The Deal Podcast

What does a banker actually look for before saying yes to your deal? Ben Smith, Market President at Red River Bank in Lafayette, Louisiana, pulls back the curtain on how banks evaluate business acquisitions, equipment financing, and commercial lending — and what business owners can do right now to set themselves up for growth.

Ben brings nearly 25 years of banking experience, starting in credit review and commercial lending before b...

Bubba Page watched a $50K investment grow to $200K on paper — then passed on the chance to cash out. A year later, that company went bankrupt. His position went to zero.

That one decision — and the hard-won wisdom that followed — reshaped how he approaches every deal today. He calls it the cookie jar rule: when someone passes the jar, you take a cookie.

Bubba Page is a 5x INC5000 serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and founder of In...

Most first-time buyers skip the QoE. Elliott Holland has spent 15 years watching that mistake blow up deals — and families. In this episode, he breaks down exactly when you need one, what it finds, and why the EBITDA number you're looking at may not be real.

Elliott Holland is the founder and CEO of Guardian Due Diligence, a Harvard MBA, former private equity professional, independent sponsor, and one of the earliest self-funde...

What does an investigative journalist notice that most deal makers miss? Adam Daigle of the Acadiana Advocate has spent 15 years covering business, M&A, and economic development across Louisiana — and his pattern recognition for spotting winners and losers might be sharper than most investors in the room.

In this episode of The Deal Podcast, Joshua Wilson and Jude David sit down with Adam Daigle, business journalist for the Acad...

From tennis courts in São Paulo to building one of Lafayette, Louisiana's most ambitious mixed-use hotel developments — Gus Rezende's story is one of grit, community, and hard-earned entrepreneurial wisdom.

Gus Rezende is the co-founder and managing partner of Social Entertainment, a Lafayette-based holding company with 300+ employees, 12 Tropical Smoothie Cafe locations, restaurant concepts including Central Pizza, real e...

90% of family wealth is gone by the third generation — and it's not bad investments doing the damage. It's governance failures, the hard conversations nobody has, and the failure to pass down the values and stories that created the wealth in the first place. In this episode, Tim Brown breaks down what actually separates multi-generational family offices from those that quietly fade back to shirt sleeves.

In this episode of...

Most business owners are leaving money on the table — not because they're running a bad business, but because they can't prove how good it is. In this episode, we break down exactly what buyers look for and how to build a business that commands top dollar.

Joshua Wilson sits down with Mark Sims, a former Chief Information Officer and Head of Strategy & M&A at Scott's Miracle-Gro ($4B company), who now helps bu...

What does it look like when faith and dealmaking become the same story? Brandon Robinson — a practicing CRNA turned multi-unit Planet Fitness franchisee — shares one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial journeys you'll hear on this show.

Brandon built a portfolio of Planet Fitness locations in Louisiana from a standing start, backed by nothing but a $777,000 landlord contribution, a business partner who said yes without hesit...

What if most private equity firms are using AI completely wrong — and leaving massive IRR on the table because of it? Mohamad Chahine has sat in nearly every seat in the deal ecosystem: corporate engineer at Schlumberger, MBA consultant, PE deal team member, operating partner, and now PE tech founder. In this episode, he shares a rare practitioner's perspective on value creation, the trust curve, and why the PE library despera...

From sugar cane fields in New Iberia, Louisiana to investing in the next frontier of space technology — Theo Williams' path to venture capital is unlike anything you've heard. If you want to understand how early-stage VC actually works, this episode is required listening.

Theo Williams is a Partner at Creations VC, a venture capital firm focused on dual-use space technology across data infrastructure, advanced energy, meta...

Most business owners spend years building something great — and almost no time thinking about what comes next. The buyers on the other side? They think about this stuff every single day.

In this episode, Joshua Wilson sits down with co-host and Kin Capital Partners co-founder Jude David — an M&A attorney turned acquisition entrepreneur who has closed hundreds of transactions and built a portfolio of a dozen companies from the gr...

He sold his company for $230 million right before oil prices collapsed. It wasn't luck — it was a board meeting. Thomas Chance joins The Deal Podcast to share what 30+ years of building, selling, and starting over actually looks like from the inside.

Thomas Chance is a serial entrepreneur, engineer, and Louisiana native who built CNC Technologies into the world's largest privately held offshore survey company — 600 employe...

What do Grammy-winning songwriting credits, merchant cash advances for the Latino community, and a reverse merger into the OTC markets have in common? They're all part of Yoel Damas' story — and it's one you won't forget.

In this episode of The Deal Podcast, Joshua Wilson sits down with Yoel Damas — entertainment attorney, Grammy-credited songwriter, and now CEO of a publicly traded revenue-based finance company ...

What happens when a six-time X Games competitor realizes the athletes he idolizes are losing their homes, battling addiction, and going broke? Dan Brisse made a decision that changed his life — and now he's helping 750+ investors do the same through multifamily real estate.

Dan Brisse is the co-founder of Granite Towers Equity Group, a private equity firm specializing in multifamily value-add apartments. Before building a real ...

What does nearly five decades of business law teach you about deals, people, and life? Veteran attorney Joe Giglio has spent 49 years in the trenches of business litigation, shareholder disputes, and M&A transactions — and the lessons he's learned go far beyond the courtroom.

In this episode, Joe sits down with Joshua Wilson and co-host Jude David to share the wisdom that comes from a lifetime of navigating high-stakes busi...

Walter Hidalgo Jr. built a chemical company from scratch in 2001, sold it at the perfect time in 2014 (right before oil crashed from $120 to under $20/barrel), and felt completely lost after the exit. After a detour into the restaurant business, he reunited with his 25-year-old son to relaunch the original brand and this time, they're doing it together.

In this episode, Walter opens up about the emotional reality of selling a b...

In this episode, we sit down with veteran banker and operator Brady Como for a masterclass on debt, risk, and long-term dealmaking.

With decades of experience spanning commercial banking, business liquidations, oilfield services, and real estate investing, Brady shares lessons most dealmakers only learn the hard way.

This conversation explores:

• Why banks are often the least greedy partner in a transaction
• The real difference betwee...

In this episode, we sit down with Tim Prevost, a third generation banker who worked his way from shredding paper and serving as a teller to becoming CFO of a community bank.

Tim shares a rare inside look at how deals are evaluated from the banking side, why relationships still matter more than spreadsheets, and how judgment, timing, and trust influence lending, acquisitions, and long-term outcomes.

This conversation covers:

• What c...

In this episode, we sit down with Joris Delanoue, founder of Fairmint, to unpack how tokenization and blockchain are reshaping private markets.

Joris explains how Fairmint helps companies put their equity on chain by transforming cap tables into smart contracts, removing unnecessary intermediaries, and unlocking new paths to liquidity while preserving compliance and investor protections.

This conversation covers:

• What it actually ...