The Deal Podcast

How Founders Use Community Foundations to Protect Their Legacy with Missy Andrade 29.06.2026 41min

What if the smartest move before your liquidity event isn't talking to your banker — it's talking to a community foundation? In this episode of The Deal Podcast, host Joshua Wilson and co-host Scott Shea sit down with Missy Andrade, President & CEO of the Community Foundation of Acadiana (CFA), to unpack one of the most overlooked tools in middle market dealmaking: the community foundation. Missy leads a 26-year-old organization stewarding more than $253 million in assets across roughly 1...

Eat What You Kill: The Bet-On-Yourself Model — Mark Weber 22.06.2026 52min

Mark Weber made $12,000 his first year in business. He never hired an employee. Three decades later, he's built a portfolio across life insurance, real estate, and mortgage lending — all on strategic partnerships and commission-only hustle. Mark Weber is a serial entrepreneur, inventor, and CEO of Mark Weber Enterprises — a multi-layered company spanning real estate, investments, insurance, and mortgage lending. In this episode, Mark sits down with host Joshua Wilson and co-host Jude David, M...

Mergers and Acquisitions in the Nonprofit World 15.06.2026 1h

What if the smartest growth strategy in your community wasn't being run by a private equity firm — it was being run by a charity? Kim Boudreaux and Sarah Clement of Catholic Charities of Acadiana have spent the last two decades quietly executing one of the most disciplined nonprofit roll-up strategies in Louisiana — growing from a $1.2M agency with 23 employees into a $15M, 90-person, 14-organization platform serving eight civil parishes. In this episode, host Joshua Wilson and co-host Jude D...

From Career to Calling: Inside Family Missions Company with Saul Keeton & Kevin Granger 08.06.2026 50min

What if the Lord interrupted your career at the peak of the American dream? Saul Keeton walked away from 25 years in commercial real estate. Kevin Granger left nursing and music behind. Both said yes to something bigger. In this episode of The Deal Podcast, host Joshua Wilson sits down with Saul Keeton and Kevin Granger of Family Missions Company — the largest lay Catholic foreign missionary organization in the world — alongside co-host Jude David, JD, DCL, MBA and Managing Partner at FA Merg...

From Law to the Priesthood: Discerning the Call with Father Jim Brady 01.06.2026 1h 4min

What does it actually take to walk away from a thriving career at the top of your game — and how do you do it without leaving wreckage behind? In this special episode of The Deal Podcast, host Joshua Wilson and co-host Jude David, JD, DCL, MBA — Managing Partner at FA Mergers — sit down with Father Jim Brady, JCL, Pastor of St. Pius X Catholic Church in Lafayette, Louisiana. Before entering the priesthood, Father Brady spent eleven years building a regional law practice as a litigation partne...

The Opportunity Machine: Powering Louisiana's Startup Boom — Destin Ortego 25.05.2026 1h 4min

What happens when a former musician with degrees in graphic design and public relations becomes the executive director of one of Louisiana's most important startup engines? You get Destin Ortego — and a playbook that's helped founders raise $116M in venture capital and drive over $2 billion in economic impact since 2018. In this episode of The Deal Podcast, host Joshua Wilson and co-host Scott Shea sit down with Destin Ortego, Executive Director of Opportunity Machine, the Lafayette-based non...

The Public-Private Partnership Playbook with Mike Tarantino 18.05.2026 49min

What does it actually take to land a $1.4 billion manufacturing deal in a parish of 70,000 people? Mike Tarantino has the playbook — and he's running it in real time. In this episode, Joshua Wilson and co-host Scott Shea sit down with Mike Tarantino, President and CEO of the Iberia Industrial Development Foundation, to break down the mechanics of modern economic development dealmaking. Mike walks through how Iberia Parish, Louisiana beat out 15+ competing communities to land First Solar's 2.3...

The Pattern Recognition Skill That Built Four Exits with Steven Pivnik 13.05.2026 38min

What if the same company could give you four bites of the apple? Steven Pivnik did exactly that — and nearly lost it all in between. In this episode of The Deal Podcast, host Joshua Wilson sits down with Steven Pivnik, serial founder, endurance athlete, and exit advisor who built and monetized the same software company four separate times before finally selling to a $4 billion competitor. Steven shares the real story behind the wins — and the gut-punch in the middle when he came back from a t...

Gatr Coolers: The Story Behind the Brand with Bryan McGehee 11.05.2026 1h 5min

What does it take to turn a text message into a viral brand? Bryan McGehee, founder of Gatr Coolers, did exactly that — starting from a camper with his wife and kids, betting his house on a cooler company, and going full-time the same month COVID shut the world down. Bryan McGehee is the founder of Gatr Coolers, a premium customizable cooler and drinkware brand built out of Thibodaux, Louisiana. Bryan spent years working pipeline jobs, living in hotels and campers, before a text from his brot...

Finding Your Highest and Best Use as an Entrepreneur — Dominic Dupré 04.05.2026 51min

What if the biggest mistake you're making isn't a bad deal or a wrong hire — but spending your life doing things you're capable of instead of things you were made for? Dominic Dupré grew up watching four cousins build successful companies in Louisiana's energy corridor. He graduated into the shale boom, swung sledgehammers on a workover rig, and had his entrepreneurial dreams derailed by the 2014 oil bust — only to be called back into the family business to turn around a failing crude hauling...

The Growth by Subtraction Playbook for Middle Market Founders with Yarin Gaon 01.05.2026 44min

What if the thing slowing your growth isn't what's missing — it's what you refuse to cut? Yarin Gaon sold his fourth company at 28, ran turnarounds as an Entrepreneur in Residence at a venture capital firm, mentored 400+ founders through the University of Chicago and SCORE, and has earned an MBA along the way. Today he runs Fractional Partners, where he applies a private equity-style operating playbook to lower middle market businesses stuck in what he calls the "messy middle" — the $2M to $2...

The Partner You Need When You've Run Out of Gas — George Boudreaux & Nathan Rath 29.04.2026 51min

He was drowning in investor debt, swinging a hammer in Houston just to make payroll — and still found a way to build something worth fighting for. This is a story about grit, partnership, and what it really takes to grow a trade business from the inside out. George Boudreaux founded Pelican Roofing Company in Lafayette, Louisiana on July 4th, 2014 — not from a place of momentum, but from a burning need to survive. After a real estate venture in Houston went sideways and left him half a millio...

Building a Business With Your Spouse Without Losing Your Mind — Kenny & Stacy Maggard 27.04.2026 48min

She thought it was total BS. Then they built a company together — and haven't looked back since. Kenny and Stacy Maggard turned a margarita-fueled conversation into Azalea Health Services, a mission-driven mental health company serving seniors in long-term care settings across Louisiana and Texas. Kenny Maggard spent 15 years as a middle market banker at Capital One before stepping into private equity and ultimately taking the leap into entrepreneurship. Stacy Maggard brought a background in ...

Running City Hall Like a Business with Mayor-President Monique Boulet 24.04.2026 48min

What happens when you hand the keys to an $850 million government operation to someone who thinks like an operator? You get fewer barriers, faster decisions, and a city that starts acting like it has a balance sheet to protect. In this episode of The Deal Podcast, host Joshua Wilson and co-host Jude David, JD, DCL, MBA and Managing Partner at FA Mergers, sit down with Mayor-President Monique Boulet of Lafayette, Louisiana. Monique walks through how she's running Lafayette Consolidated Governm...

What Happens to Your Business If You Don't Make It Home Today with Taylor Davis 22.04.2026 55min

What happens to your business if you don't make it home today? Taylor Davis watched his father — a top vascular surgeon making great money — die at 48 with almost no coverage after a business partnership dissolved and the insurance went with it. His mother sold her dream home and went back to work. That experience became his life's mission. Taylor Davis is a Wealth Management Advisor with Northwestern Mutual, approaching 34 years in the business. He works with individuals and closely held bus...

The Success Story Behind The Gingerbread Twins with Billy & Denny 20.04.2026 1h 31min

What does it take to turn a family baking legacy into a viral sensation? Billy and Denny, aka "The Gingerbread Twins", have been proving that faith, hard work, and butter cookies can build something extraordinary. Billy and Denny are the identical twin founders of Gingerbread Twins, a Lafayette, Louisiana bakery rooted in three generations of baking tradition. In this episode, they share one of the most inspiring entrepreneurial stories we've had on The Deal Podcast — a journey that runs from...

Why Your Book of Business May Be Worth More Than You Think — Dr. Jon Randall 17.04.2026 51min

Most financial advisors are sitting on their biggest asset and don't even know it. Dr. Jon Randall breaks down exactly what your practice is worth — and how to build it so buyers are lined up when you're ready. In this episode, Joshua Wilson sits down with Dr. Jon Randall, founder of eXtraordinary Financial Advisors (XFA) and author of The Extraordinary Financial Advisor Practice. With over 25 years of experience coaching financial advisors from $250K to $10M+ in revenue, Dr. Jon unpacks the ...

The Lone Survivor of a Plane Crash — and the Lessons That Followed with Wade Berzas 15.04.2026 55min

He was the only survivor of a plane crash that killed five people — burned on 80% of his body, pulled from a coma, and given little chance of a full recovery. What Wade Berzas discovered in that hospital room became the foundation for everything he now teaches entrepreneurs. Wade Berzas is an EOS Implementer, business coach, and speaker who works with privately held entrepreneurial companies of 10 to 250 employees. After a decade as VP of Sales at Global Data Systems — a $40M IT company — and...

Why Creativity Without Data Is Just a Pretty Waste of Money with Jeremy Beyt 13.04.2026 58min

Most companies are spending money on marketing without knowing if it's working. Jeremy Beyt has built a career proving there's a better way — and it starts long before you run a single ad. Jeremy Beyt is the CEO and Co-Founder of ThreeSixtyEight, a full-service creative agency based in Louisiana known as the Challenger Agency. In this episode, Jeremy joins hosts Joshua Wilson and Scott Shea for a wide-ranging conversation on what most businesses get wrong about marketing, why creativity alone...

From Oil Field Landman to Business Owner with Scott Rainey 08.04.2026 41min

Before Scott Rainey owned a safety consulting company, he was getting bit by dogs in North Louisiana — knocking on doors as a landman, trying to convince hostile landowners to let oil companies onto their property. That pivot into entrepreneurship wasn't clean. It nearly ended in bankruptcy. Here's how he got out, started over, and built something worth selling. Scott Rainey is the founder and President of Quest Safety Solutions, a safety consulting firm serving oil and gas service companies ...