Podcasts about managing partners

The following article of the Mining industry is: 'Mining's Most Valuable Asset May Not Be Underground' by Pablo Méndez, Managing Partner, EC Rubio. 

The boys get together in person as CLARITY falls short with 47 votes. They break down what comes next, Hunter Biden's LAPTOP token collapse, the Robinhood/Hyperliquid case, Balancer winding down, and the debate over an AI pause. The CLARITY Act fails cloture with 47 votes, not a single Democrat in favor, and the crew works out what that leaves behind: rulemaking at the SEC and CFTC, an ethics fight that was never really about market structure, and Robert's tally of everyone who walked away with nothing. Then Hunter Biden's LAPTOP token collapses 99.85 percent, the SDNY indicts two Robinhood engineers over Hyperliquid front-running, Balancer and a wave of exchanges wind down, Robert explains why Satoshi is a time traveler, and the panel takes apart the labs' agreement to pace the frontier. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and this afternoon we're talking about something too many men would rather not talk about—their prostate health. But for Black men especially, that conversation could be lifesaving. Joining me is Dr. Xavier Bryant, CFO and Managing Partner of Atlanta to Anywhere Community Events & Screenings, or A²CES. Dr. Bryant, welcome.

Kevin Ramsier is the Founder and Managing Partner at Sier Capital Partners, which makes strategic investments in lower-middle-market companies and partners with management teams to accelerate growth. He previously spent a decade at Invesco and has built and exited multiple companies. A three-time Inc. 5000 honoree, Kevin also speaks on business growth, value maximization, and exit planning, combining operating discipline with entrepreneurial vision.  In this episode… Selling a business is more than a financial transaction; it can reshape a founder's role, relationships, and future upside. What separates a successful partnership from one that falls apart after the deal closes? Kevin Ramsier, Founder and Managing Partner at Sier Capital, discusses how founders can increase value before and after a sale. With host Todd Taskey, Kevin shares the importance of alignment in private equity partnerships, how rollover equity can support a strong second bite, and what business owners should strengthen before going to market.

The boys get together in person as CLARITY falls short with 47 votes. They break down what comes next, Hunter Biden's LAPTOP token collapse, the Robinhood/Hyperliquid case, Balancer winding down, and the debate over an AI pause. The CLARITY Act fails cloture with 47 votes, not a single Democrat in favor, and the crew works out what that leaves behind: rulemaking at the SEC and CFTC, an ethics fight that was never really about market structure, and Robert's tally of everyone who walked away with nothing. Then Hunter Biden's LAPTOP token collapses 99.85 percent, the SDNY indicts two Robinhood engineers over Hyperliquid front-running, Balancer and a wave of exchanges wind down, Robert explains why Satoshi is a time traveler, and the panel takes apart the labs' agreement to pace the frontier. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

Send us Fan MailA board career as a young, independent director? It is possible, even without executive experience. Learn what works to earn appointments, how to structure a portfolio of positions, and key lessons for ongoing success. In this podcast, Dr Sabine Dembkowski, Founder and Managing Partner of Better Boards, is joined by Katia Ciesielska. Katia is an independent non-executive director and corporate governance adviser based in Luxembourg. Over the last eight years, she has built a diverse and substantial cross-border portfolio. A former corporate and funds lawyer, she brings legal, compliance and commercial judgement to the boardroom. Katia is an INSEAD- and ILA-certified director, serves on the board of the Luxembourg Institute of Governance (ILA), and contributes to its working groups. A speaker, trainer, and mentor, she has been named three times to the annual Paperjam's Top 100 Women on Boards.“My route into the board was not the obvious one.“Katia joined her first board at 37, just 10 years after university. She chose to leave her corporate and financial law career after being exposed to the world of independent directors and wishing to work on complex issues for different companies. To break in without a long executive career, she took a different approach. “There wasn't one moment where all the entry barriers suddenly disappeared, so I overcame them gradually.”For Katia, several steps added up to success. She learned to explain how her legal background benefited boards. She got and remains active in the governance community. She joined multiple professional associations, sought out mentors, and became a speaker and educator. This let people see her project work in action, revealed her judgment and thought processes, and helped her grow her network. With these small, consistent steps, she drew closer to her first mandate.“At the same time, I was also very practical about my search.”Katia proactively approached relevant firms and executive search groups to share her interest in open seats and what mandates appealed to her. She invested in becoming a certified director as well as other executive education courses. One year after finishing her first certification program, she had her first seat.“Once opportunities start coming in, it can be very tempting to say yes to everything.Initially, capacity was a major constraint, yet she also feared missing out. Now, she considers her portfolio to ensure she has time, interest, no conflicts, and can truly give the role the attention it deserves. She balances 15 – 20 mandates, including regulated mandates, up to the full limit permitted by her regulators. “There are quite a few things I would do differently.”Looking back, Katia reflects that patience is particularly important. When she started, she didn't fully understand the time it takes to build trust, develop a reputation, and form the relationships that lead to appointments. She also feels she said yes too often early on without considering fit, relied on hard work to pave her way instead of clearly communicating what she wanted, and worried about being underqualified instead of trusting she had something to contribute. The three top takeaways from our conversation for effective boards are:1.      The first mandate is the hardest. Once opportunities arrive, design your portfolio carefully and protect your reputation by saying no when necessary.2.     Being excellent in your profession is not the same as being ready for the boardroom. Broaden your perspective beyond your specialist expertise.3.     A board career is a long game. Consistent, proactive steps matter more than occasional bursts of activity.Better Boards goes beyond box‑ticking. We bring together chairs, directors and governance leaders who want board effectiveness grounded in independent research and external benchmarks. Our proprietary, peer‑reviewed methodology shows how your board truly compares across all dimensions of effective boards.If you would like to join the community, experience our research‑based approach to board evaluations, explore ways to work with us, or share ideas for The Better Boards Podcast, we would be glad to hear from you at info@better-boards.com.

In this episode, Miguel Gonzalez discusses the potential hidden costs of holding excess cash, including inflation, lost purchasing power, missed opportunities, and the impact on long-term financial goals. He also explains why finding the right balance between liquidity and long-term planning is so important.Miguel Gonzalez is a Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC) with over 25 years of experience helping individuals and families design retirement income strategies and long-term financial plans. He is the Managing Partner of Cortburg Retirement Advisors, a boutique firm focused on retirement planning, investment management, and financial clarity.Welcome to Cortburg Speaks Retirement Podcast with Miguel Gonzalez, MBA, AIF®, CPFA®, CRC® CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO MIGUEL'S LATEST PODCAST FOLLOW US ON: YouTube->https://m.youtube.com/c/CORTBURGRETIREMENTADVISORSFacebook-> https://m.facebook.com/CortburgIncTwitter-> https://twitter.com/CortburgIncLinkedIn->https://www.linkedin.com/in/miguelxgonzalez/Website: www.CortburgRetirement.comEmail:     Miguel@CortburgRetirement.com

Welcome to the 14th episode in our special series with the Australian Government and their Centre for Australia–India Relations (CAIR), spotlighting the growing Australia–India relationship across technology, business, media, culture and sport.Other guests in this series include BHP's CFO Vandita Pant, Bank of America's Head of Capital Commitments Gautam Chari, Austrade's GM for South Asia Mukund Narayanamurti, Renowned Music Composer Tushar Apte, Australia's High Commissioner to India Philip Green, MUFG's CEO Vivek Bhatia, Australia's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Peter Varghese, NAB's EGM Sweta Mehra, Deputy Secretary of Australia's Home Affairs Brendan Dowling, Orica's CEO Sanjeev Gandhi, Sports Journalist Bharat Sundaresan, Cricket Legend Lisa Sthalekar and CAIR's CEO, Ryan Neelam, reflecting the breadth of Indian-Australian leaders at the most senior levels.________This episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.comJoin our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more.________Amit Singh is Managing Partner of Mandala, a global economics, data and policy research firm. He has advised three Australian Prime Ministers, served as Uber's Global Head of Economic Policy in San Francisco, and more. Today, he leads Mandala and serves on several prominent government and public-policy boards.In this conversation with Vidit, Amit shares his journey from growing up amid political instability in Fiji and moving to Australia as a teenager, to running a $20 million organisation with 200 employees at just 21 — before going on to work at the highest levels of Australian government. He reflects on going from Freehills to Kevin Rudd's office in the space of two days, subsequently working for Julia Gillard and briefly Anthony Albanese, and the experience of technically losing his job five times during his political career. Amit also shares the equal-pay decision he is proudest of, which delivered a 23–45% pay increase for 150,000 predominantly female care workers. Amit also explains why he left government for technology, what moving to San Francisco and working at Uber taught him about ambition and taking risks, and how those experiences ultimately led to building Mandala as a globally focused economics and policy firm. They also explore Amit's Fijian-Indian identity, why he believes the Australia–India economic relationship remains underdone despite decades of intent, the opportunity across technology, AI and services, and why changing Australians' understanding of modern India could unlock a much deeper relationship. Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.______Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.comJoin our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG,, Allens, Macquarie Capital, Xero, JP Morgan and more. Show notes and more episodes hereFollow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and InstagramGet in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly hereContact us via our websiteThis episode is supported by Xero, helping businesses use AI with more control through JAX, its in-platform AI finance partner. Get 90% off your plan for your first 6 months at xero.com/highflyers. ________TIMESTAMPS00:00 Who is Amit Singh01:28 From selling limes in Fiji to building Mandala03:43 Growing up Fijian-Indian amid political instability04:31 His parents' sacrifice — and the values they passed down08:11 Navigating identity after moving to Australia11:42 Finishing high school at 16 — by accident13:12 Running a $20M organisation at 2116:13 Law, Freehills & an unexpected career path17:52 From lawyer to Kevin Rudd's office in two days21:51 What working closely with Prime Ministers taught him23:21 The decision that changed pay for 150,000 workers26:10 Leaving government for Uber and Silicon Valley28:57 From playing it safe to “shoot your shot”31:38 The hardest parts of Amit's career33:36 What Uber taught him about managing exceptional people35:22 Building Mandala37:22 Why Australia–India remains underdone42:13 Why no one is truly self-made43:24 Rapid fire________The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world's most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Keith Rabois (Managing Director, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Kevin Hartz (Partner, A*; Founder, Eventbrite), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India).

In Folge 2 von "Founders Dispatch" sprechen Stefan Köppl, Managing Partner der Wiener Tech-M&A-Boutique Samira Advisors, und Jakob Steinschaden, Chefredakteur von Trending Topics, über folgende Themen:

Adi Klevit is the CEO of Business Success Consulting Group, where she helps businesses scale and grow by implementing efficient business infrastructure, processes, and systems. Their company is made up of experts who create, document, and implement processes and procedures for small- and medium-sized companies that want to scale or expand, or for those gearing up for transition. She is also the host of the Systems Simplified podcast and an international speaker. Adam Gelhausen is the Managing Partner of Palindrome LLP, a private investment firm that acquires established businesses and focuses on long-term ownership, founder legacy, and company culture. He leads the firm's portfolio management strategy and oversees the valuation and acquisition of new investment opportunities. Adam has more than 20 years of investment management experience, including senior analyst and portfolio management roles at Wellington Management. He earned a bachelor of science in business from Washington State University. In this episode… What does it take to unlock growth in an established business without losing the knowledge and culture that made it successful? When critical know-how lives in people's heads and teams are accustomed to doing things the same way, how can leaders build systems that create lasting growth? Adam Gelhausen, a seasoned investor focused on established businesses, believes sustainable growth starts with understanding how a company actually operates before making changes. He emphasizes learning directly from employees, developing focused 100-day plans, and aligning teams around transparent metrics and regularly updated dashboards. Adi Klevit, a business growth and process improvement expert, highlights the importance of capturing tacit knowledge — the unwritten habits, decisions, and expertise that often live in an owner's or employee's head — and turning it into documented, repeatable processes. Together, they show how operational discipline, collaborative leadership, and effective systems can overcome resistance to change, create owner independence, and make businesses more scalable and valuable. In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Adam Gelhausen and Adi Klevit to discuss scaling established businesses through systems and operational excellence. They explore documenting tacit knowledge, implementing technology and KPIs, and gaining team buy-in for change. Adam and Adi also share practical approaches to operational improvement, process implementation, and building businesses that can grow without depending too heavily on individual people.

Welcome back to The Collision Vision, driven by Autobody News. I'm your host, Cole Strandberg. There are people in this industry who build great businesses. There are others who have an incredible ability to identify opportunities, attract great people, and build organizations around them. Today's guest has spent his career doing both. Jacob Tilzer is the Founder and Managing Partner of Accrual Equity Partners, but many in the collision industry know him best as the founder of Kaizen Collision, which he built from a single location into one of the industry's fastest-growing multi-shop operators. But the Kaizen story is really only part of this conversation. Today, Jacob is building again — investing in and growing businesses across automotive, assembling an incredible team at Accrual Equity Partners, and partnering with entrepreneurs and operators to build the next generation of automotive companies. And this one is a little personal for me. Jacob is one of the guys responsible for bringing me into the organization I'm part of today, NBB, and I've had a front-row seat to one of the things I find most interesting about him: his ability to convince incredibly talented people to come build alongside him. His ability to create, and share, a vision. We'll talk about his journey, the rise of Kaizen, what he learned scaling and ultimately exiting the business, and how those lessons influence the way he invests and builds today. We'll also get into the opportunity he sees across automotive, what he looks for in businesses and founders, how he thinks about talent, and what he believes the next generation of great automotive platforms will look like. Because ultimately, building something great isn't just about finding the right opportunity. It's about finding the right people to build it with. Let's get into it.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode of the WTR Small Cap Spotlight, Joseph Lucosky, Managing Partner of Lucosky Brookman LLP, joins WTR's Tim Gerdeman to discuss his new seat on the SEC's Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee, NASDAQ's stayed $5 million continued listing rule, and Q2 2026 microcap IPO data showing the first signs of a thaw. Lucosky also covers the rise of direct listings and reverse mergers over the traditional IPO, and what foreign private issuers need to get approved on NASDAQ. For additional content, visit www.watertowerresearch.com.

Marketers have spent years trying to prove marketing works.Better attribution. Better dashboards. Better measurement. More data.And yet marketing still struggles to defend investment when budgets come under pressure.Maybe proof isn't the real problem.In this episode of the Sleeping Barber Podcast, Marc and V sit down with Ian Whitaker, Founder and Managing Partner of Liberty Sky Advisors and a former equities analyst with more than 20 years covering media, technology and telecommunications.Ian argues that marketers have learned the vocabulary of finance without necessarily learning its grammar. Boards aren't simply deciding whether marketing works. They're deciding where the next dollar of capital should go, what return it could generate, what risk it carries and what risk the business accepts by not investing.That changes the marketing conversation.Ian explains why he thinks marketing should be understood as intangible capex, why brand investment could be separated into maintenance and growth, and why cutting marketing can create risks that aren't visible on the next quarterly earnings report.The conversation also challenges one of marketing's favourite financial metrics: ROI.As Ian points out, ROI can improve simply by reducing the denominator. You can cut marketing investment and increase marketing ROI, even while potentially making the business weaker over time. The metric may tell us something about efficiency without necessarily telling us whether we're maximizing effectiveness or enterprise value.The discussion explores discounted cash flow, pricing power, financial incentives, the accounting treatment of brand investment and why strong brands can paradoxically become victims of their own success.And ultimately, Ian makes a much simpler argument:Data isn't the problem. Data is evidence that supports the business case. It isn't the business case itself.Our Guest:Ian Whittaker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianwhittakermedia/Chapters:00:00 Why Marketing Keeps Losing the Budget Argument01:46 Meet Ian Whitaker04:54 Seeing What Others Miss07:16 Why Brand Is an Underappreciated Asset09:42 The Board Is Another Customer11:19 Marketing Knows Finance's Words, Not Its Grammar13:45 Why Marketing Budget Is Really a Risk Conversation18:18 Marketing Is Intangible Capex22:10 Why Accounting Makes Marketing Easy to Cut25:01 Marketing Compounds — It Doesn't Just Add26:46 Why Investors Value Brand but Still Cut Marketing32:16 What's Wrong With Marketing ROI?34:32 A Better Financial Model for Marketing39:58 When Strong Brands Become Victims of Their Own Success42:18 Data Isn't the Problem43:11 Building the Bridge Between Marketing and Finance45:48 Becoming a Better Marketer by Thinking Beyond Marketing46:27 Start With the Business and Work Backwards47:45 Why Brand Investment Is Like Defence Spending48:56 Where to Find Ian

Get new episodes in your inbox - https://vc10x.beehiiv.comMorgan Flager is Managing Partner at Silverton Partners, the longest-running and most active early-stage venture firm in Texas. He joined Silverton in 2006 and has spent two decades backing seed and Series A companies out of Austin, with outcomes including SailPoint, Ping Identity, Vacasa, AlertMedia, Black Locus and TrendKite. Silverton closed Fund VII at $248M, the largest in the firm's history, and is currently in market with Fund VIII. Before Silverton, Morgan invested at FTV Capital and held operating roles at Kintana and Ingrian Networks. He holds a BS from Stanford.Morgan is at least doubling Silverton's allocation to hard tech, and he explains why part of that rotation is real conviction and part of it is the venture industry running from a broken toy.⭐ This episode is brought to you by Podcast10x - https://podcast10x.comKey topics we cover:- Why Silverton's hard tech allocation is moving to 30-40% of the fund across defense, AI infrastructure, manufacturing and energy- What still makes a software company defensible when features are commoditized and wrappers are worse than features- Why he's writing more seed checks instead of holding deeper reserves as the power law sharpens- The valuation math that makes him walk away: a $300M seed entry needs a $5B outcome, and only ~30 companies have crossed $10B in 20 years- How LP conversations changed between Fund VII and Fund VIII, and why liquidity is now the first questionChapters:(00:00) - Preview (00:52) - Introduction to Morgan Flager & Silverton Partners (02:19) - Silverton's Evolving Deployment Strategy (2022-2026) (03:15) - Increased Allocation to Hard Tech & Emerging Categories (06:01) - Why VCs are Shifting from Software to Hard Tech (08:03) - Distinguishing AI Wrappers from Defensible Enterprise Platforms (12:25) - The Next Era of the Texas Startup Ecosystem (15:07) - Portfolio Construction: More Shots on Goal vs. Deeper Reserves (18:20) - How AI Creates More Capital-Efficient Software Companies (22:26) - Maintaining Valuation Discipline in a Hot Market (25:55) - How AI Will Change the Healthcare Landscape (29:40) - The Changing Architecture of a Successful Marketplace (33:00) - The Risk of Frontier Models (OpenAI, Claude) Competing with Startups (38:00) - Distinguishing Genuine Founder Obsession from Trend Chasing (40:38) - The Most Common Scaling Friction for B2B Founders ($1M to $10M ARR) (43:40) - The Shift in LP Conversations and Priorities for Fund VII (47:01) - How LP Composition has Shifted Over Time (49:36) - Navigating Tough Board Conversations About Fundraising (54:33) - The Core Investing Philosophy Morgan Had to Unlearn (58:34) - Rapid Fire Round Begins (58:46) - Sectors and Regions (59:11) - Stage of Investment (59:20) - Leading Rounds (59:30) - Typical Check Size (59:45) - How Founders Can Get in Touch (01:00:16) - Where to Follow Morgan OnlineConnect with Morgan Flager:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mflager/Silverton Partners - https://www.silvertonpartners.comConnect with Prashant Choubey:LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/choubeysahabX - https://x.com/ChoubeySahabSubscribe to VC10X newsletter - https://vc10x.beehiiv.comSubscribe on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@VC10XSubscribe on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vc10x-investing-venture-capital-asset-management-private/id1632806986Subscribe on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7F7KEhXNhTx1bKTBFgzv3k?si=WgQ4ozMiQJ-6nowj6wBgqQVC10X website - https://vc10x.com#VentureCapital #DeepTech #StartupInvesting #SeedFunding #AustinTech

Hi! Hello!What does the next decade of Global Business Services look like? In this episode of Good Morning BSS World, I talk to Michał Bielawski, Managing Partner and CFO at Adaptive Solutions & Advisory Group, about the upcoming GBS for the NEXT DECADE vol. 2 – Executive Senior Leadership Conference, taking place in Łódź.This is the second edition of an event created specifically for GBS leaders and senior professionals who want to discuss the future of the industry from a practical business perspective. Rather than focusing on traditional conference panels, the event is designed around real experience, business cases and open discussions between professionals.During our conversation, Michał walks me through the conference concept and its key topics. The agenda covers strategy, transformation, operations, technology, artificial intelligence and future capabilities. We discuss how technology can change GBS operating models, how transformation is being implemented in today's organizations, and how AI may reshape processes and the way GBS teams work.Another important theme is the relationship between GBS and the core business. We talk about how GBS organizations can move beyond traditional standardized processes and become increasingly connected with areas such as R&D, finance, procurement and more sophisticated business operations.The conference brings together GBS leaders from major international organizations, creating an opportunity to share perspectives, lessons learned and practical experience. The format also includes live audience sessions, encouraging participants to actively contribute to the discussions.If you work in Global Business Services, Shared Services, transformation, operations, technology or AI, this conversation gives you a preview of what to expect from GBS for the NEXT DECADE vol. 2 and why this event is worth having on your radar.  Links:GBS for the NEXT DECADE vol. 2 – Executive Senior Leadership Conference - https://app.evenea.pl/event/GBSfortheNEXTDECADEvol2Michał Bielawski on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michal-bielawski-5505b53/    ****************************  My name is Wiktor Doktór and on daily basis I run Pro Progressio Club - https://proprogressio.com/en/activity/pro-progressio-club/1 - it's a community of many private companies and public sector organizations that care about the development of business relations in the B2B model. In the Good Morning BSS World podcast, apart from solo episodes, I share interviews with experts and specialists from global BPO/GBS industry.If you want to learn more about me, please visit my social media channels:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/wiktordoktorHere is also link to the English podcasts Playlist - https://bit.ly/GoodMorningBSSWorldPodcastYTLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktorYou can also write to me. My email address is - kontakt(@) wiktordoktor.pl  ****************************  This Podcast is supported by Patrons:Marzena Sawicka https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-a9644a23/Przemysław Sławiński https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/Damian Ruciński https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-ruci%C5%84ski/Szymon Kryczka https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/Grzegorz Ludwin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gludwin/Adam Furmańczuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-agilino/Igor Tkach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortkach/Damian Wróblewski – https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianwroblewski/Paweł Łopatka - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawellopatka/Ewelina Szindler – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewelina-szindler-zarz%C4%85dzanie-mark%C4%85-osobist%C4%85-0497a0212/Wiktor Doktór Jr - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktor-dokt%C3%B3r-jr-916297188/Agata Stolarz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/agata-stolarz/Hubert Antczak - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hubert-antczak/Once you listen, give a like, subscribe and join Patrons of Good Morning BSS World as well. Here are two links to do so:Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktorPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktorOr if you liked this episode and would like to buy me virtual coffee, you can use this link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor - by doing so you support the growth and distribution of this podcast.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/good-morning-bss-world--4131868/support.

Episode 444 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Laura Rippy, Managing Partner and Board Member at Alumni Ventures. When you see the rankings of the top VC firms, you often hear the big brands out there like Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Sequoia, Accel, and others… but did you know that one of the top 20 VC firms, as determined by CB Insights, is based in Manchester, NH? Yes – Manchvegas, where I grew up, so I find that stat of particular interest. Founded in 2014, AV's mission has always been to provide individual investors with professional-grade access to elite venture capital investing opportunities. It is a category that they pretty much created and it is not only working, but it is thriving. AV is continuously listed as one of the most active VC firms with thousands of investments made and over $1.6B in committed capital. Portfolio companies include Groq, the buzzing AI chip startup; Oura, the smart ring wearable company that recently filed for an IPO; Mercor, which was most recently valued at a decacorn status; and Apollo Atomics, a company that you might recognize, as I just had their CEO on The VentureFizz Podcast a few weeks ago. Laura comes to venture capital with a deep background as a former CEO and operator. In addition to serving on the board, Laura oversees multiple fund families at Alumni Ventures, including their Dartmouth fund called Green D Ventures, their Harvard fund called The Yard Ventures, their Women's Fund, and US Strategic Tech Fund. In this episode, we cover: * Laura's background as an operator and how she made the transition into venture capital. * The story and model behind AV, and how they built a $1.6B+ platform that democratizes VC access for accredited investors. * The current state of the markets in terms of trends in private vs. public markets, and high-profile portfolio stories like Oura and Northwood Space which is founded by Bridgit Mendler. * Deep dives into the various sectors that Laura concentrates on in terms of making investments. * How AV leverages its massive network and AI back office to add tangible value to its portfolio companies. * What she looks for in early-stage founders and the specific deal dynamics that signal a winning investment. * And so much more!

The relationship between the United States and Canada has long been defined by deep economic ties, shared security interests, and highly integrated supply chains. In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by Michael von Herff, Founder and Managing Partner of PAA Advisory, to examine the recent escalation in trade tensions between the two countries. They discuss how a cycle of tariffs and retaliatory measures has transformed a trade dispute into a broader debate about economic leverage, sovereignty, and national strategy. The conversation explores Canada's response to growing pressure from its largest trading partner, the potential implications for defense and industrial policy, and whether this moment represents a temporary disruption or a more lasting shift in the U.S.-Canada relationship. This IIF Podcast was hosted by Clay Lowery, Executive Vice President, Research and Policy, with production and research contributions from Christian Klein, Digital Graphics and Production Associate and Miranda Silverman, Senior Program Assistant.

Small bay industrial has quietly become one of the most resilient corners of commercial real estate, and Anthony Scavo has built his entire business around it. As President and Managing Partner of Basis Industrial, he's grown the firm from three employees to over 50, assembling a multi-tenant small bay and self-storage portfolio that now tops 10 million square feet across Florida, Texas, Georgia, New York, and California. Anthony got his start at Lefrak before joining Basis in 2021 to build out its multi-tenant industrial platform. In this conversation, he breaks down why he believes small bay is safer than multifamily today, why new development doesn't pencil, and the wildest tenant stories from a decade in the business. Shoutout to our sponsor, WareSpace — turning underused industrial, flex, office, and big-box properties into micro warehouse space for small businesses. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 03:05 - Defining Small Bay Industrial 05:16 - Anthony's Brooklyn Roots and Lefrak Beginnings 12:18 - Joining Basis Industrial in 2021 14:52 - From Self Storage to Small Bay 24:44 - Why Small Bay Is Safer Than Multifamily 34:36 - Why No One Is Building New Small Bay 41:04 - War Stories: Casinos, Man Caves, and Wild Tenants 50:42 - The Future of Small Bay Consolidation For more episodes of No Cap by CRE Daily visit https://www.credaily.com/podcast/ Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NoCapCREDaily About No Cap Podcast Commercial real estate is a $20 trillion industry and a force that shapes America's economic fabric and culture. No Cap by CRE Daily is the commercial real estate podcast that gives you an unfiltered ”No Cap” look into the industry's biggest trends and the money game behind them. Each week co-hosts Jack Stone and Alex Gornik break down the latest headlines with some of the most influential and entertaining figures in commercial real estate. About CRE Daily  CRE Daily is a digital media company covering the business of commercial real estate. Our mission is to empower professionals with the knowledge they need to make smarter decisions and do more business. We do this through our flagship newsletter (CRE Daily) which is read by 65,000+ investors, developers, brokers, and business leaders across the country. Our smart brevity format combined with need-to-know trends has made us one of the fastest growing media brands in commercial real estate.

Leena Hingnikar is a Managing Partner at Hingnikar Family Law, APC - Certified Family Law Specialist for complex family law issues in California. Previously she was a Certified Family Law Specialist at Walzer Melcher LLP. Past Chair, Family Law Section of the California Lawyers Association. She is an alum of UC San Diego and Whittier Law.

FOMO co-founder Paul Erlanger joins Haseeb, Tom, and Tarun to answer last week's unc takes on memecoins: why a fully transparent social graph beats copy trading, how FOMO became the biggest app on Robinhood Chain, Hunter Biden's LAPTOP token, the three-way launchpad war, AMC's fight with Robinhood over tokenized stock, and the AI race to solve Navier-Stokes. Welcome to The Chopping Block, where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra are joined by FOMO co-founder Paul Erlanger to chop it up about the latest in crypto. After getting dunked on as uncs for last week's memecoin takes, the crew brings on the founder at the center of it. Paul lays out FOMO's case for a fully transparent trading social graph, Tarun reports back from a holiday weekend in the trenches, and Haseeb holds the line on where memecoin trading actually destroys value. Then: Hunter Biden's $LAPTOP token, the Pons versus Stonk.fun versus Pump launchpad war, AMC's CEO versus Robinhood's tokenized stocks, and the OpenAI versus Anthropic fight over who solved Navier-Stokes. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

In this episode of Probate Weekly, Bill Gross talks with Mathew Wrenshall, Managing Partner of RMO LLP in Pasadena, a firm that handles trust and estate disputes exclusively, about what actually holds up in court.

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.Welcome back to another episode of Venture Unlocked, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the business of venture capital.In this episode, I sit down with Carter Reum, Co‑Founder of M13, to explore his journey from Goldman Sachs and a shelved Oaktree offer to founding and exiting a beverage company and building a multi‑billion‑dollar venture platform. We discuss how Carter reframes “risk” through probability‑adjusted outcomes and asymmetric upside, his “microscope and telescope” framework for balancing execution with long‑term vision, and the idea of “wins above replacement” as a way to assess founder‑ and investor‑fit. Our conversation dives into what it means to build a truly operator‑led VC firm, the wide gap between value‑add and “negative value” VCs, and how M13 uses discipline, retrospectives, and portfolio construction to separate process from outcomes in an AI‑driven, increasingly frothy market.Carter Reum is M13's Co-Founder and Managing Partner. After building and selling VEEV Spirits, Carter and his brother Courtney co-founded M13 in 2016, designing it as the firm they wanted as founders. M13 has since backed 18 unicorns at seed or Series A and ranks #3 globally by HEC Paris–Dow Jones. Before M13, Carter was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and co-authored the bestselling Shortcut Your Startup. He serves on the board of LACMA.Topics in this conversation include:* Rethinking Risk and Probability-Adjusted Outcomes (2:02)* Using a Microscope and Telescope to Build Enduring Companies (8:56)* How M13 Was Designed as a Different, Operator-Led VC Firm (12:58)* Operator to Investor and How VCs Should Work with Founders (17:08)* Early-Stage Investing, Imperfect Information, and Wins Above Replacement (20:06)* Travis Kalanick, Negative Value VCs, and Why Most Investors Miss (26:26)* Building an Institutionalized VC Platform, Culture, and Process (31:56)* Separating Decision Quality from Outcomes and Doing Retrospectives (34:52)* Fund Size, Portfolio Construction, and Competing with Multistage Giants (44:11)* Risk Spectrum, Asymmetry, and the Sammy Sosa vs. Mark McGwire Analogy (47:55)* Excitement and Anxiety in Today's AI-Driven, Frothy Venture Market (50:16)* Fear vs. Greed, LP Behavior, and Closing Thoughts on Building a Decacorn (52:53)Thanks for listening to another episode of Venture Unlocked. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Carter. If you'd like to get Venture Unlocked content straight to your inbox, go to ventureunlocked.substack.com and sign up, or head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and subscribe. Thanks again for listening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

In this episode, Miguel Gonzalez shares five habits that can help make tax season easier—from organizing financial documents and tracking major life changes to keeping charitable giving records and meeting with financial and tax professionals before year-end.Miguel Gonzalez is a Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC) with over 25 years of experience helping individuals and families with retirement income planning, investment strategies, and personalized retirement plans. He is the Managing Partner of Cortburg Retirement Advisors, a boutique financial planning firm focused on helping clients prepare for every stage of their financial lives.#TaxSeason #TaxPreparation #TaxPlanning #FinancialPlanning #PersonalFinance #FinancialOrganization #MoneyManagement #FinancialWellness #TaxTips #FinancialDocuments #MoneyHabits #YearEndPlanning #CharitableGiving #FinancialEducation #RetirementPlanning #WealthManagement #SmartMoneyMoves #Cortburg #CortburgSpeaksRetirement #MiguelXGonzalez

In this episode, Adam Torres interviews George Arabian, Managing Partner at Steelhead Ventures, LLC, to explore timeless leadership principles rooted in history and real-world experience. George shares lessons on building capabilities, developing character, preparing for challenges, creating strong teams, and leading people to accomplish what others may believe is impossible. Follow Adam on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/askadamtorres/ for up to date information on book releases and tour schedule. Apply to be a guest on our podcast: https://missionmatters.lpages.co/podcastguest/ Visit our website: https://missionmatters.com/ More FREE content from Mission Matters here: https://linktr.ee/missionmattersmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The best investors aren't just just identifying great brands. They're identifying shifts in consumer behavior before everyone else sees them.That's the approach Jeff Cantalupo, Founder and Managing Partner of Listen Ventures, has taken throughout his career — from a decade in brand strategy at Leo Burnett to investing in companies including Angel's Envy, Go Brewing, Delta Beverage, and Magic Cactus.Listen starts with the consumer. The firm conducts its own research — from ethnographies and interviews to literal tours of consumers' fridges and freezers — looking for changes in behavior that could create the next big category or brand.One shift Jeff is particularly bullish on is “vice wellness.”Historically, some of the strongest consumer businesses have been built around ritual, identity, and repeat behavior. Now, as wellness becomes increasingly important to consumers, Jeff sees opportunity in products that combine those powerful behaviors with “wellness permission.”In drinks, that's helping fuel what Listen calls the “social beverage” — from non-alcoholic beer to hemp-derived THC and other functional beverages. The thesis isn't that alcohol is disappearing. It's that consumers are becoming more intentional about what they drink for different occasions — and that's creating space for entirely new choices.In this episode, we dig into:• The three types of innovation Jeff looks for: Product, business model, and brand narrative• Why repeat purchase, CAC payback, margins, and unit economics matter more than hype• Why omnichannel capabilities have become table stakes for beverage brands• What Listen saw in Go Brewing, Delta Beverage, and Magic Cactus• Why vertical integration can sometimes create a competitive advantage• What made Angel's Envy investable — and why timing was critical to its success• Why a great consumer business isn't necessarily a venture-backable business• How founders can conduct meaningful consumer research without a big budgetPlus, Jeff shares one deceptively simple branding question he teaches at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management: What business are you actually in?You may sell beer, tequila, or THC seltzer. But the brands that break through often own something bigger — an occasion, a feeling, or a consumer need.For the latest updates, follow us:Business of Drinks website (sign up for our newsletter!)Business of Drinks YouTubeBusiness of Drinks LinkedInInstagram @bizofdrinksErica Duecy, co-host: Erica Duecy is founder and co-host of Business of Drinks and one of the drinks industry's most accomplished digital and content strategists. She runs the consultancy and advisory arm of Business of Drinks and has built publishing and marketing programs for Drizly, VinePair, SevenFifty, and other hospitality and drinks tech companies.Erica Duecy LinkedInInstagram @ericaduecyScott Rosenbaum, co-host: Scott Rosenbaum is co-host of Business of Drinks and a veteran strategist and analyst with deep experience building drinks portfolios. Most recently, he was the Portfolio Development Director at Distill Ventures. Prior to that, he was the Vice President of T. Edward Wines & Spirits, a New York-based importer and distributor.Scott Rosenbaum LinkedInSubscribe to the Business of Drinks channel for more insights on how brands, retailers, and operators are unlocking growth across beverages. And please rate and review us. Your support helps us reach new listeners. Thank you!

Russ Branzell, President and CEO of CHIME, sits down with Andy Smith, Managing Partner and Founder of Impact Advisors, for a candid conversation about leadership, culture, and what it takes to build organizations that thrive in periods of accelerated change. Andy shares perspectives on cultivating high-performing teams, sustaining culture at scale, and leading through complexity without losing sight of the people at the center of healthcare.Together, they examine the profound promise of AI, what is means to fully embrace innovation, how to balance opportunity with accountability, and how industry leaders are revolutionizing care in a way that is both meaningful and sustainable. Key Takeaways:How healthcare organizations are responding to economic pressures, workforce challenges, and evolving industry demands while continuing to move forward.What healthcare leaders should consider as they evaluate AI opportunities, including the balance between innovation, trust, ethics, and operational realities.How purpose-driven leadership and organizational culture create a foundation for long-term success, resilience, and innovation.Strategies for building high-performing teams that remain connected, accountable, and mission-focused during periods of rapid growth and change.

In this episode, I sit down with Austin Armstrong, bestselling author of Virality! and founder of Syllaby, to nerd out on everything happening in AI and content right now. We get into how fast AI video and image generation is moving, why it's getting harder to know what's even real online anymore, and what that means for creators and business owners. Austin breaks down his thesis of being a business owner who creates content instead of a content creator chasing views, how to use keyword research tools to find exactly what your audience is searching for, why faceless content is exploding as a way to build a brand without ever being on camera, and how he personally uses AI as a thinking partner trained on his own voice and expertise. We also compare the major AI models out there, talk about how to actually start using AI strategically if you're feeling overwhelmed, and he shares what he's building next with Bullhouse Ventures. If you're trying to build a personal brand or grow your business with content and you feel like you're drowning in options, this episode gives you a real starting point. About Austin: Austin Armstrong is the bestselling author of Virality!, a two-time seven-figure entrepreneur, and a keynote speaker on AI and social media marketing. He's the CEO and co-founder of Syllaby, an AI-powered platform that helps creators and business owners write, generate, and publish video content in minutes, and Managing Partner at Bullhouse Ventures, a startup incubator and coworking space based in Durham, North Carolina. Austin has published over 12,000 videos across social platforms, earning billions of views and millions of followers, and is also co-founder of the AI Marketing World conference. Social Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinarmstrong90/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/socialtypro X (Twitter): https://x.com/SocialtyPro YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@socialtypro Website: https://syllaby.io About Justin: Justin Colby is the host of The Entrepreneur DNA and The M.O.R.E Show podcasts and a best-selling author. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Driven by a passion to help entrepreneurs thrive, Justin created the Entrepreneur DNA community to support business owners in building wealth, systems, and long-term freedom. Through his podcasts, books, education platforms, and hands-on mentorship, he continues to help entrepreneurs scale with clarity and confidence. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof  LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are you a pest control owner looking to grow? Join Our Facebook Group with 4,600+ Members: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pestcontrolmillionairesNick Bartolo is the Founder and Managing Partner of Essential Partners: www.essentialpartners.comCheck out his Socials!: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-bartolo/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickbartolo_ep/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EssentialExit Email: info@essentialpartners.comJonas's Socials: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonasaolson/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonas.olson.18/Check out Jonas's Book ‘'Zip Code Kings'': https://pestcontrolmillionaires.com/zip-code-kings/The Pest Control Millionaire Podcast is all about helping small business owners scale their lawn and pest companies by talking to experts in the service industry.For business coaching and mentorship, visit: pestcontrolmillionaires.com Produced by Sofia Salaverri and Dalton Fisher, Fisher Multimedia LLCFisherMultiMedia.comChapters:00:00 — Intro & Nick's Background02:04 — Who Are the Biggest Players in M&A Right Now06:29 — Are Premium Multiples Here to Stay?07:18 — The Pesco Question: What Happens When Big Roll-Ups Sell10:33 — Rollins Down 45%: Why It Matters for the Industry16:52 — AI Disruption vs. the Blue-Collar Advantage19:09 — Where All the PE Money Is Coming From20:55 — Lead Costs, CAC & Knowing Your Numbers24:44 — Preparing to Sell: The Business Side29:00 — The Personal Side: Identity, Loneliness & Life After the Sale36:20 — On the Fence? Running the Scenario Analysis39:20 — The Biggest Mistake: Tax Planning Before the LOI47:49 — Investing After the Exit: Getting Rich vs. Staying Rich52:18 — Pestworld Plans & Wrap-Up#pestcontrolmarketing #pestcontrolbusiness #pestcontrolleads #pestcontrolowner #pestcontrolpodcast #jonasolson

September 8, 2026 ~ Chris Renwick, Lloyd Jackson and Jamie Edmonds talk with Flood Law, Managing Partner, Todd Flood, about the mistrial declared in the Lindsay Clancy case. Will there be another trial? What's next in the case? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jon Canarick has spent 25 years investing in gyms, and he's still trying to explain why doctors won't write a prescription for exercise. As Managing Partner at North Castle Partners, he helped build Equinox, turned around Curves, and backed Barry's long before boutique fitness was a category. Canarick walks through what actually changed in fitness private equity since he joined North Castle in 2001, from the corporate franchise wave that built 24 Hour Fitness and LA Fitness to Planet Fitness's pricing model, which he credits with pulling more Americans into gym memberships than anything else in the last quarter century. He details the failed attempt to combine Curves with Jenny Craig and a Cleveland Clinic nutrition program, a bet he calls a real failure despite the medical credibility behind it. Canarick also breaks down why GLP-1 drugs are reshaping the industry at the premium end through brands like Monarch and Miora, and why an LEK study showing 30% of big box gym members also pay for boutique fitness complicates the usual story about a shrinking middle class of gyms. Jon Canarick is Managing Partner at North Castle Partners, a private equity firm focused exclusively on healthy, active, and sustainable living businesses, where he has sat on the boards of Equinox, Curves, Barry's, Therabody, and SLT. Website: https://northcastlepartners.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jon-canarick-4340362 Get Eric's weekly industry newsletter: https://futureoffitness.co Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@futureofofitnesspod OUR SPONSORS:

Ed. Note-Five years ago, I looked back on 9/11 in a 20 year retrospective. This week is the 25th anniversary of that event. I am rerunning this award winning podcast so that we never forget.  On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack, Tom Fox and guests look back on the tragic event and what it meant for them personally, as well as how it impacted the world of compliance. Juan Zarate is the Global co-Managing Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at K2 integrity. On 9/11 he was a prosecutor at the Treasury Department working on international enforcement issues, anti money laundering, anti-corruption and anti-terrorist financing. He joins Tom Fox to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11. They discuss how his role changed, the Treasury Department response and what the tragic event means for him. A Change of Mission 9/11 changed the mission of the Treasury Department. Juan tells Tom, “We went after terrorist financing to try to disrupt and dismantle Al-Qaeda's terrorist networks and infrastructure, and disrupt how illicit financing was flowing through the international system.” He recalls where he was on the fateful day and how seeing the smoke from the Towers and the Pentagon affected him emotionally. Something very different was happening, he recalls; the country was under attack. He outlines the strategic, departmental and tactical changes implemented after 9/11 to fight terrorism. The President declared that we were now at war. “The attitude and the strategic direction of the government was [that] we now have to prevent terrorist attacks,” Juan recalls. “We have to disrupt and dismantle terrorist networks. And that led to an entire preventative paradigm for the counter-terrorism approach to the government.” The new mission of the Treasury Department was the following areas, Juan remarks: “How do you use financial information more aggressively? How do we think about the use of tools and authorities that the Treasury has, like sanctions, anti money laundering rules? How do we think about the relationships internationally with central banks, finance ministries? How do we get the world on board to disrupt terrorist financing, to rip these organizations out of the legitimate financial commercial world?” The Patriot Act was one tactical change, among others, that was implemented to achieve the new mission of fighting terrorism. What 9/11 Means Tom asks Juan, “What are your reflections now as we come up on the 20th anniversary of the day of 9/11, and really what it meant for America and for you 20 years later?” Juan responds that he has mixed emotions. He thinks about the victims and their families first of all. That day changed history, he says. “It changed the way that the U S government viewed the world. It changed the way that we operated our strategy. And it changed the sense of our vulnerability.” The recent events in Afghanistan make the 20th anniversary even more difficult for Juan. “I have very mixed emotions coming on the 20th anniversary of 9/11,” he concludes, “but I'm very proud of the work that we did. I'm proud of the people I served with and my sympathies go out to the victims and their families.” Resources Juan Zarate at ⁠K2 Integrity⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Andrew Chan, Managing Partner at Atas VC. Andrew discusses his approach to pre-seed investing and how authentic social media content helps him build trust, relationships, and connections with founders. Follow Adam on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/askadamtorres/ for up to date information on book releases and tour schedule. Apply to be a guest on our podcast: https://missionmatters.lpages.co/podcastguest/ Visit our website: https://missionmatters.com/ More FREE content from Mission Matters here: https://linktr.ee/missionmattersmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, ⁠Adam Torres⁠ interviews ⁠Andrew Chan⁠, Managing Partner at Atas VC. Andrew discusses his approach to pre-seed investing and how authentic social media content helps him build trust, relationships, and connections with founders. Follow Adam on Instagram at ⁠https://www.instagram.com/askadamtorres/⁠ for up to date information on book releases and tour schedule. Apply to be a guest on our podcast: ⁠https://missionmatters.lpages.co/podcastguest/⁠ Visit our website: ⁠https://missionmatters.com/⁠ More FREE content from Mission Matters here: ⁠https://linktr.ee/missionmattersmedia⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Laura joins Haseeb, Tom, and Tarun to unpack Robinhood Chain's surge, the strange fusion of stock tokens and memecoins, the damage speculative entertainment can do to retail, Solana's competitive position, and why regulated onchain markets will still look different across jurisdictions. Welcome to The Chopping Block, where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra are joined by Laura Shin to chop it up about the latest in crypto. The panel examines Robinhood Chain's second wave, stock-backed memecoins built from old DeFi mechanics, the line between financial entertainment and retail harm, the race with Solana, and the legal constraints facing global onchain markets. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

The firms that last for decades don't resist change—they learn how to capitalize on it.  Ken Harrell is the Managing Partner of Joye Law Firm, a South Carolina personal injury practice with seven offices and a legacy spanning nearly 60 years. As rising acquisition costs reshape the industry, his team is investing in AI, strengthening operations, and preparing for a future where adaptability provides the biggest competitive advantage. In this episode, Ken explains why Joye Law Firm created a dedicated AI coordinator role, how offshore staffing strengthened its intake operation, and what "force multiplier" positions look like inside a growing firm. You'll learn: Why AI in law firms requires dedicated ownership to drive adoption across the firm. How offshore staffing can improve intake while strengthening culture and accountability. What force-multiplier roles create the biggest operational impacts in growing firms. Why client acquisition costs continue to rise—and how established firms must adapt. Head over to Rankings.io and see for yourself how we can help take your business to the next level. Like what you hear? Hit Subscribe! We do this every week. If you want to keep learning from the best voices in PI, join us at PIMCON 2026. Buy your tickets now! Subscribe to our newsletter and get the freshest news every Monday: newsletter.rankings.io Get Social! Personal Injury Mastermind w/ Chris Dreyer powered by Rankings.io is on Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

What if commercial real estate is already in a period of serious distress, but most investors cannot see the full extent of it yet? When a market turns, people expect the evidence to be obvious. They expect public defaults, collapsing prices, and clear signs that the cycle has changed. But this downturn is unfolding differently. Distressed assets are changing hands privately, lenders and institutional owners are limiting what becomes public, and significant capital remains on the sidelines because investors still do not know how to price rates, risk, and future values with confidence. In this episode, I sit down with John Azar to examine what is actually happening inside the commercial real estate market, why this cycle is not simply another version of 2008, how hidden distress is creating opportunities for investors who preserved capital, and why the operators who showed discipline during the euphoric years may be the ones best prepared to act now. What You'll Discover In This Episode Why commercial real estate can be in distress before the broader market acknowledges it How private sales and nondisclosure agreements can conceal the real level of pain Why this cycle looks fundamentally different from the 2008 financial crisis How the excesses of 2021 through 2023 created many of today's distressed assets Why the behavior of an operator during the last cycle matters when evaluating them today How patience and preserved liquidity can become an advantage in a repricing market Why uncertainty around rates and values is freezing capital despite abundant liquidity What investors should examine before allocating money to a distressed real estate opportunity   About the Guest John Azar is an entrepreneur, adventurer, executive coach, and the Founder and Managing Partner of Peak 15 Capital. As a fund manager, John helps investors access tax-efficient commercial real estate opportunities designed to support long-term capital growth and generate regular cash flow throughout the holding period. Through Peak 15 Capital's current fund, limited partners can participate in opportunities structured to provide General Partner-level economics without taking on the same operational risks and responsibilities. Peak 15 Capital takes a collaborative, transparent, and highly disciplined approach to investing. The firm focuses on protecting the downside through extensive due diligence, conservative underwriting, and prudent deal execution, while pursuing strong returns, tax advantages, and quarterly distributions for investors. To learn more, visit http://peak15cap.com,  http://johnazar.com, or send an email to azar@peak15cap.com. You can also find John on Instagram and LinkedIn.   About Your Host From pro-snowboarder to money mogul, Chris Naugle has dedicated his life to being America's #1 Money Mentor. With a core belief that success is built not by the resources you have, but by how resourceful you can be. Chris has built and owned 19 companies, with his businesses being featured in Forbes, ABC, House Hunters, and his very own HGTV pilot in 2018. He is the founder of The Money School™ and Money Mentor for The Money Multiplier. His success also includes managing tens of millions of dollars in assets in the financial services and advisory industry and in real estate transactions. As an innovator and visionary in wealth-building and real estate, he empowers entrepreneurs, business owners, and real estate investors with the knowledge of how money works. Chris is also a nationally recognized speaker, author, and podcast host. He has spoken to and taught over ten thousand Americans, delivering the financial knowledge that fuels lasting freedom.   Resources Private Money Guide:  https://go.moneyschoolrei.com/book-podcast Wealth Wednesday Webinar: https://go.moneyschoolrei.com/wednesday-webinar-podcast Mapping out the Millionaire Mystery:  https://go.moneyschoolrei.com/newbook-podcast    

Most companies spend September and October planning for 2027, but they skip the part that actually matters: figuring out how their teams will execute on it. That's why we're revisiting this episode with Dr. Chuck Bamford, who walks through how to align strategy from the boardroom all the way down to compensation plans, daily activities, and the conversations your reps have with customers. He covers what separates strategy that gets executed from strategy that sits on a shelf, and why most execution failures have nothing to do with the strategy itself. If you're mapping out your revenue goals for next year, this episode is a must-listen before you finalize your plan. Dr. Chuck Bamford is the Managing Partner at Bamford Associates and an adjunct professor of strategy at both Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. He's worked with more than 170 organizations to design and implement strategy that actually drives behavior, and he's the author of many books, including The Strategy Mindset 2.0. Connect with Chuck: LinkedIn Website Resources mentioned: The Strategy Mindset 2.0: A Practical Guide to the Design and Implementation of Strategy Key takeaways from this episode: 00:00 – What it really takes to build strategy that doesn't fall apart the moment it hits the sales floor. 05:01 – Why most CROs treat strategy like a one-time event instead of the ongoing discipline it needs to be. 16:02 – What leaders often overlook when converting corporate KPIs into the specific daily activities their people actually execute. 18:40 – The mistake many CROs make when compensation plans quietly undermine everything their strategy is designed to accomplish. 54:43 – Why narrowing your competitive set to 3-5 competitors dramatically changes how your teams sell. 01:00:52 – A look inside how differentiation dies in strategy decks but comes alive in the three-foot conversation between your rep and a customer. Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management

Andy Schwartz CEO, OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners  |  Kevin Spahn Founder, Spahn Financial (now OnePoint BFG) Two former Northwestern Mutual advisors, two very different paths. Andy Schwartz and Kevin Spahn share what it takes to build, grow, merge, and create lasting enterprise value. In Summary What separates a successful advisory practice from an enterprise with the ability to grow well beyond its founders? Andy Schwartz and Kevin Spahn offer two different perspectives on that question. Both spent decades at Northwestern Mutual, but their paths eventually diverged. Andy left to help build what is now OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, an $18B+ firm expected to surpass $20B by year-end. Kevin built one of Northwestern Mutual's top practices before deciding to merge his business into OnePoint and become an equity partner. Louis talks with Andy and Kevin about the decisions behind both journeys: creating a true firm rather than an aggregation of practices, transitioning advisors from 1099 to W-2, using outside capital without relinquishing control, rethinking succession, and determining when equity in a larger enterprise can offer greater opportunity than continuing to build alone. Underlying it all is a factor that's much harder to quantify: trust. The Storyline Andy Schwartz and Kevin Spahn have known each other for roughly 30 years. They met while both were building careers at Northwestern Mutual, where Andy became an important mentor to Kevin as Kevin transitioned from practicing law and estate planning into wealth management. After roughly 30 years at Northwestern Mutual, Andy and his partners left in 2015 with approximately $3B in assets to launch independently. What began as Bleakley Financial eventually became OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, an $18B+ enterprise that Andy expects will surpass $20B by the end of 2026. That kind of growth required more than attracting assets. Andy describes the evolution from a predominantly 1099 structure into a firm where more than 85% of advisors and AUM are now W-2. The shift created a more cohesive enterprise, gave advisors access to equity, and ultimately positioned OnePoint to bring in minority capital from Joe Duran's Rise Growth Partners. Andy makes an important distinction about that relationship: OnePoint is “private equity invested,” not “private equity owned.” The structure gave the firm capital and expertise while allowing its partners to retain control. Kevin faced a different decision. After more than 30 years at Northwestern Mutual, his practice had grown to 18 people and approximately $2B in assets. He was happy at the firm, but his clients had evolved, his business had become increasingly complex, and the internal succession plan he once envisioned carried risks he could no longer ignore. He could have built an independent firm himself. Instead, he chose to merge with OnePoint. The decision wasn't driven by the largest possible check. Kevin saw the opportunity to become an equity partner in a larger enterprise, give his team and clients a more durable future, and leverage infrastructure he didn't want to recreate himself. For both men, the story ultimately comes back to the same principle: The right economics matter, but sustainable partnerships require trust, shared philosophy, and the belief that everyone involved can create more value together than separately. Topics Covered Building an enterprise versus building a practice Northwestern Mutual and the path to independence OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners' growth from ~$3B to $18B+ Organic growth versus M&A Creating a growth-oriented advisor culture Moving from a 1099 model to a predominantly W-2 structure Equity ownership and advisor alignment Minority private equity investment Rise Growth Partners and Joe Duran Internal succession versus an external merger Selling versus merging an advisory business Merging versus teaming versus going it alone Evaluating equity versus cash in a transaction The economics of leaving a captive firm Centralization versus advisor autonomy Trust as a factor in partnerships and transactions > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors How did Andy and Kevin's 30-year relationship ultimately lead to a transaction? (04:11)Kevin explains how Andy helped him transition from attorney and estate planner into wealth management, beginning a professional relationship that would eventually make their partnership possible decades later. Why did Andy leave Northwestern Mutual after roughly 30 years? (08:45)Andy describes wanting greater flexibility, a multi-custodial platform, and more optionality for clients and the business—a decision that ultimately led to the creation of OnePoint BFG. Why did Kevin decide his longtime Northwestern Mutual practice needed something different? (15:49)Kevin explains how his clients, service needs, and business evolved over time, while concerns about his original internal succession plan led him to consider a different path. What has driven OnePoint's growth from approximately $3B to $18B+? (21:41)Andy outlines the firm's emphasis on client experience, advisor experience, organic growth, and carefully selected inorganic growth—and why helping advisors grow is fundamental to the model. Why does Andy say OnePoint is a firm rather than an aggregator? (23:54)The distinction comes down to alignment, shared responsibility, centralized resources, equity, and a partnership structure in which advisors are accountable to one another. How did OnePoint convert a predominantly 1099 advisor base into a W-2 enterprise? (29:26)Andy explains why capital and equity became necessary to build the next stage of the business and why trust was essential to bringing advisors into a more integrated structure. Why did OnePoint choose minority private equity investment? (33:13)Andy shares why Rise Growth Partners offered something previous potential buyers had not: a structure designed to benefit the broader advisor partnership while preserving control. Why did Kevin merge with OnePoint rather than shop his practice broadly? (36:43)For Kevin, maximizing price wasn't the objective. His decision centered on trust in Andy, confidence in OnePoint's infrastructure, and creating a strong future for clients and employees. Why did Kevin choose equity in the larger firm instead of simply cashing out? (40:57)Kevin explains why he believes participating in the future growth of a larger enterprise offers a compelling alternative to relying solely on the future growth of his own practice. How should advisors evaluate the “golden handcuffs” that can make leaving difficult? (46:42)Andy argues that the analysis needs to compare what an advisor gives up with the potential growth, economics, equity, and leverage available on the other side. How much conformity does a true enterprise require? (49:06)Andy explains why OnePoint sits somewhere between complete advisor autonomy and complete centralization, seeking enough consistency to create enterprise value without eliminating entrepreneurial flexibility. What would Andy and Kevin tell their younger selves? (52:06)Kevin emphasizes surrounding yourself with the best people possible, while Andy reflects on having the courage to make a difficult change after a successful 30-year run. Key Takeaways Building enterprise value requires more than asset growth. OnePoint's evolution included changing its ownership structure, integrating advisor practices, creating equity opportunities, and investing in centralized capabilities. Organic growth remains central even in an M&A-driven market. OnePoint targets approximately 10% organic growth and evaluates prospective partners partly on whether they are growth-oriented and whether the firm can meaningfully help them grow. A collection of successful advisors does not automatically make a firm. Andy sees shared ownership, alignment, accountability, infrastructure, and centralized services as critical distinctions between an enterprise and an aggregator. Outside capital does not have to mean giving up control. OnePoint chose a minority investment from Rise Growth Partners that provided capital and strategic support while leaving control with its operating partners. Succession can expose risks that growth may obscure. Kevin began reconsidering his internal succession strategy when he recognized its dependence on his continued production, key employees, and the future economics of an aging client base. The highest purchase price isn't always the most valuable transaction. Kevin prioritized equity participation, infrastructure, continuity for his employees and clients, and confidence in his future partners over broadly shopping his business for the highest bid. Trust can determine whether structural change is possible. From OnePoint's 1099-to-W-2 conversion to Kevin's decision to merge, both guests repeatedly point to established trust as the foundation that allowed significant business decisions to happen. https://youtu.be/jkIoynpZj6Y Quotable Moments “The biggest mistake advisors make is they buy their own bullshit.”— Andy Schwartz “We're not an aggregator, we're a firm.”— Andy Schwartz “The biggest issue is trust. Either they trust you or they don't.”— Andy Schwartz “I wasn't looking to sell my business. I was looking to merge it.”— Kevin Spahn “You have to trust them. You have to see that they provide value. And you need to be on the same page philosophically.”— Kevin Spahn “Associate yourselves with the best people you can… It accelerates your trajectory in ways that you can't do on your own.”— Kevin Spahn FAQs Why did Andy Schwartz leave Northwestern Mutual? After approximately 30 years at Northwestern Mutual, Andy and his partners wanted greater flexibility, the ability to operate on a multi-custodial basis, and more optionality for clients and the business. They left in 2015 with approximately $3B in assets and launched the independent firm that ultimately became OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners. How large is OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners? At the time of the interview, Andy says OnePoint manages more than $18B and expects to exceed $20B by the end of 2026, even without additional organic growth. What has driven OnePoint's growth? Andy points to three priorities: client experience, advisor experience, and growth. The firm targets approximately 10% organic growth while also expanding through acquisitions and partnerships with advisors it believes fit the OnePoint model. Why did OnePoint move advisors from 1099 to W-2? The firm wanted to evolve from a platform supporting individual practices into a more integrated enterprise. That required creating firm-level economics and equity that could be used to attract, retain, and align advisors. Today, Andy says more than 85% of OnePoint's advisors and AUM are W-2. What does “private equity invested, not private equity owned” mean? Rise Growth Partners holds a minority, non-controlling interest in OnePoint. The investment provides capital, expertise, and strategic support while the operating partners retain majority ownership and control of the business. Why did Kevin Spahn leave Northwestern Mutual? Kevin says he remained happy at Northwestern Mutual, but his practice and clients had evolved. His work had shifted increasingly toward investments and complex high-net-worth planning, while he also began identifying risks in his intended internal succession plan. Why did Kevin merge with OnePoint rather than launch his own independent RIA? OnePoint already had the infrastructure, people, and capabilities Kevin would have needed to build himself. The merger allowed him to focus on clients while becoming an equity partner in a larger enterprise he believed could grow faster than his standalone practice. Why didn't Kevin shop his practice to multiple buyers? Kevin says his decision was driven primarily by trust. He had known Andy and other OnePoint partners for decades and believed the firm offered the right future for his clients and employees. His choice ultimately came down to staying at Northwestern Mutual or joining OnePoint. How do Andy and Kevin suggest advisors evaluate a potential partner? Their discussion points to three fundamental considerations: trust, demonstrable value, and philosophical alignment. Economics matter, but both argue that a sustainable partnership depends on confidence in the people and business on the other side of the transaction. After approximately 30 years at Northwestern Mutual, Andy and his partners wanted greater flexibility, the ability to operate on a multi-custodial basis, and more optionality for clients and the business. They left in 2015 with approximately $3B in assets and launched the independent firm that ultimately became OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners. At the time of the interview, Andy says OnePoint manages more than $18B and expects to exceed $20B by the end of 2026, even without additional organic growth. Andy points to three priorities: client experience, advisor experience, and growth. The firm targets approximately 10% organic growth while also expanding through acquisitions and partnerships with advisors it believes fit the OnePoint model. The firm wanted to evolve from a platform supporting individual practices into a more integrated enterprise. That required creating firm-level economics and equity that could be used to attract, retain, and align advisors. Today, Andy says more than 85% of OnePoint's advisors and AUM are W-2. Rise Growth Partners holds a minority, non-controlling interest in OnePoint. The investment provides capital, expertise, and strategic support while the operating partners retain majority ownership and control of the business. Kevin says he remained happy at Northwestern Mutual, but his practice and clients had evolved. His work had shifted increasingly toward investments and complex high-net-worth planning, while he also began identifying risks in his intended internal succession plan. OnePoint already had the infrastructure, people, and capabilities Kevin would have needed to build himself. The merger allowed him to focus on clients while becoming an equity partner in a larger enterprise he believed could grow faster than his standalone practice. Kevin says his decision was driven primarily by trust. He had known Andy and other OnePoint partners for decades and believed the firm offered the right future for his clients and employees. His choice ultimately came down to staying at Northwestern Mutual or joining OnePoint. Their discussion points to three fundamental considerations: trust, demonstrable value, and philosophical alignment. Economics matter, but both argue that a sustainable partnership depends on confidence in the people and business on the other side of the transaction. Related Resources Rise and Reinvent: Joe Duran on Building and Rebuilding World-Class Firms From Insurance Sales to $8B RIA: A Northwestern Mutual Breakaway Story The 4th Annual Advisor Transition Report Andy SchwartzCo-Founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Executive Officer Andy Schwartz is the Co-Founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Executive Officer of OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, where he also serves as a Wealth Management Advisor. A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® with more than 40 years of experience, Andy has built his career around helping clients make confident, well-informed financial decisions at every stage of life. He works extensively with physicians and business owners on wealth building, retirement planning, and tax-efficient asset transfer across generations. A 2026 finalist for Wealth Management Awards CEO of the Year (under $25B AUM), Andy brings the same discipline to leading the firm that he brings to client relationships: comprehensive planning, long-term thinking, and an unwavering commitment to independence and integrity. Beyond his client work, Andy is deeply invested in the advisory profession itself. He co-hosts The Advisor’s Compass podcast, offering candid, practical guidance on the business and responsibilities of being an advisor. His mentorship philosophy is straightforward: pass the ladder back down. His industry recognition spans more than a decade, including Top 1,200 Advisor by Barron’s (2018–2024), Top 250 Wealth Advisor and Best-In-State Wealth Advisor by Forbes (2018–2024), Top 400 Financial Advisor by the Financial Times (2018–2020), and Top 100 Independent Advisor (2020–2023). He was named Executive of the Year by NJBIZ in 2019 and was a finalist for the Invest in Others Lifetime Achievement Award for more than 20 years of service with NJ SEEDS. Andy holds a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from Rowan University and is actively involved with Nourish NJ, the Navy SEAL Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, and JSDD. Outside the office, he enjoys golf, reading, and time with his family at the beach.   Kevin SpahnPartner and Wealth Advisor Kevin Spahn is a Partner and Wealth Advisor at OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, bringing more than three decades of experience in comprehensive financial planning to his clients and the firm. Kevin’s path to wealth management is rooted in the law. After earning degrees from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Wisconsin, he began his career as a practicing attorney before making a deliberate pivot toward financial planning in 1993. He joined Northwestern Mutual, then founded Spahn Financial, building a practice centered on thoughtful, holistic planning for families and business owners. That practice joined OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners in 2025. His approach has remained consistent throughout: help clients build and protect wealth not just for themselves, but for the generations that follow. Kevin works with clients on comprehensive financial plans that account for the full picture, understanding that the impact of good planning extends well beyond an individual portfolio to families, businesses, employees, and the broader community. Kevin is based in the greater Chicago area.   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… Build, Grow & Transact: Making the Leap from Northwestern Mutual to a $20B Enterprise A conversation between Louis Diamond, Andy Schwartz, CEO of OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners and Kevin Spahn, Founder of Spahn Financial (now OnePoint BFG). Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is Build, Grow & Transact: Making the Leap from Northwestern Mutual to a $20B Enterprise. It’s a conversation with Andy Schwartz, CEO of OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, and Kevin Spahn, founder of Spahn Financial, now OnePoint BFG. I’m Louis 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. 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. Louis Diamond: There’s a big difference between building a successful practice and building an enterprise. I think Andy Schwartz and Kevin Spahn offer a unique perspective on that distinction from two very different sides. Both spent decades in the Northwestern Mutual system. Andy ultimately left to build what became OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, taking the firm from roughly three billion to nearly 20 billion and transforming just about every aspect of the business along the way. Kevin built one of Northwestern Mutual’s top practices before reaching a different inflection point, deciding what he wanted the next phase of his career and business to look like. Rather than go independent on his own or simply monetize what he had built, he chose to become part of Andy’s growing enterprise. That makes their story particularly relevant for our Build, Grow, and Transact series. Andy can speak to what it takes to build a firm capable of becoming an acquirer, from converting advisors from 1099s to W-2s, to creating equity opportunities, to bringing in outside capital while remaining very deliberate about being private equity-invested rather than private equity-owned. And Kevin brings the seller’s perspective, how you evaluate the economics, the trade-offs, and ultimately the people you’re trusting with the business you spent more than 30 years building. Because whether you’re building, buying, or considering a transaction of any kind, the numbers are only part of the equation. As you hear from both Andy and Kevin, trust may be the most important currency of all. So let’s get to it. Andy and Kevin, thank you so much for both joining us today. Andy Schwartz: Great to see you again, Lewis. Thank you for having us. Louis Diamond: I’ve been excited about this interview for a bunch of reasons. One, our Build, Grow, Transact series has become a real staple of our show and we got lots to talk about there. But also, the friendship, the relationship that you two have had for over 30 years really stood out to me. So before we get into the nuts and bolts, talk about your relationship. How’d you guys meet, and how did your career stay so intertwined together when you’re in different geographies and at different firms, and have each been very successful in your own rights? Andy Schwartz: Sure. Kevin, do you want to start with that? Kevin Spahn: Sure. I started in this career in 1994 and met Andy sometime after that. He was a more advanced financial planner. I was an attorney, and then I transitioned into this business. So when I first joined Northwestern Mutual, which is my first broker dealer, I didn’t really have a background in investments. At the time, a lot of Northwestern Mutual reps were learning the investment business because they maybe originally started with Northwestern Mutual focusing more on insurance planning. My background was more estate planning. At the time, if you think early ’90s, if you did estate planning, insurance often went hand in hand with that. The estate exemption in early 1990s was about $600,000. So if you pass more than $600,000 to your children, there was a 55% tax. One way around it was to put insurance in an irrevocable trust, help cover the tax that way. So it really was a popular common strategy back then, and it’s really what got me into the business. But I quickly realized that I didn’t want my future to be insurance and estate planning. And there was a conflict if you acted as someone’s attorney and sold insurance. So I had to pick one way or the other. I decided long-term it would be better for me to move into the wealth management space. But with that little background in that, I had a lot of work to do. So took a lot of tests, became a certified financial planner. But the person that helped me the most along the way was Andy. We became friends, we sat on committees together. That’s really how we met, I would say. So we worked side by side interacting with our home office and representing the field, bringing issues to the home office that we thought were beneficial to the field. As we did that together, I got to know Andy. And then separately, I learned from him how he built his business and how they would review clients’ portfolios and come up with solutions. So I really credit Andy with helping me more than anyone else to transition from attorney, financial planner doing more estate planning insurance to wealth management. Louis Diamond: Very cool. Hey, I would say, maybe I’m a little biased, that, Kevin, you picked the right path in hanging up the law shingle and coming into wealth management. Kevin Spahn: I tell a lot of people I’m a reformed attorney. Andy Schwartz: Great. Louis Diamond: Exactly. My dad would say the exact same thing. Very common at dinner tables in the Diamond households. Andy Schwartz: I was always grateful that I wasn’t smart enough to be an attorney. Louis Diamond: There we go. Andy Schwartz: That’s where my gratitude lies. Yeah. Louis Diamond: There we go. Andy Schwartz: Some would say he’s too smart. Louis Diamond: There we go. Andy, question for you. I mean, anyone who is at or was at Northwestern Mutual, I mean, you’re like Elvis to them. It’s absolutely crazy the amount of fanfare and brand recognition that you and your brother Scott have. But for those who maybe missed your first podcast appearance with us a number of years ago, or aren’t or weren’t within the Northwestern Mutual system, or haven’t been familiar with Bleakley and now OnePoint BFG, just give us the cliff notes, the origin story, how you got into the business, and how’d you get from here to there? Andy Schwartz: Yeah. So the origin is probably pretty common, probably by accident. Going into my senior year in college, I was working in a restaurant, had a falling out with my boss. I happened to be dating a woman who was living with a general agent with Fidelity Union Life. No one will have ever heard of Fidelity Union Life, but their secret sauce was they sold life insurance to college seniors on a note. So if you can get a $10 money order, because where I went to school, nobody had a checking account, then you could basically get a note signed and they would buy insurance. And then when they graduate, hopefully they’d pay for it. I started selling life insurance my senior year in college. And then my twin brother Scott, who is my partner, and has been for over 40 years, he took an interview with what was the nucleus of our present firm actually. I just went up to Northern New Jersey in May of 1984 because I was an expert. I had been selling life insurance to college kids for six months, so I knew everything you had to know. We met with these guys, and we both ended up joining them. So that was a Northwestern Mutual district agency, and that was 1984. We got licensed right away. I got my CFP in ’86. We always knew that it was going to be about planning. So I think we had the right idea. We were a little ahead of the curve because there weren’t a lot of CFPs in ’86. We got securities license immediately. So before Northwestern had securities license, we got securities license with US Life actually. And then it was really a volume business, a client-building business. We always tried to act as a firm and share resources. We were small, but like a lot of people, we started out selling A shares and B shares and C shares, doing financial planning, selling insurance, and then we made a lot of really good hires along the way. And then after 30 years at Northwestern Mutual, which was a great experience for me, and I have nothing but respect for the institution and certainly the advisors that are there, Kevin certainly was one of them, and I know he feels the same way, but we just wanted to have a little more flexibility. We went independent about 11, almost 12 years ago. We wanted to be able to be multi-custodial. We wanted to have a little bit more optionality for our clients and for ourselves. We left Northwestern at three billion or so in assets, and that was in 2015. It’s in March of 2024, I get introduced to this guy with a crazy accent named Joe Duran. Funny, probably the only person in the industry that had no idea who Joe Duran was me. I’d never heard of Joe Duran. I don’t pay attention. I worry about our firm. I don’t worry about what’s going on outside. So I get introduced to Joe by a mutual friend, and we had an interesting conversation, and it took us probably about four or five months to figure out what we wanted to do. And then in August of ’24, myself and my three partners, we rolled in. And then in ’85, the rest of the firm rolled in. And we can talk a little bit more about that. Today we’re 18-plus billion, growing quite a bit. We’ve been very lucky that we’ve made some very good decisions along the way. We’ve made some bad ones too. But most of the decisions had to do with the people that we hired, the people that we brought on to help us, because I think it’s really important. I always say that the biggest mistake advisors make is they buy their own bullshit, and I try not to, and I realize that I’m smart enough, but I’m certainly not the smartest guy. I’m rarely the smartest guy in the room. So what we try to do is hire lots and lots of really smart people. And we’ve done that. They’ve been loyal to us, we’ve been loyal to them. Yeah, so we’re blessed to have a really great team and lots of good partners. Yeah. Louis Diamond: Yeah, we’ll definitely get into more of the nuts and bolts of the decision to take on capital, partner with Joe Duran’s Rise, but that’s an amazing background. Andy, I have to give you credit because your style, and I think I’m sure there’s business benefits, but it comes from a good place, I’m sure. But the coaching and consulting and just assistance that I’ve heard you provide to so many past and current Northwestern Mutual advisors through sports camps is absolutely incredible. It’s very near and dear to my heart because we always try to lead with education and helping people. So I just wanted to call that out, that your reputation for just providing amazing guidance and coaching to advisors is unparalleled. Andy Schwartz: And it’s been the best part of our journey. We’ve been able to help so many people. We get way too much credit by the way. So everybody gives us way too much credit. But the way I look at it is, I’ve been able to leverage my life because I’ve been able to build a great life for myself and my family, but we’ve been able to leverage that, and that’s where the real gift is. So yeah, it’s been a joyful journey for us. Louis Diamond: Amazing. Kevin, question for you. You walked through your little bit unorthodox background to get into Northwestern. Can you talk about where your personal practice is today? And then I want to ask you about the decision to leave Northwestern and sell and team up with Andy and team. Kevin Spahn: Well, I have to go back to the beginning. What was attractive to me about this business is I went from a career which was confrontational adversarial. I was a trial attorney for six years, and every day I would fight with people over things I didn’t necessarily have a personal interest in and I didn’t really believe in always. But the adversarial confrontational nature wasn’t really my personality, and I would take it too personally. So sometimes I’d go home in a bad mood because I was fighting with somebody taking a deposition. At night, after so many years as a trial attorney, I started going to people’s houses and doing wills and trusts. And that’s where the dynamic of working with a client or a potential client, feeling that you helped them and walking out of the meeting where they would appreciate what you did for them, and you build a relationship and actually all of a sudden have a friend, that dynamic was attractive to me. That’s really what got me to transition into the business. So I think it was really helpful to me at the beginning of this career. As Andy said, we all grew our businesses one client at a time. There’s a lot of doors closed, phones hung up on. There’s many people that don’t want to talk to you. There’s many people that don’t call you back. There’s many people that you think you’re getting somewhere with and you don’t. And that’s difficult for people because people often, young reps take that as personal rejection. I had the benefit of comparing what I was dealing with as a young financial planner to what I had dealt with as an attorney in litigation. I think it just was perspective that I knew I didn’t want to do that anymore. So the negatives to this business didn’t seem that bad to me. I loved the independence. I loved all the relationships that I was building. And that part of it is to this day my favorite part of the business. When you ask about the present, what basically happens is you start out taking anybody and everybody as a potential client or as someone that you would be willing to work with. And then over time you work with more successful people. So where I’m at today is working with pretty successful people, but they’re all the same, meaning we like working with nice people. If people are nice, we work with them. I feel we can help anybody. Over the years, one client at a time. The thing that I probably, if I could go back, would change is I think Andy and I are both good at meeting people and building trust and providing value, so that’s why they work with us. So I think that’s just something we’ve both been able to do. He’s much better than I am at building an organization. So I built an organization basically hiring people, that whenever we got too busy, I hired another person. Drawback in terms of that is, anybody that I interview I think is great, and I think they’d be great to join the organization. I like them all. In spite of that, I’ve also brought in many good people that I love. At this point, my firm has 18 people. We’re a little subset of Andy’s larger firm. I think one of the most attractive things to me about joining Andy’s firm is what Andy mentioned before: the people. As opposed to me having to build this all out myself, going independent, Andy already did that. And he has the infrastructure that would allow me to just merge right into that and not have to go through the pain of figuring all that out, which I don’t even think I’m capable of, to be honest with you. Louis Diamond: You’re probably selling yourself short because the way I understood it, you had one of the top practices within the entire Northwestern Mutual systems, and it’s a firm filled with very successful advisors. For you, Kevin, what was the driving force to leaving NM after all these years? What was bothering you or frustrating you that indicated to you that it was time to do something different? Kevin Spahn: To be honest with you, I was pretty happy at Northwestern Mutual. I love the company and the people. I still have many good friends there that I truly miss. The big thing for me, I don’t know if it was any one thing, to be honest with you, is Andy said there’s optionality, especially on the investment side. I think one of the things that happened to me is, when I first started, I was 31 years old, and most of the potential clients that I would meet and work with, they weren’t what I would call today great investment clients. They didn’t have a lot of money. They had great futures. They might’ve been earning significant income or on the way to earning significant income. So what did they need at that point in their life? They needed planning. They needed protection. They didn’t really need investment management because most of their investments were going into their 401(k). But a lot of those clients that we would take on, and I think that’s the big advantage of Northwestern Mutual, you take on clients that a lot of the investor firms don’t want because they don’t have large investment portfolios. But at some point down the road, all of a sudden you wake up and they do have large investment portfolios. So you bring them in as clients that might buy life insurance from you or disability insurance or something like that. And then you help them, and you give them advice, and you build a relationship with them. Down the road, they make more and more money. They leave jobs, they roll 401(k)s, they have the ability to invest money, stock options, things like that. Next thing you’re doing more comprehensive planning that incorporates investments. As that progresses even further, you work with larger and larger clients, much more significant net worth, more complexity, bigger tax issues. Some of the strategies and opportunities that we now have at this independent RIA are very attractive for these high-net-worth clients. Along the same lines, less of what I do at this point in my career is insurance, mostly because a lot of the people that I meet are older, they already bought insurance, they’re looking more for investment advice as opposed to insurance. So one of the things that most attracted me to Northwest Mutual was their strong insurance products, which helped me for many years. As time went on, I was doing less of that. Louis Diamond: Makes complete sense. So it was a changing of what clients wanted and just the circumstances of your clients where you said, “What got me here when I was 31 was insurance planning, and that’s what my clients needed. But as my practice has evolved, I’ve aged, my clients are older, have more money, the focus shifted from insurance to investments.” And then the distinction was, am I at the best place to run investments in addition to insurance planning, et cetera? It’s a very interesting dynamic. Just the shift in basically your legacy clients was what drove you to consider change. Kevin Spahn: That was a big factor. I think the second big factor was I had my own firm with 18 people. My succession plan was that at some point I would shift ownership of the firm to people that worked with me. So as they owned more of the firm, they would have revenue that was currently at the time being paid to me. In my mind, as it shifted to them, they would buy me out using revenue from the clients that we already had. And I realized that there were some issues with that. In our business, as you get older, in your client’s age, they start taking money out of their portfolios. So everyone understands that in our business, the younger average age client you have makes your book more valuable. I was the biggest driver of new business at my firm, and I started to see that there were some problems with my succession plan. They included, if something happened to me during this succession, that would be a real problem for the people that were buying my business from me if I went that way. If something happened to some of my key people, that would’ve been a problem as well. So it was really attractive to me to… I wasn’t looking to sell my business, I was looking to merge it. So I merged it with Andy’s business. I believe that Andy and what he’s put together and the actual idea of having partners. So I never really had partners, but now I do. Having partners that we’re all on the same page, we all have similar backgrounds, we all bring something different to the table, and we can learn and benefit from working with each other. But also, owning a little piece of a much larger firm was, number one, it put me in a better position in terms of the potential risk of something happening to me or one of my key people. But secondly, I just think it’s more likely to grow at a greater pace than my firm would’ve as I aged from my 60s to my 70s. Louis Diamond: Very interesting. It’s a great realization. I think it’s one that probably every firm owner grapples with at some point, is the romanticism or the ease, some would say, of an internal succession plan. Rewarding those who have helped you build the firm is something I think everyone is interested in. But once that’s put into practice, whether it’s because of capital or sky-high valuations or right people on the bus or risk, et cetera, nowadays oftentimes leads to a firm owner looking at a transaction, whether it’s a merger, a sale, a private equity, capital infusion as a means to solve for succession. So it’s a very interesting way you framed it. Andy, I want to turn it over to you for a little bit. So you mentioned when you launched Bleakley Financial, which was the old name of your firm, out of Northwestern, you’re about three billion. I think I read that you’re about 10 billion or so when Joe Duran and Rise invested you in 2024. You just said you’re at 18 billion now in the middle of 2026. That is absolutely incredible and amazing. Andy Schwartz: We’ll be well over 20 by the end of the year without any additional organic growth. Louis Diamond: That’s absolutely incredible. Andy Schwartz: We’ve got a lot going on right now. Louis Diamond: What’s actually driven that? What’s been the playbook? Andy Schwartz: The three areas that are most important for us, and we had our town hall this morning, and we always talk about the things we focus on as a group, the first and most important is the client experience. I always say to people, if you are their advisor, then that means someone else isn’t. These people, they all deserve to be really well taken care of. They deserve the best service, they deserve the best advice. So that’s something we take really personally. So client experience first. Then we also understand that we don’t just work for clients, we work for our advisors. So I have two jobs. I have, I don’t know, 500 clients I service with my team, and I work for Kevin and 36 other partners and all of our employees. Because again, I recognize that the decision Kevin made… We’re in the middle of a transition out with another advisor, and we pretty much talk to her every day, and I know how hard this is. A transition is so difficult. When you come from a good place, because any of the Northwestern advisor who joins, they’re coming from a good place, it’s not like they have to go anywhere, it’s difficult. So we have the massive responsibility that three or four or five or 10 years from now, that there better be hugs around that this was the best decision ever made or otherwise. That’s the kind of thing that keeps me up at night. So we’ve got to take care of our client experience, we’ve got to take care of our advisor experience. And then obviously, we’ve got to grow the firm so the firm grows organically. So part of this whole idea of serving our advisors is we have to help our advisors grow. I talk to a lot of people on the acquisition side, and if I’m talking to an advisor, it doesn’t matter how big they are, we kind of think of it as a OnePoint way. There’s flexibility in the OnePoint way. But if I can’t help them grow, I don’t want them, because I say it all the time, I’m not the mafia. I’m not here to get a taste. Louis, if you weren’t interested in joining us, if I thought that we could help you grow by doing that, then I want you bad. If I don’t think I can help you grow because we’re so different, or because you’re not going to adapt what we do, or there’s no leverage in it, or you’re already better than we are, I don’t want it. So for us, organic growth, number one, and I think you know the industries well enough, that’s got to be the key. We shoot for 10% organic growth. We’re at a little over 5% so far halfway through the year. So assuming we have the similar second half of the year, we’ll hit our 10. Last year we’re at 7.5%. The second is the inorganic growth. If you truly build a platform, if you truly build a firm that advisors know that they’ll be supported, that they’ll be loved, and you’ll help them grow their businesses, it does make it easier for us. We’re not the highest bidder typically. We can’t. We respect our client’s capital, we respect their equity, so therefore we’re not going to go out there. We’re not an aggregator, we’re a firm. But I think that if we can get that message across, and I think we have, then advisors join us. So that’s been a big part of the growth. And then the market’s helped. Obviously, over the last two years, the market’s been helpful. So that’s how we’ve gone from 10 to 18 and on our way to 22 by year-end. Louis Diamond: This is absolutely incredible. Any advisor or firm owner would say organic growth is important, but just saying it’s important doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. So what are the ways in which you help your advisors or your own practice grow organically? What is it that OnePoint is doing for your advisors? Andy Schwartz: Starting with bringing on growth-oriented advisors. I mean, look, Kevin Spahn and I come from the same place. We learned how to sell. The great thing about coming out of whether they’re broker dealers or out of the different insurance BDs is, these are people that know how to sell. These are people that don’t think that selling is a bad word. A lot of times you go to the wirehouses and they’re not necessarily sales guys. They’re really smart. They think that they’re investment mavens and investment geniuses. I’m not interested in investment geniuses. I’m interested in people that want to take care of their clients, provide everything they can, clients first, do the proper planning, be good advisors, but they’re growth-oriented. So as long as we’re talking with the right advisors. Again, if I’m talking to advisor and they might have a big practice, if they’re not growers, we’re not interested. There’s a sense of responsibility for all the partners because we are a true partnership. It’s not an aggregation. This is a firm. I’m responsible for Kevin. Kevin’s responsible to me. All of our partners are responsible to each other, because if we’re going to do a 10% organic growth target, and if some partner is negative 3%, we don’t put them through the spanking machine, but everybody is very aware of where everybody is and nobody wants to let their partners down. I think either you’re a growth-oriented advisor or you’re a zoo-fed bear. There’s another expression that I got from another Rise Growth Partner or Rise Growth firm. We all kind of communicate and talk to each other. And I was talking about zoo-fed bears, and he said, we call them house cats that think they fight. So they’re house cats, but they have no claws. But I think if you’re careful about who you bring on as partners, and if they are workers, growers, they understand that their job in life is to serve the people. We talk about referrals, we do lots of training to help on referrals. We work on organic growth strategies from the firm, but a lot of it comes from the advisors themselves. Louis Diamond: Makes sense. So it sounds like, to boil it down, it’s being really selective and having a really clear sense of who’s the right fit for your firm. Not that there’s not amazing advisors out there, but just because you’re an amazing advisor, doesn’t mean you’re the right fit to join OnePoint. Andy Schwartz: I think the one big distinction and difference is other than the fact that we are minority-owned with private equity. So we own our business. I mean, I’m the CEO of the firm. I also have the biggest book in the firm. At least for right now, I mean, Kevin was transitioning, so I’m sure next year he’ll be the leading advisor. But I lead the firm, because as far as I’m concerned, you have to lead by example. We are completely aligned. I know exactly what Kevin does every day because I do the same thing. I’m not some attorney or accountant or private equity boss that’s saying, “Oh, I’ve got an idea for growth. We’ll just raise our fees by 5%.” Brilliant. Yeah, we are completely aligned, all of us. I think that makes us a little bit unique, and it really helps us, I think, in our growth trajectory. Louis Diamond: I would agree. The challenge that a lot of advisors-turned-firm-owners or turned-enterprise-builders have is the tug of war between the client work, which either is their ultimate passion and driving force, or it’s something they’re really good at minimum, versus being the owner, the operator, et cetera. I resonate very much, Andy, with the way you handle it. I do the same thing running a company, but also working with advisors. To me, I need to do both in order to do my job well. But that tug of war is tough. So I’m curious, your firm is very large now, you’re a steward of external capital, and you have a $3 billion book yourself. How do you do it? How do you balance the two? Andy Schwartz: Well, fortunately, my kids are grown, so I’m not coaching sports anymore. So I do have a little more time than most. Look, we have a great team. So the idea that I run the firm… I mean, I lead the firm, I don’t run the firm. We have great partners. We have great… Our manager team is fantastic. So I mean, they really run the firm. But this is where my passion is for now. So I don’t mind. Days are typically pretty long. I don’t play golf during the week. Mara and I don’t travel probably as much as we should. Vacations are always a little bit mixed. There’s always room for calls and meetings and whatever. But to me, I mean, I’m grateful to be in this situation. I’m enjoying it. This is such a privilege to be the person that people recognize as the leader of this bunch, of this group. I mean, it is the honor of my life. So I don’t think of it so much as work. It’s my advocation. It does get busy. There are some times where I have to remind myself, “Just enjoy the ride.” I get a little overwhelmed, but I get lots of help and that makes it possible. Louis Diamond: Yep. If you’re not doing the job of the folks that you’re encouraging and leading to do, how do you have fodder to train them, to teach them, to empathize with that? Andy Schwartz: Exactly, you don’t have the credibility. I can ask them to do almost anything because they know I do it myself, and I think that helps. Louis Diamond: Yep. So moving more into the decision to bring on private equity capital, what I thought was probably the most interesting component of your announcement that you took on PE investment was that you completely restructured or reoriented your firm prior to Joe Duran coming in 2024. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Bleakley Financial Group was almost all 1099 contractors. So everyone owned their own books of business, paid Bleakley a fee or an override for certain services. But now, today, over 85% of your advisors and your AUM are W-2 employees, meaning you converted them from 1099 to acquiring them or merging with them. To me, that’s the dream. It’s had to have been very, very, very hard and challenging because there’s so many aggregator firms or platforms that support independent advisors, but the value that they’ve created is fairly minimal relative to one cohesive firm. So can you just talk about that decision, a very big and brave decision to go down the path of acquiring or merging with the practices rather than letting them continue to operate independently? Andy Schwartz: Well, look, we had to… It’s funny because we had been having conversations for years with consultants, and they kept telling us what we had to do. Again, we’re not that smart, so we just kept thinking, “No, we don’t have to do that.” But we were told 10 years earlier that the only way that this thing has any value to the world is you’ve got to have EBITDA for the firm. We talked to all the smart people, we ignored all of them. But what happened was we needed capital and we needed equity in order to bring people on, because people aren’t just joining us just because we can help them grow a bigger business. So the reason we went in the direction we went initially was we just needed capital. We wanted to grow the firm, and the only way we were going to get to is… What’s the old saying? What got us here is not going to get us there. So we needed capital. But we also realized that I had to have something I could sell in the marketplace. And people want equity. So they want cash, but they also want equity, because we’re talking to entrepreneurs. Kevin owned his own firm. He has $2 billion of assets. He wasn’t interested in being someone’s employee, but he was interested in being able to get leverage and be a partner and share equity in a larger firm that had the chance to grow even more. So what the gift that Joe Duran, the Rise folks gave us was that gift of structure and understanding. So that was really helpful, and that’s been a big part of our success. Louis Diamond: Yeah, it’s an amazing journey. Again, I think you could probably write a book or a case study on how that happened. I’m sure there were some downfalls, some people that weren’t all that excited about it, but the results speak for itself. Andy Schwartz: I think people ask all the time because I do get phone calls. People are trying to do this, and they’re struggling. It took us 90 days to basically do it. People say, “I’ve been at this for two years.” And the biggest issue is trust. Either they trust you or they don’t. At the end of the day, I always went to the advisor here, we were a firm for 30-plus years prior, and these guys knew that we always did what we said we were going to do, and we always did. If your people trust you, then you can do it. If your people don’t trust you, it isn’t going to work. Louis Diamond: In other words, your firm added immense value to the advisors as well. Aside from trust, if you weren’t providing a service or services that they found a value that they couldn’t access on their own, it would’ve been 85/15 going the other way for sure. Andy Schwartz: Yeah, 100%. I know it’s not easy, but it wasn’t that hard for us. Louis Diamond: Good. It’s well-earned. So I believe you were Rise Growth Partners’ first investment. Andy Schwartz: We were. Louis Diamond: That’s cool. It’s exciting. You get to be someone’s first, but did it make you uncomfortable that you were the first investment or did you see that as a positive? Andy Schwartz: I actually saw it as a positive. Well, one, because I recognized immediately that Joe Duran and his team were way smarter than we were certainly, and certainly with what we were trying to do. And I figured that it’s almost like the first child. They were so excited to have somebody, and there was so much time and energy, so they just really doted on us. They were really able to help us. Now they’ve got four or five groups that they work with, and obviously we’ve been launched. So the younger babies are getting more time and attention, although we get everything that we need from them. But yeah, that never concerned me. I always thought that would be our advantage. It actually turned out that way. Louis Diamond: Interesting. In thinking through a sale or a minority sale, did you entertain other types of capital, whether it was a family office or a multitude of other private equity sponsors or selling the firm outright? Andy Schwartz: Yeah, we probably had four or five very, very serious conversations. Actually, some got pretty close to the end where we basically just made the decision not to do it. One was a much larger firm, good people. But the problem always was… I was always going to get rich out of the deal because it was going to be 100% sale, but there was really no lift or leverage from the advisors. So the principals, they were willing to pay me a big multiple and my partners a big multiple, and pay these guys basically an average multiple. So we had always told our guys, “Let’s stay together, and someday, this thing, whatever it’s going to turn into be, will benefit everyone.” So with the Duran situation and the deal with Rise did, it gave everybody a chance to benefit from what we were doing. But what was good about all of those false starts was, it taught me a lot because I had… I know you’re involved in this, so you know better than I do, but we’d start conversations, somebody would reach out to me, I would be very specific about what I needed. They would say, “Yep, we can do that.” And then you get to the finish line, and it’s almost like, I started out, I wanted a tomahawk steak and a baked potato, and I ended up getting a two-day-old hamburger with some cold French fries. It’s like, I know I’m not that smart and I know you’re the PE guys, but for God’s sakes, we’re not stupid. So it was funny because in January of ’24, I told my partners, “I don’t want to have any more of these conversations. It was a waste of time and energy. I’m sick of talking to these people. Let’s just put our heads down, and then let’s grow the firm a little bit more, and then we’ll see what the world looks like.” And then I get introduced to Duran. Louis Diamond: Perfect. Makes sense. Yeah, so you were well-educated on the market, the types of buyers, and I always say it’s almost more important to understand what you don’t want more than what you do want. The only way oftentimes to understand what you don’t want is to experience it and touch and feel it and really get into the weeds on it. I like too, Andy, I saw in an article, you said that “we’re private equity invested, we’re not private equity owned,” which is a very cool dynamic. I could imagine why that was important to you to retain majority control. Kevin, I want to bring you back into the conversation. Thank you for being patient here. But I mean, I would imagine you had some real choices. I mean, you could have stayed at Northwestern and been very successful, gone through with your internal succession plan. You could have gone to an independent BD, monetized, figured out succession later. You could have sold the business to a strategic acquirer. You were big enough to take on an investor in some capacity on your own. So options wasn’t your problem. Maybe just walk us through. Did you consider any other pathways? And what were the pros and cons in your mind that led you to doing a transaction with Andy? Kevin Spahn: I’m a little different, I think, than most people in this industry. Even as you grow your business at a certain percentage, none of that stuff has ever really meant anything to me. All I know is I like what I do. So when I came into the business, because I like it, I enjoy it, I spend time doing it, I’ve tried to get better at it. But it comes naturally because it’s something that I don’t look at Monday mornings as, “Oh, no, it’s Monday morning.” I’m excited to go to work. My entire career, once I left law, my business has just grown over the years naturally. But you said something before, Louis, and I think this applies to me. I love to work with the clients. I don’t like what I have to do in terms of running the firm. I never have. It’s never been my cup of tea, but you have to do it if you run a firm. So number one, the thought of all the due diligence that I would have to do to research all the firms out there, I wasn’t really all that interested in doing that. At the end of the day, it comes down to this word trust. I trust Andy. I trust the other partners here too, because I’ve known not just Andy, but I’ve known Scott and many of the other partners for years. So I knew what I was getting myself into. At the end of the day, I knew what they built. I was very comfortable with it, and I was either going to stay at Northwestern Mutual or I was going to come here, but I wasn’t going to go anywhere else. I will say, since I’ve gone, it’s been exactly like I thought. I thought I trusted Andy. And if something happened along the way with the transition, everything that he said has been true, thing that he promised is real. As you deal with more complexities with a bigger book and more and more employees, I knew that I was almost at the breaking point in terms of my own organization and to merge into this organization that, as I said before, he’s already built out. I don’t have to do it. And to benefit from these great people that he has as part of his organization, that’s all been a real blessing for me and my team. So I didn’t shop the marketplace really, but I knew what I was getting into, and it’s worked out clear as I thought it would. Louis Diamond: That’s amazing. I think that’s what most people would covet. But it is a decision in and of itself to not shop the marketplace. I mean, from representing buyers or prospective buyers, I know the pricing leverage or the negotiation leverage and the valuation lift that comes from having an open market, having multiple bids, et cetera. It sounds like that wasn’t the… Obviously you wanted to get fair value for your firm, but for you, it was more, it’s trust, “I’m either going to just stay at Northwestern, which is the devil I know or it’s what I’ve known where I’ve been successful, or I’m going to go to the individual that I trust and forget about all the other noise.” Kevin Spahn: Well, Andy says things, but I know they’re true because I’ve seen him at work. I’ve seen how he’s acted. I’ve seen how he interacts with people. But here’s an example. He cares about the people that are at his firm. He says that, but I know it’s true because I see it. I’m the same. I really care about the people in my firm. So as I think about, well, what about the future of two groups, my clients, but also the people that work in my firm? They’re going to be around long after I am. Well, I don’t want myself to retire someday, get a big check, because there’s all sorts of options to get a check. If I get a check and then my client’s scatter to the wind, and my employees don’t really have a future and they just have to go and find their own way, that wasn’t attractive at all to me. So one of the things that I really appreciate about this opportunity is that there is a plan for both my clients and my employees or the younger team members at formerly Spahn Financial, where I feel very good about the fact that they have a solid, secure future in an industry that they’ve all grown to love without them having to go out and make their own way. Louis Diamond: Makes sense to me. We noted a couple of times in this interview, you talked about equity, partnership, both of you have. So Kevin, for you, what did it mean differently for you to become a partner and get equity in a larger firm rather than, we’ll say, the less risky move of just taking everything in cash? Why was that an important distinction for you? Kevin Spahn: For many years, when I left law and came into this business, I didn’t have any money at the time. I was just starting to make money as a lawyer. It takes a while. I started low. I got trial experience working for the government, so they didn’t pay much. That was three years. Then I was at a firm, and I was just starting to make more money. Then I made this big shift into a career tha

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Today, we are pulling back the curtain on CPG venture capital with Nathan Cooper, Founder and Managing Partner at Barrel Ventures. As an early backer of category-defining brands like OLIPOP, Nate shares his unique "Rules" of CPG investing in an era defined by rapid disruption. We kick things off by exploring how macroeconomic shifts, from GLP-1 lifestyle changes to wearables feedback loops, are redefining consumer habits. Nate and I explore the "Great Soda U-Turn," explaining how brands like OLIPOP successfully flipped the narrative to turn fizzy drinks from digestive villains into gut-health heroes. Although modern soda is just the beginning. In fact, we dive deep into the world of precision fermentation with pioneering companies like Helaina, analyzing how bioidentical lactoferrin bypasses traditional supply limits to disrupt the massive infant formula market (and beyond). Finally, Nate and I shed light on the explosive, high-stakes sectors of "Modern Oral" mouth pouches and the complex regulatory maze of hemp-derived functional beverages. Whether you're an ambitious founder trying to build CPG brands that master the daily consumer ritual, an investor managing early-stage long-horizon fund economics, or industry stakeholder seeking fresh market insights, this conversation delivers!

This week on The PQI Podcast, we are joined by Manojkumar Bupathi, MD and Matthew Garmezy,MD genitourinary oncology experts and hosts of the Oncology Decoded podcast. Dr. Bupathi is President and Managing Partner of Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers and Executive Chair of the Genitourinary Research Program at Sarah Cannon Research Institute. Dr. Garmezy serves as Associate Director of the Genitourinary Oncology Research Program and Associate Director of the Drug Development Unit at Sarah Cannon Research Institute Oncology Partners. Together, they bring perspectives spanning community oncology, clinical research, drug development, and real-world cancer care. In this episode, we discuss recent updates in prostate cancer and, just as importantly, how oncology teams can take new data and translate it into decisions that make sense in everyday practice. We also talk about Oncology Decoded, their approach to breaking down new research and treatment advances, and why understanding how to actually use emerging evidence is just as important as knowing the latest data. Listen to Oncology Decoded: https://www.cancernetwork.com/podcasts/oncology-decoded

Today's show features: - Rob Ruth, President / Owner at Bob Ruth Ford - Shane Helms, Founder / CEO at TrueView Media Group - Matthew Zabawa, Chief Product Officer at WebBuy Digital Retailing - Steve Moroz, Managing Partner/GSM at EZ Nissan This episode is brought to you by: Carmax – CarMax Auctions. Access thousands of cars weekly at 50+ locations nationwide through our 100% online auctions. From high-end to high mileage, CarMax Auctions has the inventory you need to source smarter and accelerate sales. Register now for free at carmaxauctions.com/CDG. TrueView Media Group – TrueView Media Group — TrueView Media Group is a CTV technology company built for automotive retail. We plan, buy, and measure streaming for individual rooftops on our own platform, continually engineering more effective ways to buy impressions and showing every store exactly where its money went: every app, every impression, every dollar — measured to the outcomes a store actually feels, like site visits, VDP views, and sales. Visit trueviewmediagroup.com/cdg First up, Rob Ruth, President and Owner of Bob Ruth Ford in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. Rob made a bet on building his own buying center — and it's reshaping how his store grows. Why is that the move he'd double down on? He'll tell us. Then, Shane Helms, Founder and CEO of TrueView Media Group. Shane says the entire marketing ecosystem dealers depend on is broken — and get this, he claims Tier 2 has flat-out vanished at brands like Mazda, Subaru, VW, and Mercedes. What changed, and what does it mean for your store? You'll want to hear this one. Next, Matthew Zabawa, Chief Product Officer at WebBuy Digital Retailing, on where digital retailing is really headed — and what's still missing. And rounding things out, Steve Moroz, Managing Partner and GSM at EZ Nissan, bringing the dealer's-eye view on digitizing the showroom. Can you actually bring the online experience onto the sales floor without breaking it? Steve's got the battle scars and the answers. Check out Car Dealership Guy's stuff: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CDG News ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://news.dealershipguy.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CDG Jobs ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CDG Recruiting ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cdgrecruiting.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My Socials: X ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/GuyDealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ➤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook ➤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dealershipguy.com⁠⁠

In this episode, Miguel Gonzalez discusses how emergency savings, interest rates, debt, long-term goals, and changing financial priorities can help determine where your extra money should go. He also explains why the answer doesn't always have to be all-or-nothing.Miguel Gonzalez is a Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC) with over 25 years of experience helping individuals and families design retirement income strategies and long-term financial plans. He is the Managing Partner of Cortburg Retirement Advisors, a boutique firm focused on retirement planning, investment management, and financial clarity.#SaveOrInvest #PayOffDebt #FinancialPlanning #PersonalFinance #SavingMoney #Investing #DebtManagement #EmergencySavings #MoneyManagement #FinancialWellness #CortburgSpeaksRetirement #MiguelXGonzalez #RetirementPlanning #FinancialGoals #MoneyHabits #FinancialEducation #DebtFree #InvestingForBeginners #FinancialConfidence #SmartMoneyMovesWelcome to Cortburg Speaks Retirement Podcast with Miguel Gonzalez, MBA, AIF®, CPFA®, CRC® CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO MIGUEL'S LATEST PODCAST FOLLOW US ON: YouTube->https://m.youtube.com/c/CORTBURGRETIREMENTADVISORSFacebook-> https://m.facebook.com/CortburgIncTwitter-> https://twitter.com/CortburgIncLinkedIn->https://www.linkedin.com/in/miguelxgonzalez/Website: www.CortburgRetirement.comEmail:     Miguel@CortburgRetirement.com

Episode 87: A Brave New World with Frank Napolitani, Cartesian Frank Napolitani, Managing Partner of Cartesian, joins the Tokens of Wisdom Studio to shed some light on the fascinating times afoot for investment professionals and the firms that service them. Frank shares insights on the ongoing tokenization of securities, unique considerations when trading on prediction markets, and the quickly approaching 23-hour trading day and rolling market close. Key Points From This Episode: DTC's ongoing efforts in tokenization of securities, and what it means for fund managers' back offices.Why prediction markets?23-hour trading day is coming. What does that mean for managers and their back offices? Disclaimer: This show is for informational purposes only. Nothing presented here constitutes legal, investment or tax advice. The guests that join us share their considerable fund-related wisdom, but everything they share here is their personal opinion and for educational purposes only. On this show, they are speaking for themselves, and not for their employer or any affiliated entity. Tokens of Wisdom is produced by Dave Rothschild, partner at Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP headquartered in San Francisco, California. For more information, visit https://colefrieman.com/ Links Mentioned in Today's Episode: Dave Rothschild - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcrothschild/Frank Napolitani - https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-napolitani-249a0510/ Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP - https://colefrieman.com/Cartesian - https://o-cfo.com/ Music by Joe Ginsberg - https://www.instagram.com/thejoeginsbergFor any questions or comments, email: tow@colefrieman.com

Adam Grosser is the Chairman and Managing Partner of UP.Partners, an investment firm backing entrepreneurs building the technologies that help move people and goods faster, safer, and more efficiently. Before founding UP.Partners, Adam was a General Partner at Foundation Capital and a Managing Director at Silver Lake, where he led the Energy and Resources Fund. Shaped by early lessons from innovators including Steve Jobs and George Lucas. In this episode, learn why AI is moving from bits to atoms, how he evaluates high-conviction physical AI investments, why technical moats and supply-chain resilience matter, and why ambitious founders should seek meaningful problems.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamgrosserWebsite: https://up.partners/

Richard McGirr talks with Keith about scaling teams, paying for top-tier talent, and tightening internal controls so the business stays lean but not blind. He explains why self-storage has worked for him, why mobile home parks were attractive but hard to scale, and how his firm approaches 1031 exchange money, tenant-in-common structures, and investor communication in a tougher fundraising environment. This episode matters because the old playbook no longer works. In a market where the gap between winners and losers keeps widening, operators who understand capital, patience, and asset quality have a major edge. Keith's perspective is especially valuable if you are navigating a downturn, sitting on dry powder, or trying to decide whether to hold, sell, or move up in quality. Keith Wasserman Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Gelt Ventures Based in: Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Where to find them: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kewasserman https://www.geltventurepartners.com/ For more information, visit https://superhuman.com/. Podcast production done by⁠ ⁠Outlier Audio⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wes Moss is a Managing Partner and Chief Investment Strategist at Capital Investment Advisors (CIA), where he leads a team dedicated to helping individuals and families achieve financial independence. A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and prominent money educator, Wes is the author of What The Happiest Retirees Know and You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think, and hosts the nationally recognized Retire Sooner Podcast alongside his weekly call-in radio show, Money Matters. Recognized nationally by Barron's, Forbes, and Investopedia for his expertise in income investing and retirement lifestyle planning, he holds a degree in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives in Atlanta with his family.Connect with Wes Moss:Website: https://www.wesmoss.com/ The Retire Sooner Method: The 5 Secrets Behind America's Happiest (and Unhappiest) Retirees. https://a.co/d/00AA74b0 Need expert tax planning? Visit GTG Tax to learn how to make your taxes work for your goals: https://gtgtax.com/ TurnKey Podcast Productions Important Links:Guest to Gold Video Series: www.TurnkeyPodcast.com/gold The Ultimate Podcast Launch Formula- www.TurnkeyPodcast.com/UPLFplusFREE workshop on how to "Be A Great Guest."Free E-Book 5 Ways to Make Money Podcasting at www.Turnkeypodcast.com/gift Ready to earn 6-figures with your podcast? See if you've got what it takes at TurnkeyPodcast.com/quizSales Training for Podcasters: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sales-training-for-podcasters/id1540644376Nice Guys on Business: http://www.niceguysonbusiness.com/subscribe/The Turnkey Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/turnkey-podcast/id1485077152 Discover how you can look 'poor' to the IRS and rich to a lender. Check out my sponsor, GTG Tax Planning, at gtgtax.com to book a short discovery call.

a16z Managing Partner and Head of Global Partnerships Jen Kha joins MTS hosts Theo Jaffee and Sophia Dew to discuss a16z's Machine Age Fund and the investment thesis behind rebuilding the physical infrastructure that powers AI. Jen explains why chips, networking, memory, cooling, data centers, and other parts of the physical computing stack are becoming investable again after decades in which software captured much of the industry's attention. As AI demand pushes existing infrastructure to its limits, she explains why a16z created a dedicated fund and why hardware founders are increasingly rethinking the stack from first principles. They also discuss the global race to adopt AI, what hardware startups need beyond capital, the backlash against data centers in the U.S., and why experienced systems builders are returning to entrepreneurship as a new generation of infrastructure gets built. Resources: Follow Jen Kha on X: https://x.com/jkhamehl Follow Theo Jaffee on X: https://x.com/theojaffee Follow Sophia Dew on X: https://x.com/sophiadew Follow MTS on X: https://x.com/mtslive Stay Updated:Find a16z on YouTube: YouTubeFind a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Show on SpotifyListen to the a16z Show on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The crew sizes up Bitcoin's rebound, the fight to bring Hyperliquid onshore, the SEC's new token fundraising framework, and why Stripe's OpenRouter deal could make AI inference markets look a lot like DeFi. 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. Tom and Tarun check in from Bhutan after lunch with the king, then the crew tackles Bitcoin's rebound, the path to a compliant U.S. Hyperliquid, the SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, and the growing overlap between AI inference markets and DeFi market structure. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights