Forget Billion-Dollar Startups: This VC Backs Profitable Founders

Ryan Bush came home from a humanitarian trip in Africa to find that one of his two salespeople had left for a job across the country and the other had been lying and stealing from him. He went from two salespeople to zero, with nothing new coming in the door. A few months later, he had rebuilt his company around AI.Ryan Bush runs Sambal AI, which grew out of Sambal Media, a digital marketing agency for contractors and construction businesses. Stu has mentored him for a while, and they met in a funny way: Ryan lost a LinkedIn giveaway for a free retreat ticket, offered to shoot video anyway, and got a call the day before the event asking if he could be in Island Park by morning. In this episode they talk about cold DMs, a private jet goal, free first customers, and the focus lesson Stu says cost him early on.What he covers:→ Coming home from Africa to find one salesperson leaving and the other stealing, then rebranding Sambal Media as Sambal AI→ Losing a LinkedIn giveaway for a free retreat ticket, offering to be the videographer anyway, and leaving at 4 a.m. for Island Park when Stu called→ Setting a goal to fly on a private jet by September, posting it after 30 minutes of doubt, and flying with Chad Willard's family seven days later→ Why Ryan calls being around people who've done it the ultimate cheat code, and why those lessons are "caught, not taught"→ Ryan Smith of Qualtrics turning down a $500M offer, and the question that changed his mind: how many of the people telling you to sell have ever sold for half a billion?→ Doing the work free for your first customer: Stu's free Google Ads for his dentist brother-in-law, and a free pilot for BYU Marriott that opened doors at Oregon State and Minnesota→ Cold calling businesses and showing them a mock-up website to land first sales→ The business card test: Stu has never dialed a number off one, and what to do instead (a selfie, a quick video, a Sawtooth Mountains t-shirt)→ Why "what you know" beats "who you know": a connection with nothing to offer is a dead end→ Stu's own customer math at Stu Kent: $1,000 to acquire, $2,000 in year one, $4,000 in year two, $16,000 by year four→ Why Under Armour started with one product, and why picking one industry isn't a scarcity trap→ Showing up at Alex Hormozi's Acquisition.com office and being told "members only"🔗 CONNECT WITH STUInstagram: @stuWebsite: https://startupswithstu.com📌 CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro: Ryan Bush, Sambal Media to Sambal AI01:30 – Losing two salespeople after Africa and the pivot to AI04:00 – Stu on being the expert among people twice your age06:00 – How they met: the free ticket Ryan lost and the 4 a.m. drive to Island Park10:00 – "Rework" and knowing when to jump on the plane12:00 – The retreat where several people wanted private jets, and Ryan's goal15:00 – Posting the goal, Chad Willard, and flying seven days later18:00 – Caught, not taught: why being around people ahead of you rewires you22:00 – Qualtrics' Ryan Smith turns down $500M and who to take advice from26:00 – Stu on the jet as a time machine and how his view changed29:00 – Why a service business is the best way to start32:00 – Ryan's first customers: cold calls and mock-up websites35:00 – Do it free first: the dentist brother-in-law and BYU Marriott38:00 – What you know vs. who you know40:00 – Following up after networking: selfies, videos, and a Sawtooth t-shirt45:00 – Conference tactics: game tickets and karaoke47:00 – Ryan's question: what would Stu change if he joined the business?49:00 – Pick a target: dentists, professors, and the $1,000 to $16,000 customer54:00 – Under Armour, scarcity mindset, and one industry at a time57:00 – Wrap-up and Tyler Bush's DB Jam League⚠️ Note: Timestamps are estimated from transcript flow. Swap to actual timecodes before publishing.#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #aiagency #digitalmarketing #networking #mentorship #youngentrepreneur #focus #sambalai

Jacob Walter worked from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 the next morning, slept a few hours, and did it again. Then he left for the College World Series, where he was about to work 12-hour days for ten straight days, and had a mental breakdown on the way. That's when he knew the garage model was done.Jacob Walter is the founder of JAW Bats, a custom wood bat company that turns competition-ready bats into painted art. He started making bats at 15 or 16, made it official in 2012, and now at 33 has partners, a new building, new machinery, and new products on the way. Stu met him at the College World Series in Omaha, bought one of his limited edition bats, and in this episode they trade lessons on scaling, selling, and standing out.What he covers:→ Working 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. several days in a row before the College World Series, then a mental breakdown on the way to Omaha→ Starting JAW Bats officially in 2012 after making bats since he was 15 or 16→ A shoulder injury, being 150 pounds "soaking wet," and the year off school that ended his baseball career and started his business→ Custom "special request" bats: his creative director Braden Hopper has to make artwork work on a constantly tapering cylinder, and painting takes hours and days→ Why "you have to do things that are not scalable to be scalable"→ Leaving the garage model behind: partners, a new building, new machinery, and new products including batting gloves→ Two years of reinvesting almost everything, and why social media and word of mouth alone don't work like they used to→ Hiring all his friends ("they say don't do that") and why he owes them everything→ Stu's two-week vacation test from "Walk Away Wealthy": find out where your business still needs you→ Stu chartering a private jet to bring The Sandlot's Patrick Renna (Ham Porter) to National Parks Baseball Resort, after sponsoring all nine episodes of Dugout Dads as the last name in the credits→ A billionaire's real reason for putting his logo on BYU sports: it's a recruiting tool for athletes→ Why Qualtrics sold for $8 billion and an SAP investor still said he'd never heard of it🔗 CONNECT WITH STUInstagram: @stuWebsite: https://startupswithstu.com📌 CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro: Stu's love of baseball and Jacob's "to the moon"03:00 – Meeting at the College World Series and the limited edition Bomber bat06:00 – Gift idea: custom bats for coaches and corporate gifts08:00 – Special requests and creative director Braden Hopper11:00 – Victus, the "bat king," and friendly competition12:30 – Making bats at 15 and starting the company at 1715:00 – Shoulder injury, a year off school, and learning to fail faster18:00 – Stu's billionaire mentor and why he sponsors BYU athletics22:00 – "The Obstacle Is the Way" and why a problem-free business is failing24:00 – The 3:30 a.m. grind and the breakdown on the way to Omaha28:00 – Partners, a new building, new machinery, and new products31:00 – Betting on yourself when the spending is scary34:00 – Hiring friends and carrying the team36:00 – Forever business or exit? A legacy brand beyond baseball38:00 – "Walk Away Wealthy" and the two-week vacation test42:00 – Building a business and a family; Jacob's dad works with him every day44:00 – A founder who turns worn baseballs into art, and moons that aren't exits46:00 – Stu's marketing ideas: influencer tours and gifts to CEOs49:00 – Dugout Dads, the chartered jet, and Patrick Renna at the resort55:00 – Purple Cow, Shoe Dog, and Qualtrics' $8B anonymity58:00 – Closing and what's next for JAW Bats⚠️ Note: Timestamps are estimated from transcript flow. Swap to actual timecodes before publishing.#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #baseball #custombats #woodbats #collegeworldseries #jawbats #smallbusiness #brandbuilding

Sanjiv Lal generated about $15 million in revenue for a startup and walked away with a small slice of it. Not long after, he bought a failing genetic laboratory on a handshake over dinner in Cincinnati.Sanjiv Lal is a former Eli Lilly drug rep who went on to own labs, hotels, and the Beverly Hills Rejuvenation Center, and Stu introduces him as a nine-figure founder. He co-founded Regen Therapy and the Motive family office, and he lives in West Hollywood after growing up in Parma, Ohio, to Punjabi parents. In this conversation he and Stu talk about fear, building a team that turns down LabCorp, a hospital stay that changed his mission, and how his family office buys businesses only if it can run them.What he covers:→ Generating about $15M in revenue for a California startup and getting paid a small piece of it→ Being offended when people called his territory a "great job": "Bro, this is my business"→ Buying a failing genetic lab in Covington, Kentucky, on a handshake over dinner in Cincinnati, with a full business plan handed to his partner Nigel and a 50% stake of his own→ Growing up Punjabi in Parma, Ohio, where the plan was doctor, lawyer, or pharmacist and the line was "you don't own a hotel" (he owns hotels now)→ Stu's text to a young man deciding whether to take a big risk, built around a sentence that starts "I'm afraid that" and 2 Timothy 1:7→ Sanjiv's claim that only two fears are born into us, loud noises and falling, and everything else is learned→ Why he calls people "wage slaves" to a $60-70K salary they're afraid to lose→ Competing with LabCorp for hires with mission, mutual interviews, and stay-at-home moms who took "a flier" on a startup→ Renting a semi-pro baseball field so his employees' families could have a picnic with bounce houses and free concessions→ Four days in the ICU, then stage 3 kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and the overseas regenerative medicine he says changed his life→ Realizing he'd made money on the billing side of sickness: ICD-10 codes, revenue cycle management, and being "worth something" to everyone when he was a patient→ Why his family office only buys what it can operate: Beverly Hills Rejuvenation Center in March 2025, partner Sam Brooks running it day to day, and hotels where average daily rate is the lever🔗 CONNECT WITH STUInstagram: @stuWebsite: https://startupswithstu.com📌 CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro: third recording of the day, West Hollywood, and Parma roots03:00 – Lilly drug rep, then $15M in revenue for a startup and a small cut07:00 – "People kept calling it a job": the decision to own09:00 – The handshake deal for a failing genetic lab in Covington, Kentucky13:00 – Growing up Punjabi: doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, and "you don't own a hotel"15:00 – Fear: Stu's text message and 2 Timothy 1:719:00 – Two innate fears, wage slaves, and being happy but unhappy24:00 – Wanting the ball: ego, humble pie, and 180 people counting on him27:00 – Beating LabCorp for hires with mission and mutual interviews30:00 – The baseball field picnic for employees' families31:00 – The ICU stay and the mission change35:00 – Regen Therapy: bringing regenerative medicine to every state38:00 – Aging, "find out who you are first," and Sanjiv's mantra42:00 – Joy span: Stu's dad hiking and why run clubs work45:00 – The Motive family office: owner-operators, Beverly Hills Rejuvenation Center, and hotels50:00 – Where to follow Sanjiv and closing⚠️ Note: Timestamps are estimated from transcript flow. Swap to actual timecodes before publishing.#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #familyoffice #longevity #regenerativemedicine #healthcare #hotelinvesting #overcomingfear #sanjivlal

A founder sat down to pitch a $75,000 investment and said there was just one little problem: a developer in Ukraine was holding her code base hostage. She told the investors before the wire cleared. She bought the shares back for $225,000, and a month later they were worth $2.5 million.Erica Wassinger is a venture capitalist at Proven Ventures, a $10 million Nebraska-only seed fund that invests through "debt equity": the founder buys the shares back out of a slice of monthly revenue, capped at 3x. She went from a journalism degree at Kansas State to Wharton, Berkeley, and the Silicon Prairie, and she thinks the billion-or-bust model is the wrong bet for most businesses. Stu and Erica get into how she decides who gets her attention, why she cuts every forecast in half, and how Stu's $25,000 friends-and-family check turned into $967,000.What she covers:→ A $75,000 investment where the founder confessed before the wire that a Ukraine-based dev consultant was holding her code base hostage→ Buying back equity at 3x ($225K) out of roughly 5% of monthly gross revenue, then watching the shares become worth $2.5M in a multi-million dollar round a month later→ Why Erica hates pitch decks and won't let founders use one on a call: send her the demo you give your customers instead→ "My love language is a CRM": how her website contact form feeds her CRM, and why it beats a warm intro→ Her Founders Field Guide to being capital ready: your customer, their problem, and how $1 of capital creates $3 in revenue→ Why Proven Ventures cuts every founder's forecast by 50-60%→ Why a founder who pays themselves nothing is a red flag, and the math on what a buyer subtracts when you pay yourself $100K but replacing you costs $300K→ Why profitability and EBITDA, once "dirty words" in Silicon Valley, are what acquirers use to set the price now→ A fund that wants to be "obsolete" on your cap table, and says it's beating the top-quartile fund on cash returned (per Carta's Q2 analysis)→ Stu's $25,000 friends-and-family investment in 2013 that came back as a $967,000 check in 2021→ A bad executive hire, burned cash, and why "figure it out" founders are the ones she never loses sleep over→ The pretend cowgirl pitch: Silver Spur Ranch in Idaho, Dax and Bodie, and a possible Startups with Stu retreat with horses🔗 CONNECT WITH STUInstagram: @stuWebsite: https://startupswithstu.com📌 CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro: Silicon Prairie, Lincoln, and summers in the Sandhills03:00 – Journalism degree to venture capital: Kansas State, Wharton, and Berkeley06:00 – Why founders must pay themselves and what buyers do with that math10:00 – Proven Ventures: a $10M Nebraska fund and the last $1M of Fund One12:00 – Profitability and EBITDA: the "dirty words" that are saving portfolios14:00 – Why Erica does podcasts and the shows founders learn from17:00 – How to get her attention: the personalized LinkedIn invite and the website form19:00 – Why she hates pitch decks and wants your customer demo instead23:00 – "My love language is a CRM" and the Founders Field Guide to being capital ready27:00 – The Ukraine dev consultant holding a code base hostage30:00 – Debt equity explained: $75K in, $225K back, 5% of gross revenue34:00 – $225K of shares worth $2.5M, and a fund that wants to be obsolete37:00 – Cutting every forecast 50-60% and capping returns at 3x40:00 – Stu's $25K friends-and-family check that became $967K42:00 – Founders who figure it out, follow-on checks, and a bad executive hire45:00 – Silver Spur Ranch, cowgirl grit, and why you can't bet the farm every time48:00 – Closing: think about your capital stack differently⚠️ Note: Timestamps are estimated from transcript flow. Swap to actual timecodes before publishing.#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #venturecapital #fundraising #nebraska #siliconprairie #seedfund #revenuebasedfinancing #provenventures

Tim Klich raised $1 million from pickleball players before he'd built a single court. Then he gave every dollar back, because the project ran so late he felt bad keeping it.Tim spent 35 years as a commercial banker, the last 20 lending to tech startups, and never once got in trouble with a regulator. At 60 he started the Austin Pickle Ranch, and the city of Austin spent the next three years teaching him why bankers make poor real estate developers. He's 64 now, plays in every 7 a.m. game, and bought into a pro team as one of the eight original founders of Major League Pickleball.What he covers:→ Telling a guy at a 2019 Wimbledon finals watch party that pickleball is "for losers who can't play tennis," then playing it at his house that night→ Raising 1Minfoundingmemberdeposits(5,000 for five years of free play) with a college intern answering inbound emails while checks showed up in the mail→ Structuring those deposits as a loan, not a security, so he never had to register with the Texas State Securities Commission→ Giving all $1M back to members when the delays dragged on→ A city that tried to declare a river through the middle of his land, three years of fighting it, and the epiphany that renting beats owning→ His first location in a downtown parking garage: it killed it there, then noise complaints and zoning shut it down→ A 70-location pickleball chain filing Chapter 11 the same week, and the overbuild Tim predicted back in 2023→ Why venues paying 70-80% of revenue in rent are nearly impossible to buy (a typical SaaS company pays 10-15%)→ Why every pickleball court is the same size, and why community is the only real differentiator→ Being willing to be "the bad guy" when a player's DUPR rating isn't high enough for the top game→ Turning down a Merrill Lynch move to San Francisco in the mid-90s, then driving his parents nonstop from Columbus to Austin in a minivan after his dad's stroke→ The one thing he'd do differently: raise outside money earlier🔗 CONNECT WITH STUInstagram: @stuWebsite: https://startupswithstu.com📌 CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro: from 35 years of commercial banking to a pickle ranch02:30 – Why a banker who backed tech startups became a founder at 6005:00 – Lending against raw land and the Wimbledon night that changed the plan09:00 – The downtown parking garage location: killed it, then got shut down12:00 – A river nobody could find on a map and the "rent, don't own" epiphany16:00 – $1M in founding member deposits, then giving all of it back20:00 – The $5,000 loan structure: five years of free play, no securities filing23:30 – Predicting the pickleball overbuild in 2023 and the 70-location bankruptcy26:30 – Every day at the club: 7 a.m. games and midnight closes29:00 – Four generations on one block and the San Francisco job he turned down32:30 – Branding, a brand book, and why Yellowstone helped35:00 – Why buying a pickleball venue rarely pencils out (rent at 70-80% of revenue)38:00 – Community as the moat: open play, ratings, and being the bad guy42:00 – Stu on dialing in the customer experience44:00 – What Tim would tell himself before starting: raise outside money earlier⚠️ Note: Timestamps are estimated from transcript flow. Swap to actual timecodes before publishing.#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #pickleball #austintx #secondact #sportsbusiness #smallbusiness #austinpickleranch

Tim Shea's data analytics company has clients that include the NBA, UFC, Princess Cruise Lines, and Reddit. He started the company solo, scaled to five employees during Covid, then went back to solo — by choice. He calls VC "another form of poverty." He calls his current setup "crushing it."Tim Shea is the founder of Latticework, a retail and DTC data analytics company focused on 50–100M brands. With 25 years in data analytics, he's helped major brands decode the difference between the customer who buys once on Black Friday and the customer who buys every single month for two years straight — and figure out exactly how much they can afford to spend to acquire more of the second type.What he covers:→ Why your data is stuck in 20–30 different platforms the moment you start growing — and why reassembling it every Monday is killing your team→ The "Moneyball for retail" framework: finding the counterintuitive, high-leverage metrics hidden inside your company's history→ True North metrics: the 1–2 numbers every early-stage founder should optimize everything around — and when to switch them→ LTV broken three ways: Black Friday buyers who don't come back for 12 months vs. January buyers who purchase every month for two years→ Athletic Greens' CMO on payback period: average customer stays for two years at $99/month — do the math on what you can spend to acquire them→ Why paying $1,000 to acquire a customer is not crazy — and why a finance-background CEO freaks out while a marketing-background CEO gets it→ The AI + data future: pointing Claude at Snowflake, skipping the BI dashboards, and building custom scenario tools that show "$50K opportunity if you bend this curve by 1%"→ Why Tableau and Looker are becoming obsolete — and what replaces them→ Five companies in, solo again: why he delivers the work himself instead of building a team of junior folks→ The "scarlet letter" of entrepreneurship: why big companies won't hire ex-founders→ Why VC is "a whole other form of poverty" — and why debt, crushing it, and buying other businesses are all legitimate alternatives→ When to call Tim: when your CFO is spending 4–8 hours a week jamming spreadsheets together every Monday morning🔗 CONNECT WITH STUInstagram: @stuWebsite: https://startupswithstu.com📌 CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro and how "Latticework" got its name03:00 – What Tim does: retail and DTC data analytics for $50–100M brands07:00 – The universal startup data problem: stuck in 30 platforms, reassembled every Monday11:00 – Moneyball for retail: finding the counterintuitive high-leverage metrics15:00 – True North metrics: what to optimize for at each stage of growth19:00 – LTV 101: why you don't have one LTV ratio — you have three types of customers24:00 – Athletic Greens' two-year average retention and what that means for acquisition spend28:00 – AI + data: pointing Claude at Snowflake, killing the BI dashboard era32:00 – Tableau gets a hug, then gets replaced: the new world of custom AI dashboards36:00 – Growing up in Boston, moving to LA, discovering entrepreneurship the hard way40:00 – Five companies in, back to solo — and why he's delivering the work himself44:00 – The "scarlet letter" of being an ex-founder in a corporate job interview47:00 – Lifestyle business vs. VC: why crushing it is a legitimate option51:00 – Stu's PE exit story and the "bootstrapped" label he didn't expect55:00 – National Parks Baseball Resort and how past skills stack into new ventures58:00 – Now you have a friend in the data analytics business⚠️ Note: Timestamps are estimated from transcript flow — swap to actual timecodes before publishing.#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #dataanalytics #retail #dtcbrands #moneyball #ltv #ecommerce #latticework

Fadi Alshalabi had 48 hours to leave Syria. He left behind his wife, his six-year-old daughter, and his sick father. One week later, his wife told him she was pregnant with their second child. He was starting over in Berlin with nothing but a research contract and a dream about education.Fadi Alshalabi is the founder of Niuversity — an online education platform that has taught 80,000 students across 40 countries, achieved a 92% course completion rate (the global average is 8-12%), and ran a 100-student pilot with Google that graduated every single student. He grew up in Damascus, was expelled from the US after 9/11, fled Syria in 2013 when Assad's regime tried to arrest him, nearly got deported from Germany in 2020 after Covid wiped out his funding, and is now a German citizen teaching digital skills to Arabic-speaking learners worldwide.What he covers:→ Growing up in Damascus — the oldest inhabited capital in the world — and watching the Arab Spring turn into war→ Being expelled from the US in 72 hours after 9/11 as a Middle Eastern student→ Working as Head of International Affairs at Damascus University: managing 45 staff, running EU-funded projects, refusing to appear on TV to defend Assad's narrative→ Getting 48 hours notice to flee Syria in 2013 — leaving his wife, six-year-old daughter, and pregnant wife behind→ Seven and a half months separated from his family while they tried to get a German visa from the Beirut embassy→ Being forced into entrepreneurship — selling his house in Syria and wiring money out illegally to fund his residence permit in Germany→ The idea for Niuversity: seeing his own former students standing in food lines as refugees in Berlin in December 2015→ Why the global course completion rate is 8-12% — and how Niuversity hit 92% with live teaching→ Winning second place at a Berlin startup competition — and a Google rep saying "from my side, you deserved first"→ Asking Google for one favor: a video call with the director of Google Skills in Dubai, not an email→ Running a 100-student pilot with Google that hit 100% completion — then signing a 2.5-year contract→ Getting a letter in July 2020 saying Germany was revoking his residence after 7 years of taxes, employees, and integrated daughters→ Three days in the hospital after a near heart attack — doctors asking him to write his will→ Fighting the German government, winning the case, and eventually becoming a German citizen→ Niuversity today: 5 staff, pivot underway, teaching professors how to teach online and integrate AI→ The new mission: bringing EU-accredited digital credentials to Syrian universities after the fall of Assad🔗 CONNECT WITH STUInstagram: @stuWebsite: https://startupswithstu.com📌 CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro: growing up in Damascus, the oldest inhabited capital in the world03:30 – The Arab Spring hits Syria — and Fadi refuses to defend Assad on international TV07:00 – 48 hours to leave: how the Damascus University president saved his life11:00 – Seven and a half months separated from his family, wife pregnant with their second daughter15:00 – The first expulsion: post-9/11, 72 hours to leave the US18:00 – Forced into entrepreneurship: selling his house in Syria, wiring money to Germany illegally22:00 – The idea for Niuversity: seeing his own former students in a Berlin food line in December 201526:30 – Building the Arabic Coursera — and why completion rate was the obsession30:00 – 92% completion vs. the global 8-12% average — and nobody believing it33:30 – The Google rep at a Berlin startup competition: "You deserved first place"36:00 – Asking for a video call, not an email — and the 100-student pilot that hit 100% completion40:00 – The 2.5-year Google contract and working with Meta43:30 – Covid kills the funding model — 12 employees, thousands of students, one email saying it's over47:00 – July 2020: Germany revokes residence after 7 years — near heart attack, three days in hospital51:00 – Fighting back, winning the legal case, becoming German citizens54:30 – Niuversity today: EU digital credentials, teaching AI to professors, mission in Syria58:00 – What keeps him up at night — and Stu's advice on pre-selling to donors⚠️ Note: Timestamps are estimated from transcript flow — swap to actual timecodes before publishing.#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #edtech #elearning #refugee #syria #germany #niuversity #onlineeducation

Matt Friedman had a commercial kitchen available every night after 6:30pm — the fraternity house kitchen. He installed a phone line, printed some flyers, went to Sam's Club for wings and one type of Coke, and started delivering buffalo wings to college students at the University of Florida. That was 1993. Twelve banks said no when he tried to get a loan. His parents said yes to $50,000. Wing Zone was born.Matt Friedman is the founder of Wing Zone — a brand he built from a $500 frat house experiment to an Inc. 500 franchise company with locations across the US and internationally — and current CEO of Epic Wings, a 40-year-old, 35-location fresh wing brand in Southern California. He's also the author of the Amazon bestseller "From Frat House to Franchising," available for $0.99 on Kindle or as a 14-hour audio book Matt recorded himself.What he covers:→ A $500 startup in a frat house kitchen: one phone line, Sam's Club ingredients, guerrilla flyer marketing on campus→ Walking into 12 banks with a business plan and getting declined by every single one of them→ His parents lending him $50,000 in 1994 — a real loan, due back whether the business succeeded or failed, contingent on him graduating first→ Capitalizing on a failed restaurant: finding a closed spot near campus with existing hood, plumbing, and electrical — then lipsticking the pig→ Going from 1 to 7 company-owned stores in 5 years — all Florida and Georgia college markets→ Making the Inc. 500 as a bootstrapped wings chain with zero outside investors→ The friend-turned-partner Adam: 50/50 for 27 years, five arguments total, completely different skill sets — and still best friends→ First franchisees were his own store managers who wanted to own their Wing Zone location→ Why franchising didn't show a dollar of profit for the first two and a half years — and why that's normal→ The rhino mascot and why thick skin is required: when franchisees succeed they credit themselves, when they fail they point at you→ Why he joined Epic Wings as CEO: no freezers, everything fresh, 35 locations in 40 years, zero national ambitions→ The most underrated ingredient in restaurant success: consistency, not quality→ Writing "From Frat House to Franchising" with a ghostwriter over 25 weeks — then recording the 14-hour audio version himself🔗 CONNECT WITH MATT FRIEDMANBook: "From Frat House to Franchising" — $0.99 on Kindle, 14-hr audio on AudibleEpic Wings: epicwings.com🔗 CONNECT WITH STUInstagram: @stuWebsite: https://startupswithstu.com📌 CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro: Wing Zone founder, Epic Wings CEO, and author02:30 – Writing "From Frat House to Franchising": ghostwriter, 25 chapters, 14 hours in the studio07:00 – Why the audio book is $0.99 — and why he recorded it himself10:00 – The frat house kitchen insight: commercial kitchen, empty after 6:30pm13:30 – $500 startup: one phone line, Sam's Club run, flyers on campus17:00 – Twelve bank rejections and the $50,000 parental loan (with graduation required first)21:00 – Finding a failed restaurant near campus and making it the first Wing Zone storefront24:30 – The name "Winging It," the trademark fight, and the rebrand to Wing Zone27:00 – Adam: the 50/50 partner, different skill sets, five arguments in 27 years31:00 – One to seven stores in five years — taking the best manager to each new city34:30 – Making the Inc. 500 as a bootstrapped chain37:00 – Why franchising is a completely different business than running restaurants41:00 – Splitting the company: Matt runs franchising, Adam runs operations — both own 50/50 of each44:30 – Two and a half years before franchise profits — and what the recurring revenue looks like after48:00 – The rhino mascot and what it means to be a franchisor51:00 – Selling Wing Zone in 2021 and pivoting to consulting54:00 – Epic Wings: 40 years old, 35 locations, no freezers, fresh everything57:00 – Quality vs. consistency — and why consistency wins every time⚠️ Note: Timestamps are estimated from transcript flow — swap to actual timecodes before publishing.#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #wingzone #epicwings #franchising #foodbusiness #restaurantbusiness #fomfrathousetofranching #bootstrapped

A dentist Stu knew from church retired after decades of practice and just closed the doors. Didn't sell it. Didn't know he could. Just locked up and walked away from what could have been a real exit. Jason Morris heard the story and said it almost happened to a company he knows every week.Rich Jarvis is the founder of Epic Capital Funds — $830 million under management, $3.4 billion in the pipeline — and Jason Morris is his partner at Impact Equity Partners, a 14-year portfolio CEO turned business acquirer. Together they sat down with Stu to talk through how private equity actually works, what they look for when buying founder-built businesses, and what most entrepreneurs get wrong about building for an exit.What they cover:→ A Lake Tahoe hotel project that took nine years just to get through entitlement — the first hotel approved in Tahoe City in over 60 years→ The "SUCCEED" model: Structure, Underwriting, Core teams, Capital stack, Exit strategy, Execution, Due diligence — how they vet every deal→ What a portfolio CEO actually does: 14 years of managing companies inside PE portfolios, hitting metrics, getting to exit→ Buying a hypoallergenic adhesive manufacturer in Oregon (biggest industry: gel nails) — and the bolt-on DTC brand merger that followed→ Three non-emergency transportation companies under contract, plus an auto repair company to service their fleet→ The dentist who closed his doors on 40 years of work without selling — and why Stu nearly cried→ "Second bite of the apple": how Rich and Jason structure deals so founders can share in the upside again when they sell→ Reviewing 3,000 companies in one year — and how discipline in the "buy box" gets you from chaos to traction→ Why focusing on revenue instead of profit is the most common alignment failure in growing companies→ Rich's weekly non-negotiable: "clarity breaks" — out of the office, asking two questions, revisiting the why→ The EOS/Traction framework and why most of their portfolio companies attribute scalability directly to it→ Why raising capital is about relationships first, transactions second — and how Rich built $830M AUM through RIA relationships, not direct investor pitches→ How Stu raised money for Stu Kent: not through one big ask, but decades of being a trusted person🔗 CONNECT WITH RICH JARVISEpic Capital Funds: epiccapitalfunds.com🔗 CONNECT WITH JASON MORRISImpact Equity Partners: impactequitypartners.com🔗 CONNECT WITH STUInstagram: @stuWebsite: https://startupswithstu.com📌 CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro: two guests, two companies, one whiteboard week in Boise03:30 – Rich Jarvis: first rental in 1998, lost everything 2008-2011, restarted in 201907:00 – Epic Capital Funds: $830M AUM, $3.4B pipeline, what those numbers actually mean10:30 – The Lake Tahoe hotel: 9 years to entitlement, first approval in 60 years13:00 – Jason Morris: 14 years as a portfolio CEO — what that job actually is17:00 – The whiteboard week in Boise that launched Impact Equity Partners20:30 – What they buy: cash-flowing, 10+ year businesses with lifestyle-owner upside24:00 – The dentist story: closed the doors after 40 years without selling a thing27:30 – Second bite of the apple: how deal structure gives founders another payday31:00 – First acquisition: Oregon hypoallergenic adhesive manufacturer (gel nails → DTC)35:00 – HVAC company, three NEMT companies, and an auto repair bolt-on38:30 – 3,000 companies reviewed, a disciplined buy box, and saying no to shiny objects42:00 – Revenue vs. profit: the alignment failure that kills growing companies45:00 – Rich's clarity breaks and why he considers them the most important hour of his week48:30 – EOS/Traction, scorecards, rocks, and one source of truth52:00 – RIA relationships: how $830M AUM came from fewer, deeper relationships — not a big list55:30 – How to raise capital: relationships over transactions, value over asks58:00 – Measuring life from the rocking chair: 5,000 lives impacted vs. Standing Room Only⚠️ Note: Timestamps are estimated from transcript flow — swap to actual timecodes before publishing.#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #privateequity #realestate #businessacquisition #smallbusiness #exitstrategy #investing #epiccapitalfunds

Aaron Pridmore watched a kid rip his shirt off, climb the backstop to the song "Rodeo," and dance for the entire crowd at his first Banana Ball youth tournament. 75 teams had shown up from 48 different states. Parents were cheering for both sides. Kids who were about to quit baseball said they were coming back next season. He knew right then he'd found his life's work.Aaron Pridmore spent 26 years at Best Buy as a district manager and territory manager, ran the youth Banana Ball tournament operation for the Savannah Bananas, hosts The Slide Podcast (700+ youth baseball and softball players interviewed), and is now VP at Global Nation — bringing black light sporting events to complexes and stadiums across the country, including the first-ever black light event at the Field of Dreams MLB stadium in September.What he covers:→ 700 kids interviewed on The Slide Podcast — and what you learn when you actually let kids talk→ Why more kids said they'd rather play with their friends than win a championship — every single time→ The Field Reporter program: 22 kids, 11 states, retired jersey numbers, and a kid named Banana Jake who went from robotic intros to interviewing coaches at major tournaments→ Getting invited to Grayson Stadium in August 2022, watching a Bananas game, and telling his wife he wanted to move to Savannah — she was already calling realtors when he got home→ Writing a "future resume" as his Bananas job application: not what he'd done, but what his dream role would look like in 5 years→ Running the first Banana Ball youth tournament in Cincinnati/Cleveland — 75 teams, 48 states, voted #1 youth tournament of 2025 by Newsweek (beating Cooperstown, Triple Crown, and PG)→ The tournament that got hit by weather every single day in Savannah — and still beat all the competition in the Newsweek poll→ A kid who said "this was going to be my last season ever, but now I'm coming back" — because there was no pressure→ Stu's DoorDash driver who walked up to the front desk and asked where to apply — and is still there 6 years later→ Pivoting from Bananas to Global Nation: black lights, experiential sports events, Field of Dreams→ The Field of Dreams event: first-ever black light event at the new MLB stadium, home run derby, celebrity softball game, and a country music artist opening the night→ Why the future resume is a "cheat code for hiring" — and what Best Buy taught him about putting people where their hearts are🔗 CONNECT WITH AARON PRIDMOREPodcast: The Slide Podcast (YouTube, Apple, Spotify — search "Slide Podcast")Business: globalnation.com🔗 CONNECT WITH STUInstagram: @stuWebsite: https://startupswithstu.com📌 CHAPTERS00:00 – Aaron intro: VP at Global Nation and host of The Slide Podcast03:00 – What 700 youth baseball interviews taught him about what kids actually want07:00 – Why kids choose friends over championships — every time10:00 – The genesis of The Slide Podcast and the Field Reporter program14:00 – Banana Jake: from robotic intro video to interviewing coaches at Prospect Wire17:30 – The Savannah Bananas game, the wife calling realtors, and the future resume application22:00 – The future resume explained: dream role, 5-year plan, and what Jared Orton said26:00 – First Banana Ball youth tournament: 75 teams, 48 states, Cincinnati/Cleveland 202230:00 – The kid who climbed the backstop dancing to "Rodeo"33:00 – 2025 Savannah tournament: weather chaos, damage control — then #1 in the Newsweek poll37:00 – Pivoting to Global Nation and what black light sports events look like40:00 – Field of Dreams: first-ever black light event, September 26, Eric Sim, Rachel Garcia, and barbecue chefs with 6M followers44:00 – Founder takeaways: future resume, building culture people want to join, spousal support47:00 – National Parks Baseball Resort + Global Nation crossover possibilities⚠️ Note: Timestamps are estimated from transcript flow — swap to actual timecodes before publishing.#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #baseball #savannnahbananas #youthsports #bananball #globalnation #slidepodcast #founderstory