The Deal Podcast

Some PE deals don't fall apart in due diligence — they fall apart because no one can find the right CEO. Travis Hann has built his firm around solving exactly that problem. If the operator doesn't exist — or can't be found — the deal doesn't happen.

Travis Hann is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Pender & Howe, a fast-growing boutique executive search firm serving mid-sized companies and investors across North America. He also serves on the board of Kestria, the world's largest global executive search alliance — a network of 42 boutique firms operating in 42 countries. Since founding the firm in 2019, Travis has helped private equity sponsors, family offices, and venture capital investors find the mission-critical operators who make deals possible. For investor-backed businesses, the stakes aren't just high — the deal itself is often contingent on the search. Travis has been assessing executive leaders every month for over a decade, and in this episode, he pulls back the curtain on exactly how that process works: how he spots inconsistency, why a polished resume means almost nothing, what it takes to find an operator willing to put their own capital on the line, and why the CEO role today demands a completely different toolkit than it did five years ago.

🎯 What We Cover:

• Why some PE deals are entirely contingent on finding the right CEO or operator
• What separates a standard executive search from a deal-dependent one
• The consistency framework Travis uses to assess C-suite candidates across multiple touchpoints
• Why charisma can be a red flag — and how to see past it to real competency
• The Top Grading methodology and why it stress-tests candidates better than traditional interviews
• How to find operators willing to co-invest and put their own capital in the deal
• When PE firms and investors should engage a search firm — and why earlier is almost always better
• Deal vs. team: how to decide which one you're actually betting on in a services business
• Why AI-polished resumes have changed the talent assessment game
• What the modern CEO role looks like today vs. five years ago — and what the new toolkit requires
• The subtle behavioral signals Travis watches for that most hiring processes completely miss
• How Pender & Howe grew from a spin-off of 4 people to a 20-person North American firm

🤝 Connect with Travis Hann: 🌐 https://www.penderhowe.com 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/travishann

💼 Thinking About a Transaction? FA Mergers helps founders, investors, and business owners navigate the full M&A process — from valuation to close. If you're exploring a sale, acquisition, or capital raise, let's talk. 🔗 https://www.famergers.com/

🎙️ Follow The Deal Podcast: 🌐 https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ 

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast

Curious what your business is worth? Request your free valuation at famergers.com

Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The Deal Podcast is presented by FA Mergers and is produced for informational and educational purposes only. 

Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of FA Mergers, One Iron Network LLC, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services.

Let's Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

To Contact Us, Please Visit:
https://www.thedealpodcast.com/contact/

He only buys companies everyone else is running from — and he's been doing it for 20 years.

Nate Moore has built a 700-person operation by acquiring distressed childcare and home care businesses, walking into chaos where others see dead ends, and turning them around through leadership, structure, and a relentless belief in people.

Nate Moore is a serial acquisition entrepreneur and founder of Moore Consulting & Investment Group. For over two decades, Nate has operated at the intersection of distressed business acquisitions and people-first leadership — buying broken childcare and home care companies, identifying hidden talent inside failing organizations, and rebuilding them into stable, scalable operations. Today his platform serves 1,500 children per day and employs nearly 700 people across multiple locations.

In this episode, Nate shares the mindset behind pursuing deals no one else wants, what he looks for when he walks into a distressed company, and the leadership framework that drives every turnaround. He also gets candid about getting fired from a top sales job at 19, what that moment taught him about influence, and how personal adversity shaped the operator he is today.

🎯 What We Cover:

• Why Nate only buys distressed businesses — and how he spots turnaround potential others miss
• His path from car sales to flipping houses to acquiring his first company at 22
• The leadership change that drives every successful turnaround — and why the right person is usually already inside the company
• How he manages 700 employees and 1,500 kids per day using three spreadsheets
• The mindset shift that separates operators who scale from those who stall
• What getting fired from a top car sales job taught him about influence and character
• Why he reads body language in every conversation — and how it makes him a better communicator and leader
• His framework for scaling: be resourceful, don't depend on the resources
• How he uses his current customer base to identify future expansion opportunities
• The difference between knowledge and wisdom — and how intentionality bridges the gap

🤝 Connect with Nate Moore: 🌐 https://www.mooreconsultinginvestmentgroup.com/team 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathaniel-t-moore-ba022231/

💼 Thinking About a Transaction? FA Mergers helps founders, investors, and business owners navigate the full M&A process — from valuation to close. If you're exploring a sale, acquisition, or capital raise, let's talk. 🔗 https://www.famergers.com/

🎙️ Follow The Deal Podcast:
🌐 https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ 

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast

Curious what your business is worth? Request your free valuation at famergers.com

Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The Deal Podcast is presented by FA Mergers and is produced for informational and educational purposes only. 

Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of FA Mergers, One Iron Network LLC, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services.

Let's Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

To Contact Us, Please Visit:
https://www.thedealpodcast.com/contact/

Most business owners confuse value creation with wealth acceleration — and it's costing them everything after the deal closes. This episode breaks down the family office framework that changes how you think about your business, your exit, and your legacy.

Joshua Wilson sits down with Benjamin Domingue, founder of Family Office Partners, a multifamily office serving private business owners from pre-transaction planning through multi-generational wealth management. With over 15 years of experience and involvement in 45–50 family transactions, Ben brings a rare combination of deal-side coordination, wealth advisory, and family planning expertise that most owners never know they need — until it's too late.

Ben challenges the conventional exit planning narrative, explains why wealth is built through a series of transactions not a single event, and walks through his three-segment wealth framework — liquidity, longevity, and legacy. He also reveals why fixating on your purchase multiple is exactly what buyers want you to do, and why "doing nothing" is sometimes the best financial advice a newly liquid owner can receive. Also joining the conversation is Jude David of FA Mergers, adding the transaction advisory perspective on deal timing, deal structure, and what sellers are really saying when they think they're talking about price.

Topics covered:

• Value creation vs. wealth acceleration — what advisors should actually focus on
• Why "exit planning" is the wrong mental frame for most business owners
• The operating model vs. revenue model gap in ultra-high-net-worth advising
• Why a $20M exit at 45 may not cover your lifestyle — the real math
• The three segments of wealth: liquidity, longevity, and legacy
• Why business owners should never lead with their purchase multiple
• The psychology of post-exit identity loss and what to do about it
• Why "doing nothing" is sometimes the wisest post-liquidity move
• How to structure a second act using PE-backed platforms
• The 94% third-generation wealth erosion problem — and how to fight it

🔗 Website: https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ Joshua Wilson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast Powered By: FA Mergers https://www.famergers.com/

📩 Want to be a guest or have a topic suggestion? Reach out via LinkedIn or our website.

🎧 Subscribe and leave a review so you never miss an episode!

Curious what your business is worth? Request your free valuation at famergers.com

Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The Deal Podcast is presented by FA Mergers and is produced for informational and educational purposes only. 

Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of FA Mergers, One Iron Network LLC, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services.

Let's Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

To Contact Us, Please Visit:
https://www.thedealpodcast.com/contact/

Scott Harkey put $750,000 cash down on an agency tuck-in — and turned it into $10 million in enterprise value inside his group. That's EBITDA arbitrage. And according to Scott, most independent agency operators grinding away at 17–25% margins have never once thought about it. This episode covers the deal math, the culture traps, and the billboard rollup opportunity most investors are completely missing.

Scott Harkey is the founder of The Harkey Group, a multi-agency advertising platform with clients including Wynn Resorts, Disney, and Marriott, and Harkey Media, a $200 million out-of-home billboard fund acquiring and developing assets across the U.S. Over a 20-year career he has built, bought, and sold advertising agencies — including a recent exit to private equity — while operating across two distinct rollup verticals: professional services and real estate-adjacent media. Scott is a Forbes Agency Council member, 4A's Business Council member, and national speaker on marketing and brand strategy. His next book, Brand Uprising, is forthcoming from Fast Company Press.

In this episode, Scott unpacks why cultural misalignment is the most underestimated deal-killer in agency M&A, walks through real deal math on how tuck-ins create massive multiple arbitrage for operators without PE backing, and explains how a market dominated by three publicly traded giants — Clear Channel, Lamar, and Outfront — leaves 2,000+ independent billboard operators ripe for consolidation. He also shares the pitching framework from Oren Klaff's Pitch Anything that transformed how he wins clients and closes deals. A must-listen for M&A professionals, agency owners, PE sponsors, and entrepreneurs building toward an exit.

🎯 What We Cover:

• Why culture fit kills more deals than pricing — and how to evaluate alignment before you close
• The EBITDA arbitrage math: buying at 3x, selling inside a group at 10x–15x — with real numbers
• Building a boutique agency rollup without PE capital using bank debt and creative deal structures
• The $200M Harkey Media billboard fund and why fragmented out-of-home is a rollup goldmine
• His PE exit: what triggered the sale, what cultural misalignment really looks like, and what he'd do differently
• Why starting from zero is almost always the wrong move — and what he tells every entrepreneur instead
• Why the owner must be the deal person — and why hiring a salesperson is a "kiss of death" for agency new business
• Community as the new sales strategy: the psychology of why buyers join, not just buy
• Brand Uprising: the coming convergence of marketing, psychology, and sales
• Mining your losses for data: how 200 failed pitches became his most valuable competitive intelligence
• Bouncing back from a slump — why internal shifts matter more than external tactics

🤝 Connect with Scott Harkey: 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottharkey 📱 Instagram: @scottharkey

💼 Thinking About a Transaction? FA Mergers helps founders, investors, and business owners navigate the full M&A process — from valuation to close. If you're exploring a sale, acquisition, or capital raise, let's talk. 🔗 https://www.famergers.com/

🎙️ Follow The Deal Podcast: 🌐 https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/ ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast

Curious what your business is worth? Request your free valuation at famergers.com

Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The Deal Podcast is presented by FA Mergers and is produced for informational and educational purposes only. 

Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of FA Mergers, One Iron Network LLC, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services.

Let's Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

To Contact Us, Please Visit:
https://www.thedealpodcast.com/contact/

What does a banker actually look for before saying yes to your deal? Ben Smith, Market President at Red River Bank in Lafayette, Louisiana, pulls back the curtain on how banks evaluate business acquisitions, equipment financing, and commercial lending — and what business owners can do right now to set themselves up for growth.

Ben brings nearly 25 years of banking experience, starting in credit review and commercial lending before becoming the market president responsible for growing Red River Bank's presence across Acadiana. He breaks down the five Cs of credit, how banks think about risk mitigation, and why the most rewarding deals are often the hardest ones to get across the finish line.

Whether you're a business owner thinking about your next acquisition, an entrepreneur looking to finance equipment, or a dealmaker who wants to understand how lenders see your transaction — this conversation gives you a genuine look inside the bank.

Topics covered:

• How banks evaluate business acquisitions using the 5 Cs of credit
• The difference between bankable deals and deals that need a PE or alternative route
• Short-term vs. long-term financing — structuring debt the right way
• Equipment financing: why it's the "easiest deal" and how it actually works
• What a market president does (it's not just playing golf)
• How Red River Bank approaches risk mitigation and flexible deal structuring
• Why smaller vs. larger banks differ in lending flexibility
• The mindset of a great banker: composure, neutrality, and the duck analogy
• Real estate market outlook for Acadiana
• Growing up in the oil and gas corridor of South Louisiana

🔗 Website: https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ Joshua Wilson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast Powered By: FA Mergers https://www.famergers.com/

📩 Want to be a guest or have a topic suggestion? Reach out via LinkedIn or our website.

🎧 Subscribe and leave a review so you never miss an episode!

Curious what your business is worth? Request your free valuation at famergers.com

Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The Deal Podcast is presented by FA Mergers and is produced for informational and educational purposes only. 

Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of FA Mergers, One Iron Network LLC, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services.

Let's Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

To Contact Us, Please Visit:
https://www.thedealpodcast.com/contact/

Bubba Page watched a $50K investment grow to $200K on paper — then passed on the chance to cash out. A year later, that company went bankrupt. His position went to zero.

That one decision — and the hard-won wisdom that followed — reshaped how he approaches every deal today. He calls it the cookie jar rule: when someone passes the jar, you take a cookie.

Bubba Page is a 5x INC5000 serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and founder of Influence.vc — a venture capital syndicate on AngelList built around consumer tech and consumer product companies with high influencer growth potential. After going through Techstars, raising venture capital across multiple companies, and exiting a business in 2020 (the same week COVID shutdowns began), Bubba now reviews nearly 200 deals a month and has built a portfolio that includes four unicorn-stage companies across 25 angel investments and six funds. In this episode, he gets brutally honest about when to sell, how ego-driven angel investors quietly destroy their own wealth, why pattern recognition is the only real edge in early-stage investing, and what it actually takes to get a check from someone who sees 200 deals every month. He also shares the story behind Josh's Pickles — an investment that proves betting on the founder is always the real bet, no matter how unexpected the category.

This week, Bubba returned capital to his investors with a 46% net return in just two and a half years — and explains exactly why he took that base hit instead of waiting for the home run. His answer is more strategic — and more honest — than most VCs will ever say out loud.

🎯 What We Cover:

• Why most angel investors lose money — and the minimum deal volume required to build pattern recognition
• How a venture capital syndicate (SPV) works vs. a traditional fund — fees, carry, and structure explained
• The cookie jar rule: what happens when you don't take liquidity when it's offered
• The 1-in-20 vs. 2-in-20 fee model — what syndicates cost vs. what funds cost over a 10-year window
• How to get to the top of an active investor's deal list: warm introductions, traction, and "lines not dots"
• Why Influence.vc follows lead investors and never leads a round
• Secondary market basics: buying out early investors at a discount and when it makes sense to act
• AI's disruption of the SaaS-dominated VC world — and what smart investors are repositioning toward
• From tech exits to pickle investments: why the founder always matters more than the product
• Bubba's Father Operating System: applying entrepreneurial systems and one-on-ones to family leadership

🤝 Connect with Bubba Page: 🌐 https://influence.vc 🌐 https://thebusinessbootcamp.com 🌐 https://fatherhoodmovement.com 💼 Search "Bubba Page" on LinkedIn

💼 Thinking About a Transaction? FA Mergers helps founders, investors, and business owners navigate the full M&A process — from valuation to close. If you're exploring a sale, acquisition, or capital raise, let's talk. 🔗 https://www.famergers.com/

🎙️ Follow The Deal Podcast: 🌐 https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/ ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast

Curious what your business is worth? Request your free valuation at famergers.com

Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The Deal Podcast is presented by FA Mergers and is produced for informational and educational purposes only. 

Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of FA Mergers, One Iron Network LLC, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services.

Let's Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

To Contact Us, Please Visit:
https://www.thedealpodcast.com/contact/

Most first-time buyers skip the QoE. Elliott Holland has spent 15 years watching that mistake blow up deals — and families. In this episode, he breaks down exactly when you need one, what it finds, and why the EBITDA number you're looking at may not be real.

Elliott Holland is the founder and CEO of Guardian Due Diligence, a Harvard MBA, former private equity professional, independent sponsor, and one of the earliest self-funded searchers in the country. Known as the "King of QoE" on social media, Elliott has reviewed 75+ deals per year across a deal range from $500K to over $100 million, specializing in quality of earnings for self-funded searchers, first-time buyers, and the private equity firms and family offices who want a deal-oriented thought partner — not just an accountant. He built Guardian after a failed self-funded search left him driving Lyft and sleeping on his mom's couch. Today he's the straight-talking due diligence authority that buyers rely on when everything is on the line.

🎯 What We Cover:

• What a quality of earnings (QoE) actually is — and why Elliott calls himself a professional BS caller
• The difference between funded search and self-funded search, and why self-funded has the highest growth potential
• Why first-time buyers are uniquely vulnerable — and personally guaranteeing everything
• The exact deal size where a QoE stops being optional ($500K–$1M)
• What QuickBooks won't show you — and how sellers manipulate EBITDA before going to market
• How bank statements, tax returns, and operating systems tell three different stories
• Sell-side QoE: why smart sellers pay Elliott before going to market
• How Elliott works as a fractional deal thought partner for PE firms and family offices
• Why Elliott chose digital marketing over hand-to-hand combat to build his business
• From Harvard MBA to Lyft driver to King of QoE — the failure that built Guardian

🤝 Connect with Elliott Holland: 🌐 https://www.guardianduediligence.com/ 💼 LinkedIn: Search "Elliott Holland" ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@GuardianDueDiligence

💼 Thinking About a Transaction? FA Mergers helps founders, investors, and business owners navigate the full M&A process — from valuation to close. If you're exploring a sale, acquisition, or capital raise, let's talk. 🔗 https://www.famergers.com/

🎙️ Follow The Deal Podcast: 🌐 https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/ ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast

Curious what your business is worth? Request your free valuation at famergers.com

Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The Deal Podcast is presented by FA Mergers and is produced for informational and educational purposes only. 

Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of FA Mergers, One Iron Network LLC, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services.

Let's Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

To Contact Us, Please Visit:
https://www.thedealpodcast.com/contact/

What does an investigative journalist notice that most deal makers miss? Adam Daigle of the Acadiana Advocate has spent 15 years covering business, M&A, and economic development across Louisiana — and his pattern recognition for spotting winners and losers might be sharper than most investors in the room.

In this episode of The Deal Podcast, Joshua Wilson and Jude David sit down with Adam Daigle, business journalist for the Acadiana Advocate, to explore what investigative reporting and deal making have in common. Adam shares the craft behind asking tough questions, reading people, and spotting business red flags before anyone else — skills that translate directly into the boardroom and the deal room.

From why restaurants make terrible investments to how he identified business trends others missed, Adam brings a unique outsider-insider perspective on what makes businesses — and the people behind them — succeed or fail.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What investigative journalism actually looks like in practice
• How to ask hard questions without creating adversaries
• Why "no comment" is never a safe answer
• The patterns Adam sees in businesses that fail vs. those that thrive
• Why restaurants are one of the worst investments for deal-focused buyers
• The real problem with restaurant franchise models and royalty structures
• How technology is simultaneously improving and threatening journalism
• Why the Acadiana Advocate is expanding while most papers are shrinking
• The challenge of combating misinformation and social media noise
• Why local, trusted journalism matters for business communities

🔗 Website: https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ Joshua Wilson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast Powered By: FA Mergers https://www.famergers.com/

📩 Want to be a guest or have a topic suggestion? Reach out via LinkedIn or our website.

🎧 Subscribe and leave a review so you never miss an episode!

Curious what your business is worth? Request your free valuation at famergers.com

Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The Deal Podcast is presented by FA Mergers and is produced for informational and educational purposes only. 

Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of FA Mergers, One Iron Network LLC, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services.

Let's Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

To Contact Us, Please Visit:
https://www.thedealpodcast.com/contact/

From tennis courts in São Paulo to building one of Lafayette, Louisiana's most ambitious mixed-use hotel developments — Gus Rezende's story is one of grit, community, and hard-earned entrepreneurial wisdom.

Gus Rezende is the co-founder and managing partner of Social Entertainment, a Lafayette-based holding company with 300+ employees, 12 Tropical Smoothie Cafe locations, restaurant concepts including Central Pizza, real estate investments, and the highly anticipated Hotel Lafayette — a groundbreaking downtown development pairing an 82-room boutique hotel with the region's first downtown craft brewery, Bayou Teche Brewing.

In this episode, Gus opens up about the full arc: arriving from Brazil with no English, bootstrapping a janitorial company, surviving early failures in food and beverage, buying distressed businesses, building a portfolio that grew faster than their systems could handle — and the hard but necessary maturity of deciding to divest even the things that are working when they no longer fit the vision.

Topics covered:

• Growing up in São Paulo and earning a tennis scholarship to the U.S.
• How tennis created a career-defining network in Louisiana
• Starting his first business (a janitorial company) out of necessity
• Early failures: Tropical Smoothie and bar ownership as learning laboratories
• Building Social Entertainment as a holding company over 18 years
• Managing 300 employees and multiple business lines simultaneously
• The discipline of divesting — even good investments that don't fit the vision
• How a COVID-era phone call sparked the Hotel Lafayette deal
• Structuring a patient capital project with community-driven investors
• Why incremental wins are the only path to transformational downtown development

🔗 Website: https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ Joshua Wilson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast Powered By: FA Mergers https://www.famergers.com/

📩 Want to be a guest or have a topic suggestion? Reach out via LinkedIn or our website.

🎧 Subscribe and leave a review so you never miss an episode!

Curious what your business is worth? Request your free valuation at famergers.com

Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The Deal Podcast is presented by FA Mergers and is produced for informational and educational purposes only. 

Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of FA Mergers, One Iron Network LLC, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services.

Let's Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/

To Contact Us, Please Visit:
https://www.thedealpodcast.com/contact/

90% of family wealth is gone by the third generation — and it's not bad investments doing the damage. It's governance failures, the hard conversations nobody has, and the failure to pass down the values and stories that created the wealth in the first place. In this episode, Tim Brown breaks down what actually separates multi-generational family offices from those that quietly fade back to shirt sleeves.

In this episode of The Deal Podcast, Joshua Wilson sits down with Tim Brown — family office advisor, co-founder of Somos 22 and Fortaleza Network, and consultant to the Anschutz Corporation and Anschutz Investment Company out of Colorado — to explore the full lifecycle of a single family office. Tim maps the three stages every family office moves through: the founder's stage, where the "why" is still being defined and stakeholders identified; the midpoint stage, where governance emerges and the office begins deploying across the capital stack; and the multi-generational stage, where a full institutional team — CIO, chief legal officer, chief of staff, and trust company partner — runs an endowment-style operation built to outlast its founders.

But portfolio construction isn't where family offices fail. The hard part, Tim argues, is that third leg of the stool: governance. Who sits on the family council? How do you make in-laws feel like in-laws and not outlaws? How do you build a family bank that gives the next generation the chance to feel like first-generation wealth creators? And how do you pass down not just capital, but the values, stories, and hard-won wisdom that built it? Tim also dives into Somos 22, a global community that hosted over 1,000 unique family offices from 29 US states and 14 countries last year, and Fortaleza — an invite-only, YPO-style network built for deeper connection capital between serious family office professionals.

Read Tim's LinkedIn post referenced in this episode — a vulnerable reflection on navigating a difficult 2024, reframing fear through curiosity, and building resilience: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tim-brown-65315811_i-wrote-a-post-the-other-day-about-how-success-activity-7434942942739378176-P84u

📌 Topics Covered:

• The 3 stages of a single family office and what shifts at each level
• Why 90% of family wealth is gone by the third generation
• "Shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves" — the real reasons it happens
• Core capital vs. surplus capital and how families think about allocation
• Why governance — not investing — is the hardest part of a family office
• Turning in-laws into allies: how great family governance actually works
• Why splitting a corpus among heirs quietly destroys generational wealth
• Family councils, professional management, and values transmission across generations
• Somos 22 and Fortaleza: what they are, who they're for, and how to get connected
• Adjacent leadership — Tim's philosophy on vulnerability and storytelling
• Why next-gen members silently struggle to live up to the wealth creator
• 82% of the world is employed by private families — what this means for the future

🔗 Website: https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ Joshua Wilson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast Powered By: FA Mergers https://www.famergers.com/

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Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The Deal Podcast is presented by FA Mergers and is produced for informational and educational purposes only. 

Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the hosts, co-hosts, and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of FA Mergers, One Iron Network LLC, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision. This podcast does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation for any financial products or services.

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