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Business News

Business News

Updated Weekly

Oct 8

PE Guy Creator Johnny Hilbrant Partridge on Turning a Viral Character Into a Career

In this episode of The CEO Series, Will sits down with Johnny Hillbrant Partridge, the creator behind PE Guy. Johnny talks about growing up in Winnetka, studying business at the University of Denver, and taking classes at Second City and UCB. He also looks back on working at The Ellen DeGeneres Show and teaching at SoulCycle before content became his full-time job. He walks through the "guy you get stuck talking to at a wedding" video that started PE Guy, why he gave the character a career in private equity, and how he crowdsources intel from his DMs to write videos. He also covers running the business with no staff, his $5,000 first brand deal, the thousands of personalized videos he's made, and how brand deals work. He shares his views on private equity, the wealth gap, and satire's role in American capitalism, and answers audience questions.
Oct 2

Lossdog Co-Founder & CEO Tom Sosnoff: "Every CEO Is Replaceable"

In this episode of The CEO Series, Will sits down with Lossdog co-founder and CEO Tom Sosnoff. Tom talks about starting on Wall Street in 1980, moving to Chicago to trade on the CBOE floor, and meeting Scott Sheridan, his business partner of nearly 40 years. He walks through building and selling thinkorswim and tastytrade, including the three-way trade with the Ricketts family that closed the thinkorswim deal. He also covers the $3 million investment that turned Zero Hash around, what he's building now at Lossdog, and why he and Scott gave $50 million to their employees after their exits. He shares his views on CEO pay, the wealth gap, and American capitalism, and gets into his trading philosophy, the biggest mistake people make in the stock market, and why he'd rather follow people who are always wrong.
Jan 28

Ryan Serhant on Owning Manhattan, Wasted Potential & AI in Real Estate

What part of you has to die to become the leader you're meant to be? In this episode of The CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Ryan Serhantt‬ , CEO and Founder of SERHANT and star of Netflix's Owning Manhattan, inside a $45M New York City mansion to talk about the real cost of leadership, not the Instagram version. This conversation isn't about flexing deals or views. It's about: • The parts of himself Ryan had to sacrifice to become a CEO. • Why being at the top is lonely, relentless, and often misunderstood. • How he balances running a fast-growing company with being the face of a Netflix show. • His biggest fear: wasted potential. • What he really thinks about AI, housing affordability, and "the American dream" of homeownership. • The mindset it takes to build a number one brokerage in the world If you're a founder, executive, or ambitious operator trying to scale your life and your business without losing your soul, this episode is for you. 0:57 | Introduction and $45M Upper East Side Listing 3:00 | SERHANT'S "Brokerage 3.0" Model and Core Mission 4:38 | CEO Role, Delegation, and Strategic Media Planning 6:09 | The Battle of Work and Calculating Brand Power Ratio (BPR) 8:49 | Career Origin: From Actor to Agent 11:12 | The Sacrifice and Weight of Being a CEO 12:23 | Pressure, Risk, and the Fear of Wasted Potential 15:33 | Selling "Signature Properties" and the Necessity of Brand Power 17:30 | Market Threats and Housing Policy 23:30 | Home Ownership Advice and the Final Fire Round Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPSt5h7Bdkk
Jul 23

Capital One Co-Founder Nigel Morris on The Idea That Built Capital One

In this episode of The CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Nigel Morris, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of QED Investors and Co-Founder of Capital One. Nigel traces the origins of Capital One, from a working class childhood in England with a military father who moved the family 11 times, to building one of the most disruptive financial services companies in history. He recounts how he and Rich Fairbank identified that the biggest banks in America were making billion dollar decisions by gut instinct rather than data, and how being rejected by 25 banks only strengthened their conviction to prove them wrong. He discusses the regulatory crisis of 2002 that caused Capital One's stock to drop 40% overnight, what it felt like to carry his net worth statement in his briefcase for a year before leaving the company he built, and why the only sustainable advantage in any business is culture. Nigel also shares his philosophy on venture capital at QED, why fintech is a force for social good, and why he believes artificial intelligence will kill jobs while simultaneously creating opportunities we cannot yet conceive of.
Sep 17

Spin Master Co-Founder Ronnen Harary on Paw Patrol, Bakugan, and Betting on Yourself Young

In this episode of The CEO Series, Will sits down with Spin Master co-founder and chairman Ronnen Harary. Ronnen walks through the early days of the company, including Earth Buddy, Devil Sticks, and Air Hogs. He also gets into the boom and bust of Bakugan, when sales went from $450 million to a billion and back again. He points to hubris as the real cause and explains how that period led directly to Paw Patrol. He tells the full story of Paw Patrol's inception. He talks about writing his book, No Experience Necessary, and opens up about his dysgraphia, growing up with emotional neglect, and the gifts that came with both. He also covers why he prefers running a public company to a private one, the decision to step down as co-CEO in 2021, the sabbatical that took him from Cape Town to Nairobi, what tariffs did to the toy industry last year, and why physical toys are growing rather than shrinking in an AI world. He closes on the perception of wealth and business leaders, why he finds the billionaire framing distasteful, his views on monopolies and free markets, voting with your wallet, and the simplest way to get equity in anything.
Jul 10 · Video

Capital One Co-Founder Nigel Morris on How He Built Capital One After 25 Rejections

In this episode of The CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Nigel Morris, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of QED Investors and Co-Founder of Capital One. Nigel traces the origins of Capital One, from a working class childhood in England with a military father who moved the family 11 times, to building one of the most disruptive financial services companies in history. He recounts how he and Rich Fairbank identified that the biggest banks in America were making billion dollar decisions by gut instinct rather than data, and how being rejected by 25 banks only strengthened their conviction to prove them wrong. He discusses the regulatory crisis of 2002 that caused Capital One's stock to drop 40% overnight, what it felt like to carry his net worth statement in his briefcase for a year before leaving the company he built, and why the only sustainable advantage in any business is culture. Nigel also shares his philosophy on venture capital at QED, why fintech is a force for social good, and why he believes artificial intelligence will kill jobs while simultaneously creating opportunities we cannot yet conceive of.
May 28

ScottsMiracle-Gro CEO Jim Hagedorn On Overcoming Losing $2 Billion

In this episode of The CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Jim Hagedorn, CEO of ScottsMiracle-Gro. Hagedorn opens up about the most turbulent chapter of his career: a $2 billion gamble on the cannabis industry that nearly ran the company into the ground. He discusses the intense pressure of "burning money," the isolation of leadership during a crisis, and the difficult reality of cutting hundreds of millions in operating expenses to keep the business afloat. Hagedorn also shares insights into his unconventional path to CEO, from running away from home at 15 to join a commune to flying F-16s in the Air Force. He reflects on the "ruthless" but influential relationship with his father, Horace Hagedorn, and how he eventually spearheaded the massive deal between Scotts and Miracle-Gro.
03/11/2025

OLIPOP CEO Ben Goodwin: Building a $1.8B Beverage Empire | The CEO Series

🎙️ If you enjoyed this episode of The CEO Series with CEO of Olipop, don't miss the full video, can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jUNw4Igznc Follow: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ceoseries/ Follow me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wsalvi/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-salvi/ Published On: Feb 22, 2025
May 7

Doppel CEO Kevin Tian on Fighting AI-Driven Social Engineering

As digital integrity faces an existential threat from AI-driven social engineering, traditional cybersecurity has reached a critical turning point. Attackers are no longer just sending simple phishing emails; they are deploying autonomous AI agents to conduct "vibe phishing". They do this by using deepfakes and fake personas to build rapport and manipulate victims in real-time across multiple channels. To survive this "dystopia" where seeing is no longer believing, organizations must move beyond manual workflows toward a modernized, machine-led defense that can match the volume, velocity, and variety of today's threats. In this episode of the CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Kevin Tian, the CEO and co-founder of Doppel. A former software engineer at Uber and Lyft who worked on flying cars and dispatch systems, Kevin has pivoted his expertise in large-scale machine learning to protect the world's most recognized brands. Doppel recently secured major funding from top-tier investors like Andreessen Horowitz to scale their social engineering defense platform, which now protects against sophisticated impersonation attacks for organizations managing billions of people. This interview is presented by Orchestra. Orchestra is a strategic, integrated communications and marketing company helping brands connect, engage and grow in today's fragmented media landscape. Learn more about them here: https://www.orchestraco.com
Sep 1

How this investment banker became CEO of a Whiskey brand at 33 | WhistlePig CEO Alex Roberts

In this episode of The CEO Series, Will travels to Vermont to sit down with Alex Roberts, CEO of WhistlePig Whiskey, at the WhistlePig farm. Alex explains how he went from working as a 24-year-old investment banking analyst on a potential sale of WhistlePig to being offered the CFO job himself. He talks about entering the company with no operating experience, dealing with imposter syndrome and the blunt feedback from his CEO that forced him to rethink how he was adding value. Eight years later, Alex became CEO. He walks through the transition from CFO to CEO, why he restructured the company within his first weeks in the role and what he has learned about making difficult decisions, building an executive team and more. Alex also breaks down how WhistlePig grew roughly 5x during his time with the company, what it actually takes to grow a premium whiskey brand and why bartenders have played such an important role in WhistlePig's strategy. They get into declining alcohol consumption, Gen Z, marijuana, affordability, AI eliminating jobs, tariffs and why Alex believes being a private company gives WhistlePig an advantage. After the conversation, Will tours the farm and distillery and meets the pigs and Highland cows.

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