bain Capital; Jennifer Fox Bensimon, a managing director on the co-investment team of Partners Capital Investment Group; Emanuela Cisini, a partner, co-head of operational improvement and head of Mideast and Asia at Investindustrial; and Burak Kiral, a partner and managing director with AlixPartners.

Iggy Ioppe is Chief Investment Officer at Theo, a gateway connecting onchain capital to global markets via institutional-grade trading infrastructure. Previously, Iggy was Co-Head of Polygon Ventures and Managing Partner at Procul Capital, a fintech and Web3-focused venture firm. Earlier, he served as Group Head of Proprietary Investing at Credit Suisse and held investing roles at Sureview Capital, Vinik Asset Management, and Bain Capital. He holds a B.S. in Mathematics from McGill University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. In this conversation, we discuss:- The convergence of TradFi Crypto - High-speed traders are now the smartest folks on Wall Street  - Going beyond issuance - why tokenizing assets is not enough - Current trends in tokenized RWAs - The value of engaging tokenized assets in spot markets - The future of tokenized finance and the path to institutional adoption - Connecting to liquidity venues - HIP-3 exchange denominated in t-bills - Money-market funds - Tokenized gold with yield TheoX: @Theo_NetworkWebsite: theo.xyzLinkedIn: TheoIggy IoppeX: @iggyioppeLinkedIn: Iggy Ioppe---------------------------------------------------------------------------------This episode is brought to you by PrimeXBT.PrimeXBT offers a robust trading system for both beginners and professional traders that demand highly reliable market data and performance. Traders of all experience levels can easily design and customize layouts and widgets to best fit their trading style. PrimeXBT is always offering innovative products and professional trading conditions to all customers.  PrimeXBT is running an exclusive promotion for listeners of the podcast. After making your first deposit, 50% of that first deposit will be credited to your account as a bonus that can be used as additional collateral to open positions. Code: CRYPTONEWS50 This promotion is available for a month after activation. Click the link below: PrimeXBT x CRYPTONEWS50FollowApple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon MusicRSS FeedSee All

In this episode, we speak with David Katz, Managing Director at Charlesbank Capital Partners, a $24 billion AUM middle-market private equity firm that spun out of the Harvard Management Company in 1998. Drawing on its endowment heritage, Charlesbank takes a research-based approach to investing across its four target sectors: business & consumer services, healthcare, industrial, and technology. The firm partners with management teams to help businesses unlock value and accelerate growth. At Charlesbank, David oversees the firm's Business & Consumer Services sector team. Since formalizing the sector in 2019, Charlesbank has been among the most active and successful private equity investors in business services, including several notable realizations. Charlesbank views the services ecosystem as offering compelling and durable opportunities for continued private equity investment. David has been with Charlesbank for nearly 13 years, during which time he has also helped to advance the firm's investing system including its “fan of outcomes” underwriting approach. He is a member of the firm's Investment Committee, and previously worked at Bain Capital and McKinsey. I am your host, RJ Lumba. We hope you enjoy the show. If you like the episode click to follow.

Tiger Tyagarajan, Senior Advisor, BCG, Bain Capital and former CEO of Genpact, joins Replicant's Gadi Shamia to unpack why most enterprise AI fails. From broken org design to change-resistant cultures, Tiger reveals what's really holding transformation back, and how to fix it. In this episode:Why AI isn't a technology challenge, it's a leadership challengeThe real reason enterprise pilots stall (hint: it's not the model quality)Why being “AI-ready” means rewiring how decisions get madeWhat Tiger's seeing from CEOs who are doing it right (and wrong)The growing gap between incremental automation and true reinventionHow agentic AI will change enterprise operations forever

The Information's Aaron Tilley and TMF Associates' Tim Farrar talk with TITV Host Akash Pasricha about a potential Apple and SpaceX satellite deal and Globalstar's rumored $10 billion sale. We also talk with Katie Roof's scoop that Adobe considered a $3 billion acquisition of AI video company Synthesia and Mike Shebat about how his company, Traba, is using AI to disrupt the light industrial staffing industry. The Information's Erin Woo joins us to detail Google's multimillion-dollar contract with Major League Hacking to push its Gemini AI model to young coders. Lastly, The Information's CEO and Editor-in-Chief Jessica Lessin speaks with Allison Braley, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, to discuss modern communications strategies in the AI age.Articles discussed on this episode:https://www.theinformation.com/articles/apple-musks-spacex-finally-satellite-dealhttps://www.theinformation.com/articles/softbank-hunts-humanoid-robot-startupsTITV airs on YouTube, X and LinkedIn at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. Or check us out wherever you get your podcasts.Subscribe to: - The Information on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theinformation4080/?sub_confirmation=1- The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/subscribe_hSign up for the AI Agenda newsletter: https://www.theinformation.com/features/ai-agenda

Some investors are motivated by the thought of multiplying their fund, securing a bigger slice of the cap table, or, of course, successfully filing for a coveted IPO. But for Tahira Dosani, all she has to do is remember the economic instability of her childhood and she's immediately re-anchored to her why behind it all. First came the career, starting as a Bain Capital consultant and moving on to launching cellular service and mobile payment solutions in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Then came the first fund, Accion, a non-for-profit where Tahira cut her teeth in early stage impact investing in emerging markets. After Accion, Tahira didn't set out to start her own fund, but the immigrant-to-entrepreneur pipeline was just too strong and it pulled in this Pakistani native. She co-founded ResilienceVC, a human-centric, early stage fund focused on creating fintech solutions and solving persistent financial challenges for everyday Americans. She writes $1 million checks out of ResilienceVC to fintech companies at the seed stage. Highlights: Tahira's why dates back to when she was a child who immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan. Her family's financial challenges stuck with her, and ever since, she's remained focused on helping others boost their economic status through technology. It might be hard to recall a time before cellphone service was ubiquitous, but Tahira was on the ground in Kabul, Afghanistan when the first towers were raised, signalling a new day for citizens' economic opportunities. She soon after helped launch the first mobile payment solution, bringing even more power to the region. Much of investing in the post-2010s is focused on iterating and refining existing products, but Tahira's backing OS Benefits, a fintech company with a new answer to an old problem: lack of health insurance coverage for restaurant workers.  We often say that AI is changing the game. And now, it's changing the way we behave. Tahira is exploring how AI can alter people's financial habits and ultimately, make better choices on their behalf. (00:00) - Resilience as a Thesis- Tahira Dosani on Building for Underserved Markets and AI in Fintech (01:21) - Tahira's path to investing (11:52) - How Accion shaped Tahira's career (17:35) - What makes a resilient founder? (23:35) - ResilienceVC in the U.S. and beyond (28:24) - How Tahira qualifies opportunity markets (30:05) - OS Benefits: Solving the under-insurance crisis (35:24) - The fintech and AI crossroads (43:29) - Common mistakes from fintech founders (49:40) - Curiosity as the anchor (51:51) - Speed round

A trusted advisor. Years of history. Then the gut punch of a fraud that traces through Raj Markan, Merrill Lynch, Hilltop Securities, and a pitch invoking Bain Capital. In this follow up, Chalene Johnson lays out new receipts, what the FBI and SEC have already done, and how the scheme used off-channel communications to look legitimate. You will hear how victims were paid off, which red flags were missed, and the exact steps listeners can use to protect their money. If you have information or direct experience with Raj Markan, Merrill Lynch, Hilltop Securities, or Bain Capital, email TheChaleneShow@gmail.com

In this episode of The Canadian Investor Podcast, we cover a packed week of market-moving news. We start with reports that Bain Capital may be taking Canada Goose private, with bids valuing the luxury parka maker well above its current market cap. Next, we break down Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s latest speech at Jackson Hole, where cooling growth, sticky inflation, and tariff-driven price shocks shaped the market’s outlook on rate cuts. We also look at Scotiabank’s surprising earnings beat, why their international arm is still a drag, and whether their promise of “pruning” is finally over. On the macro front, we discuss Trump’s efforts to reshape the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government’s growing trend of taking equity stakes in strategic companies like Intel and MP Materials. Finally, we wrap up with another strong quarter from Dollarama, which continues to post impressive growth while expanding globally. Tickers of stocks discussed: MP, INTC, DOL.TO, BNS.TO, LMT Check out our portfolio by going to Jointci.com Our Website Our New Youtube Channel! Canadian Investor Podcast Network Twitter: @cdn_investing Simon’s twitter: @Fiat_Iceberg Braden’s twitter: @BradoCapital Dan’s Twitter: @stocktrades_ca Want to learn more about Real Estate Investing? Check out the Canadian Real Estate Investor Podcast! Apple Podcast - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Spotify - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Web player - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Asset Allocation ETFs | BMO Global Asset Management Sign up for Fiscal.ai for free to get easy access to global stock coverage and powerful AI investing tools. Register for EQ Bank, the seamless digital banking experience with better rates and no nonsense.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For decades, private equity has been the darling of pension funds, university endowments, and sovereign wealth funds, promising high returns and low volatility. Now, President Donald Trump has made it possible for everyday investors to get in on the magic with his executive order, "Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors.” The order relieves regulatory burdens that limit the access of defined contribution plans, like 401(k)s, to alternative assets such as private equity (but also cryptocurrency and real estate). The hope is to give American workers access to greater choice, diversification, and potential growth towards a comfortable retirement.But Trump's order comes just as longstanding questions about private equity's promise of high returns and low risk are coming to the fore. Has the distribution of returns slowed to a trickle? What does data actually say about private equity's performance, and where is the industry headed? There is also a long standing debate whether private equity is good for society, independent of financial returns.Is private equity actually a ponzi scheme that now threatens the retirements of millions of American workers? To make sense of it all, Luigi and Bethany are joined by Dan Rasmussen, an experienced investor and author who began his career in private equity but has emerged as one of the most prescient critics of the industry. Together, the three of them distill what the state of the industry means for the future welfare of investors, workers, and the American economy as a whole.Bonus: Check out ProMarket's recent series on the impact of private equity in the health care industry.

In Episode #116 of Geeks of the Valley, we sat down with Jared Stein, Co-Founder at Monogram Capital, a leading private equity firm specializing in scaling high-growth, human-centric consumer brands.Jared walks through Monogram's investment philosophy and why the firm focuses on companies with deep consumer resonance. He shares insights from leading investments in Chewy.com, Olipop, Genexa, and Planet Fitness, detailing how emotional connection, strong brand equity, and operational excellence drive sustainable growth. The conversation explores the evolving role of private equity in consumer markets, including the increasing importance of wellness, trust, and personalization in shaping investment decisions.Drawing on his background at Bain Capital, Golden Gate Capital, HGGC, and Goldman Sachs, Jared also discusses lessons learned from scaling category leaders, the role of strategic partnerships, and how to balance value creation with authentic brand building.Whether you're an investor seeking differentiated strategies, a founder building a consumer brand, or a strategist tracking market shifts, this episode offers a deep dive into the future of human-centric private equity.