Moneywise

Latest Episodes:

You’re Not a Successful Founder Until You Do This Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

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.com

Everyone’s chasing success — but what does that actually mean? Founders hit milestones, sell companies, and still feel unsatisfied. After 150+ interviews, the most consistent lesson is that most people are aiming at the wrong definition.

Here’s what we talk about:

Why the traditional founder definition of success doesn’t hold up
The dangerous feedback loop of external validation
How imposter syndrome thrives — even after a $50M exit
Why goal-setting alone can leave you feeling hollow
The “post-success” slump that no one prepares for
Why founders keep building (and chasing) after they’ve “won”
A better way to define success that doesn’t move the goalposts

Cool Links:

Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/
Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/

Sponsors:

Get a team of AI agents that run compliance for you at delve.co/moneywise
Achieve your dream body with dailybodycoach.com/moneywise
Join 700+ founders hiring A-players in Latin America at hirewithnear.com/moneywise

Chapters:

(1:00) Founders Who “Make It” Still Feel Unsatisfied
(2:57) Defining Success: Objective vs. Subjective
(4:27) The Founder’s Scoreboard and Moving Goalposts
(5:11) The Emptiness After Achieving Big Goals
(6:36) Internal Fulfillment vs. External Markers
(8:23) Connecting Goals to Personal Fulfillment
(8:44) The Search for Purpose After Success
(9:25) Rethinking Purpose: Determination Over Destiny
(10:30) Lifelong Fulfillment vs. Chasing Milestones
(10:48) The Trap of Confusing External and Internal Success
(12:01) Why Internal Success Makes External Success Easier

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: Jackie Lamport

Not really the host, but the producer.
Wrote this sentence.

I Built a $9M Company And Got Nothing Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

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.com

Kevin Bartchlett built a $9M compost toilet company from the ground up – and walked away with nothing. No contract, no payout, just a handshake. That blind faith turned into a hard lesson in trust that cost him everything – and now, the reason he’s rebuilding on his own terms.

Here’s what we talk about:

Building a $9M business from scratch – with zero equity in writing
The moment he realized his million-dollar payday was gone
How a $9M sale turned into $0 overnight
What “sweat equity” really means when it’s only a handshake
How trusting the wrong partner cost him ownership and peace of mind
Why he still refuses to be angry about it
What he’s building next (yep, it involves flying cars)
The lesson behind it all: if you’re going to bet on yourself, go all in

Cool Links:

Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/
Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/
Kevin Bartchlett https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-a-bartchlett-262233ba/

Sponsors:

Get a team of AI agents that run compliance for you at delve.co/moneywise
Achieve your dream body with dailybodycoach.com/moneywise
Join 700+ founders hiring A-players in Latin America at hirewithnear.com/moneywise

Chapters:

(1:58) Building a Compostable Toilet Empire – The Dream of a Big Exit
(3:22) When Expectations & Reality Collide
(4:24) Picking Up the Pieces: What Happens After the Deal
(6:01) The True Cost of Not Getting It in Writing
(9:41) Why Compostable Toilets?
(11:21) Meeting His Future Partner & Early Roles
(14:56) Overinvested, Under-Rewarded: The Ownership Dilemma
(20:28) Chasing Success, Counting the Cost
(22:28) The Road to Resignation
(24:49) Finding Empathy for His Partner
(27:02) New Ventures: Flying Cars
(29:12) Reflections – Betting on Yourself

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 Morton

Founder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.
Co-parents a cow named Eliza.

He Built a $20M Brand Without a Media Background Nov 11, 2025

Show notes

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.com

Adam White didn’t set out to build a media company – he just wanted a job in sports. So at 19, he started posting informational interviews on a Wix site. Today, he runs a $20M brand with NFL partnerships and no background in media. Because in the end, it wasn’t about who he knew – it was about who knew him, and how he got in the right rooms by outplaying legacy media at their own game.

Here’s what we talk about:

Building Front Office Sports out of his dorm room
Why brand aura matters more than ever and how to create it from scratch
The tweet that led to a $750K investment
Why he gave up 51% of the business early – and doesn't regret it
The role of soft touchpoints in landing major deals
Growing to 800K newsletter subs without chasing SEO
How an official NFL content partnership changed everything
Diversifying revenue from newsletters, social, events, and brand partnerships
The personal side: paying off student debt, buying his mom a car, and defining success as freedom

Cool Links:

Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/
Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/
Front Office Sports https://frontofficesports.com/
Adam White https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-white-85ab4389/

Sponsors:

Protect your upside and get your time back at cressetcapital.com/moneywise
Achieve your dream body with dailybodycoach.com/moneywise
Join 700+ founders hiring A-players in Latin America at hirewithnear.com/moneywise

Chapters:

(0:42) Building Front Office Sports: Growth & Early Days
(1:40) Revenue Milestones
(3:40) Building Brand Aura & Early Partnerships
(10:34) Attracting Investors & Business Model Shift
(13:24) Audience Growth During COVID
(16:04) Monetization & Revenue Diversification
(17:44) Philosophy on Investors
(19:08) New Investors, Professionalization, & Validation
(22:07) NFL Partnership
(25:44) Networking Secrets
(28:31) Personal Growth as a CEO
(30:45) Personal Financial Journey & Mindset
(33:40) Motivation, Competition, & Enjoying the Journey

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 Morton

Founder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.
Co-parents a cow named Eliza.

The Founder Exit Report: What Happens When You Sell a Company? Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

Get the full exit report here: https://joinhampton.com/rich-or-dead-report

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.com

Most exit stories are told in headlines and highlight reels. We wanted the truth. So we surveyed dozens of exited Hampton founders and pulled insights from 100+ interviews to uncover what really happens after the deal closes – from broken earnouts and identity loss to why nearly everyone regrets something they bought.

Here’s what we talk about:

Why deal structure matters more than the sale price, and how earnouts quietly screw founders
How 47% of founders said they made less than expected from their deal
Why having millions in the bank can still feel like financial insecurity
The surprising trap of feeling “poor” after selling
Why 92% of exited founders build again – retirement is a myth
The identity unraveling that hits most founders post-exit
The most common regret: a house, car, or other “reward” that quickly became a burden
Why trying to time the market almost always backfires
The #1 post-sale frustration almost no one talks about: losing control of company culture

Cool Links:

Hampton joinhampton.com/
Lower Street lowerstreet.co/
Hampton Wealth Report joinhampton.com/2024-wealth-report

Sponsors:

Get a team of AI agents that run compliance for you at delve.co/moneywise
Achieve your dream body with dailybodycoach.com/moneywise
Join 700+ founders hiring A-players in Latin America at hirewithnear.com/moneywise

Chapters:

(1:21) Deal Structure: Where the Real Money’s Made
(4:22) Why a Big Payout Can Still Feel Small
(6:43) The Retirement Myth: You’ll Build Again
(8:32) Selling Isn’t Just Business, It’s Personal
(11:33) The Big Purchase Trap
(13:20) Timing: Stop Waiting for Perfect
(15:26) Nine Lessons from Founders Who’ve Been There
(17:00) The Culture Shift Nobody Warns You About

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: Jackie Lamport

Not really the host, but the producer.
Wrote this sentence.

What No One Tells You About Scaling Fast Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

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.com

Alex 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 hustle
The personal crises that forced him to walk away
Why he thinks franchising is totally broken – and how brokers quietly take 60% commissions
What he’s doing differently at Franzy: flat fees, transparency, no bullshit
Why he’s not taking a salary, even with an $11M net worth
What it actually costs – financially and emotionally – to scale fast
The moment he knew he wasn’t the right CEO anymore
Why he believes franchising could be the path for millions displaced by AI
How he defines success today: not exits, but impact

Cool Links:

Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/
Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/
Franzy https://franzy.com
Alex 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/moneywise
Protect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywise

Chapters:

(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 Founders

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 Morton

Founder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.
Co-parents a cow named Eliza.

40 Restaurants in 5 Years: The Blueprint Behind a $100M Sushi Empire Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

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.com

Most 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 food
Turning a sushi photography hobby into a six-figure uni import business
Why importing sea urchin taught him everything about supply chains
How Sendo became one of NYC’s busiest sushi spots – with zero marketing spend
The “three ingredients” behind every successful restaurant: food, location, brand
Why most chefs fail at business, and why one restaurant alone is a bad bet
The real margins of restaurants (and what “good” actually looks like)
How restaurant investing and profit-sharing actually work
The surprising scalability of sushi, and how he plans to reach 40 locations
Building publicly in an industry famous for secrecy

Cool 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=moneywise
Build web apps quickly with https://bubble.io/
Achieve your dream body with https://www.dailybodycoach.com/moneywise
Protect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywise

Chapters:

00:00 - The Harsh Reality of Restaurant Ownership
00:43 - The Sushi Business Model and Guy’s Background
01:35 - Guy’s Pivot from Real Estate Tech to Sushi
02:56 - From Sushi Hobby to Social Media Platform
05:44 - Importing Uni: Economics and Challenges
10:11 - Sushi Quality, Branding, and Market Positioning
13:22 - Why Premium Sushi Doesn’t Scale
14:47 - Transition from Importing to Restaurant Ownership
16:51 - Why Most Restaurants Fail: The Role of Branding
18:44 - Building a Restaurant Brand and Early Success
22:56 - Financing and Structuring Growth
27:27 - The Surprising Upsides of the Restaurant Business
29:54 - Scaling to 40 Restaurants and a $50M Exit
33:49 - 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 Morton

Founder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.
Co-parents a cow named Eliza.

He Sold for $200M – Then Watched the Business Implode Oct 14, 2025

Show notes

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.com

Kory 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 scale
Why adding debt transformed their trajectory – and nearly broke the company
What not to do after an exit: the new CEO that lost $12M in 6 projects
The hidden tax of scale: how managing founders who’ve “already made their money” can kill your business
How to build trust during M&A, and the warning signs that should make you walk
Lessons in culture, integration, and the real cost of bad communication
The burnout that followed a $200M exit, and why Kory walked away
Sabbaticals, Porsches, and starting over: what post-exit life really looks like
The secret to finding off-market deals, and why PE firms keep asking Kory for help
Who 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/moneywise
Protect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywise

Chapters:

(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&A

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 Morton

Founder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.
Co-parents a cow named Eliza.

How They Built a $745M Company Together and Stay Married Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

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 million
The early Golf.com bankruptcy scare, and how Tiger Woods saved the business
Why 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 room
Full breakdown of their first splurge, and what “enough” money really means
Raising $50M without meaning to sell, and getting a surprise offer from Salesforce
The $12M flop that reminded Mike why Kass is the only co-founder he needs
Co-founder red flags, communication rules, and how they manage disagreements
Living rich vs. feeling rich: the moment they finally felt secure

Cool 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/moneywise
Achieve your dream body with https://www.dailybodycoach.com/moneywise
Protect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywise

Chapters:

(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-founder

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 Morton

Founder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.
Co-parents a cow named Eliza.

I Sold My Company for $22M. Here’s Why I Bought It Back. Sep 30, 2025

Show notes

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.com

Jaclyn 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 $1.2M
Spending $17K/month on rent – and not caring
The number where she actually felt rich: $4–5M liquid
Her full wealth breakdown: real estate, stocks, startups, and “a little” crypto
Why angel investing works for her, and the returns that keep her going
How burnout and divorce forced her to take a full year off
What it’s like buying back the company you sold – for less
Why 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 brutal
Why she’s done chasing status, and how FOMO just disappeared

Cool 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/moneywise
Protect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywise

Chapters:

(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 selling

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 Morton

Founder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.
Co-parents a cow named Eliza.

I Chose Fun Over Profit…. And I Regret It Sep 23, 2025

Show notes

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.com

Jordan Schlipf spent a decade building companies optimized for fun, freedom, and friendships. But with years of hindsight, he wonders if he left too much money on the table.

Here’s what we talk about:

Why Jordan left a lucrative investment banking path to chase startups
How the Rainmaking model let him share risk (and reward) with fellow founders
The downside of passion-led business: no investment thesis, millions wasted
Why he believes he could’ve made way more money doing less exciting work
What he thinks about his $4M liquid net worth — and why it doesn’t feel like enough
The moment he realized private equity is a better game than startups
How he’s now trying to turn around a $10M beauty business without raising capital
What it really costs to live well in London as a founder with a family
Why he regrets chasing the “cool” startup dream instead of playing it safe
What true wealth means to him today: help, time, and optionality

Cool Links:

Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/
Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/
Jordan Schlipf https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-schlipf-0b855174

Sponsors:

Tam your taxes today at https://olarry.com/
Achieve your dream body with https://www.dailybodycoach.com/moneywise
Protect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywise

Chapters:

(0:49) Breaking Down the Rainmaking Model
(2:08) Jordan’s Pivot from Investment Banking to Startups
(4:15) Why He Couldn’t Stay Away from Startups
(5:43) The Origins & Vision Behind Rainmaking
(8:48) Biggest Challenges in the Rainmaking Model
(10:57) Costly Mistakes & Lessons Learned Along the Way
(13:00) Why Jordan Stepped Away from VC
(17:05) Taking Over as CEO of a Beauty Brand
(18:23) Jordan’s Current Finances & Where He Stands Today
(20:23) Lifestyle Adjustments & Financial Struggles
(24:32) Life Before Family vs. Life After
(29:04) What He Wishes He’d Done Differently

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 Morton