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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.
3d ago

Thrive Market CEO Nick Green on What the U.S. Lets Into Your Food

In this episode of The CEO Series, Will sits down with Nick Green, co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market. Nick talks about growing up in the Midwest in a house with no junk food, his mom's Mexican-American roots, and how her push on health and education shaped his path. He also looks back on starting Ivy Insiders, a test prep company, at Harvard and selling it a few years after graduating. He walks through meeting his co-founder with a "Groupon for healthy food" idea, getting turned down by more than 100 VCs, and how health wellness bloggers and influencers ended up writing the early checks. He also covers the Costco-style membership model, banning more than 1,000 ingredients, building the Thrive Market brand, navigating tariffs, and what grocery shopping looks like when AI fills most of your cart. He shares his views on MAHA and RFK Jr., the gap between EU and U.S. food standards, the decade-long push to let SNAP be used online, and why profit is necessary but isn't the purpose of a business.
10/03/2025

Culver's CEO Julie Fussner on Burger Business, Culture, and Growth

🎙️ If you enjoyed this episode of The CEO Series with CEO of Culvers, don't miss the full video, can find here: https://youtu.be/vwOTwLm1zIk?si=NH6Tdotj8yPUYrZ9 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: Sep 18, 2025
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.
Aug 6

HexClad CEO Danny Winer on building a billion-dollar brand after 50

In this episode of The CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Danny Winer, co-founder and CEO of HexClad. Danny traces his path from studying theater and film at NYU and moving to Los Angeles with $2,000 and three suitcases, to a car accident at 28 that broke his back, shattered his right leg, and left him six figures in debt with no ability to work. He rebuilt by selling cookware at trade shows, then lost his first company, Juicepresso, in September 2016 at age 50. What became HexClad started in the basement hallway of a trade show in Guangzhou, where Danny spotted hexagons lasered onto a Korean barbecue plate and found the rare thing nobody finds at those shows: the actual inventor, holding a book of 13 patents. They talk about the handshake deal that gave an unknown American company US exclusivity, why every investor turned him down for refusing to sell into retail, the emptied retirement accounts and rolling stack of credit cards, and the single Costco test store that saved the company when it was months from going out of business. They also get into celebrity partnerships. Gordon Ramsay found HexClad by following them on Instagram, and Danny explains what his business manager meant by "you're going to get more than you bargained for," why Gordon is on weekly calls looking at numbers rather than just filming ads, and what happens when he does not like a product. Plus becoming the official cookware of the New York Yankees, the F1 work, and how a conversation with Jimmy Iovine turned a martini shaker into a collaboration with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.
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
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.
Feb 26

How Vita Coco Won The Coconut Water

"There were a lot of moments that felt like failure," says Mike Kirban, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Vita Coco. From early supply chain challenges to competing with giants like Coke, building the coconut water category was far from smooth. In this episode of The CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Mike to talk about taking a simple idea from Brazil and turning it into Vita Coco, navigating the lowest moments of his career, standing up to major beverage players, and what changed when he stepped into the Executive Chairman role. 🎥 Credits: Host: William Salvi Producers: Christopher Salvi, Miguel Aponte Assistant Producer: Sejal Jain Director of Photography/ Audio: Corey Florin Second Cam: Kevin Prada PA: Drew Bosset Editor: Julian Beltran Content Creator: Ariel Burns Social Media Manager: Eric Moran
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

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