In this episode of *Funds and Founders*, we sit down with a whiskey entrepreneur who has spent over a decade in the Scotch industry — building investment funds, luxury travel experiences, cask storage businesses, and more.From Scotch’s 600-year-old traditions to AI-driven forecasting tools, the whiskey industry is ripe for disruption.

We cover:

- The $6B Scotch export market & where the real money is

- Why whiskey is a unique, high-value alternative asset

- Tech & AI opportunities in distillation, warehousing, and customer engagement

- How to break into traditional industries as an outsider

- Building and exiting a whiskey private equity fund

If you’re an entrepreneur, investor, or simply a whiskey lover, this episode will change how you see the liquor business.

📍 What You’ll Learn:

- How forecasting works when your product takes 18+ years to make

- Which markets (beyond the US) are booming for whiskey

- Ways to attract a new generation of drinkers

- The role of education & experience in luxury branding

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro & Guest Background

00:46 – Projects in the Whiskey Industry

01:33 – Scotch Whiskey Market Size & Growth

03:08 – Why Forecasting is a 30-Year Game

05:30 – Opportunities for Entrepreneurs & AI in Whiskey

07:12 – How the Customer Experience is Changing

08:48 – New Generation of Whiskey Drinkers

09:45 – How Open Is the Industry to New Tech?

10:53 – Building a Warehouse for Private Clients

12:36 – Industry Adoption Curve: Big vs Small Players

15:16 – Whiskey Trends in Global Markets (India, Taiwan, Middle East)

20:12 – Go-to-Market for Selling to the Whiskey Industry

24:07 – The Luxury Ladder & Aspirational Drinking

25:28 – Whiskey Education as a Business Opportunity

29:23 – Tastes, Palates & Evolving Preferences

31:16 – The Power of Experiences in Luxury Branding

33:33 – Speyside: The Napa Valley of Scotch

35:30 – Building a Whiskey-Luxury Travel Vertical

37:31 – Collecting, Investing & Niche Business Ideas in Whiskey

39:10 – From Wine to Whiskey: Early Journey

42:29 – Raising a $12M Whiskey Private Equity Fund

45:47 – Legal & Fund Management Learnings

48:42 – Finding the Right Team in Niche Industries

50:31 – Fundraising Strategy & Deploying Capital

53:01 – Turning Early Wins into More Investment

56:08 – Exiting the Fund & Market Timing

59:01 – Learning to Control the Exit Strategy

01:03:13 – Why Whiskey is a Stable Alternative Asset

01:05:08 – What Excites the Guest About the Next 5 Years in Whiskey

01:06:48 – How to Work with Rare Whiskey Holdings

01:07:26 – Expanding Your Business Horizons

Michael’s entrepreneurial journey started at 12 with a paper route and grew into building Thrive Pet Healthcare into a billion-dollar company. In this episode, he shares exactly how he scaled from one affordable vet clinic to 250+ locations, the mistakes and pivots along the way, and how he’s now tackling home services with the same playbook.

We talk market opportunities, raising private equity, scaling operations fast, and the mindset needed to push through slow starts and build industry-leading businesses. Whether you’re building your first startup or scaling your 10th, this episode is packed with practical takeaways. Watch the full episode @FundsAndFounders

What you’ll learn:

- How to spot and validate opportunities in massive markets

- The business model behind affordable pet care

- Scaling from zero to $1B top line in 5 years

- Why acquisition can outpace building from scratch

- Lessons on being relentless as a founder

Timestamps

0:00 – Intro & Michael’s first hustle at 12

3:25 – Early lessons from the paper route

7:48 – Baseball card collecting & the value of collectibles

11:40 – From M&A to starting Thrive Pet Healthcare

15:28 – Identifying the affordable pet care gap

21:02 – Building the first clinic: model, pricing & efficiency

27:44 – Surviving a slow start & hitting profitability

31:55 – Scaling to multiple locations & hiring the right team

38:19 – Raising capital & accelerating growth

42:56 – Inside the pet care market size & opportunity

48:03 – From 20M to $1B revenue in 5 years

54:32 – Challenges of scaling fast & integrating acquisitions

1:00:50 – Industry consolidation & competing with giants

1:05:24 – Why Michael moved into home services

1:10:12 – Parallels between pets & HVAC (and the crazy costs)

1:15:30 – AI opportunities in vet care & home services

1:20:15 – Michael’s #1 lesson for founders: Be relentless

1:24:07 – Where to connect with Michael

James Brewer went from being Import Yeti’s 3rd user to its co-founder—and helped scale it to 150K+ paying users and 2M monthly visitors. In this episode of Funds and Founders, he breaks down how import/export data can power sales, how to turn sweat equity into real ownership, and the systems that helped build a multi-million dollar bootstrapped SaaS.

💡 Whether you're in logistics, SaaS, or trying to break into tech—this episode is packed with actionable frameworks on:

- Sales with data

- Startup equity

- Scaling without VC

- Automation stacks that save 10+ hours/week

- And the power of never taking “no” as the final answer

📬 Want to try Import Yeti’s premium tools? Watch the full episode @FundsAndFounders

Timestamps:

00:00 – James Brewer on retention and the surprising start of Import Yeti

01:20 – From user #3 to co-founder: the cold email that changed everything

03:10 – The pitch mistake that taught James how to actually sell

05:00 – Using import/export data to close million-dollar clients

07:00 – What makes global logistics shockingly inefficient

09:00 – The sweat equity deal: how James negotiated his way in

11:15 – Building trust without funding: early growth, first users, and retention

13:30 – The automation stack that saves him 10+ hours/week

15:45 – Why James still handles support tickets personally

17:20 – Growth without VC: systems, obsession, and ownership

19:50 – Customer feedback vs. product focus: what they say “no” to

22:00 – How Import Yeti avoids getting outpaced by copycats

23:30 – The three biggest use cases driving 2M monthly visits

26:00 – Sales vs. product: how to balance short-term wins and long-term moat

28:10 – Lessons from scaling a “boring” SaaS in a niche market

30:00 – Founder conflicts, and why their partnership actually works

33:00 – Most SaaS founders get sales wrong — here’s what to fix

35:15 – How to earn founder-level equity even if you weren’t there day one

37:30 – Final advice: Build something useful. Stay in the game. Get obsessed.

39:30 – Where to find James + how to access Import Yeti’s premium features

Lucy Banks went from corporate banking to becoming a top 1% OnlyFans creator — and now runs a PR & marketing agency for adult creators. In this episode, she exposes the harsh truths about building in the creator economy, why most OnlyFans accounts fail, and what it really takes to scale in the adult space.

We go deep into:

- The business behind OnlyFans

- Why creators need more than “just looks”

- Payment platform struggles in sex tech

- How Lucy made $1M+ on OnlyFans without going full-time

- Building tech & startups in taboo markets

Follow Lucy:

Instagram: [@imlucybanks](https://www.instagram.com/imlucybanks)

Agency: [@millionbillionmedia](https://www.instagram.com/millionbillionmedia)

LinkedIn: [Lucy Banks](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucybanksmbm/)

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro: Lucy Banks on Funds & Founders

01:00 - What people get wrong about OnlyFans in 2025

03:30 - The myth: “Being hot = success”

06:12 - Why 99% of creators make less than $300/month

08:40 - OnlyFans approval process and creator struggles

11:20 - Meet Million Billion Media — helping adult creators

14:45 - Censorship, shadowbans & banned bank accounts

18:40 - Why Stripe and Mailchimp block this industry

21:00 - Is sex tech the next billion-dollar wave?

25:12 - How to build a Stripe alternative for adult creators

29:00 - Go-to-market in a censored industry (no ads allowed)

34:35 - How to get creators to trust your startup

38:10 - Rev share models, affiliate structures, creator feedback

42:00 - Lucy’s story: From banking to OnlyFans

46:00 - Making $1M+ on OnlyFans (without going all in)

49:20 - What OnlyFans doesn’t do for creators

52:05 - Break down of revenue streams: subs, tips, chats

55:50 - Why OnlyFans still wins despite lacking features

58:30 - Top 5 growth tactics for new creators

01:07:30 - Closing thoughts & where to find Lucy

Newsletters are not dead, Dylan from Growth in Reverse breaks down how indie founders and B2B operators are building 5-figure audiences and monetizing with just email.

He shares the underrated metric every newsletter creator should track, how to launch a newsletter from scratch, and why owning your distribution is your biggest unfair advantage.

We also go deep on

- Sponsorships

- Paid ads

- Personal vs Company branding

- How to stay consistent even when life gets in the way.

Whether you're just starting or scaling, this episode is a must-listen.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Quick intro & Dylan plugs

01:30 - The most overlooked truth about newsletters

02:55 - One North Star metric every founder should track

05:00 - Why owning your distribution is non-negotiable

06:45 - How to start a newsletter from zero

08:30 - Educate, Inform, Entertain: The content trifecta

09:40 - How to *sell* through newsletters without annoying your readers

11:55 - When to start thinking about sponsorships

13:45 - Monetizing early: ads, partnerships & paid growth

17:00 - Newsletter commitment: Why 10+ editions matter

20:05 - Favorite growth channels: Paid, organic, lead magnets

24:00 - Facebook ad hack that landed 20+ subscribers before launch

27:10 - Building your system: SOPs, templates & content blocks

30:00 - Should you steal playbooks? How to filter growth tactics

33:00 - Writing vs Talking: Choosing the right medium

36:00 - Guest posts, collaborations & ownership issues

38:05 - Smart ways to collect feedback from your audience

42:10 - Building brand: Personal vs Company vs Thematic

45:30 - When personal branding blocks startup acquisitions

47:00 - Behind the scenes at Growth in Reverse

50:00 - Final tips for founders building in public

What drives a founder to go back into the grind after a life-changing exit?

In this episode, we sit down with Ganesh, a serial founder who bootstrapped his AI startup to millions in revenue, cracked the toughest enterprise clients like TCS and KPMG, and rebounded from losing 85% of revenue during COVID.

We cover:

- Why he didn’t raise VC early on

- Building an assessment company without asking a single question

- Selling into TCS, Indian Army & QSRs like Universal Studios

- Losing millions in revenue overnight and still surviving

- Exiting to a strategic buyer

- Why he's back in stealth mode building a sales AI company

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro & how Ganesh and the host met

00:21 – Why build another startup after a successful exit?

01:06 – Spotting the opportunity with generative AI

02:12 – Cisco days & the shift to entrepreneurship

03:00 – Building culture at scale — the early inspiration

04:29 – From network optimization to people analytics

07:13 – Mistake: Building before validating

10:03 – First break via Plug and Play, no customers yet

11:08 – Breakthrough with DBS & positioning as a “cultural DNA” company

12:13 – Landing TCS, Byju’s, KPMG for large-scale assessments

13:25 – Pricing challenges in enterprise SaaS

18:15 – First funding — how Mitsubishi Ventures found them

20:32 – Crazy story of a 12-person Sunday 7AM investor meetingt

26:00 – QSR boom: Universal Studios, restaurant chains, & rapid growth

29:07 – COVID wiped out 85% of revenue overnight

33:00 – Why founder salaries matters even in bootstrapped companies

34:36 – Pivoting back to B2B — TCS saves the business

38:48 – Rebuilding revenue, landing Byju’s, scaling again

43:00 – Learn at Forbes, cultural learning styles, and the acquirer

46:32 – Post-exit reflections on taxes, dilution & what he’d do differently

51:10 – Starting again: the new stealth startup in AI Sales

57:00 – Early adopters welcome: Join Ganesh’s next journey

In this episode of Funds and Founders, we sit down with Michael, co-founder of Q Branch and Populace, who shares how he's helping international startups enter the U.S. and launching a fintech platform to fight financial inequality. From federal contracts and government culture to empowering underserved Americans through passive investing and discount networks, Michael breaks down the hard truths of money, persistence, and building in Austin.

What You’ll Learn:

- Why Most Startups Fail to Enter the U.S. Market

- The Broken Banking System and a Grassroots Fix

- Real Talk on Financial Literacy

- Startup Persistence & the 18-Month Grind

- What U.S. Founders Can Learn From International Builders

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro & How They Met

00:30 - What Is Q Branch?

01:30 - Helping International Startups in the U.S.

02:10 - Government Contracts & Go-to-Market

03:20 - Populist: A Fintech for the 99%

05:00 - Breaking Down Financial Literacy

06:00 - How Populist Reverses the Bank Model

07:40 - Making Passive Investing Accessible

09:10 - Michael’s Entrepreneurship Origin Story

11:00 - Lessons From Federal Contracting

13:00 - How Q Branch Got Its First Deal

15:00 - Founder Persistence & Mentality

17:00 - Talking About Ideas Early

19:00 - U.S. vs International Founders

21:00 - Austin’s Startup Community

25:00 - Picking the Right Ecosystem

29:00 - Building Populace: From Idea to Launch

32:00 - Real Cost of Building a Fintech Startup

34:00 - Launch Strategy & What’s Next

35:00 - Final Advice for Founders