Recent podcasts and interviews that capture parts of my thinking around entrepreneurship, exits, ownership, energy, investing and life. Some are polished. Some aren't. I’m leaving them up anyway.
A lot of how I think about business and life is buried in these more than anywhere else.
*below doesn't include the dozens of pods I did pre-2025
Alan writes an excellent free weekly newsletter where shares his thoughts about business building, entrepreneurship and wealth planning. He also runs Capital Partners, a boutique wealth planning firm for UK entrepreneurs.
A few themes we explored
Entrepreneurship as a path to freedom, not just financial success
Building healthier, more valuable businesses through an acquirer's lens
Founder psychology, identity, and preparing for life after an exit
Why energy, health, and resilience are strategic advantages
Lessons from surviving a stroke and redefining success
How to choose advisers and avoid common M&A mistakes
Key Quotes:
“A useful thought is more valuable than a true thought.”
Episode highlights:
Your biggest advantage isn't knowledge. It's energy. Treating health, sleep and vitality as strategic assets improves decision-making, resilience and leadership - not just productivity.
The best businesses are built through an acquirer's lens. Thinking like a buyer forces better decisions around systems, positioning, intellectual property and long-term value—even if you never intend to sell.
Most founders underestimate the importance of choosing advisers well. The quality of your M&A adviser can materially affect both the outcome of a transaction and the experience of getting there.
Opportunity comes from asking. Many of the biggest breakthroughs in business start with a thoughtful ask. Most people simply don't ask enough.
True wealth starts with defining your own version of success. Until you're clear on what you actually want from life, it's easy to spend years chasing goals that belong to someone else.
Recovery changed how I think about business forever. Surviving a stroke at 30 shifted my perspective on time, health, ownership and why entrepreneurship should create more freedom, not less.
The Mindset That Turns Success Into Freedom
Money Stories with Mike Brown (2026)
We chat about entrepreneurship, the gap between success and genuine freedom, why many become trapped by the business they built, how trauma rewires your perspective, and more.
A more personal and reflective conversation than most podcasts I’ve done. Raw and conversational in places, it captures a lot of how I think about business, money, energy, and freedom.
The Mindset That Turns Success Into Freedom Money Stories 2026
Mike is a dear friend doing important work with entrepreneurs around money mindset and wealth.
A few themes we explored
How trauma and mortality reshape your relationship with time, money, and freedom
The difference between building income versus building ownership
Why many entrepreneurs unintentionally become trapped by the businesses they create
Using entrepreneurship as a vehicle for freedom rather than identity or status
The role of meditation, wellness, and intentionality in entrepreneurial life
Why investment thinking changes how you approach risk, work, and opportunity
Key Quotes:
“Anything can happen to anyone at any moment.”
“I think your choice of life partner is the most important decision you’re ever going to make.”
“The great reasons to exit are because it’s a conscious choice. The bad reasons are because it’s forced on you.”
“Asset-based income means you don’t have to go to work every day to create it.”
Episode highlights:
Trauma changes your relationship with time. Surviving a stroke at 30 forced me to rethink health, energy, freedom, and what actually matters.
Wealth is more than money. Financial security matters, but so do energy, relationships, freedom of thought, and peace of mind.
Meditation and wellness aren’t soft skills. Practices like yoga and meditation became tools for recovery, resilience, and better decision-making under pressure.
The best exits are conscious decisions. Selling from exhaustion or burnout leads to very different outcomes than selling from strength and clarity.
True ownership starts with responsibility. Building a business, relationship, or life requires taking full responsibility for the cards you’ve been dealt.
How to Build Exit-Ready Companies
Beyond 8 Figures Podcast with AJ Lawrence (2025)
A conversation about exit readiness, founder psychology, broken sell-side processes, and why building a business with optionality often creates a stronger company - even if you never intend to sell it.
This was recorded fairly early in the DKZ journey. It’s conversational and unpolished in places, but I still stand behind most of the ideas.
How to Build Exit Ready Companies Beyond 8 Figures Podcast 2025
Building companies as assets rather than lifestyles
Why distribution often matters more than product
Key Quotes:
“You can have a very profitable business that actually is unsalable. And that’s something a lot of business owners don’t actually understand. It’s not that it will be hard to sell, it’s actually impossible to buy.”
“Think about the end game and don’t think of that as like several years off… start spending an hour a week on putting this stuff together. That can have a profound impact on the quality of your company today as well as creating that optionality in a future to sell or step back.”
Episode highlights:
Just because it’s profitable doesn’t mean it’s sellable. The harsh truth is many founders build great income machines that buyers can’t touch.
Exits start earlier than you think. The systems, structure, and strategy you put in place today will determine your future options.
Run it like an asset, not a piggy bank. If your finances are messy or your value is locked in your own head, you’re not building a business. You’re building a trap.
There’s power in being ready. Niraj calls it “right-click confidence”. Being able to drop a buyer into your data room at a moment’s notice changes everything.
The best exits are designed backwards. A strong advisory board, clean financials, and a clear growth story make you more valuable now, not just later.
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