In episode 41 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Gunjan Vermani, physiotherapist, entrepreneur, mentor, and founder of PhysioCare Physiotherapy, to talk about the risks, numbers, and decisions behind building a healthcare business with both scale and soul. What if the smartest way to scale isn’t moving faster — but building deeper?

Gunjan shares how entrepreneurship began not as a business ambition, but as a response to gaps she saw in the healthcare system. Over 15 years, she evolved from clinician to business owner to leader of a 60-person team, now expanding toward a ninth clinic in the Ottawa area. Her growth strategy was not built on speed alone, but on depth: investing in culture, systems, leadership, and patient care before those decisions visibly paid off. 

The conversation explores how Gunjan learned to connect clinical outcomes with business metrics, shifting from “flying blind” to using weekly scoreboards, EMR data, clinic-level dashboards, and financial reporting to make better decisions. She explains why revenue is often a vanity metric, and why healthcare entrepreneurs should pay attention to “sanity metrics” like retention, per-visit average, clinician utilization, and operational leakage.

Gunjan also shares how coaching, Dan Martell’s Buy Back Your Time principles, and AI transformed the way she runs her company. By implementing AI agents, virtual reception support, AI-assisted documentation, and leadership scoreboards, she has freed up 10–15 hours per week while helping her team spend more time on meaningful patient care.

At its core, this episode is about building a business that reflects your values. Gunjan and Laurie discuss why not every opportunity deserves a yes, how discipline can be more powerful than ambition, and why the best business decisions are not always the fastest or most obvious ones — they are the ones that build a sustainable company, stronger leaders, and a life aligned with what matters most.

QUOTES

• “Confidence is not the absence of uncertainty. Good leaders still feel doubt, but they learn how to think clearly despite it." - Gunjan Vermani
• "Not every opportunity deserves a yes. Sometimes discipline is more powerful than ambition." - Gunjan Vermani
• "It’s not about how much money you’re sinking in — it’s about how much you’re gaining as a person from a mindset and learning perspective." - Laurie Chen

LINKS

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Gunjan Vermani

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunjan-vermani-973b0b36/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gunjanvermani

In episode 40 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Basil Khan, founder of Rev Trinity and LifeOS Technologies, to explore what it means to build an AI-driven startup from a constraint-heavy environment. Basil shares how he structures his companies across Pakistan and Delaware, using local operations and revenue-generating engines to preserve founder control while building toward a scalable U.S.-based C-Corp.

The conversation dives into the realities of startup financing, international banking hurdles, and the discipline required to build with cash flow instead of relying too heavily on future funding. Basil also explains how he uses AI across his companies, from meeting tools and financial workflows to productivity systems designed to help teams execute with more clarity.

Laurie and Basil also discuss the importance of human-in-the-loop AI, separating personal and business finances, and making decisions with strong financial foundations. Basil reflects on risk, failure, team-building, and how coming from a small town shaped his ability to solve problems one constraint at a time.

QUOTES

• "I'm proud of the failures themselves too, because at the end, I knew what mistakes to avoid in the next iteration." - Basil Khan
• "You need to avoid people who are just all talk and no bite." - Basil Khan
• "Experiencing failure is always part of the journey of being an entrepreneur, of being a CEO/Founder. You always fail at something, but it gives you information and data points of which to, you know, run the next successful sprint." - Laurie Chen

LINKS

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Basil Khan

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/basilkhanbaloch/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/basil.lifeos/ 

In episode 39 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Myra D’Souza, founder of Autyn, an AI-native mortgage origination platform built for mortgage brokers. Myra shares how her background in software engineering, data science, fintech, and real estate investing led her to identify a major gap in the mortgage lending process: borrowers often feel left in the dark, while brokers are buried in manual workflows, PDFs, and admin-heavy processes.

The conversation explores what it takes to build AI in a high-trust, highly regulated industry like lending. Myra discusses why explainability, reasoning, guardrails, and human oversight are essential when AI is supporting decisions that directly affect borrowers’ financial lives. She also breaks down the metrics that matter most as an AI startup founder, including net revenue retention, gross margins, AI spend per loan file, and the importance of building customer trust before scaling.

Laurie and Myra also discuss the future of work, the role of women founders in shaping responsible AI, and why the next generation of lending should empower borrowers instead of keeping them dependent on gatekeepers. This episode is a grounded look at AI, risk, financial decision-making, and what it really takes to build technology that customers can trust.

QUOTES

• "We're not just using AI for the sake of using AI, we're using it exactly where we need it." - Myra D’Souza
• "We have to be very careful about AI adoption and how we're thinking about that as well." - Myra D’Souza
• "You need good financials to build a good company." - Myra D’Souza

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Myra D'Souza

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myradsouza/ 

Autyn: https://autyn.ai/

In episode 38 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Johnny Terra, CPA, Partner at LPT CPAs and Advisors,  for a conversation about tax strategy, risk management, AI, leadership, and the personal growth that comes from taking bold professional risks.

Johnny shares his journey from growing up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to coming to Texas on a basketball scholarship, building a solo accounting practice from a pantry office, and eventually merging into a larger CPA firm. He talks about the mindset shift required to move from solo practitioner to firm partner, including the responsibility of leading staff, serving more complex clients, and building a sustainable firm culture.

A major theme of the episode is risk. Drawing from his background as a bank risk manager and auditor, Johnny reframes risk management as a tool that enables speed rather than prevents action. He compares risk controls to brakes on a car: the point is not to stop movement, but to give leaders the confidence to move faster without crashing. He also expands the classic risk formula by adding two modern factors: velocity, or how fast a risk hits, and persistence, or how long the pain stays in the system. 

Laurie and Johnny also dive into how AI is changing tax research, tax preparation, and firm operations. Johnny shares how he uses tools like Thomson Reuters’ AI research platform, NotebookLM, Gemini, and other AI systems to speed up complex tax research while still verifying sources and applying professional judgment. They discuss why AI can increase efficiency, but why trust, source quality, and context remain critical in tax and advisory work.

QUOTES

• “Risk is having those parameters in place so you can move that car as fast as possible and still have the confidence to know that you're not going to crash.” - Johnny Terra
• "“It’s not about what might happen anymore. You have to add two more factors to it: how fast it hits and how long that pain stays in the system.” Johnny Terra
• “The coolest thing of it all is the person that you become in this journey.” Johnny Terra

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Johnny Terra

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnnyterracpa/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnyterracpa/

LPT CPAs and Advisors: https://www.lpt.cpa/

In episode 37 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen speaks with Rafael Fernandes, Co-Founder and CEO of Compass Health, a membership-based healthcare company launching in Tampa, Florida. Rafael shares how his background in operations, supply chain, and large-scale corporate growth shaped his leap into entrepreneurship, and how the Duke Fuqua network helped him move from idea to execution. 

Rafael explains the core problem Compass Health is solving: healthcare access is slow, fragmented, and difficult for patients to navigate. Compass Health was built around four major pain points — access, coordination, navigation, and trust — with a model designed to connect patients to best-in-class specialists within three to five business days while providing high-touch care coordination throughout the process. 

The conversation also explores how AI is changing healthcare and startup operations. Rafael discusses how AI can make healthcare more personal by helping patients understand their own data, while still preserving the essential role of physicians in diagnosis, treatment, and trust. 

QUOTES

• "Success for Compass Health means ensuring patients get timely access to quality care." - Rafael Fernandes
• "If you're not well, your company is not well." - Rafael Fernandes
• "It was about creating these connections and these relationships that really made me understand what exactly it is that we could build." - Rafael Fernandes

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Rafael Fernandes

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecompasshealth/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaelfulton/ 

The Compass Health: https://www.thecompasshealth.com/our-team 

In episode 36 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Landon Lynch, founder and principal of Motive, to explore what it really takes to build high-performing leaders and scalable organizations. 

Landon shares his unconventional path from nonprofit leadership into executive coaching and consulting, where he now works with founder CEOs, investor-backed companies, and leadership teams to strengthen their “people infrastructure.” The conversation dives into the realities of leadership development—why defining your personal version of success is foundational, and how effective coaching goes beyond frameworks into real behavioral change.

A major theme throughout the episode is the intersection of leadership and AI.  Landon explains why AI adoption is less about technology and more about change management, and how leaders can use it to enhance decision-making, streamline operations, and even improve personal relationships—like using AI to facilitate better financial conversations at home.

Laurie and Landon also unpack:

•  The challenges of scaling a service-based business beyond the founder 
•  How to build and position a high-impact team 
•  Why executive assistants can become profit centers when paired with automation 
•  The power of weekly automation thinking (“What are you automating this week?”) 
•  Risk-taking in business, including when it makes sense to work below market rate for the right opportunities

Landon closes with a powerful leadership insight: the importance of embedding consistent feedback loops into everyday operations—not as a formality, but as a core system for growth, accountability, and performance.

This episode is a deep dive into building companies that scale through people, not just processes—and how the best leaders combine strategy, self-awareness, and adaptability to win long-term.

QUOTES

• "If you can lead volunteers, you can lead anybody, because you don't get to hang a paycheck over their head." - Landon Lynch
• "At the heart of the AI question, it's not primarily a tech question. It needs to be reframed first and foremost as a leadership and a change management question." - Landon Lynch

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Landon Lynch

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/landonclynch/ 

Motiv People Strategies: https://www.motivstrat.com/our-team 

WEBSITES

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Advanced CFO: https://www.advancedcfo.co/

Built By Margin: https://www.builtbymargin.com/

In episode 35 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen talks with Anekha Sokhal, founder of Moshi, an AI startup building an “AI super analyst” for financial investors. Anekha shares how her path from J.P. Morgan trader to machine learning researcher at Rice University led her to raise venture capital and launch a company at the intersection of finance, data science, and AI. They discuss how Moshi is using both classical machine learning and generative AI, why AI safety and data governance matter so much in enterprise environments, and what it takes to build a startup team that is truly bought into the mission. The conversation also dives into Anekha’s refreshing philosophy on risk: that the real danger is not taking the leap, but settling for a life that feels mediocre or misaligned. It’s an inspiring conversation about ambition, intuition, innovation, and building the future on your own terms.

Tune in to discover insights from a trailblazing female founder and her vision for the future of financial analysis.

QUOTES

• "For me, a risk is staying in something that you're frustrated in, and you're unhappy in." -Anehka Sokhal
• "Taking venture capital money has a different type of progression for the company and opens so many more doors compared to just running a company and bootstrapping it." -Anehka Sokhal

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Anekha Sokhal

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anekha/ 

Moshi Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moshi-space/ 

WEBSITES

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Advanced CFO: https://www.advancedcfo.co/

Built By Margin: https://www.builtbymargin.com/

In episode 34 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Jennie Lopez, Founder and CEO of Intentional Unicorn, to talk about what it really means to bet on yourself, build in alignment, and make decisions rooted in authenticity rather than fear. Jennie shares her journey from a 23-year corporate career spanning chemical engineering, operations, and global talent leadership into entrepreneurship, motivational speaking, and authorship, explaining how intuition, intentionality, and bold risk-taking shaped her path. Together, Laurie and Jennie explore the realities of leaving stability behind, writing a book, scaling a coaching business, using AI as a modern entrepreneur, and defining success on your own terms — all through the lens of growth, impact, and building a life that feels fully aligned.

Tune in for an inspiring discussion on how Jennie Lopez built an Intentional Unicorn, from chemical engineer to motivational speaker and founder, and leaving a favorite job to build a business.

TIMESTAMPS

[00:01:05] Leaving a favorite job to build a business.

[00:02:04] Chemical engineer with a dual career.

[00:04:42] Memoir exercise inspires Intentional Unicorn.

[00:08:13] Authenticity plus intentionality equals impact.

[00:09:35] Turning corporate truth into a book.

[00:10:32] Writing every Saturday at Starbucks.

[00:15:26] Risk of leaving corporate as a Latina.

[00:18:23] There is no right or wrong decision.

[00:21:04] Proof of concept before going all in.

[00:24:31] App idea sparked during hospital wait.

[00:30:19] Using Manus for deep research.

QUOTES

• "I wanted to see how I can reach out to more and more people." -Jennie Lopez
• "Authenticity plus intentionality equals impact." -Jennie Lopez
• "You just create an ecosystem, a family, a community, a relationship that is so powerful that you want the person to choose to stay with you." -Jennie Lopez

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Advanced CFO: https://www.advancedcfo.co/

Jennie Lopez

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intentionalunicorn/ 

TEDx Talk: The Lie of Fitting In

Website: https://www.jennielopez.com/

In episode 33 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Jynafer Yanez to explore what it really takes to turn a book into a business. Jynafer shares how she built Archimedes Books by thinking beyond publishing and focusing on audience ownership, brand development, intellectual property, and long-term ecosystem building. From author platforms to film projects, this conversation highlights how creators can treat storytelling as both an art and a scalable business.

They also dive into the role of AI in publishing and entrepreneurship, including where it can create efficiency, where ethics come into play, and why human creativity still matters most. Jynafer offers thoughtful insight on using AI for research, workflows, and business operations without losing the originality that makes great storytelling resonate.

The conversation closes with an honest look at founder decision-making, financial visibility, and the risks worth taking when building something bigger than yourself. Whether you are writing a book, building a brand, or scaling a business around your ideas, this episode offers a smart and inspiring perspective on strategy, creativity, and growth.

QUOTES

“You can really do pretty well when you treat it like a business and not just a passion or a hobby.” - Jyanfer Yanez

“We get to own the relationship with the reader.” - Jyanfer Yanez

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Advanced CFO: https://www.advancedcfo.co/

Jyanfer Yanez

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ynafer_rose

Website: https://hello.archimedesbooks.com/

In episode 32 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Won Choi to talk about burnout, alignment, entrepreneurship, and the kind of decision-making that blends both strategy and inner knowing. We unpack how burnout is often less about working hard and more about living out of alignment, how entrepreneurs can build trust in themselves while navigating uncertainty, and why some of the biggest life and business decisions require both data and intuition. It’s a grounded conversation for founders and professionals who want to build a business that is not just successful on paper, but fully aligned with who they are becoming.⁠

Tune in and learn how to create lasting progress, build authentic relationships, and grow your business by focusing on what matters most: YOU.

TIMESTAMPS

[00:00:04] Introducing Laurie Chen and Won Choi

[00:01:00] Huang’s corporate career and transition into entrepreneurship

[00:02:15] The mentorship that sparked Huang’s transformation

[00:03:49] Defining burnout and its impact on leadership

[00:05:23] Huang’s coaching programs and methodologies

[00:06:12] Leveraging AI tools for efficiency and growth

[00:12:46] Top book recommendations for entrepreneurs

[00:16:31] Decision-making frameworks—balancing data and intuition

[00:19:21] The first 90 days of transformation for coaching clients

[00:23:14] Huang’s entrepreneurial mindset and financial journey

[00:29:44] Core frameworks: feeling feelings and setting boundaries

[00:33:04] Energy management, peak productivity, and closing thoughts

QUOTES

• "When you actually surrender in life and let go of control, then you can build something much bigger than you could have ever dreamt of." – Won Choi
• "I believe decision-making is 50% knowledge and data, and 50% intuition—your inner knowing." – Won Choi
• "It's not about the how in terms of how to do taxes—it’s more around an identity shift to become a person that can manage money." – Won Choi

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Advanced CFO: https://www.advancedcfo.co/

Won Choi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wondailyshots/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wonwooc/ 

Won Daily: https://www.wondaily.com/ 

Decision Clarity Worksheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nU75vhV1mF0A3_7U978-jL-FgtKJdN46/edit