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DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Corey Kupfer
Why do some companies grow by leaps and bounds while others only inch forward? Simple. They embrace Deal-Driven Growth in addition to organic growth! DealQuest is where you learn how to strategize, prepare for, find, and complete deals to grow your company faster.Listen in as host Corey Kupfer takes you behind the scenes with some of the world’s most fascinating deal-savvy business leaders. This is the one place where they can share openly the secret to deals they have done (or failed to do) and the issues, opportunities, benefits, pitfalls and lessons learned.Here you learn first-hand all about: Powerful deals that require little capital, mergers, acquisitions, and tuck-ins, Joint ventures, partnerships, and strategic alliances, licensing, raising capital and onboarding key employees, negotiating, structuring, finding, valuing, closing and integrating deals.Don’t be the one at the table who doesn’t grasp the power of Deal-Driven Growth!
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- 3 days ago20 min
Episode 429: The Deals That Didn't Close
One capital raise of about $200 million made it all the way to signing before it fell apart. One buyer watched a target company carry out his own post-acquisition plan without him. One seller insisted on an all-cash deal because he was getting ready to be convicted of a white collar crime. In this special best of episode, host Corey Kupfer revisits the deals his guests lost and the lessons each one left behind. Corey brings together stories from Aaron Single of Voyager, Andrew Dunlap of Harbor, CPA Alex Lopez, Victoria Pelletier, Sean Weisbrot of SparkFox, Babu Sivadasan of Jiffy AI, and David Horwich of Horwich Strategic Advisors. Drawing on four decades of dealmaking, Corey ties every story back to the one saying every deal lawyer lives by, "it ain't done until it's done." WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: In this episode, you'll hear why you can't force a deal or be married to one, and how a leadership change or an outside acquisition can end a transaction nobody at the table controls. You'll learn how much to share with a seller before a deal is signed, how one odd insurance ratio and a court search each kept a buyer out of a bad acquisition, and what happens to a startup when a committed investor sends only part of the money. The episode closes with a deal that never happened and still made money. THE STORIES: Aaron Single spent about 18 months on a roughly $200 million fund raise with a large family office, only to watch it fall apart at signing when the family office's leadership changed. Andrew Dunlap lost a manufacturing deal in Roanoke, where he lives, when Samsung bought the company's European parent. He lost another after sharing his post-acquisition partnership plan with a target that then merged with that partner on its own. Alex Lopez pulled out of one deal after a single insurance ratio exposed a seller who had cheated on insurance applications, and on another deal he learned a couple of weeks before closing that a seller demanding cash was facing a white collar conviction. Victoria Pelletier sued a seller who misrepresented things through due diligence. Sean Weisbrot had an investor commit $500,000 and send $100,000, a $400,000 gap he calls a massive part of why his company failed. Babu Sivadasan's team patented a way to turn software into a subscription product in the 90s, and the software companies they pitched passed. David Horwich's firm planned a waste coal power facility in Montana until the Montana Power Company bought out its power contract, and the firm made a large profit on a plant that was never built. KEY INSIGHTS: Don't get married to a deal. Aaron Single put it plainly, "You can't force them and you can't be married to them," because attachment leads people to make the wrong decisions. His answer is resilience and a robust pipeline, waiting for the right deal at the right time. A deal is finished only when it's signed and the money is wired. Andrew Dunlap's Roanoke deal was close until an acquisition of the European parent company froze everything, something neither side could have prevented. Be transparent without oversharing. Andrew shared his post-acquisition partnership plan to win over a seller, and the seller went and did that plan without him. Buyers need to build trust without handing over the playbook. Chase down the half answers. Alex Lopez's team had proof of cash, customer agreements, and physical observation of the assets, yet one insurance ratio that got only a half answer turned out to be a multimillion dollar problem. On another deal, a court search explained why a seller suddenly wanted all cash. A commitment is not money in the bank. Sean Weisbrot budgeted and planned new hires around a $1 million seed round, and when $400,000 of it never arrived, new investors heard that the company needed money and stayed away. Perfect for business owners, buyers, investors, and founders who want to protect themselves when a deal starts to wobble. WANT TO BE A GUEST ON DEALQUEST? Apply here: https://beaguestondealquest.com/guest FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE:https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/dealsthatdidntclose FOR MORE ON THE FEATURED GUESTS: Andrew Dunlap: https://beaguestondealquest.com/episodes/415-building-a-permanent-home-for-virginia-businesses/ Alex Lopez: https://beaguestondealquest.com/episodes/407-due-diligence-tax-strategy-and-deal-structuring/ Victoria Pelletier: https://beaguest
- 1 weeks ago38 min
Episode 428: Building Bigger Deals Without Capital with Arta Dawkins
In her early twenties, with no capital at all, Arta Dawkins built her first business in Albania by sourcing packaging from abroad for factories that couldn't produce without it, using prepaid deals to fund the orders. Arta is an entrepreneur, luxury real estate realtor, and author based in Toronto. With RE/MAX Professionals Inc., she has earned Circle of Legends and Hall of Fame honors and previously ranked among the top one percent of Toronto real estate professionals. Her book is Add the Zeros (How to Create Value, Earn Trust, and Make Bigger Deals). WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: You'll learn how to create a deal by identifying a real need instead of starting with money, why prepaid structures can help you avoid giving up control to debt or equity partners, how one real estate listing can grow into a land development opportunity, and why confidence in negotiation comes from preparation and due diligence. ARTA'S JOURNEY: Arta grew up wanting to be an actress and writer, and her poems and articles were published in Albania, but her father steered her toward business accounting. Working in the business development office at the mayor's office, she saw factory owners stuck without packaging, quit after six months, and built an import and export business that grew to seventy-eight employees. In 1999, amid political tension in Albania, she immigrated to Canada with two small children and left that business behind. She started in Toronto real estate in 2007, sold a home that hadn't sold in three years within three weeks during her first week, and helped the owner subdivide his land into three lots, which led to larger development deals. KEY INSIGHTS: Money is not the only form of capital. Arta built her first business on prepaid deals, and she says the key is to identify a real need and create value from there. Prepayment depends on trust. Outside capital can cost you power and control over your company, but customers will only pay in advance when there is a real relationship behind the deal. Due diligence protects your biggest deals. Arta lost more than forty million dollars in pending sales when a private lender foreclosed during escrow on homes carrying a blanket mortgage she hadn't uncovered. Confidence comes from preparation. Arta says knowing what you're facing and who is on the other side gives you the confidence to ask for your value. Detachment is a strength. People can spot desperation, and she believes that if a deal isn't meant to be yours, you're worth more to another deal. Perfect for entrepreneurs without much capital, real estate professionals, and dealmakers who want to grow from single transactions into larger deals.WANT TO BE A GUEST ON DEALQUEST?Apply here: https://beaguestondealquest.com/guest FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE: coreykupfer.com/blog/artadawkins FOR MORE ON ARTA DAWKINS:linkedin.com/in/arta-dawkins-ab5042101Website: artahomes.comBook: addthezeros.com FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFERhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/ https://www.coreykupfer.com/ Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast. Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today! Episode Highlights with Timestamps 03:05 Arta's first deal, sourcing packaging for factories through prepaid orders 10:06 Leaving a seventy-eight person business in Albania and immigrating to Canada 15:12 Her first real estate deal and the one-stop-shop approach 19:29 How a blanket mortgage and a foreclosure derailed more than forty million dollars in sales 29:33 Why confidence comes from preparation and due diligence 37:19 Why deals happen in good markets and bad markets</li
- 2 weeks ago43 min
Episode 427: Turning Competitors Into Partners with Natasha Miller
When the pandemic took Natasha Miller's multimillion dollar events business to zero in March 2020, she rebuilt it by doing deals with the competitors she used to bid against. One of those deals paid her company $12,000 for passing along a $650,000 project it didn't want to take on. Natasha Miller is CEO of Entire Productions, an experience design, event, and entertainment production company in San Francisco that has been on the Inc. 5000 list three years in a row. She is a classically trained violinist and jazz vocalist, a graduate of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, and an EO board member. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: Corey and Natasha break down three ways to do business with competitors, including white label arrangements, strategic partnerships, and paid referrals, and when each one fits. They also cover why a joint pitch cost Natasha a bid, how partnering helps a certified women owned business compete for larger contracts, and how to staff up for strategy instead of reaction. NATASHA'S JOURNEY: Growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, Natasha only ever pictured herself as a performance artist. At 16 she went to a youth homeless shelter on Christmas Day and has lived on her own ever since, a story she tells in her book Relentless. She built her company the way she built her music career, by not turning down opportunities. Booked for multiple gigs in one night, she started bringing in other groups and managing them, which grew into an entertainment production company and then a full event production company serving clients like Salesforce, Google, Apple, LinkedIn, and Adobe. KEY INSIGHTS: Competitors can become partners. Natasha's Bay Area market is collaborative enough that companies who bid against each other also work together, which gives her extra capacity without extra overhead. White labeling keeps things simple for the client. A two company pitch felt too convoluted, so partners now work under Entire Productions' brand with an email address from her team. She stays accountable for their work, so she only white labels with partners she has known for years. Referrals turn the wrong project into revenue. Passing a $650,000 team outing to a partner earned a $12,000 check, and Natasha credits her company's reputation for getting the call at all. Partnering opens bigger doors. Some corporate buyers won't consider a company without the track record of a $15 million or $20 million business, but two partners together can credibly take on a $5 million annual project. Partners make for better hiring. With white label partners, freelancers, and contractors in place, Natasha can hire for strategic reasons instead of scrambling when big events land. Perfect for business owners rebuilding after a downturn, service firms that need flexible capacity, and diverse suppliers going after larger contracts. FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE:https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/natashamiller FOR MORE ON NATASHA MILLER:Entire Productions: entireproductions.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/natashamillerInstagram: @natashamillersfBook: Relentless, available on Amazon and Audible FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER Corey Kupfer's LinkedInCorey Kupfer's Website Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast. Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today! Episode Highlights with Timestamps [00:03:00]Natasha's first deal, getting paid to play the governor's inauguration [00:06:00]The business goes to zero in March 2020 and half the team is laid off [00:08:00]Passing a $650,000 team outing to a competitor for a $12,000 referral check [00:10:00]How white labeling works when a competitor joins your team [00:14:00]The joint pitch t
- 3 weeks ago44 min
Episode 426: Strategic Partnerships for Online Growth with Marion Wagner
Marion Wagner posted to her blog for a year and a half with about three readers, one of them her dad. Then she committed fully to her own voice and within months reached a quarter million page views a month. In this remastered episode, she shares how mindset and strategic partnerships help online entrepreneurs grow without a large following. In this episode of the DealQuest Podcast, host Corey Kupfer sits down with Marion Wagner, a business mindset coach and former school psychologist who has built multiple six-figure businesses in two separate online industries. Using her signature Business Clarity Blueprint, she has helped hundreds of coaches, course creators, and online service providers grow businesses that generate 10K plus per month in well under a year. She also hosts the Get Out of Your Head and Grow Your Online Business Podcast. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: You'll discover the three things a good strategic partnership does and why a small, engaged following can be worth more than a large, disengaged one. Marion explains how to pitch experts in adjacent niches and why most summit and mastermind appearances involve no money changing hands. She and Corey break down the 30 to 50 percent commissions common on affiliate launches and how lifetime client value changes that math. You'll also hear why belief has to come before tactics. MARION'S JOURNEY: As a little girl, Marion wanted to join the family business and become an attorney. Her first big deal came when Adidas approached her blog with a package, and she admits she would have said yes to five hundred bucks for the whole thing. After a year and a half of posting to almost no one, Marion had what psychologists call a lightning bolt moment and stopped trying to sound like other bloggers. Once she leaned into her own quirky voice, the growth followed. She later went back to her psychologist roots after seeing how many entrepreneurs had the strategies but not the belief. KEY INSIGHTS: Value matters more than follower count. Marion says 500 aligned followers who spend money and attention on what you talk about are worth more than five or ten thousand who could care less. An email marketer, for example, should pitch social media experts, funnel experts, or business coaches. Many partnership doors sit open and unused. Summits, masterminds, and online events build credibility and open up new audiences, yet very few people make the pitch. In Marion's words, "There's doors everywhere, but very few people actually think to walk through them." Affiliate commissions look different through a lifetime value lens. Launch affiliates usually earn 30 to 50 percent, though a twenty thousand dollar coaching platform may sit closer to 10 percent. Corey points out that affiliates are usually paid on the first sale only, while the business keeps 100 percent of later products and services. Belief is the engine. Marion would rather work with someone who believes in themselves than someone with every tool and certification but no confidence. Those who skip the inner work tend to burn out or quit, and Corey ties this to owning your value, a big theme in his book on authentic negotiating. Start relationships with genuine appreciation. Marion suggests telling someone how great their content is, which she says means a lot even to someone with a million followers. Perfect for coaches, course creators, and business owners who want to grow through strategic alliances and affiliate partnerships without first building a massive audience. FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE: coreykupfer.com/blog/businesspartnerships FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/ https://www.coreykupfer.com/ Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast. Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today! Episode Highlights with Timestamps:[00:02:16] - Introduction. Marion Wagner's background as a mindset coach for online entrepreneurs [00:06:05] - The three things a good strategic
- Oct 14, 202654 min
Episode 425: Humanizing RIA M&A and Next Gen Talent with Emily Blue
Standing in an airport after a meeting with a for sale by owner founder, Emily Blue called her colleague Ryan Halls to vent. When he asked which investment bank she planned to join, she realized there wasn't one she would put her name behind at every step of the process for wealth management founders. That moment led to Hue Partners. Emily Blue, CFA, is the co-founder of Hue Partners, an M&A advisory firm that guides wealth management founders through the sale of their businesses. She previously served as Head of Corporate Development at a national multi-family office and led valuation and negotiation efforts at one of the largest aggregators in the industry. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: In this episode, Corey Kupfer and Emily explore the human side of RIA M&A, from the emotional shift founders face after a sale to the build or sell decision. They discuss why the RIA M&A cycle is still in its early innings despite headlines about lower deal counts, and why next gen talent is now central to deal value in wealth management. EMILY'S JOURNEY: Emily went to college to become a nurse, until an anatomy course showed her that path wasn't for her. Her first taste of M&A came at an asset manager that diversified beyond midstream energy through an acquisition, where she helped integrate the portfolio teams and educate the sales force on new products. That integration work shaped how she approaches deals today. After years on the buy side working with investment banks across the country, she and Ryan launched Hue Partners, a sell-side firm that works every engagement together and focuses on doing a lot for a very select few. KEY INSIGHTS: Culture and vision alignment matter as much as structure. "The money can be there, the deal can be the best structure you've ever seen," Emily said, "but if you're not gonna have fun with the people or you guys aren't aligned philosophically or from a vision perspective, it will be a rough road." Founders need to be ready to stop being the king or queen. Even with a phenomenal acquirer, emotions will come up that sellers can't anticipate at the start. As Emily put it, "even advisors need advisors." The blank sheet of paper exercise reveals the gap. Emily asks founders to draw their ideal day, then look back at the past month of their calendar for a day that matched it. Most are shell-shocked by what they find. Build or sell is a real choice. Founders don't have to sell to reclaim their time, but something has to change, whether that means investing in hires and technology or finding the right partner. M&A in a service business is a talent strategy. Emily noted that outreach to next gen advisors is "through the roof," and urged founders not to wait to take care of their people until they've reached their breaking point. Perfect for RIA founders weighing whether to build or sell, acquirers building their M&A programs, and next gen advisors thinking about their future.WANT TO BE A GUEST ON DEALQUEST?Apply here: https://beaguestondealquest.com/guest FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE:https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/emilyblue FOR MORE ON EMILY BLUE:https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyblue-cfa/https://huepartners.com/ FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFERhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/https://www.coreykupfer.com/ Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast. Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today! Episode Highlights with Timestamps [00:03:23] Emily's first deal and how integration work became her entry into M&A [00:10:26] Are you truly ready not to be the king or the queen anymore? [00:14:55] The blank sheet of paper exercise and the ideal day [00:24:03] The airport phone call that led to Hue Partners [00:38:10] Why the RIA M&A cycle is still in its e
- Oct 7, 202648 min
Episode 424: The DealQuest Quarterly Roundtable With Brian Meegan And Sara Mostafa
There is more capital in private markets than most dealmakers have ever seen, and much of it has nowhere obvious to exit. In this second quarterly deals roundtable, Corey Kupfer sits down with his partners Brian Meegan and Sara Mostafa to break down what actually happened across the deal world in Q2 2026. Brian and Sara are Corey's partners on the deal side of the practice, working alongside him across mergers and acquisitions, capital raises, and complex negotiated transactions in wealth management and well beyond. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: How record dry powder, a slowing IPO market, and the rise of continuation funds are reshaping exits, why cash at closing keeps giving way to earnouts and rollover equity, what is driving longer holds and stretched diligence timelines, what minority investors actually control, and why one founder near 450 million dollars in revenue decided not to go public. THE ROUNDTABLE'S JOURNEY: The conversation opens on the macro picture Corey brought back from the Echelon Deals and Dealmakers Summit, then moves through hard data on the collapse in private equity backed IPOs and the record surge of lower middle market deals coming to market. From there it turns human, with Brian's deal in history on the founding of US Steel, Sara's debut segment on remarkable women in business, and Corey's closing reflection on choosing a path that fits your values rather than the default one. KEY INSIGHTS: Private equity backed IPOs fell from 424 between 2017 and 2021 to 70 between 2022 and the present, according to Dealogic, and that narrowing exit window is a major reason so much capital is stuck in private markets. As dollars move down market, the lower middle market benefits. Axial reported a record 3,523 deals coming to market in Q2 2026, up roughly 4.79 percent over the same quarter last year. Longer holds are now the norm. A New York Times report put private equity's unsold portfolio companies at 33,575 as of June 30, up from about 32,500 a year earlier and roughly 15,923 a decade ago. Taking a minority investment does not mean keeping full control. Board seats, veto rights, tag along rights, and priority rights all come into play, a point Sara raised in a Family Wealth Report quote. In Echelon's post closing survey, the top reason sellers felt their expectations fell short, at 40 percent, was not deal economics or equity performance. It was autonomy and workload. Perfect for founders, business owners, and investors weighing whether, when, and how to do their next deal.WANT TO BE A GUEST ON DEALQUEST?Apply here: https://beaguestondealquest.com/guest FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE: https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/brianmeegansaramostafa FOR MORE ON KUPFER.https://www.kupferlaw.com FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFERhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/https://www.coreykupfer.com/Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast. Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today! Episode Highlights with Timestamps 00:02 Opening the quarterly roundtable, continuation funds, dry powder, and a slowing IPO market09:15 Sara Mostafa on risk shifting to sellers through earnouts and rollover equity11:12 Brian Meegan on the collapse in private equity backed IPOs, 424 down to 7019:26 The New York Times data, 33,575 unsold private equity portfolio companies28:34 Deal in history, how a single dinner led to the founding of US Steel44:18 Remarkable women in
- Sep 30, 20261h 1m
Episode 423: Making M&A a Force for Good with Hannah Sandmeyer
In her first 90 days running corporate development for a venture-backed acquirer, Hannah Sandmeyer closed sixty million dollars in EBITDA. The company had raised a billion dollars in a single Series D and its whole model was growth by acquisition. Then it collapsed when the promised IPO never came. That experience showed her how powerful M&A can be, and it set up the question behind everything she does now, which is what that power looks like when it serves something other than speed and price. Hannah is the founder and CEO of Up and Over Advisors, the first certified B Corporation in the world dedicated exclusively to values-aligned M&A sourcing, and the founder of Steward Market, a live three-sided marketplace for ethical business transitions. She also co-hosts the Ethical Exits podcast. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: Why mission-driven founders belong on the buy side and not only the sell side, how shared values and trust can change a deal's structure and open the door to seller financing, how employee ownership and acquisition can work together, and how Steward Market uses values as searchable infrastructure so sellers can find a buyer by mission and hold period rather than valuation alone. HANNAH'S JOURNEY: Hannah grew up in Boise, Idaho, wanting to be a civil rights lawyer for the ACLU, studied political science, and came to see M&A as social and economic justice work because an ownership transition is a redistribution of power. She spent about 18 years in go-to-market and revenue roles before being asked in 2021 to run a corporate development team, where she learned that buying a company is just a different kind of sale. After that acquirer collapsed, she started her own firm expecting to do fractional sales work for B Corps. Instead, founders kept asking her to help them buy companies, and fractional corporate development was born. When she suggested that mission-driven founders could be acquirers too, they recoiled, which led her and her partner to launch Ethical Exits to explore what mission-driven M&A actually looks like. KEY INSIGHTS: Once you see the power of inorganic growth, you cannot unsee it as a lever. The real question is not whether acquisition is good or bad, but what you point it at. Values are a real deal variable. When a buyer and seller genuinely share goals and build trust, sellers become more open to seller financing and less fixated on all cash or the highest multiple. Employee ownership and acquisition can reinforce each other. Hannah points to a social work company that converted to an ESOP, acquired other firms, and began cutting checks north of a million dollars to retiring social workers. An ethical exit is not a partisan idea. Yvon Chouinard put Patagonia's purpose into a trust, and Eddie Smith turned down offers north of four hundred million dollars for Grady White because, as he put it, the company has a soul. The two men likely sit at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Real freedom is reciprocal. Wealth and ownership expand a person's power to make consequential decisions, and for Hannah that increases obligation rather than removing it. Perfect for founders weighing a sale, would-be buyers who assume the buy side is not for them, and advisors who want the deals they work on to protect more than price.WANT TO BE A GUEST ON DEALQUEST?Apply here: https://beaguestondealquest.com/guest FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE: https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/hannahsandmeyer FOR MORE ON HANNAH SANDMEYER: Website: https://stewardmarket.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahsandmeyer Podcast: Ethical Exits, https://ethicalexits.com FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/ https://www.coreykupfer.com/ Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast. Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet
- Sep 23, 202644 min
Episode 422: Alternative Ways to Fund a Business with George Dubec
When George Dubec and his wife sold the largest singles network in South Florida in the early nineties, the buyer was another matchmaking firm looking to expand into events. What they were actually paying for was the database. "They couldn't replicate me and my wife as the face of the business," George says. Nearly forty years later, that lesson still drives how he advises business owners. George Dubec is considered one of the top business and social networking experts in the United States. He began his career as an engineer, rising to executive staff at Packard Electric, a division of General Motors, before moving to Florida in 1985 to build companies of his own. He has hosted radio and TV programs including the Internet Business Hour, has judged the Web Awards since 2006, and now serves on the advisory board of America's Real Deal, a business investment television show. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: How business owners can access capital outside the standard fundraising path, including tax credits, tax refunds, and legal settlements that already belong to them. Why a customer database may be the most saleable asset a company owns. How fractional deals, crowdfunding platforms, and crypto-based sweeteners are reshaping who can invest and who can raise. And why a two to five minute pitch video now opens more investor doors than a polished deck. GEORGE'S JOURNEY: George grew up in Boardman, Ohio, in a town he compares to Happy Days, where he saw the first television set in the neighborhood and the phones were still party lines. He was the first person in his family to graduate from college, attending Youngstown State University. He spent roughly eighteen years at General Motors as an engineer before buying his job out and relocating to South Florida in 1985. With his wife he built the largest singles network in South Florida, running it from 1985 until about 1992, before online dating existed. After selling, he moved into the early web with a company called Webstream, hosting sites, then building them, then adding search engine optimization. He launched the Internet Business Hour radio show in 1998 and ran it for about twelve years. He technically retired from the company in 2010 and shifted into alternative funding work with business owners. KEY INSIGHTS: Data is the asset owners undervalue. The buyer of George's first company wanted the list, not the events. He now maintains a database of forty thousand clean email addresses and tells owners to build one, because it can generate revenue long before an exit and may be what a buyer is actually purchasing at the exit. There is money most owners never look for. George describes himself as an alternative funder, helping business owners recover capital through tax reimbursements, tax credits, tax refunds, and legal settlements. As he puts it, going out with a pitch deck and asking for money is really tough, and most owners stop at the one channel they already know. Widened access comes with a vetting problem. Alternative investments were once closed to all but the wealthy. Opening them up has real benefits, but George is candid that many of these platforms have two or three years of history and no track record to evaluate. "It's kind of like the wild frontier. It's like digging for gold." The pitch video is the new front door. Investors are buried in decks and one-pagers they do not have time to read. George recommends a two to five minute video of you and your principals as the thing that earns the deck a read. What investors are assessing in those minutes is whether the person pitching has the attitude, moxie, and experience to make it work. Freedom requires a system. Asked what freedom means to him, George argued that eleven superstars who each do their own thing will never win a football game. "You gotta find a system that suits you, that you can be free in the system." Perfect for business owners who have been told that bootstrapping and venture capital are the only two real options for funding growth.WANT TO BE A GUEST ON DEALQUEST?Apply here: https://beaguestondealquest.com/guest FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE: https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/georgedubec FOR MORE ON GEORGE DUBEC: https://theultimatenetworker.com https://techunfilteredagi.com https://www.americasrealdeal.com FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER htt
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About DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer
Why do some companies grow by leaps and bounds while others only inch forward? Simple. They embrace Deal-Driven Growth in addition to organic growth! DealQuest is where you learn how to strategize, prepare for, find, and complete deals to grow your company faster.Listen in as host Corey Kupfer takes you behind the scenes with some of the world’s most fascinating deal-savvy business leaders. This is the one place where they can share openly the secret to deals they have done (or failed to do) and the issues, opportunities, benefits, pitfalls and lessons learned.Here you learn first-hand all about: Powerful deals that require little capital, mergers, acquisitions, and tuck-ins, Joint ventures, partnerships, and strategic alliances, licensing, raising capital and onboarding key employees, negotiating, structuring, finding, valuing, closing and integrating deals.Don’t be the one at the table who doesn’t grasp the power of Deal-Driven Growth!
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Frequently Asked Questions
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