Stop making million-dollar decisions alone. Hampton gives you a personal board of eight vetted founders in your city who meet monthly to tackle your hardest problems. Find your group: joinhampton.comAlex Smereczniak built a $100M laundry business and sold 118 franchise locations in just 14 months. But just as the business took off, life hit hard. After a series of personal and professional crises, he stepped down as CEO. Now he’s back – not for another big exit, but to fix a franchise industry riddled with bad incentives and hidden fees.Here’s what we talk about:Building a $100M brand from a college dorm laundry hustleThe personal crises that forced him to walk awayWhy he thinks franchising is totally broken – and how brokers quietly take 60% commissionsWhat he’s doing differently at Franzy: flat fees, transparency, no bullshitWhy he’s not taking a salary, even with an $11M net worthWhat it actually costs – financially and emotionally – to scale fastThe moment he knew he wasn’t the right CEO anymoreWhy he believes franchising could be the path for millions displaced by AIHow he defines success today: not exits, but impactCool Links:Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/Franzy https://franzy.comAlex Smereczniak https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-%F0%9F%A6%81-40310329 Sponsors:Get US caliber talent at offshore prices with https://www.oceanstalent.com/Achieve your dream body with https://www.dailybodycoach.com/moneywiseProtect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywiseChapters:(0:41) Early Entrepreneurship: College Laundry Business(1:31) Selling the First Business & Lessons Learned(2:47) The Moment Alex Reconsidered Corporate Life at Ernst & Young (3:37) Returning to Laundry: The Startup Vision(6:07) Raising Capital & Startup Growth(10:40) Team Building, Hiring Challenges, and Culture(13:15) COVID-19, Franchising, and Business Model Shift(18:21) The Franchise Broker Problem & Franzy's Solution(20:45) Franchising as a Path to Wealth(24:03) AI, Job Displacement, and the Future of Work(28:30) Alex’s Personal Wealth, Fulfillment, and Impact(31:00) Reflections on Net Worth, Liquidity, and Success(34:40) Community, Support, and Peer Groups(40:02) The Sweet Spot: Wealth, Happiness & Freedom for FoundersThis podcast is a ridiculous concept: high-net-worth people reveal their personal finances. Inspired by real conversations happening in the Hampton community.Your Host: Harry MortonFounder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.Co-parents a cow named Eliza.
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44:28
40 Restaurants in 5 Years: The Blueprint Behind a $100M Sushi Empire
Stop making million-dollar decisions alone. Hampton gives you a personal board of eight vetted founders in your city who meet monthly to tackle your hardest problems. Find your group: joinhampton.comMost founders start their restaurants in the red. Guy Allen did the opposite, turning a 12-seat sushi bar into a $3M business with lines out the door and plans for a $50M exit. He’s the founder proving restaurants can scale – if you treat them like startups.Here’s what we talk about:Leaving real estate tech after a decade to start over in foodTurning a sushi photography hobby into a six-figure uni import businessWhy importing sea urchin taught him everything about supply chainsHow Sendo became one of NYC’s busiest sushi spots – with zero marketing spendThe “three ingredients” behind every successful restaurant: food, location, brandWhy most chefs fail at business, and why one restaurant alone is a bad betThe real margins of restaurants (and what “good” actually looks like)How restaurant investing and profit-sharing actually workThe surprising scalability of sushi, and how he plans to reach 40 locationsBuilding publicly in an industry famous for secrecyCool Links:Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/Sendo https://www.sendo.nyc/ Sponsors:Get your app built at https://zeroqode.com/?ref=moneywiseBuild web apps quickly with https://bubble.io/Achieve your dream body with https://www.dailybodycoach.com/moneywiseProtect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywiseChapters:00:00 - The Harsh Reality of Restaurant Ownership00:43 - The Sushi Business Model and Guy’s Background01:35 - Guy’s Pivot from Real Estate Tech to Sushi02:56 - From Sushi Hobby to Social Media Platform05:44 - Importing Uni: Economics and Challenges10:11 - Sushi Quality, Branding, and Market Positioning13:22 - Why Premium Sushi Doesn’t Scale14:47 - Transition from Importing to Restaurant Ownership16:51 - Why Most Restaurants Fail: The Role of Branding18:44 - Building a Restaurant Brand and Early Success22:56 - Financing and Structuring Growth27:27 - The Surprising Upsides of the Restaurant Business29:54 - Scaling to 40 Restaurants and a $50M Exit33:49 - The Need for Transparency in the Restaurant Industry This podcast is a ridiculous concept: high-net-worth people reveal their personal finances. Inspired by real conversations happening in the Hampton community.Your Host: Harry MortonFounder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.Co-parents a cow named Eliza.
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He Sold for $200M – Then Watched the Business Implode
Stop making million dollar decisions alone. Hampton gives you a personal board of eight vetted founders in your city who meet monthly to tackle your hardest problems. Find your group: joinhampton.comKory Mitchell built a blue collar asbestos business and sold it for $200M. When he stepped back, everything started to fall apart. A new CEO lost millions. The culture cracked. Kory came back to fix it, then walked away on his own terms. This is what happens when scaling works…until it doesn’t.Here’s what we talk about:Buying blue collar businesses: the unsexy but ultra-profitable path to serious scaleWhy adding debt transformed their trajectory – and nearly broke the companyWhat not to do after an exit: the new CEO that lost $12M in 6 projectsThe hidden tax of scale: how managing founders who’ve “already made their money” can kill your businessHow to build trust during M&A, and the warning signs that should make you walkLessons in culture, integration, and the real cost of bad communicationThe burnout that followed a $200M exit, and why Kory walked awaySabbaticals, Porsches, and starting over: what post-exit life really looks likeThe secret to finding off-market deals, and why PE firms keep asking Kory for helpWho shouldn’t do M&A (and why doing it while your house is on fire is a terrible idea)Cool Links:Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/Kory Mitchell https://www.linkedin.com/in/korylmitchell Sponsors:Get US caliber talent at offshore prices with https://www.oceanstalent.com/Achieve your dream body with https://www.dailybodycoach.com/moneywiseProtect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywiseChapters:(01:54) Growing Up Blue Collar & Family Business Roots(03:09) Taking the Leap: Debt and Aggressive Growth(05:53) Merging, Scaling, and Learning from Private Equity(08:19) Managing People: The Human Side of M&A(13:18) Integration and Building Company Culture(19:25) The $200M Exit and Stepping Away(21:48) Crisis: Post-Sale Struggles and Turnaround(25:22) Burnout, Sabbatical, and Starting Over(27:47) Lessons Learned: Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Do M&AThis podcast is a ridiculous concept: high-net-worth people reveal their personal finances. Inspired by real conversations happening in the Hampton community.Your Host: Harry MortonFounder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.Co-parents a cow named Eliza.
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36:08
How They Built a $745M Company Together and Stay Married
Stop making million dollar decisions alone. Hampton gives you a personal board of eight vetted founders in your city who meet monthly to tackle your hardest problems. Find your group: https://joinhampton.com/Kass and Mike Lazerow built two companies together, sold one for $25M… and the next for $745M. Along the way, they went bankrupt, survived dot-com busts and Facebook booms, and figured out how to build a business without destroying their marriage. Here’s what we talk about:What it’s actually like to sell your company for $745 millionThe early Golf.com bankruptcy scare, and how Tiger Woods saved the businessWhy their co-founder relationship works (and where it almost blew up entirely)Mixing work and love: the brutal fights, trust, and one-liners from the delivery roomFull breakdown of their first splurge, and what “enough” money really meansRaising $50M without meaning to sell, and getting a surprise offer from SalesforceThe $12M flop that reminded Mike why Kass is the only co-founder he needsCo-founder red flags, communication rules, and how they manage disagreementsLiving rich vs. feeling rich: the moment they finally felt secureCool Links:Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/Kass and Mike https://kassandmike.com/ Kass and Mike's book: Shoveling $h!t: A Love Story https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shoveling-Story-about-Entrepreneurs-Success/dp/B0DY21NS7W Sponsors:The modern way to run your business phone is https://www.quo.com/perks/moneywiseAchieve your dream body with https://www.dailybodycoach.com/moneywiseProtect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywiseChapters:(1:26) The $745M Buddy Media exit(4:29) What people get wrong about working with a spouse(6:22) How Kass and Mike met(8:44) The Golf.com story(15:33) Managing team dynamics as married co-founders(23:17) Handling finances as a married couple(28:18) What they did with the money after the exit(32:33) Lessons learned and what they'd do differently(36:58) Closing thoughts on finding the right co-founderThis podcast is a ridiculous concept: high-net-worth people reveal their personal finances. Inspired by real conversations happening in the Hampton community.Your Host: Harry MortonFounder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.Co-parents a cow named Eliza.
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I Sold My Company for $22M. Here’s Why I Bought It Back.
Stop making million dollar decisions alone. Hampton gives you a personal board of eight vetted founders in your city who meet monthly to tackle your hardest problems. Find your group: joinhampton.comJaclyn Johnson sold Create & Cultivate for $22 million. Then she hit pause – burned out, got divorced, and took a year off to figure out what she actually wanted. Now? She’s back, running the same company she sold, after buying it back for less.Here’s what we talk about:Flipping real estate, investing in 25 startups, and turning $10K into $1.2MSpending $17K/month on rent – and not caringThe number where she actually felt rich: $4–5M liquidHer full wealth breakdown: real estate, stocks, startups, and “a little” cryptoWhy angel investing works for her, and the returns that keep her goingHow burnout and divorce forced her to take a full year offWhat it’s like buying back the company you sold – for lessWhy she’ll never run day-to-day again (and how operators changed everything)Female founder scrutiny, and why being the face of the brand gets brutalWhy she’s done chasing status, and how FOMO just disappearedCool Links:Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/Jaclyn Johnson https://jaclynrjohnson.com/ Sponsors:Get US caliber talent at offshore prices with https://www.oceanstalent.com/Achieve your dream body with https://www.dailybodycoach.com/moneywiseProtect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywiseChapters:(0:25) How Jacqueline Johnson built and sold businesses for millions(1:43) The three kinds of success every founder chases(7:04) What it actually feels like to have $15M in the bank(15:29) How Create & Cultivate became a brand women rally behind(18:37) The double standard: What it’s really like being a female CEO(23:18) The moments that made Jacqueline feel like she’d “made it”(25:37) What happens after you stop chasing FOMO(29:38) The money mistakes founders make after a big exit(32:04) What Jacqueline wishes every founder knew before sellingThis podcast is a ridiculous concept: high-net-worth people reveal their personal finances. Inspired by real conversations happening in the Hampton community.Your Host: Harry MortonFounder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.Co-parents a cow named Eliza.
This is Moneywise, a podcast where hosts Sam Parr and Harry Morton are joined by high-net-worth guests to explore exclusive insights into personal finance and lifestyle tailored for other high-net-worth people, or those on their way. They'll get radically transparent about the numbers, revealing things like their burn rates, portfolios, and spending habits. This podcast was made for the Hampton community, a private, highly-vetted, peer membership community for founders and CEOs of fast-growing, tech-enabled startups. Check it out at https://joinhampton.com/.
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