Beyond the Bottom Line

Miguel Alexander Centeno
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Entrepreneurship

Beyond the Bottom Line is a podcast for founders and business owners who want practical insight they can actually use as they grow. Hosted by Miguel Alexander Centeno, founder and CEO of Centurion Firm, the show features in-depth conversations with industry experts, clients, and business owners about how they think through tax, cash flow, operations, and the decisions that come with running a real business. We focus on how things really work when you’re scaling, what challenges tend to come up, and how other founders, experts, and operators have dealt with them. If you’re building or growing a business (often somewhere between $500K and $25M+ in revenue), this show is designed to help you make smarter financial and operational decisions and keep more of what you earn.

  1. 6d ago

    Find Your Niche and Dominate It: Building Happy Path with Noah Borts

    Testing the Untestable: Building Happy Path with Noah Bortz Long before he was automating enterprise software testing, Noah Borts was selling herbal cigarettes in high school, building a catering-scheduling platform that launched three months before COVID, and learning, the hard way, what it means to find a problem that's actually big enough to build a company around. On this episode of Beyond the Bottom Line, Miguel sits down with Noah, co-founder of Happy Path, an AI-powered platform that automates software testing for complex enterprise implementations like Workday. Noah walks through the winding path that got him here: growing up in a family where entrepreneurship was "pervasive, maybe even contagious," the release-hell problem he lived through in trading that inspired Happy Path, and the strategic decision to go all-in on one niche instead of chasing every market his team's collective experience could have opened up. The conversation goes deep on what it actually takes to build an AI company right now, why "we slapped AI on it" isn't a strategy, how Happy Path keeps costs down by not always reaching for the newest, most expensive model, and why Noah believes the founders who win in an AI-saturated world will be the ones who pick up the phone instead of hiding behind another automated email. He also gets candid about choosing co-founders (find people who complement your weaknesses, not just your friends), the paradox of needing total confidence externally while staying honest about what you're bad at internally, and why patience, not building, has been the hardest skill of his founder journey. In this episode: Why Noah's early ventures (including one before COVID) taught him to validate market size, not just the problemThe "release hell" story from his trading days that became the idea behind Happy PathWhy AI companies keep failing at "knowing what to build and why"How Happy Path keeps AI costs low while staying accurate enough for QAWhat makes a strong co-founder match (hint: it's not just friendship)Why in-person relationships and old-school sales skills matter more, not less, in the AI eraAbout Our Guest Noah Borts is the co-founder of Happy Path, an AI-powered software testing platform that helps companies automate and improve how they test complex enterprise software implementations, with an initial focus on Workday. Before Happy Path, Noah spent over eight years across product management and operations, including time in trading and consulting, giving him firsthand experience with the challenges of implementing and testing complex technology. Learn more about Happy Path at happypath.io. Connect with Miguel Connect with Miguel on LinkedIn or reach out at media@centurionfirm.com.

  2. Sep 22

    Minisode: On Burnout, Bad Predictions, and Starting Over (R)

    In this episode of Under the Hood, Daniela turns the interview around and puts Miguel in the hot seat. They get into what burnout actually looks like for him, not too much work, but doing the wrong things at the wrong time of day, and how structuring his schedule around his own energy, rather than just pushing through, changed how he leads the team. Miguel also reflects on a prediction that didn't pan out, the assumption that clients needed custom-built software rather than accessible AI tools, and what he'd do differently if he were starting the firm today. The conversation moves through leadership, presence, and the moments early in a business that end up mattering more in hindsight than they seemed to at the time.

    Minisode: On Burnout, Bad Predictions, and Starting Over (R)

  3. Sep 15

    Why In-Person Events Are the New Marketing Channel, with Sharon Melzer

    Every founder's inbox is drowning in AI-generated outreach. So where's left to actually reach people? In this episode, Miguel talks with Sharon Melzer, co-founder of Venue Hopper, a targeted event marketing company that connects tech companies to communities in New York City. Sharon is also a content creator and marketer currently finishing her degree at NYU, sharing her take on entrepreneurship, AI, and personal branding along the way. For any founder rethinking where their marketing dollars actually work anymore, this conversation makes the case for real-world connection at a moment when digital channels are more saturated than ever. Sharon walks through why she believes in-person events are becoming one of the few channels that can't easily be automated or spammed, what actually makes an event worth someone's time (hint: it's not the open bar), and the mistake founders make when they name and design events without thinking about who they actually want in the room. The conversation also gets into the reality of building a company as a first-time founder: how Sharon evaluated whether her co-founder was the right fit, the pivot Venue Hopper made from event logistics to sponsor connections, and why letting go of past progress is often the hardest part of changing direction. Sharon and Miguel also talk candidly about the founder tension between staying "always on" and protecting personal boundaries, and where she sees human connection heading as AI reshapes how people work and communicate. Other insights from this episode include: Why Sharon believes IRL events are one of the last channels that can't be easily saturatedWhat actually makes an event format work: curation, agenda, and designing for connectionThe no-show problem at public events, and a simple fix that can meaningfully raise turnoutHow to know if a co-founder is the right fit (hint: coffee chats won't tell you)The difference between a small pivot and the kind that sends you back to square oneWhy Sharon thinks the loneliness epidemic is driving renewed demand for in-person communityHow founders across generations experience the pull between connection and constant availabilitySharon's honest take on where AI helps, where it doesn't, and what stays uniquely humanAbout Our Guest Sharon Melzer is the co-founder of Venue Hopper, a targeted event marketing company connecting tech companies to communities in New York City. She's also a content creator and marketer, currently completing her degree at NYU, where she shares her perspective on entrepreneurship, marketing, AI, and personal branding. Connect with Sharon on LinkedIn. Connect with Miguel on LinkedIn or media@centurionfirm.com

  4. Sep 8

    Minisode: Career Paths, Productivity, and Life Behind the Scenes at the Firm

    Behind the Bookkeeping In this Under the Hood minisode, Miguel sits down with Renee and Maria, two of the people quietly keeping the firm's client work running behind the scenes. Renee, who's stepping from client success and project management into an operations role, and Maria, an accountant managing the full accounting cycle for clients, talk through what a real day looks like, from Renee's early-morning quiet hours before the rest of the team logs on, to Maria's steady afternoon stretch once the meetings finally clear. The conversation turns personal as they trace how they each landed here. Neither planned on accounting, Renee came from hospitality and a communications degree, Maria failed her first accounting class before ever imagining she'd earn a CPA and both found the firm almost by accident, through a stray job listing and a cold email that wasn't supposed to lead anywhere. What was meant to be temporary for both of them turned into years. It's a reminder that behind every client relationship is a team figuring things out one day at a time and that some of the best career paths are the ones nobody plans.

    Minisode: Career Paths, Productivity, and Life Behind the Scenes at the Firm

  5. Sep 1

    The Debrief: A Fighter Pilot's Secret to Better Leadership

    Leadership Lessons from the Cockpit Most business owners plan a launch, run it, and move on to the next thing, without ever asking their team what worked and what didn't. Randy Miller learned a different way in the U.S. Air Force, where every mission ended with a "debrief," and rank didn't matter once the discussion started. In this episode, Miguel sits down with Randy Miller, a Vistage Chair in Austin who spent over 20 years flying F-4 fighter jets before building an Inc. 500 staffing company and later becoming an executive coach. Randy breaks down the leadership habits he picked up in the military and later in business that most CEOs never build into their teams. Other insights from this episode include: Why the military "debrief" is a habit most businesses are missingHow to communicate the "why" behind every ask, not just the ask itselfChallenger Sales: why asking the right questions outsells pitching featuresThe "can you do one more?" trick for compounding team productivityWhy employees don't leave companies, they leave managersHow Randy is using AI tools like Claude to sharpen his coachingAbout Our Guest Randy Miller, Vistage Chair in Austin, leads CEO peer advisory groups helping business owners and executives grow their companies. Connect with Miguel on LinkedIn or media@centurionfirm.com

  6. Aug 25

    Minisode: Lessons and the Future

    Lessons and the Future This time, Daniela flips the script and interviews Miguel and he doesn't get to dodge anything. She starts with a question every partnership faces: what happens when the two of you disagree on a live client call? Miguel walks through how he handles it (hint: the client never sees the disagreement). From there, things get more personal — the last time Miguel actually burned out and what caused it, the internal software idea he was convinced would work that AI quietly made pointless, and what he'd do differently if he were starting the firm today instead of almost 10 years ago. They close on presence versus ambition, the pull to always be building toward the next thing, and why some of the best moments end up being the ones you weren't trying to plan for at all.

    Minisode: Lessons and the Future

  7. Aug 18

    The $100 Website That Led to a Fintech Company: Inside Aloha with Rodrigo Romero

    What happens when a self-taught 14-year-old hacker from the Dominican Republic grows up to rebuild the payments infrastructure for an entire industry? On this episode of Beyond the Bottom Line, Miguel sits down with Rodrigo Romero, founder and CEO of Aloha, a Miami-based fintech company building the banking and payments infrastructure powering the future of travel across the Americas. Rodrigo's path started far from fintech, building his first $100 websites in Yahoo Chat rooms, landing a $2,000 client at 14 without knowing how to build what he'd just sold, and eventually co-founding Aloha with Jorge Dupri after Jorge's own boutique hotels kept losing bookings to cross-border payment friction. What began as a software play quickly became something bigger: a platform solving the real problem underneath it, moving money seamlessly across countries and currencies for travel and hospitality businesses. In this conversation, Rodrigo breaks down why travel is one of the least "tech-touched" industries around, how Aloha protects both merchants and travelers from fraud and chargebacks, and why compliance can never be an afterthought in fintech. He also gets candid about the hardest pivot of his company's life, when the software layer they built to bootstrap the business started outgrowing the payments business it was meant to support and how he uses AI agents (not chatbots) to run reconciliation, investor outreach, and even serve as a sparring partner for his own blind spots. In this episode: How a Packard Bell computer and a printed HTML manual sparked a fintech careerWhy "just get a customer" beats perfecting your productThe real problem Aloha solves: payments, not just softwareHow Argentina's currency tax changes are reshaping cross-border travel spendingUsing closed-loop AI agents instead of prompt-and-wait AIWhy onboarding is a non-negotiable leadership principleWhat to look for in a co-founder (hint: not someone just like you)About Our Guest Rodrigo Romero is the founder and CEO of Aloha, a Miami-based fintech company building the payments and banking infrastructure powering the future of travel across the Americas. Alongside co-founder Jorge Dupri, he founded Aloha to help travel and hospitality businesses simplify cross-border payments, access local banking services, and move money seamlessly across countries and currencies. Learn more about Aloha, or connect with Rodrigo on LinkedIn. Connect with Miguel Connect with Miguel on LinkedIn or reach out at media@centurionfirm.com.

  8. Aug 11

    Minisode: The Joint Venture That Became a Merger: A Tax Firm Partnership Story

    Building a Business Partnership: Miguel & Daniela's Origin Story What does it actually take to merge two firms into one? In this minisode, Miguel sits down with his business partner, Daniela Menache, to talk about the real story behind how their partnership came together — nerves, negotiations, and all. Before they were partners, Daniela was running a full-service firm on her own, personally reviewing 500 tax returns a year while searching for a tax manager she never quite found. She was at a breaking point: find a partner, sell part of the business, or walk away from clients she loved. That search for balance is where this story begins. Miguel and Daniela take listeners through their Joint Venture phase, the trial run before the full merger, and get honest about what didn't go as planned. They talk through the messy, practical side of combining two firms — choosing which systems to keep, aligning two different company cultures, cleaning up client contracts (and canceling a lot of unused subscriptions) — and how reducing their client count actually grew their bottom line. It's a candid look at what complementary skill sets look like in practice, why having a partner means you can actually take a vacation, and how they're thinking about the future of their industry in the age of AI.

    Minisode: The Joint Venture That Became a Merger: A Tax Firm Partnership Story
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Beyond the Bottom Line is a podcast for founders and business owners who want practical insight they can actually use as they grow. Hosted by Miguel Alexander Centeno, founder and CEO of Centurion Firm, the show features in-depth conversations with industry experts, clients, and business owners about how they think through tax, cash flow, operations, and the decisions that come with running a real business. We focus on how things really work when you’re scaling, what challenges tend to come up, and how other founders, experts, and operators have dealt with them. If you’re building or growing a business (often somewhere between $500K and $25M+ in revenue), this show is designed to help you make smarter financial and operational decisions and keep more of what you earn.

Information

  • Creator
    Miguel Alexander Centeno
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    39
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Beyond the Bottom Line
  • Show Website
    Beyond the Bottom Line