Eric Sachs spent 13 years as a Fort Collins police detective before trading his badge for a real estate license — and eventually building two companies he'd go on to sell. First came Infinity Group Realty, which he and his best friend grew to 40+ agents before an acquisition in 2010. Then came the real story: Breakthrough Broker, a free tool for real estate agents funded not by users but by industry partners, bootstrapped with Eric's police pension and grown to over 650,000 agent profiles before its own acquisition.

In this episode, Eric opens up about turning down VC money, going through three failed acquisition talks before the one that stuck, why hiring the right acquisition attorney was the best money he ever spent, and how being "not desperate" to sell ended up being exactly what got the deal done. Plus: what 13 years in law enforcement taught him about trust, sales, and keeping perspective when the stakes in business just aren't life or death.

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Eric Sachs

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Your Best Friends in Business is produced by West + Main Homes in partnership with Pod People

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By 35, Mike Michalowicz had built and sold two multimillion-dollar companies. He became an angel investor with his winnings—and lost everything. Out of that collapse came Profit First, one of the most widely used small business money systems in the world, followed by a string of bestsellers (The Pumpkin Plan, Clockwork, Fix This Next, Get Different). His newest book, The Money Habit, takes that same thinking and points it at personal finances instead of business ones.

Stacie Staub and Madie Linder talk with Mike about "entrepreneurial poverty," the behavioral trick that fixed his own money habits, why every business has one weak link worth finding, and the mindset shift behind teaching what you most need to learn.

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Your Best Friends in Business is produced by West + Main Homes in partnership with Pod People

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Marguerite Martin has sold homes in Tacoma since 2005, but in 2015 she started a side project (a blog and podcast called Move to Tacoma) just to give people an honest, neighborhood-level look at a city most outsiders didn't know much about. That side project turned her into a local celebrity (and, at times, the accidental face of Tacoma's gentrification debate), and it changed how she thought about her own job. Instead of trying to do every deal herself, she became a matchmaker — connecting buyers and sellers with the right agent for their goals.

Stacie Staub and Madie Linder talk with Marguerite about identifying (and saying no to) your ideal client, why AI search is the new SEO, and the mindset shift behind building a business that supports your life instead of running it.

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Your Best Friends in Business is produced by West + Main Homes in partnership with Pod People

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Jen Jasinski trained under Wolfgang Puck, opened Rioja in Denver's Larimer Square in 2004, and spent the next 20 years building a five-concept restaurant group with business partner Beth Gruitch. This led to them earning a James Beard Award and a Top Chef Masters title along the way. 

Then, right as Rioja established itself as a staple the same year it turned 20, she and Beth did something founders rarely do: they stepped back.

Stacie Staub and Madie Linder sit down with Jen to talk about building a 26-year business partnership, the real economics of running a restaurant right now, and why she never wanted a luxurious expansion plan when having to walk away from two of her own restaurants.

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Your Best Friends in Business is produced by West + Main Homes in partnership with Pod People

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Sarah Ortega grew up behind the counter at her mother's Albuquerque jewelry boutique, watching her mom sell out of a literal shoebox at swim meets. She opened her own small shop on Tennyson Street in Denver in 2006 with $800 and no inventory budget, and has since built Sarah O. Jewelry into two showrooms, a global online community, and a brand built on the idea that everyone deserves to feel seen.

Stacie Staub and Madie Linder sit down with Sarah to talk about the hard decision to close her first store to focus on what she really loved, watching Tennyson Street change around her, and the moment one of her pieces landed on the red carpet at the Oscars.

In this episode

(00:00) - Show Intro & Meet Your Hosts

(00:56) - Westway Lending Group Chat Catch

(02:56) - Meet Sarah: Mom's Shop to Ooah

(16:19) - Letting Go of Ooah and Tennyson Changes

(25:38) - Lab-Grown vs. Natural Diamonds

(29:04) - Stepping Back From CEO

(33:26) - Oscars Moment and What's Next

(42:39) - Mantras

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Mercy Tucker co-founded Project I See You in 2009 with a counselor's instinct and a farmer's work ethic. Seventeen years later, the organization has supported thousands of women in the Dominican Republic and Denver, launching the Shared Power Initiative to help women become first-time homeowners and business owners.

Stacie Staub and Madie Linder sit down with Mercy, the only nonprofit founder featured in Season One, to talk about what happens when you stop asking "how can I help" and start asking "what do you need," how the organization's grants work with almost no red tape, and why she believes real change means sharing power, not just handing out checks.

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Rachael King was a podcast obsessive before most brands even knew what a podcast was. In 2017, she shut down her PR firm, bet on a hunch, and launched Pod People, a content studio that now produces award-winning shows for Netflix, Vogue, Marvel, CNN, and more.

Stacie Staub and Madie Linder sit down with Rachael to talk about building a company solo before finding the right co-founder, why she still won't touch the bookkeeping, and what it really takes to convince the world's biggest brands that podcasting is the best format to share their story and reach their audience. They also dig into how AI is reshaping podcast discovery, and where Rachael draws the line on which clients she'll take.

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What happens when you say yes to a Publix deal and have absolutely no idea how to fulfill it? Meg Meyer, founder of The Bear & the Rat, built a dog ice cream brand the hard way: dog parks, Shark Tank, and a whole lot of frozen logistics nightmares. 

Now, she's been in it for 17 years with her husband, and she's not here to make it look easy. This is what building for the long game actually looks like. She’ll discuss the bets that paid off, the ones that didn't, and the moments you just have to laugh at later. 

Stacie Staub and Madi Linder sit down with real founders making real decisions, and Meg is one of the best (and first one!) yet.

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The Bear & the Rat

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Molly McKinley has launched craft kits, pitched Oprah, built a marketing consultancy, and made just about every partnership mistake there is to make along the way. Now she's using AI as her editor, teaching the next generation of women entrepreneurs at Meredith College, and reviving a decades-old dream of a tea house she once put on ice.

Stacie Staub and Madi Linder sit down with Molly to talk about the messy realities of business partnerships, how to build real authority instead of gaming the algorithm, and why "done is better than perfect" still applies even when AI can do the work for you.

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Molly McKinley

Meredith College Entrepreneurship and Impact Center

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Join best friends and co-founders Stacie Staub and Madie Linder as they pull back the curtain on building multiple businesses, bringing you inside honest conversations with founders who are doing the same.

Each episode blends real-time business updates, candid interviews, and refreshingly unfiltered debates about what actually works (and what definitely doesn't). Part strategy, part survival guide, and entirely the kind of conversation most business owners desperately need.

Come for the tactics, stay for the honesty and leave with practical takeaways, fresh perspectives, and the reminder that there’s no perfect way to build a business so just build it!

Website: ⁠https://www.yourbestfriendsinbusiness.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourbestfriendsinbusiness/, https://www.instagram.com/stacieandmadie/