Wild Card - McDonalds, Starbucks, Verizon

Wild Card - McDonalds, Starbucks, Verizon

*Wild Card Friday: How Companies Break Customer Trust S2 Ep 72* What happens when growth pressure beats common sense What happens when a company runs out of easy growth? Do they fix the product? Do they rebuild the experience? Or do they squeeze the customer until the customer finally leaves? This is Wild Card Friday. Matt throws business curveballs at Brian and Brad, and the guys turn them into CEO lessons with jokes, bad draft timing, and one real warning: customers notice more than companies think. A coffee giant pays a massive price for a CEO to bring back the basics. Ceramic mugs. Handwritten notes. Free refills. Community seating. Brian does not even drink coffee, but he gets the point. The product matters, but the vibe was the business. Then the guys hit franchise chaos. If one location charges one price and another location charges something wildly different, customers stop blaming the operator and start blaming the brand. Brad explains why franchisees are not as independent as people think, and why he backed away from franchising By Your Side when quality felt too risky. The conversation jumps from brand drift to franchise control to price hike addiction. A wireless giant raises prices again and again, customers eventually check the bill, millions walk, and suddenly the board wants brakes on the train they helped start. Then Brian points at streaming services, car insurance, and legacy companies sitting wide open for disruption. In this conversation you'll discover: • Why going back to basics can be strategy, not surrender • How pricing chaos damages trust across an entire brand • Why Brad refused to franchise if quality could erode • Why repeated price hikes feel easy until customers wake up • How growth pressure pushes leaders into bad shortcuts *WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* • Know what made the company valuable before you change it. • Protect the brand experience across every location. • Use pricing carefully. Easy money gets addictive. • Watch churn before the customer revolt becomes obvious. *WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf co-founded and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf runs By Your Side. Matt Croke keeps them honest. *THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "People don't notice right away. It takes months and months before they realize, wait a minute, what am I paying?" That is how trust breaks. Not all at once. A fee here. A weird price there. A worse experience wrapped in a bigger bill. Drop a comment: What company finally made you check the bill? Subscribe for cocktails, chaos, and CEOs keeping it real. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Price hikes sneak up 1:05 - Brad's wildly stale draft take 2:25 - Wild Card Friday begins 3:02 - Back to basics or out of ideas? 6:03 - Brian hates coffee, but sees the problem 12:18 - Franchise pricing gets messy 17:14 - Why Brad refused to franchise 19:58 - Price hikes turn into a runaway train 25:40 - Streaming services may be next 28:40 - The customer has a pain threshold *ABOUT CEO BROS AFTER HOURS* Real CEOs. Real problems. No BS. Brian and Brad Balduf share what actually happens when you're running the show. Hosted by Matt Croke. 🍸 *WIND DOWN WITH THE BROS: THIS WEEK'S COCKTAILS* Three drinks for three ways companies break trust. Pick the one that matches your growth problem. 🍸 *THE BACK TO BASICS* Brian Balduf - The reluctant coffee analyst Recipe: 2 oz bourbon ¾ oz lemon juice ½ oz simple syrup 2 dashes orange bitters Orange peel Shake with ice, strain over a large cube. The Vibe: Simple, strong, and not pretending to be new. Sometimes the smartest turnaround is remembering why people liked you in the first place. 🍸 *THE FRANCHISE FIGHT* Brad Balduf - The brand protection guy Recipe: 2 oz rye whiskey ¾ oz sweet vermouth ¼ oz cherry liqueur 2 dashes Angostura bitters Cherry garnish Stir with ice, strain into a coupe. The Vibe: Smooth when everyone follows the recipe. A mess when every location starts freelancing. That is the franchise problem in one glass. 🍸 *THE PRICE HIKE HANGOVER* Matt Croke - Watching the board panic Recipe: 2 oz tequila 1 oz grapefruit juice ¾ oz lime juice ½ oz agave Top with soda Shake tequila, grapefruit, lime, and agave with ice. Strain over fresh ice and top with soda. The Vibe: Bright at first, painful later. One price hike feels easy. Five price hikes later, customers are gone and the hangover belongs to leadership. Make all three. Which breaks trust fastest: losing the vibe, losing control, or raising the bill until people leave? Tag us. *JOIN THE CONVERSATION* https://x.com/CeoBrosAH https://www.instagram.com/ceobrosah/ https://www.facebook.com/CEOBrosAH https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros] #BusinessStrategy #CustomerTrust #EntrepreneurMindset #CEOLife #BusinessPodcast

Small things make a big difference ep 71

*The CEO Picked Up Trash (Then Everyone Else Got the Message) S2 Ep 71* Tiny customer service habits that separate good companies from great ones Would a dirty sidewalk cost you a customer? Would a rude employee cost you a great hire? Would one ignored hello tell people your company does not care? Brian, Brad, and Matt start with three words everybody learned in kindergarten: please, hello, thank you. Then it gets bigger fast. Brad brings up the CEO of Kalahari Resorts, a guy running massive water park resorts who still picks up tiny scraps of paper himself. That is not trash removal. That is leadership. When the person at the top cares about the floor, the sidewalk, the lobby, and the guest experience, everyone else gets the message. Then the guys hit the real issue. A smudged window, a dirty walkway, a front desk that does not say hello, a customer left sitting in the lobby, a Chipotle line where nobody explains what is happening. None of those feel huge in the moment. Together, they tell customers exactly how seriously you run the business. In this conversation you'll discover: • Why small service habits create big trust signals • How leaders set culture without saying a word • Why Matt drove out with no notice to fix one client experience face to face • Why a candidate being rude to a server tells you everything • Why you cannot memo your way into warmth *WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS • Pick up the trash yourself. People copy what leaders repeat. • Walk through your own customer experience with fresh eyes. • Train the tiny phrases: hello, can I help you, sorry I kept you waiting. • Hire for how people treat everyone, not just the boss. WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf co-founded and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf runs By Your Side. Matt Croke keeps them honest. *THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "If this is how they treat the small thing, what do they do with the bigger things?" That is the whole episode. Customers rarely say the sidewalk lost them. They just stop trusting you. Drop a comment: What's the tiny customer experience detail that drives you insane? Subscribe for cocktails, chaos, and CEOs keeping it real. *TIMESTAMPS* 0:00 - Tornado warning, still recording 1:01 - Please, hello, thank you 2:53 - The CEO who picked up trash 4:21 - The dirty sidewalk problem 6:37 - Matt drives out to fix it in person 8:43 - Hotel front desk rant 10:02 - The Chipotle line problem 11:19 - You cannot memo culture 14:13 - Customer-facing means you are on stage 17:06 - The server test for hiring *ABOUT CEO BROS AFTER HOURS* Real CEOs. Real problems. No BS. Brian and Brad Balduf share what actually happens when you're running the show. Hosted by Matt Croke. 🍸 *WIND DOWN WITH THE BROS: THIS WEEK'S COCKTAILS* Three drinks for three tiny signals. Pick the one that matches your customer experience sin. 🍸 *THE TRASH PICKER* Brian Balduf - The guy watching the details Recipe: 2 oz bourbon ¾ oz lemon juice ½ oz honey syrup 2 dashes Angostura bitters Lemon peel Shake with ice, strain over a large cube. The Vibe: A clean, sharp reminder that leaders do not walk past the problem. They pick it up, fix it, and make everyone else notice. 🍸 *THE DIRTY SIDEWALK SPRITZ* Brad Balduf - The first impression inspector Recipe: 2 oz vodka 1 oz grapefruit juice ½ oz lime juice ½ oz simple syrup Top with soda Build over ice and stir. The Vibe: Bright, simple, and impossible to hide when it is off. Just like the entrance to your business before a customer ever reaches the desk. 🍸 *THE SERVER TEST* Matt Croke - Reading the room Recipe: 2 oz gin ¾ oz elderflower liqueur ¾ oz lemon juice 2 oz chilled sparkling wine Lemon twist Shake gin, elderflower, and lemon with ice. Strain into a flute, top with sparkling wine. The Vibe: Polished on the surface, but the truth shows up in how you treat people. If someone is rude to the server, do not hire them. Make all three. Which one exposes your business fastest: the trash, the sidewalk, or the server test? Tag us. *JOIN THE CONVERSATION* https://x.com/CeoBrosAH [https://x.com/CeoBrosAH] https://x.com/CeoBrosAH https://www.instagram.com/ceobrosah/ [https://www.instagram.com/ceobrosah/] https://www.instagram.com/ceobrosah/ https://www.facebook.com/CEOBrosAH [https://www.facebook.com/CEOBrosAH] https://www.facebook.com/CEOBrosAH https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros] https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros)] #CustomerExperience #LeadershipCulture #EntrepreneurMindset #BusinessPodcast #CEOLife

How to sell your business pt 4 Gotchas ep 70

*They Offered $1 Million (Then Tried to Take It Back) | S2 Ep 70* The offer looked perfect. Then the buyer started changing the deal. What happens when a $1 million offer becomes $925,000? What if part of your payout gets locked in escrow for 18 months? What if the buyer wants to pay you with stock instead of cash? Most owners think getting the Letter of Intent means they're almost done. Brian and Brad know that's when the hardest part begins. This is Episode 70. The final chapter of selling your business. Earnouts. Escrow. Retrades. Due diligence surprises. The expensive mistakes sellers make after they think they've already won. *YOU'LL DISCOVER* • Why buyers often retrade after due diligence • How a $1 million offer quietly becomes $925,000 • Why escrow accounts change your actual payout • The danger of accepting private-company stock • How employees, customers, and competitors react to a sale *WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* • Get as much detail as possible into the Letter of Intent • Expect buyers to challenge price and terms • Research the buyer as aggressively as they're researching you • Know exactly which assets belong in the deal *WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf built and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf scaled By Your Side Autism Therapy to 11 centers and 550+ employees. Matt Croke hosts and asks the questions business owners wish they'd asked sooner. *THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "The best day of the process is getting the Letter of Intent. After that, everything gets harder." What's the biggest surprise you've seen during a business sale? SUBSCRIBE for new episodes every Friday. Real stories. No LinkedIn energy. *TIMESTAMPS* 0:00 - You Got the LOI. Now the Real Work Starts 1:25 - Why Earnouts Make Sellers Nervous 5:16 - The Retrade: How $1M Becomes $925K 9:50 - Escrow Holdbacks and Frozen Money 11:37 - The Private Stock Trap 17:33 - Asset Sale vs. Company Sale 20:00 - The Legal Bills Nobody Warns You About 25:00 - Employees, Customers, and Industry Reactions 27:23 - Brian's Final Advice for Sellers 30:47 - Ray the Barkeep's Clean Close *ABOUT CEO BROS AFTER HOURS* CEO BROS: After Hours is raw business talk from CEO brothers Brian Balduf (VHT Studios) and Brad Balduf (By Your Side Autism Therapy) with host Matt Croke. Every Friday they share real stories about scaling companies, acquisitions, exits, leadership mistakes, and hard-earned lessons. 🍸 *WIND DOWN WITH THE BROS: THIS WEEK'S COCKTAILS* Four drinks for four ways a deal changes after the Letter of Intent. Pick the one that matches your situation. 🍸 *THE RETRADE* Brian Balduf - The storyteller who's seen the number change Recipe: • 2 oz bourbon • ¾ oz lemon juice • ½ oz honey syrup • 2 dashes Angostura bitters • Lemon twist The Vibe: You agreed to a million. Then the buyer found reasons it should be less. Starts sweet, finishes with bite. 🍸 *THE ESCROW HOLDBACK* Brad Balduf - The operator waiting for his money Recipe: • 2 oz reposado tequila • ¾ oz lime juice • ½ oz agave syrup • ½ oz orange liqueur • Lime wheel The Vibe: The deal closed, but some of your cash is still sitting in escrow. Frustratingly good. 🍸 *THE FINE PRINT* Matt Croke - The host reading the stuff nobody else wants to read Recipe: • 1.5 oz gin • ¾ oz elderflower liqueur • ¾ oz lemon juice • ½ oz simple syrup • Club soda • Lemon wheel • Shake first four with ice, strain, top with soda The Vibe: The headline said $1 million. The fine print said something very different. Escrow. Earnouts. Holdbacks. Matt spent the episode asking the questions sellers forget to ask until it's too late. Looks simple. Hides a lot. 🍸 *THE CLEAN CLOSE* Ray the Barkeep - The guy who knows when the deal is finally done Recipe: • 2 oz Tito's Handmade Vodka • ¾ oz fresh lemon juice • ½ oz simple syrup • Splash soda water • Lemon wheel • Shake first three with ice, strain into rocks glass, top with soda The Vibe: No earnout. No escrow. No surprise stock certificates. No lawyers calling at 4:55 on Friday. Just cash in the bank, signatures on the paper, and a handshake on the way out the door. Ray likes his drinks the same way he likes business deals: simple, clean, and finished. Make all four. The Retrade? The Holdback? The Fine Print? The Clean Close? Tell us which one you've lived through. *JOIN THE CONVERSATION* [https://x.com/CeoBrosAH](https://x.com/CeoBrosAH) [https://www.instagram.com/ceobrosah/](https://www.instagram.com/ceobrosah/) [https://www.facebook.com/CEOBrosAH](https://www.facebook.com/CEOBrosAH) [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros) [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros)] #entrepreneurship #businesssale #mergersandacquisitions #leadership #ceobros #exitstrategy #howto #howtosellmybusiness #sellmybusiness #startuplife

How to sell your business pt 3c (C is for closing the deal)

*Your Buyer Found the Mess (Your Price Just Dropped) | S2 Ep 69* Due diligence is where deals get slower, harder, and more expensive. Can you explain exactly how your business makes money? Could you produce three years of financial records tomorrow? What happens when a buyer finds the thing you've been putting off for five years? This is episode 69. The Bros finish the business sale process by walking through the stage that catches most owners off guard: due diligence. The LOI is signed. Everyone is excited. Then the buyer starts asking questions. Lots of questions. Financials. Payroll. Processes. Customers. Marketing. Security. Compliance. Anything unclear becomes risk. Anything undocumented becomes a problem. Every red flag gives the buyer a reason to lower the price. Then comes the purchase agreement, where sellers learn a hard lesson: a $1 million deal rarely means $1 million in cash. Earnouts, stock, escrows, and closing conditions all affect what you actually take home. *YOU'LL DISCOVER* • Why due diligence creates deal fatigue • The one thing every seller should organize first • How undocumented processes lower valuation • The owner salary mistake that inflates profits • Why many earnouts never fully pay out *WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* • Keep years of clean financial records • Document your processes before buyers ask • Explain your business simply and clearly • Treat earnouts as bonuses, not guarantees *WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf built and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf scaled By Your Side Autism Therapy to 11 centers and 550+ employees. Matt Croke asks the questions business owners need answered. *THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "Every piece of ambiguity in your business lowers the price." How prepared is your business for due diligence? 👇 SUBSCRIBE for new episodes every Friday. Real stories. No LinkedIn energy. *TIMESTAMPS* 0:00 - The Most Important Seller Document 1:20 - Why This Series Took Three Episodes 3:01 - Due Diligence Begins 7:22 - Process Documentation Matters 9:46 - The Problems That Came Back to Haunt Brian 10:56 - Financials Win Deals 12:01 - The Profit Calculation Mistake 13:43 - The 15-Minute Explanation Red Flag 19:35 - Cash, Stock, Earnouts & Escrow 27:09 - The Free Rust-Proofing Story *ABOUT CEO BROS AFTER HOURS* CEO BROS: After Hours is raw business talk from CEO brothers Brian Balduf (VHT Studios) and Brad Balduf (By Your Side Autism Therapy) with host Matt Croke. Every Friday they share what actually happens building companies, scaling teams, buying businesses, selling businesses, and leading through chaos. No corporate polish. No LinkedIn energy. 🍸 *WIND DOWN WITH THE BROS: THIS WEEK'S COCKTAILS* Three drinks for three stages of selling your business. Pick your poison. 🍸 *THE RED FLAG* Brian Balduf - The guy who's lived through diligence Recipe: • 2 oz bourbon • ¾ oz lemon juice • ½ oz honey syrup • 2 dashes Angostura bitters • Lemon twist The Vibe: Missing reports. Different answers from different employees. Buyers notice everything. This drink starts smooth and ends with consequences. 🍸 *THE EARNOUT* Brad Balduf - The operator reading the fine print Recipe: • 2 oz reposado tequila • ¾ oz lime juice • ½ oz agave syrup • ½ oz Aperol • Lime wheel The Vibe: Looks great in the conference room. Harder to collect in real life. Enjoy it, but don't build retirement plans around it. 🍸 *THE CASH AT CLOSE* Matt Croke - Asking the practical question Recipe: • 1.5 oz vodka • ¾ oz grapefruit juice • ½ oz simple syrup • Splash club soda • Grapefruit wheel The Vibe: No projections. No promises. No performance targets. Just money in the bank. Which one are you ordering? The Red Flag, the Earnout, or the Cash at Close? *JOIN THE CONVERSATION* [https://x.com/CeoBrosAH](https://x.com/CeoBrosAH) [https://www.instagram.com/ceobrosah/](https://www.instagram.com/ceobrosah/) [https://www.facebook.com/CEOBrosAH](https://www.facebook.com/CEOBrosAH) [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros) [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros)] #entrepreneurship #businesssale #duediligence #leadership #smallbusiness #ceobros #bestbusinesspodcast #howtosellmybusiness #sellingabusiness #lhowto

How to sell your business pt 3b the process continues

*Six Months From Closing (Then the Deal Died Anyway) S2 Ep 68 * The letter of intent starts the clock. The buyer can still walk away. What happens after a buyer says yes? What are you actually signing when the letter of intent lands? And how does a deal die after six months of work? Brad walks through the alphabet soup of selling a business: NDA, teaser, SIM, IOI, letter of intent, and purchase agreement. The dry terms get expensive fast. Give a competitor too much information, and your customer list, employee titles, and compensation details become their playbook. Then Brian gets into the LOI trap. The buyer wants 60 to 90 days of exclusivity. You stop talking to everyone else. They go under the hood, spend money, ask for everything, and start hunting for reasons to lower the offer. Brad lived the nightmare. By Your Side had an LOI, six months of deal fatigue, and a closing date about two weeks away. Then the buyer chased a company two or three times larger, hit pause, came back five months later, lost its CEO, and the deal was dead. This is episode 68. Time kills all deals. *YOU'LL DISCOVER* • Why an NDA matters most when a competitor wants a look • What a teaser, SIM, IOI, letter of intent, and purchase agreement actually do • Why exclusivity can lock you up while the buyer keeps digging • How a $15M offer turns into an $11M retrade • Why one buyer is leverage for them, and five buyers is leverage for you *WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS* • Keep IOIs on the same timeline so buyers compete at the same time • Push for a shorter exclusivity window, 60 days beats 90 • Get your books clean before the letter of intent, not after it • Use a banker and attorney who know where deals fall apart *WHO THESE GUYS ARE* Brian Balduf built and sold VHT Studios. Brad Balduf scaled By Your Side Autism to 11 centers and 550+ employees. Matt Croke hosts and asks the questions nobody else will. *THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH* "Time kills all deals. The longer it takes to close, the more likely something happens and the deal goes sideways." Which part of selling your business would keep you up at night? 👇 SUBSCRIBE for new episodes every Friday. Real stories. No LinkedIn energy. *TIMESTAMPS* 0:00 - Time Kills All Deals 1:43 - NDA, Teaser, SIM, IOI, Letter of Intent 3:32 - The Letter of Intent Starts Costing Real Money 6:18 - Cash, Stock, Earnout, and Exclusivity 7:58 - The $15M to $11M Retrade 9:03 - Why Multiple Buyers Matter 11:35 - The Stalking Horse Offer 14:14 - Brian Gets Both Bidders to Raise 17:11 - The Accounting Colonoscopy 18:51 - Brad's Deal Dies After Six Months 25:13 - Purchase Agreement and Clawbacks *ABOUT CEO BROS AFTER HOURS* CEO BROS: After Hours is raw business talk from CEO brothers Brian Balduf (VHT Studios) and Brad Balduf (By Your Side Autism Therapy) with host Matt Croke. Every Friday they share what actually happens building companies: brutal failures, scaling disasters, and the messy truth about leadership. No corporate polish. No LinkedIn energy. Just honest stories from the trenches. 🍸 *WIND DOWN WITH THE BROS: THIS WEEK'S COCKTAILS* Three drinks for three ways a deal gets real. Pick the one that matches your closing anxiety. 🍸 *THE EXCLUSIVITY CLOCK* Brian Balduf - The seller who knows the clock is not your friend Recipe: • 2 oz bourbon • ¾ oz lemon juice • ½ oz honey syrup • 2 dashes Angostura bitters • Lemon twist • Shake with ice, strain into rocks glass The Vibe: The letter of intent sounds friendly until it locks you up for 60 to 90 days. Brian knows the buyer wants the hood open and the clock running. Strong, sharp, and gone faster than your leverage. 🍸 *THE RETRADE* Brad Balduf - The operator who watched big numbers shrink Recipe: • 2 oz reposado tequila • ¾ oz lime juice • ½ oz agave syrup • ½ oz grapefruit juice • Pinch of salt • Shake with ice, strain into coupe The Vibe: The offer starts at $15M. Due diligence finds problems. Now it's $11M and everyone acts like math did it. Bright, bitter, and slightly painful. 🍸 *THE ALPHABET SOUP* Matt Croke - The host translating the deal jargon Recipe: • 1.5 oz vodka • ¾ oz orange liqueur • ¾ oz cranberry juice • ½ oz lime juice • Orange twist • Shake with ice, strain into coupe The Vibe: NDA. SIM. IOI. LOI. Matt hears business terms stack up like a drunk spelling bee. This one looks simple until the letters start costing money. Make all three. Clock running? Offer shrinking? Still decoding the alphabet soup? Tag us. *JOIN THE CONVERSATION* https://x.com/CeoBrosAH https://www.instagram.com/ceobrosah/ https://www.facebook.com/CEOBrosAH https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-bros] #entrepreneurship #businesssale #exitstrategy #leadership #startuplife #businesspodcast #ceobros