Going Beyond the Deal

If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter. What if the business that changes your life is one you never set out to build? Gal Danay never planned to sell macaroons. A two-week holiday pop-up in Bryant Park turned into $250,000 in nine weeks, and he and his partners looked at each other and said, Woops, we have a business. In this episode, J. Michael Fischer Jr. talks with the co-founder of Woops! about turning an accident into a national franchise. They get into why a CPA background saved the company when COVID knocked revenue to zero overnight, why he built a franchise he wishes he'd had as a young franchisee, and how the model keeps changing as shoppers leave the mall for a trailer that comes to them. If you are building something that has to survive what you cannot predict, this is the operator's view most founders get too late. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights [00:00] – The simple idea that turned into something nobody saw coming [03:45] – The accounting instinct that carried the company through COVID [06:57] – The side hustle that pulled in a quarter million in nine weeks [09:17] – The moment mall leasing agents started calling them [09:44] – Where the name Woops actually came from [10:19] – Why he bet the whole company on franchising [11:34] – Inside the 10,000-square-foot bakery he ran before he was ready [12:35] – The sourcing move that quietly helped them survive [15:18] – The uncomfortable truth about the mall business today [15:33] – The new model that brings the shop to the customer [18:25] – The four months revenue sat at zero [19:21] – How a cold call turned into a seven-figure customer [21:12] – The one document every partnership needs from day one [24:03] – The small yes that changed the course of his life Mentioned Resources Aroma Espresso Bar Holiday Shops at Bryant Park (Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park) Westfield Garden State Plaza The Mall at Short Hills About the Guest Gal Danay is a co-founder of Woops!, the macaroon and gifting brand that grew from a 2012 holiday pop-up at Bryant Park into a national franchise with roughly 50 locations. A certified public accountant and Pace University graduate, he started his career as a managing partner and franchisee of Aroma Espresso Bar in Manhattan, then helped build Woops! from its first mall kiosk onward. He has led the company's bakery and franchise operations and held senior financial and executive leadership roles, and is widely regarded as a franchising expert. Order Woops! macaroons and gifting at bywoops.com, through the Woops! app, or on Instagram at @bywoops. 🔗 LinkedIn | Website | Instagram Important Links Feel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here. Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog. Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank. Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter. What if the most important part of any deal is the one that never makes the headline? Carolyn Vallejo is senior editor at the Association for Corporate Growth and host of its Middle Market Growth podcast. She reached M&A the long way, through music journalism, the arts, and fintech, and she brings a reporter's instinct to an industry obsessed with numbers. With J. Michael Fischer Jr., she makes the case that dealmaking is about people, not transactions, and that the real story usually lives behind the headline. They get into the human side of private equity, employee ownership that quietly changes lives, the cautiously optimistic mood of the middle market, and why better questions and closer listening win. If you only read the number, you miss the deal. This is the reporter's view most dealmakers never get. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights [00:02:51] – Fake newspapers before she could even spell, and a lifelong pull toward the story [00:05:17] – Day two on the job in London, interviewing a famous pop punk band and shaking the whole time [00:07:23] – From interviewing rock stars to covering the middle market, and how that leap happened [00:08:21] – The journalism training that lets you become an expert in almost anything [00:10:06] – The surprising thing she found inside finance that kept her hooked [00:10:45] – The one question a professor taught her that changed how she reads every story [00:13:14] – How she turns a trillion-dollar defense budget into a conversation anyone can follow [00:15:03] – The ownership program that quietly changes employees’ lives after a sale [00:17:06] – The quiet rise of family offices, and why sellers should care [00:19:03] – The two words for the middle market mood, and the data behind them [00:23:39] – The simple question that gets a nervous guest to finally open up [00:30:03] – The small moment in school she only later understood changed everything Mentioned Resources ACG Insights Middle Market Growth GF Data ACG New Jersey Ownership Works Boston University (BU), College of Communication Sum 41, band Warner Bros., London studios where she interviewed Sum 41 Big Cheese Magazine, London music magazine The DigBoston publication, now defunct The Modern Day Rainmaker, by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Mountain by The Movement, reggae rock band Email ACG: [email protected] About the Guest Carolyn Vallejo is the senior editor at the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and the host of its Middle Market Growth podcast. A journalist and editor with more than 15 years of experience, she specializes in long-form feature and profile writing across business, finance, music, arts, and culture. A graduate of Boston University's College of Communication, she started in music journalism, including a London internship with Big Cheese Magazine, before moving into fintech and then the world of mergers and acquisitions. At ACG, she manages the organization's thought leadership platform, acginsights.org, and leads its M&A coverage and interviews. 🔗 LinkedIn | Website Important Links Feel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here. Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog. Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank. Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter. How do you keep a business alive for 100 years without losing what made it great? Josh Sanders is the fourth generation to lead Sea Breeze, the beverage company his great-grandfather started in 1925, delivering seltzer door to door in New Jersey. Today it makes syrups and runs beverage programs for restaurants and bars across New York and New Jersey. The products changed completely. The values never did. Josh and Michael get into why so many family businesses fall apart by the third generation, how Sea Breeze keeps reinventing itself without losing its identity, and the three-word creed behind every decision: be consistent, be ethical, be nice. Josh also opens up on succession with his own teenagers and why independence beats any short-term win. If you are building something you hope outlives you, this one is a blueprint for protecting what matters while changing everything else. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights 02:13 The one thing that never changed in 100 years, even as everything else did 03:45 From backbreaking seltzer deliveries to a full manufacturing floor 08:41 Where the three-word family creed came from, and why it still runs the company 09:03 Why the third generation usually breaks the family business, from a banker who sees it firsthand 12:39 How to grow a company without the scope creep that sinks it 14:12 The service habit Josh and Michael both say wins customers for life 15:25 The expensive promise Sea Breeze keeps 365 days a year, even on Christmas 17:17 How a 100-year-old company survived 2020 when its main customers shut down 19:14 Why staying independent beats chasing the next quarterly number 21:09 How to prepare your kids to take over without forcing it on them 24:47 The million-dollar question: the small decision that changed Josh’s whole life Mentioned Resources Sea Breeze Bosco TJX stores (TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods) Six Sigma Green Belt About the Guest Josh Sanders is the president of Sea Breeze and the fourth generation of his family to lead the company. Founded in 1925 by his great-grandfather Barnett Sanders, Sea Breeze began as a door-to-door seltzer delivery business in New Jersey and grew into a full beverage program partner, manufacturing syrups and servicing dispensing equipment for restaurants, bars, clubs, and healthcare facilities across New York and New Jersey. Josh joined the business at 26 and has led alongside his father, the company’s chairman, for more than 20 years. 🔗 LinkedIn | Website Contact Seabreeze: 1-800-SEABREEZE (800-732-2733), or syrups.com. Important Links Feel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here. Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog. Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank. Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter. What if the thing people fall in love with is the first thing to disappear when a business grows? Tom Selementi went from washing dishes at a bagel shop at 16 to scaling brands like Le Pain Quotidien, The Little Beet, and Bluestone Lane. In 2025, he became CEO of Spread Bagelry, the Philadelphia brand built on Montreal-style, wood-fired bagels boiled in honey water, and his job is to grow it without losing what people love. Tom calls himself a culinary romantic and an operational realist. With J. Michael Fischer Jr., he unpacks what breaks first when a craft business scales, why “our problem is people” is the excuse he bans, how to hold one standard across every shop, and why same-store sales growth beats growth at all costs. If you run or advise a business people love, this is the operator’s view most owners get too late. The craft is the brand. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights [01:13] – The hardest problem in business nobody talks about: growth that quietly erases what people loved [06:35] – The 35 cents a burnt bagel cost him, and the lesson that stuck for life [07:50] – Culinary romantic, operational realist: the tension inside every great food brand [09:22] – Why a single bagel convinced him to bet his career on Spread [09:54] – The corners every chain cuts to hit scale, and the three Spread refuses to [11:28] – The Jersey Mike’s blueprint: a $7 billion sandwich and the corner they never cut [14:01] – What actually breaks first when a craft business starts to scale [14:35] – The one excuse he bans the day he walks in the door [16:32] – Baseline expectation vs a great experience, and why owners confuse the two [19:54] – Welfare, food stamps, and the story he tells every hourly employee [22:22] – Stewardship and legacy: how he earned the right to carry a brand forward [25:48] – Growth at all costs vs great shops in great neighborhoods [28:30] – Ranked 690 out of 690, and the mentor who bet on him anyway Mentioned Resources Spread Bagelry Le Pain Quotidien (LPQ) The Little Beet Bluestone Lane Carmine’s and Alicart Restaurant Group Jersey Mike’s Cava PopUp Bagels Toast Rutgers University Red Lobster Havana Central Ess-a-Bagel About the Guest Tom Selementi is the CEO of Spread Bagelry, the Philadelphia-based brand known for Montreal-style, hand-rolled, wood-fired bagels boiled in honey water. A New Jersey native and Rutgers University graduate, he started in the business washing dishes at a bagel bakery at 16 and went on to help lead and scale premium food brands, including Carmine’s and Alicart Restaurant Group, Le Pain Quotidien, The Little Beet, and Bluestone Lane, where he helped open 22 locations. He describes himself as a culinary romantic and an operational realist, and since becoming CEO in 2025, he has led a turnaround built on hospitality, operational discipline, and an uncompromising commitment to craft. 🔗 LinkedIn | Website Important Links Feel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here. Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog. Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank. Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

If this was useful, the letter goes further: one short insider note each week on what I'm seeing in live deals right now. It's free, it's two minutes, and replies come straight to me. Join at thejmichael.com/letter. What if the biggest number you can announce is not the one you get to keep? Two founders sold their companies the same year, one for $50 million and one for $30 million, and the one who sold for less kept more in the bank. In this solo episode, J. Michael Fischer Jr., Managing Director at DBD Investment Bank, explains how that happens and why the headline number is not the deal. Michael breaks down what comes off the top before a dollar reaches your account: cash versus paper, debt, fees, the working capital peg, escrow, and the one that matters most, taxes. Structure beats the headline, and the best time to act is long before a buyer shows up. If a sale is anywhere on your horizon, this is the work most owners do too late. You don’t deposit a valuation. You deposit what survives. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights [01:12] – Two founders, two exits, and why the one who sold for less kept more [01:45] – The headline number is not the deal, and what actually is [02:48] – Cash versus paper, and why $50 million is rarely $50 million [03:28] – The first question to ask before you celebrate any offer [04:08] – The working capital peg almost no founder sees coming [04:47] – Escrow, holdbacks, and the insurance move that frees up your cash [05:33] – Why structure matters more than the number on the front page [06:21] – The tax trap that can hit the same dollars twice [07:01] – Exactly where the $30 million founder won the exit [09:34] – Why almost every lever is easier to pull before a deal exists [10:20] – The allies to assemble, and the part most owners get wrong [11:45] – The one question to sit with today if a sale is anywhere ahead Important Links Feel Fully Alive: The 5 Dimensions of Vitality gives you the framework to thrive. Get your copy here. Stay Ahead in Business: Michael shares strategies to boost your financial decisions. Read his latest blog. Grow Your Wealth: Book a call with DBD Investment Bank. Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.