Episodi

  • 66 | Susan Griffin-Black - Why the Cash Out Was Never the Real Prize

    66 | Susan Griffin-Black - Why the Cash Out Was Never the Real Prize
    Oct 27 2026
    If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I’m seeing in live deals right now. It’s free, it’s two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter.What if the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is the one thing quietly keeping you from building something you would never want to sell?Susan Griffin-Black co-founded EO Products in 1995, the company behind the EO and Everyone brands, and over three decades, she built it without venture capital or private equity. In this episode, she sits down with J. Michael Fischer Jr. to explain what staying independent made possible, what it cost, and why selling has never been front and center.They get into the capital decisions most owners never question, why she watched brands lose their magic after acquisition, how EO and Everyone serve two different customers under one product charter, and the rare personal story underneath it all. Susan and her co-founder Brad Black started the company as husband and wife, divorced, and still run it together as co-CEOs today.If a future exit is the measure of success you have never really examined, this is the perspective most owners only reach after the money is already spent. The cash out is not the finish line. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[02:18] The husband-and-wife team who divorced and still run the company together[03:09] From Esprit to a London courtyard: the single breath that changed her whole life[07:35] What Brad brought to the table, and the Birkenstock order that nearly broke them[09:30] Two brands, one charter: how EO and Everyone quietly split the market[12:44] The guerrilla move that got them onto the Whole Foods shelf[18:48] The one ingredient acquirers cut first, and why it matters[19:45] Why she turned down private equity, even at the cost of market share[21:16] Divorced co-CEOs: how they rebuilt trust and kept the company whole[25:12] The quiet question that changed what success means to her[27:07] The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and the trap inside it[31:09] The small decision from the very beginning that ended up holding it all togetherMentioned ResourcesEO ProductsEspritDoug TompkinsSusie Tompkins BuellBirkenstockWhole Foods MarketBurt’s BeesCloroxHanesB CorporationAbout the GuestSusan Griffin-Black is the co-founder and co-CEO of EO Products, the San Rafael, California company behind the EO and Everyone personal care brands. She started her career as a clothing designer, including a stretch at Esprit, before a London apothecary set her on the path to essential oils. In 1995, she and Brad Black founded EO Products, and over three decades, they have grown both brands as a certified B Corp without taking on venture capital or private equity. She and Brad continue to run the company together as co-CEOs.🔗 WebsiteImportant LinksFeel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here.Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog.Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank.Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
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    36 min
  • 65 | Gal Danay - How to Survive When Your Model Collapses Overnight

    65 | Gal Danay - How to Survive When Your Model Collapses Overnight
    Oct 20 2026
    If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter.What if the business that changes your life is one you never set out to build?Gal Danay never planned to sell macaroons. A two-week holiday pop-up in Bryant Park turned into $250,000 in nine weeks, and he and his partners looked at each other and said, Woops, we have a business. In this episode, J. Michael Fischer Jr. talks with the co-founder of Woops! about turning an accident into a national franchise.They get into why a CPA background saved the company when COVID knocked revenue to zero overnight, why he built a franchise he wishes he'd had as a young franchisee, and how the model keeps changing as shoppers leave the mall for a trailer that comes to them.If you are building something that has to survive what you cannot predict, this is the operator's view most founders get too late. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[00:00] – The simple idea that turned into something nobody saw coming[03:45] – The accounting instinct that carried the company through COVID[06:57] – The side hustle that pulled in a quarter million in nine weeks[09:17] – The moment mall leasing agents started calling them[09:44] – Where the name Woops actually came from[10:19] – Why he bet the whole company on franchising[11:34] – Inside the 10,000-square-foot bakery he ran before he was ready[12:35] – The sourcing move that quietly helped them survive[15:18] – The uncomfortable truth about the mall business today[15:33] – The new model that brings the shop to the customer[18:25] – The four months revenue sat at zero[19:21] – How a cold call turned into a seven-figure customer[21:12] – The one document every partnership needs from day one[24:03] – The small yes that changed the course of his lifeMentioned ResourcesAroma Espresso BarHoliday Shops at Bryant Park (Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park)Westfield Garden State PlazaThe Mall at Short HillsAbout the GuestGal Danay is a co-founder of Woops!, the macaroon and gifting brand that grew from a 2012 holiday pop-up at Bryant Park into a national franchise with roughly 50 locations. A certified public accountant and Pace University graduate, he started his career as a managing partner and franchisee of Aroma Espresso Bar in Manhattan, then helped build Woops! from its first mall kiosk onward. He has led the company's bakery and franchise operations and held senior financial and executive leadership roles, and is widely regarded as a franchising expert. Order Woops! macaroons and gifting at bywoops.com, through the Woops! app, or on Instagram at @bywoops.🔗 LinkedIn | Website | InstagramImportant LinksFeel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here.Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog.Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank.Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
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    28 min
  • 64 | Carolyn Vallejo - How to Find the Real Story Behind Any Deal

    64 | Carolyn Vallejo - How to Find the Real Story Behind Any Deal
    Oct 13 2026
    If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter.What if the most important part of any deal is the one that never makes the headline?Carolyn Vallejo is senior editor at the Association for Corporate Growth and host of its Middle Market Growth podcast. She reached M&A the long way, through music journalism, the arts, and fintech, and she brings a reporter's instinct to an industry obsessed with numbers.With J. Michael Fischer Jr., she makes the case that dealmaking is about people, not transactions, and that the real story usually lives behind the headline. They get into the human side of private equity, employee ownership that quietly changes lives, the cautiously optimistic mood of the middle market, and why better questions and closer listening win.If you only read the number, you miss the deal. This is the reporter's view most dealmakers never get. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[00:02:51] – Fake newspapers before she could even spell, and a lifelong pull toward the story[00:05:17] – Day two on the job in London, interviewing a famous pop punk band and shaking the whole time[00:07:23] – From interviewing rock stars to covering the middle market, and how that leap happened[00:08:21] – The journalism training that lets you become an expert in almost anything[00:10:06] – The surprising thing she found inside finance that kept her hooked[00:10:45] – The one question a professor taught her that changed how she reads every story[00:13:14] – How she turns a trillion-dollar defense budget into a conversation anyone can follow[00:15:03] – The ownership program that quietly changes employees’ lives after a sale[00:17:06] – The quiet rise of family offices, and why sellers should care[00:19:03] – The two words for the middle market mood, and the data behind them[00:23:39] – The simple question that gets a nervous guest to finally open up[00:30:03] – The small moment in school she only later understood changed everythingMentioned ResourcesACG InsightsMiddle Market GrowthGF DataACG New JerseyOwnership WorksBoston University (BU), College of CommunicationSum 41, bandWarner Bros., London studios where she interviewed Sum 41Big Cheese Magazine, London music magazineThe DigBoston publication, now defunctThe Modern Day Rainmaker, by J. Michael Fischer Jr.Mountain by The Movement, reggae rock bandEmail ACG: tips@acg.orgAbout the GuestCarolyn Vallejo is the senior editor at the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and the host of its Middle Market Growth podcast. A journalist and editor with more than 15 years of experience, she specializes in long-form feature and profile writing across business, finance, music, arts, and culture. A graduate of Boston University's College of Communication, she started in music journalism, including a London internship with Big Cheese Magazine, before moving into fintech and then the world of mergers and acquisitions. At ACG, she manages the organization's thought leadership platform, acginsights.org, and leads its M&A coverage and interviews.🔗 LinkedIn | WebsiteImportant LinksFeel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here.Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog.Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank.Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
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    34 min
  • 63 | Josh Sanders - How to Pass Down a Business Without Forcing Your Kids

    63 | Josh Sanders - How to Pass Down a Business Without Forcing Your Kids
    Oct 6 2026
    If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter.How do you keep a business alive for 100 years without losing what made it great?Josh Sanders is the fourth generation to lead Sea Breeze, the beverage company his great-grandfather started in 1925, delivering seltzer door to door in New Jersey. Today it makes syrups and runs beverage programs for restaurants and bars across New York and New Jersey. The products changed completely. The values never did.Josh and Michael get into why so many family businesses fall apart by the third generation, how Sea Breeze keeps reinventing itself without losing its identity, and the three-word creed behind every decision: be consistent, be ethical, be nice. Josh also opens up on succession with his own teenagers and why independence beats any short-term win.If you are building something you hope outlives you, this one is a blueprint for protecting what matters while changing everything else. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights02:13 The one thing that never changed in 100 years, even as everything else did03:45 From backbreaking seltzer deliveries to a full manufacturing floor08:41 Where the three-word family creed came from, and why it still runs the company09:03 Why the third generation usually breaks the family business, from a banker who sees it firsthand12:39 How to grow a company without the scope creep that sinks it14:12 The service habit Josh and Michael both say wins customers for life15:25 The expensive promise Sea Breeze keeps 365 days a year, even on Christmas17:17 How a 100-year-old company survived 2020 when its main customers shut down19:14 Why staying independent beats chasing the next quarterly number21:09 How to prepare your kids to take over without forcing it on them24:47 The million-dollar question: the small decision that changed Josh’s whole lifeMentioned ResourcesSea BreezeBoscoTJX stores (TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods)Six Sigma Green BeltAbout the GuestJosh Sanders is the president of Sea Breeze and the fourth generation of his family to lead the company. Founded in 1925 by his great-grandfather Barnett Sanders, Sea Breeze began as a door-to-door seltzer delivery business in New Jersey and grew into a full beverage program partner, manufacturing syrups and servicing dispensing equipment for restaurants, bars, clubs, and healthcare facilities across New York and New Jersey. Josh joined the business at 26 and has led alongside his father, the company’s chairman, for more than 20 years.🔗 LinkedIn | WebsiteContact Seabreeze: 1-800-SEABREEZE (800-732-2733), or syrups.com.Important LinksFeel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here.Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog.Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank.Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
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    31 min
  • 62 | Tom Selementi - How to Scale a Beloved Brand Without Losing Its Soul

    62 | Tom Selementi - How to Scale a Beloved Brand Without Losing Its Soul
    Sep 29 2026
    If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter.What if the thing people fall in love with is the first thing to disappear when a business grows?Tom Selementi went from washing dishes at a bagel shop at 16 to scaling brands like Le Pain Quotidien, The Little Beet, and Bluestone Lane. In 2025, he became CEO of Spread Bagelry, the Philadelphia brand built on Montreal-style, wood-fired bagels boiled in honey water, and his job is to grow it without losing what people love.Tom calls himself a culinary romantic and an operational realist. With J. Michael Fischer Jr., he unpacks what breaks first when a craft business scales, why “our problem is people” is the excuse he bans, how to hold one standard across every shop, and why same-store sales growth beats growth at all costs.If you run or advise a business people love, this is the operator’s view most owners get too late. The craft is the brand. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[01:13] – The hardest problem in business nobody talks about: growth that quietly erases what people loved [06:35] – The 35 cents a burnt bagel cost him, and the lesson that stuck for life [07:50] – Culinary romantic, operational realist: the tension inside every great food brand [09:22] – Why a single bagel convinced him to bet his career on Spread [09:54] – The corners every chain cuts to hit scale, and the three Spread refuses to [11:28] – The Jersey Mike’s blueprint: a $7 billion sandwich and the corner they never cut [14:01] – What actually breaks first when a craft business starts to scale [14:35] – The one excuse he bans the day he walks in the door [16:32] – Baseline expectation vs a great experience, and why owners confuse the two [19:54] – Welfare, food stamps, and the story he tells every hourly employee [22:22] – Stewardship and legacy: how he earned the right to carry a brand forward [25:48] – Growth at all costs vs great shops in great neighborhoods [28:30] – Ranked 690 out of 690, and the mentor who bet on him anywayMentioned ResourcesSpread BagelryLe Pain Quotidien (LPQ)The Little BeetBluestone LaneCarmine’s and Alicart Restaurant GroupJersey Mike’sCavaPopUp BagelsToastRutgers UniversityRed LobsterHavana CentralEss-a-BagelAbout the GuestTom Selementi is the CEO of Spread Bagelry, the Philadelphia-based brand known for Montreal-style, hand-rolled, wood-fired bagels boiled in honey water. A New Jersey native and Rutgers University graduate, he started in the business washing dishes at a bagel bakery at 16 and went on to help lead and scale premium food brands, including Carmine’s and Alicart Restaurant Group, Le Pain Quotidien, The Little Beet, and Bluestone Lane, where he helped open 22 locations. He describes himself as a culinary romantic and an operational realist, and since becoming CEO in 2025, he has led a turnaround built on hospitality, operational discipline, and an uncompromising commitment to craft.🔗 LinkedIn | WebsiteImportant LinksFeel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here.Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog.Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank.Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
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    35 min
  • 61 | What You Keep Is The Deal: The $30m Deal That Beat The $50m Deal

    61 | What You Keep Is The Deal: The $30m Deal That Beat The $50m Deal
    Sep 22 2026

    If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter.

    What if the biggest number you can announce is not the one you get to keep?

    Two founders sold their companies the same year, one for $50 million and one for $30 million, and the one who sold for less kept more in the bank. In this solo episode, J. Michael Fischer Jr., Managing Director at DBD Investment Bank, explains how that happens and why the headline number is not the deal.

    Michael breaks down what comes off the top before a dollar reaches your account: cash versus paper, debt, fees, the working capital peg, escrow, and the one that matters most, taxes. Structure beats the headline, and the best time to act is long before a buyer shows up.

    If a sale is anywhere on your horizon, this is the work most owners do too late. You don’t deposit a valuation. You deposit what survives. Listen now.

    Timestamped Highlights

    [01:12] – Two founders, two exits, and why the one who sold for less kept more

    [01:45] – The headline number is not the deal, and what actually is

    [02:48] – Cash versus paper, and why $50 million is rarely $50 million

    [03:28] – The first question to ask before you celebrate any offer

    [04:08] – The working capital peg almost no founder sees coming

    [04:47] – Escrow, holdbacks, and the insurance move that frees up your cash

    [05:33] – Why structure matters more than the number on the front page

    [06:21] – The tax trap that can hit the same dollars twice

    [07:01] – Exactly where the $30 million founder won the exit

    [09:34] – Why almost every lever is easier to pull before a deal exists

    [10:20] – The allies to assemble, and the part most owners get wrong

    [11:45] – The one question to sit with today if a sale is anywhere ahead

    Important Links
    • Feel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here.
    • Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog.
    • Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank.

    Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
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    16 min
  • 60 | Eric Cohen - Stop Letting Hidden Money Walk Out Your Door

    60 | Eric Cohen - Stop Letting Hidden Money Walk Out Your Door
    Sep 15 2026
    If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter.What if the fee you never read is quietly draining your profit?J. Michael Fischer Jr. sits down with Eric Cohen, founder and CEO of Merchant Advocate, built to sit on the business owner's side and cut credit card processing fees without switching processors. Eric came up inside the industry, saw how the fees really work, then switched sides.They break down what a merchant statement really says, who actually makes the money, the hidden line items like non-PCI fees and rate creep buried where no one reads, and why one overlooked charge can cost a seller hundreds of thousands at exit. Every unnecessary fee flows straight to EBITDA and multiplies when the business sells.If you take credit cards, you are probably leaving money on the table and cannot see it. This is the value hiding inside your business long before any transaction happens. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[01:28] – The statement sitting in your inbox that quietly eats your profit and your exit value[04:52] – How needing a credit card machine turned into a residual income business[07:56] – The overnight rate hike almost no business owner ever notices[09:34] – A consumer advocate exists, so why was there never a merchant advocate?[11:08] – Why no one is really watching your rates, and what that lets processors do[15:19] – Who actually makes the money when you swipe a card, and it is not who you think[18:23] – Why a merchant statement is your cell phone bill times fifty[20:06] – The unanswered survey that can quietly cost you half a million at sale[23:42] – The surcharge scheme where the extra one percent disappears[27:38] – The data entry mistake that cost one company two million dollars a year[29:31] – Why merchant fees can swing a business sale by millions[29:55] – The savings a private equity buyer hopes you never find first[38:01] – The small moment that flipped his entire business philosophyMentioned ResourcesVisaMastercardAmerican ExpressDiscoverBetter Business BureauCredit Card Competition ActDurbin AmendmentChatGPTClaudeAbout the GuestEric Cohen is the founder and CEO of Merchant Advocate, a firm he started in 2006 to sit on the business owner's side of the table and lower credit card processing costs without forcing a switch in processors. He came up inside the merchant services industry as an independent sales organization, then flipped sides to represent the merchant, negotiate against existing processors, and monitor statements month after month for hidden fees and rate creep. Merchant Advocate has saved clients over 300 million dollars in excess fees. A Pepperdine MBA based in New Jersey, Eric runs the company alongside his wife Danielle, who serves as chief operating officer.🔗 LinkedIn | WebsiteImportant LinksFeel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here.Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog.Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank.Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
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    46 min
  • 59 | Jessica Walsh – How One Problem Became the World's Smallest Injector

    59 | Jessica Walsh – How One Problem Became the World's Smallest Injector
    Sep 8 2026
    If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter.What if the fix for a life-or-death problem was small enough to fit in the tiny pocket of your jeans?Jessica Walsh has a severe allergy, the kind where the wrong exposure becomes an emergency. Prescribed a bulky EpiPen, she taped it to her arm just to go running. Rather than live with it, the founder and CEO of Rx Bandz built a better one.She sits down with J. Michael Fischer Jr. to trace how one problem became MiniJect, an auto-injector half the size of a traditional one, then a platform the U.S. military is backing to deliver medications from pain relief to treatments that stop bleeding. She cut open her own EpiPen to see inside, built a team of specialists, and learned to stop talking and listen to patients.If you have ever learned to live with a problem, don't miss this. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[03:48] – The bee sting that started it all, and the line that turned a patient into a founder[04:50] – Before any of this, she built wireless networks where there was nothing[05:48] – The leap most people never make: leaving a funded job with an amazing budget[07:23] – Why she works on this like her life depends on it, because it does[08:02] – The calls from mothers, and the story that makes this bigger than one person[09:15] – What happened when the military asked, what else can you deliver[10:03] – MiniJect explained like you are the patient: cap off, press, done in under half a second[11:18] – Why it did not stop at epinephrine, and the IV drug they moved to one injection[13:12] – Drone warfare, no medic, and doing drug math under fire in night vision goggles[14:30] – Built to survive Special Forces and a kid's backpack, military-grade protection for families[16:40] – The DIY moment: putting her own auto-injector in a vise and cutting it open[17:11] – From napkin sketch to a manufacturable device, and the New Jersey partners who made it real[19:46] – The New Jersey funding program she could not believe was real[23:23] – The million-dollar question: the pivot that only happened when she stopped talking and listenedMentioned ResourcesEpiPenBechtelWeiss-AugAscendiaPrince Sterilization ServicesBD (Becton Dickinson)MedtronicBioNJNew Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), Innovation Evergreen FundAbout the GuestJessica Walsh is the founder and CEO of Rx Bandz, a biotech developing the next generation of patient-centric auto-injectors to deliver a wide range of injectable medications. After a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting left her carrying a bulky EpiPen, she set out to build a better solution and created MiniJect, an ultra-compact auto-injector less than half the size of a traditional one. Before founding Rx Bandz, she built wireless telecommunications infrastructure with Bechtel, work that taught her to move into new territory and navigate the regulatory hurdles and milestones a hard build demands. Today her platform is designed to serve patients, EMS, and the U.S. military.🔗 LinkedIn | WebsiteImportant LinksFeel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here.Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog.Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank.Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
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    30 min