Welcome to episode 36 of Invest & Scale! In this episode, we dive into mergers and acquisitions, personal growth, and the lessons learned from buying, building, and flipping businesses — all while living with purpose and adventure. Our guest, Zach, shares his journey from growing up on a farm to navigating finance, entrepreneurship, and consulting. From the Chicago Board of Trade to buying his first business at 28, Zach’s story is packed with honest insights and practical frameworks. He expl...
Jun 23, 2025•56 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Welcome back to another episode of I&S! Today, host Gabriel Murillo sits down with Danny Sanchez, a serial entrepreneur whose journey took him from bussing tables and managing GameStop to building one of the largest floral retail operations in South Florida—and the nation. Danny shares how he stumbled into his first business acquisition, demystifies SBA loans, and reveals what it takes to scale through buying, selling, and integrating businesses. He and Gabriel dive into creative deal struct...
Jun 18, 2025•58 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Welcome to Episode 34 of the "Invest & Scale" podcast, where we dive into the dynamic world of growing businesses with our insightful guest, Brendan Hsu. Brendan, an entrepreneur with a portfolio of seven companies, joins our host, Gabriel, to unravel the strategies behind scaling successful businesses. Throughout this episode, Brendan shares his journey of building Aerial Canvas, a real estate media company, from the ground up to a $7 million powerhouse. He discusses the pivotal roles of sa...
Mar 03, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Welcome to a new episode of Invest & Scale! Today, Gabriel and Jacobo delve into an exciting journey of entrepreneurship, investment, and real estate. They discuss Jacobo's transition from starting an E-commerce business in college to acquiring and scaling Airbnbs, and now venturing into the boutique hotel space. This episode highlights the progression from running product-based businesses to focusing on real estate with underlying assets, providing insights into acquiring cash-flowing prope...
Feb 25, 2025•52 min•Season 1Ep. 33
In today's episode, Gabriel sits down with entrepreneur and consultant Jason to delve into the rapidly evolving business landscape. They'll explore the pivotal roles of documenters, automators, advisors, and migrators in modernizing companies, while emphasizing the importance of leaning on service providers during high-leverage activities like acquisitions. Jason shares his journey from software entrepreneur to fractional integration consultant, discussing the formation of his company "Build You...
Dec 29, 2024•47 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Welcome back to another episode of Invest & Scale ! I’m your host, Gabriel Murillo, and today we’re diving into an inspiring conversation with Alex Pikovsky. With a career spanning investment banking, venture capital, private equity, and entrepreneurship, Alex brings a wealth of experience and adaptability to the table. From starting in investment banking focused on natural resources to investing in early-stage tech and scaling businesses in industries like cannabis, psychedelics, and SEO, A...
Dec 29, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Welcome to the I&S podcast, where we delve into the world of business acquisitions, entrepreneurship, and personal development. In this episode our host Gabriel Murillo engages in a conversation with Chirag Shah, owner of Sit Means Sit, a dog training franchise in Austin. Chirag shares insights into his business acquisition journey, the emotional and practical challenges of staff management, and his strategies for scaling and improving his business's sales processes. From the highs of increa...
Feb 14, 2024•44 min
In this episode of I&S, our host Gabriel Murillo sits down with guest Shane, the new owner of North Texas Trailers, a multi-location trailer dealership. Shane shares the inspiring story of his journey from corporate America to acquisition entrepreneurship, discussing the challenges, fears, and motivations that led him to take the leap into business ownership. From navigating the complexities of dealership and manufacturer relationships to his ambitious plans for business expansion, Shane's i...
Feb 12, 2024•45 min
Welcome to Episode 29 of the Invest & Scale, "Masters of the Deal: Acquisition Strategies and Growth Insights." Today's episode features a gripping dialogue with Diego Cerezo, an entrepreneur who transitioned from running a Guatemalan craft brewery to mastering the art of business acquisitions in Latin America. Diego tells us about the influences that triggered his shift towards acquiring businesses and shares his personal experiences navigating the unique challenges of Latin America's acqui...
Jan 31, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Welcome to the I&S podcast, where we delve into the world of entrepreneurship, business acquisition, and personal development. In today's episode titled "Oscar Jaramillo," our host Gabriel Murillo welcomes the inspiring entrepreneur and business owner, Oscar Jaramillo. Oscar shares his journey from a corporate career at Nestle Waters North America to becoming a successful business acquirer. He takes us through the proactive and meticulous process of acquiring a suitable business, emphasizing...
Dec 22, 2023•45 min
00:01:34 First acquisition at 22: a restaurant mistake. 00:06:00 Understanding buyer psychology is crucial for success. Empathy is a CEO's biggest tool. Acquisition mistakes can be costly and avoidable. 00:10:32 Cut salespeople, focus on strengths, avoid management. 00:14:58 Switching companies, need familiar people; limit reports. Avoid unnecessary meetings, prioritize scaling. Care for team individually but not in meetings. Working on a 100 million EBITDA opportunity. Acquisition potential in ...
Jul 06, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 27
In today's digital age, online businesses are thriving, offering investors a unique opportunity to tap into this growing market. In a recent podcast episode, the founder of Black Book Investments discussed their journey in starting and growing a micro private equity company that buys and operates a portfolio of online businesses. This article will explore the key insights shared in the podcast, from the importance of due diligence to investing with Empire Flippers Capital and the future vision o...
May 01, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 25
In this episode, we have Hunter Durham, who was a Facebook employee who turned into an acquisition entrepreneur. During the interview, he shares his journey from consulting, to join a marketing agency, to buying his first business, to being presented with the opportunity to buy two companies simultaneously. It's a great story, and it's a great mindset about buying a business. In addition, we'll discuss the worst thing that could happen when buying a business. Podcast Highlights: Hunter manages o...
Apr 20, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Jim Edmunds worked in business development for a retailer before graduating from business school. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an A.B. from Harvard. In 2004, he worked for a search fund with someone he had worked with on Wall Street after business school. Eventually, they bought a portrait studio business in the Midwest. A guy named Rich Kelly, who was the lead investor in his deal during the Lehman Brothers recession, asked him to join search fund partners in 20...
Nov 02, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Jeffrey Evenson attended West Point, a military academy in New York. And then he joined the army for just a short time after leaving West Point. After grad school, he earned an MBA, gained a lot of knowledge about finance, and ended up trading stocks as a job. Eventually, he moved from the trading business into investment management, working for a boutique investment manager. Then he became a pension fund manager for Anheuser Busch in St. Louis. While he was managing pension funds there he kind ...
Nov 01, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Russell Benaroya is an entrepreneur with a background in corporate finance and private equity. Prior to becoming a Partner at Stride, Russell was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for Higi, a population health enablement company that owns the largest national network of health screening stations. He was an investment professional for the private equity firms Kline Hawkes and Blue Point Capital, where he invested in healthcare, technology, and industrial-based enterprises. He is ...
Nov 01, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Juan was the CFO for a company called Cabify, like Uber in Spain and Latin America. He had previously worked as an engineer in private equity, investing in banking. He considered himself a tech and finance guy. He started his own company Boopos in May 2020 to provide financing to people who want to acquire businesses. He decided to start his own business. And learned about all these aggregators that were buying companies based on data that they were pulling from the Amazon market. The big pain h...
Nov 01, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 20
On this episode, we talk with Ryan Kulp about his artistic and creative journey, as well as some exciting news about this business portfolio. He is the founder of Fork Equity and MicroAcquisitions.com Podcast Highlights: Ryan explains the meaning and concept of retirement to him. He talks about how he started making money by listing his apartments on Airbnb, and how he saw the patterns and kinds of strategies he could implement to make money. It's not having a boss and someone who depends on me ...
Jun 16, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Lucas McCann is the owner of CoreAffinity.com, he has acquired over 3 businesses in the past 4 years with his partners. In this episode, he talks about the importance of thinking of acquisitions as a team sport vs. as a solo sport. He shares with us the core strategy they use every time they speak with a potential seller, especially when it comes to off market deals, and how they incorporate these principles and utilize the better together framework. Podcast Highlights: Lucas' background before ...
Jun 10, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Ujwal Velagapudi shares in this episode the lessons he learned from every acquisition he has made, how to develop a resilient mindset throughout those acquisitions, and what it takes to move from five-digit to eight-digit deals and beyond. With his real estate investing background, he was able to purchase his first business while also working full-time. Podcast Highlights: He explained what he was doing before he started buying businesses, and what led him to make that decision. How was Ujwal ex...
May 27, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 17
In this episode, we have Jaime Arias, he's an acquisition entrepreneur. He completed his first of a few acquisitions over the past two years. An engineer by trade and a Harvard MBA graduate, he found acquisitions entrepreneurship and fell in love with it; now he's growing an online business and potentially buying more. Podcast Highlights: Jaime discusses how he embarked on his journey to Acquisitions. He shares the challenges he faced while making his decision to be an acquisition entrepreneur. ...
May 13, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 16
In this episode, we're talking to Yury Byalik from Onfolio, Head of Strategy & Acquisitions. He handles all the deal flow, finds the businesses for sale, reviews them for due diligence, then makes the acquisitions. Onfolio is a holding company that basically acquires and runs online businesses. Over the years, the company's business model has changed slightly, initially helping investors to acquire and manage the business for them, and only about a year ago they began making acquisitions on ...
May 12, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 15
In this episode, we have Chris Shipferling and Jason Somerville Managing Partner at Global Wired Advisors. Global wired advisors started about two and a half years ago. Founded by three other partners of Global Wired Advisors, Jason Somerville, Joe Hogg, and Chris Bodnar. They want to bring to this part of the market a process that mimics what you would normally get out of a traditional investment banking process, and the idea is happening, the proof of concept has already taken place. They love...
Apr 25, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 14
In this episode, our guest is Matt Inglot, who began his career as a freelancer and founded the membership agency Tilted Pixel. Over the years they have worked on a lot of awesome membership sites, and some have grown from zero to now making seven figures. Highlights: Matt explains the difference between the membership site and SAS business. What are the amazing benefits of memberships? And what is most important about membership sites? What services can Tilted Pixel offer as a membership site? ...
Apr 19, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 13
In this episode, we have Jake Jorgovan, the Founder of Content Allies and Lead Cookie . Through these companies he has generated $40M+ in sales for his clients. Jake is the host of the Working Without Pants Podcast , and Leaders of B2B Podcast . He also shares the raw lessons of his entrepreneurial journey at Jake-Jorgovan.com . His aim is to construct a business that runs without you and generates profits. In a similar way, they're like the Gary Vee team that empowers a lot of entrepreneurs who...
Apr 19, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Our guest for this episode is Vincenzo Villamena, CPA, the founder of Online Taxman. He has extensive experience in both tax preparation and advising clients in accounting and financial transactions. At Online Taxman, Vincenzo oversees corporate and individual filings. He specializes in offshore structuring for US entrepreneurs abroad and US real estate transactions by foreign nationals and funds. Podcast Highlights: He explained their two brands, Global expert advisors and Online Taxman. What i...
Apr 19, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Our guest this week is Ryan Tansom, who helped turn around his family's business and sold it for eight figures to a local competitor in 2014. He co-founded Arkona where he created International growth, five principles, and a framework, and hosted the popular life after business podcast with over 200 episodes and 300,000 downloads. As an entrepreneur, he enjoys helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses and increase their value by changing their mindset from annual income to focusing on long-ter...
Apr 19, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Disclaimer This recorded conversation is for informational purposes only and it is not legal advice, transmission of the conversation is not intended to create and viewing or listening does not constitute an attorney client relationship, viewers and listeners are advised to seek professional help if they are concerned about a specific legal issue. In this episode of Acquire and Scale Show, We discuss the buying business process with Sankeetha Selvarajah, an attorney for start-up businesses. Sank...
Aug 17, 2020•42 min
In this episode, we welcome guest Matt Currie, co-founder of OutFlow, a Deal Origination Partner agency that assists mergers and acquisition clients in sourcing deals by delivering exclusive, off-market deal opportunities through vetting qualified Buy-Side or Sell-Side deals. Matt discusses his own experience with exiting a business and provides listeners with advice and tips to do so successfully. He shares helpful insight into what buyers and sellers can do to be prepared and achieve symbiosis...
May 13, 2020•47 min
In this episode, Doron Wolffberg talks about the salient points in buying and selling websites. His knowledge of SEO and online marketing allows him to buy business websites and grow them into a thousand dollars worth. Doron highlights the importance of taking action fast once you already know what you want to buy. He also points out that identifying your business model is essential in this industry. Given his experiences in this emerging industry, he would make you realize that investing in buy...
May 06, 2020•44 min
