Going Beyond the Deal

J. Michael Fischer Jr | DBD Investment Bank
  • 5.0 (78)
  • Investing
  • Updated Semiweekly

Welcome to Going Beyond The Deal. The show for founders, business owners, and professionals who want to grow smarter, achieve bigger exits, and build a legacy that lasts. Your host is no other than, J. Michael Fischer Jr – connector, life-long student of personal growth, and Managing Director at DBD – a bespoke investment bank that helps businesses handle big financial moves. Each week, we look beyond the numbers and the deals to talk about what really drives success. You'll hear from entrepreneurs, strategists, and top performers about the mindset, habits, and decisions that help businesses — and people — keep moving forward. If you're getting ready to sell, raise capital, or just level up — you're in the right place.

  1. 1d ago

    64 | Carolyn Vallejo - How to Find the Real Story Behind Any 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 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 ResourcesACG InsightsMiddle Market GrowthGF DataACG New JerseyOwnership WorksBoston University (BU), College of CommunicationSum 41, bandWarner Bros., London studios where she interviewed Sum 41Big Cheese Magazine, London music magazineThe DigBoston publication, now defunctThe Modern Day Rainmaker, by J. Michael Fischer Jr.Mountain by The Movement, reggae rock bandEmail ACG: tips@acg.org About the GuestCarolyn 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 LinksFeel 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.

  2. Oct 6

    63 | Josh Sanders - How to Pass Down a Business Without Forcing Your Kids

    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 Highlights02:13 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 ResourcesSea Breeze Bosco TJX stores (TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods) Six Sigma Green Belt About the GuestJosh 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 LinksFeel 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.

  3. Sep 29

    62 | Tom Selementi - How to Scale a Beloved Brand Without Losing Its Soul

    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 ResourcesSpread BagelryLe Pain Quotidien (LPQ)The Little BeetBluestone LaneCarmine’s and Alicart Restaurant GroupJersey Mike’sCavaPopUp BagelsToastRutgers UniversityRed LobsterHavana CentralEss-a-Bagel About the GuestTom 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 LinksFeel 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.

  4. Sep 22

    61 | What You Keep Is The Deal: The $30m Deal That Beat The $50m 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 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 LinksFeel 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.

  5. Sep 15

    60 | Eric Cohen - Stop Letting Hidden Money Walk Out Your Door

    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 fee you never read is quietly draining your profit? J. Michael Fischer Jr. sits down with Eric Cohen, founder and CEO of Merchant Advocate, built to sit on the business owner's side and cut credit card processing fees without switching processors. Eric came up inside the industry, saw how the fees really work, then switched sides. They break down what a merchant statement really says, who actually makes the money, the hidden line items like non-PCI fees and rate creep buried where no one reads, and why one overlooked charge can cost a seller hundreds of thousands at exit. Every unnecessary fee flows straight to EBITDA and multiplies when the business sells. If you take credit cards, you are probably leaving money on the table and cannot see it. This is the value hiding inside your business long before any transaction happens. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights[01:28] – The statement sitting in your inbox that quietly eats your profit and your exit value [04:52] – How needing a credit card machine turned into a residual income business [07:56] – The overnight rate hike almost no business owner ever notices [09:34] – A consumer advocate exists, so why was there never a merchant advocate? [11:08] – Why no one is really watching your rates, and what that lets processors do [15:19] – Who actually makes the money when you swipe a card, and it is not who you think [18:23] – Why a merchant statement is your cell phone bill times fifty [20:06] – The unanswered survey that can quietly cost you half a million at sale [23:42] – The surcharge scheme where the extra one percent disappears [27:38] – The data entry mistake that cost one company two million dollars a year [29:31] – Why merchant fees can swing a business sale by millions [29:55] – The savings a private equity buyer hopes you never find first [38:01] – The small moment that flipped his entire business philosophy Mentioned ResourcesVisaMastercardAmerican ExpressDiscoverBetter Business BureauCredit Card Competition ActDurbin AmendmentChatGPTClaude About the GuestEric Cohen is the founder and CEO of Merchant Advocate, a firm he started in 2006 to sit on the business owner's side of the table and lower credit card processing costs without forcing a switch in processors. He came up inside the merchant services industry as an independent sales organization, then flipped sides to represent the merchant, negotiate against existing processors, and monitor statements month after month for hidden fees and rate creep. Merchant Advocate has saved clients over 300 million dollars in excess fees. A Pepperdine MBA based in New Jersey, Eric runs the company alongside his wife Danielle, who serves as chief operating officer. 🔗 LinkedIn | Website Important LinksFeel 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.

  6. Sep 8

    59 | Jessica Walsh – How One Problem Became the World's Smallest Injector

    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 fix for a life-or-death problem was small enough to fit in the tiny pocket of your jeans? Jessica Walsh has a severe allergy, the kind where the wrong exposure becomes an emergency. Prescribed a bulky EpiPen, she taped it to her arm just to go running. Rather than live with it, the founder and CEO of Rx Bandz built a better one. She sits down with J. Michael Fischer Jr. to trace how one problem became MiniJect, an auto-injector half the size of a traditional one, then a platform the U.S. military is backing to deliver medications from pain relief to treatments that stop bleeding. She cut open her own EpiPen to see inside, built a team of specialists, and learned to stop talking and listen to patients. If you have ever learned to live with a problem, don't miss this. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights[03:48] – The bee sting that started it all, and the line that turned a patient into a founder [04:50] – Before any of this, she built wireless networks where there was nothing [05:48] – The leap most people never make: leaving a funded job with an amazing budget [07:23] – Why she works on this like her life depends on it, because it does [08:02] – The calls from mothers, and the story that makes this bigger than one person [09:15] – What happened when the military asked, what else can you deliver [10:03] – MiniJect explained like you are the patient: cap off, press, done in under half a second [11:18] – Why it did not stop at epinephrine, and the IV drug they moved to one injection [13:12] – Drone warfare, no medic, and doing drug math under fire in night vision goggles [14:30] – Built to survive Special Forces and a kid's backpack, military-grade protection for families [16:40] – The DIY moment: putting her own auto-injector in a vise and cutting it open [17:11] – From napkin sketch to a manufacturable device, and the New Jersey partners who made it real [19:46] – The New Jersey funding program she could not believe was real [23:23] – The million-dollar question: the pivot that only happened when she stopped talking and listened Mentioned ResourcesEpiPenBechtelWeiss-AugAscendiaPrince Sterilization ServicesBD (Becton Dickinson)MedtronicBioNJNew Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), Innovation Evergreen Fund About the GuestJessica Walsh is the founder and CEO of Rx Bandz, a biotech developing the next generation of patient-centric auto-injectors to deliver a wide range of injectable medications. After a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting left her carrying a bulky EpiPen, she set out to build a better solution and created MiniJect, an ultra-compact auto-injector less than half the size of a traditional one. Before founding Rx Bandz, she built wireless telecommunications infrastructure with Bechtel, work that taught her to move into new territory and navigate the regulatory hurdles and milestones a hard build demands. Today her platform is designed to serve patients, EMS, and the U.S. military. 🔗 LinkedIn | Website Important LinksFeel 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.

  7. Sep 1

    58 | Best of: Selling Your Business

    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 financial moment of your life comes down to everything except the number? In this collage episode of Going Beyond the Deal, host J. Michael Fischer Jr., Managing Director at DBD Investment Bank, gathers the moments that hit listeners hardest on the subject founders think about most and prepare for least: selling the business. Michael breaks down why a $50 million offer can mean two very different lives, why structure not price decides what you keep, and why the best buyer is rarely the highest bidder. Three guests add hard-won perspective: Jeff Parnell on preparing years early, Nio Queiro on the company buyers dream of, and Zach Kuehne on the small decision that changed everything. If you are weighing your own next chapter, growth, capital, or a sale, start here. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights[00:00] – Why a calm process is a sign of strength, not hesitation [01:21] – The financial moment this best-of is built around, and what most owners get wrong [01:51] – Why a $50 million offer can mean two completely different lives [02:38] – An exit, or a job with a closing dinner: the difference founders miss [03:34] – Not the fine print, the deal: how structure quietly decides what you keep [04:46] – Jeff Parnell on the runway you need before a sale, and being honest with yourself [05:22] – The owner who waited an extra 10 years and left $10 million on the table [06:15] – Nio Queiro on the company every buyer dreams of [07:56] – Why the best buyer is almost never the highest bidder [08:31] – The questions nobody writes into the LOI, and why you diligence the buyer [10:05] – Legacy or obligation: the line families confuse constantly [11:21] – Zach Kuehne on the small choice, 700 miles from home, that changed everything [13:46] – The old line Michael keeps coming back to, and why the champagne always runs out Featured GuestsJeff Parnell, on preparing a business and its owner for a sale years in advance. | Episode 15 - How to Prepare Your Business for the Next Generation Nio Queiro, on what makes a company a buyer magnet and why nothing moves faster than your comfort level. | Episode 33 - Stop Losing Value: Uncommon Tools for Building a Buyer Magnet Zach Kuehne, on leading a legacy business and the small decisions that shape a career. | Episode 11 - How to Lead a Legacy Business into the Future Important LinksFeel 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.

  8. Aug 25

    57 | Why the Highest Offer Is Rarely the Best 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 highest offer is the worst thing that could happen to everything you built? There is a moment near the end of almost every deal when the owner goes quiet. The number is good, sometimes better than they imagined, and still stops them cold. In this solo episode, J. Michael Fischer Jr., Managing Director at DBD Investment Bank, explains why the highest bid and the right home for your company are two different things. Michael breaks down the four buyers who might want your business, strategic, private equity, family office, and individual, and what each means for your people, your name, and your life after the close. He shows why one buyer hands the leverage to the other side, and why competition is about terms, not just price. Do not start with your number. Start with what winning looks like the morning after the deal closes. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights[01:09] – The quiet moment at the end of almost every deal, and what it really means [01:50] – The question owners spend decades avoiding until it is too late [02:57] – The strategic buyer, why they can pay the most, and what it costs you [04:14] – The hidden downside of synergy, and whose job disappears first [04:52] – Private equity, the bad rap, the hype, and the truth in between [06:00] – Rolled equity and the second bite of the apple that can beat the first [07:20] – Why private equity may buy you a partner and a scoreboard, not a retirement [08:31] – The family office that might own your company for 20 years, or forever [09:15] – The one thing to understand before you take anyone's money [09:50] – The individual buyer nobody talks about, and the one thing they offer [12:43] – The game you play once against someone who has played it 100 times [13:15] – Why four good buyers flip the leverage back to your side Important LinksFeel 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.

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About

Welcome to Going Beyond The Deal. The show for founders, business owners, and professionals who want to grow smarter, achieve bigger exits, and build a legacy that lasts. Your host is no other than, J. Michael Fischer Jr – connector, life-long student of personal growth, and Managing Director at DBD – a bespoke investment bank that helps businesses handle big financial moves. Each week, we look beyond the numbers and the deals to talk about what really drives success. You'll hear from entrepreneurs, strategists, and top performers about the mindset, habits, and decisions that help businesses — and people — keep moving forward. If you're getting ready to sell, raise capital, or just level up — you're in the right place.

Information

  • Creator
    J. Michael Fischer Jr | DBD Investment Bank
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    65
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    Copyright © 2025 DBD Partners LLC
  • Show Website
    Going Beyond the Deal