Think making money and making impact are mutually exclusive?

THINK AGAIN.

Bob Bush went from working on the RJR Nabisco LBO to advising Dubai's government to co-founding a coffee company with NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo.

His approach? Commerce, not charity.

After 30+ years structuring deals across Wall Street, Africa, and the Middle East, Bob discovered that sustainable social impact requires sustainable economics.

Now he's disrupting coffee supply chains where farmers get just 6 cents of your $5 latte.

Key Takeaways:

• Why crossing cultural bridges creates the best deal opportunities
• How to build "shock absorbers" into social enterprises
• The power of democratizing investment through crowdfunding
• Why alignment beats optimization in building meaningful businesses

Tune in to this episode to hear Bob Bush share his journey from Wall Street to creating social impact businesses across continents. From his insights on the RJR Nabisco deal to building sustainable supply chains in Africa, this conversation offers invaluable perspectives for business leaders seeking to create both financial value and social impact.

FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE: https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/bobbush

FOR MORE ON BOB BUSH:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertcbushjr/
https://www.instagram.com/mutombocoffee/?hl=en

FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/
https://www.coreykupfer.com/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today!

Just wrapped my second year chairing the EO Deal Exchange Conference, and the lessons were off the charts.

Here's what happens when you put hundreds of entrepreneurs in a room focused on one thing: growing through deals.

Three insights that stood out:

The wisdom is already in the room. We ran deal speed networking sessions where members shared their specific needs (buying companies, seeking JV partners, raising capital). The collective knowledge and connections in that room solved problems in minutes that could take months to crack alone. Stop looking outside your network for every answer.

Exit satisfaction is shockingly low. Dave Hirsch shared that only about 13% of entrepreneurs who successfully exit are actually happy afterward. His "Inner Board Meeting" concept helps you identify all the different voices and aspects of your personality that need to be satisfied by any deal you pursue. Powerful framework for avoiding founder depression.

Lifestyle business isn't an insult. Silicon Valley prodigy Fallon Fatemi, who co-founded an AI company with Mark Cuban, shared that she'll never raise capital again. Not because capital is bad, but because her priorities have shifted. Build the business and life YOU want, not what others expect.

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FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE:
https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/kraftheinz
• • •

FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/
http://coreykupfer.com/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today!

85% of founders have regrets about their exits. The research is clear. But here's what surprised me most about this statistic: almost none of them regret leaving money on the table.

They regret the clarity work they didn't do beforehand.

In my latest conversation with Jodi Hume, an advisor who works exclusively with founders and CEOs navigating acquisitions and exits, we explored what that clarity actually looks like:

How to distinguish between what you can compromise on and what will keep you awake at night years later.

Why energy management during due diligence directly impacts the quality of your decision-making.

The identity piece nobody talks about: who you are after the company is no longer yours.

How to protect yourself from making decisions born of depletion rather than strategy.

The uncomfortable truth about founder burnout and when an exit might be the right call precisely because you've hit your limit.

Jodi's approach is unusual. She's less interested in maximizing valuations than in ensuring founders actually get what they came for—and that they don't regret it afterward.

Listen to the full episode if you're even thinking about an exit in the next few years.

FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE: https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/jodihume

FOR MORE ON JODI HUME:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joditurnerhume/
https://atthecore.com/

FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/
https://www.coreykupfer.com/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today!

Concentration beats diversification. One stock. That's all Jaden Sterling bought during the 1990s. It tripled, became capital for 125 real estate deals, and eventually funded Sterling Stock Picker, a stock-picking platform now serving 3,000 investors.

What most financial advisors don't tell you: diversification is what you do when you don't know what you're doing. When Jaden's clients at Merrill Lynch held 4-6 solid companies, they were pressured to sell and diversify into mutual funds. The math later showed holding those original positions would've beaten all the churn.

The path to real wealth isn't about spreading money thin. It's about focused conviction in what you actually understand.

I sat down with Jaden to talk about deal structures across real estate, concentrated stock investing, raising capital from customers instead of VCs, and why your relationship with money mirrors your relationship with yourself.

FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE: https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/jadensterling

FOR MORE ON JADEN STERLING:
https://www.sterlingstockpicker.com/jaden_sterling

FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/
https://www.coreykupfer.com/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today!

I just had an incredible conversation with Jon Wells on the DealQuest Podcast about a real estate niche that most investors have never even considered.

After 25 years in Denver real estate, Jon discovered something remarkable: group homes for mental health and sobriety programs that generate 6%+ cap rates with almost zero landlord responsibilities.

Here's what struck me most from our discussion:

1. Jon's "fix and flop" philosophy completely changed my perspective. "My best deals were the ones that didn't sell," he told me. Those failed flips that he couldn't unload? They became his most profitable long-term holdings and led him to this overlooked niche.
2. The economics are compelling. While everyone fights over compressed margins in traditional real estate (Jon watched fix-and-flip profits shrink from 25% to barely 10%), group homes maintain 6-13% cap rates even in high interest rate environments. His mentor has accumulated 1,000 beds. Jon manages 30-40 beds that provide what he calls "a great living."
3. The structure is brilliantly simple. Operators funded by Medicaid and grants handle everything - maintenance, tenants, daily management. Property owners collect rent. It's "as close to a triple net deal as you can do" in residential real estate.
4. The vetting process Jon shared was eye-opening. Drawing from his 1990s experience helping people save properties from foreclosure, he applies rigorous financial analysis to operators. The key: finding those with grant funding, solid track records, and willingness to accept purchase options so they treat the property like their own.

What impressed me most was Jon's disciplined approach to avoiding shiny object syndrome. After a syndication advisor told him "I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole," he pivoted back to what he knows works - paying off mortgages and creating owner-carry notes for stable, predictable income.

The lesson? While everyone chases the same crowded strategies, the best opportunities often hide in markets others don't even know exist. Sometimes the path to financial freedom isn't about following the crowd, but about finding overlooked niches that match your values and expertise.

Listen to our full conversation on the DealQuest Podcast where Jon reveals his complete framework for evaluating group home opportunities.

FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE: https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/jonwells

FOR MORE ON JON WELLS:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonwellsrealtor/
https://abetterwayrealty.com/

FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/
https://www.coreykupfer.com/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today!

Warren Buffett called it one of his biggest investment mistakes.

The 2015 Kraft Heinz merger destroyed $63 billion in shareholder value while the broader market doubled.

Key lessons for M&A professionals:
• Consumer behavior trend analysis is critical for food industry due diligence
• Aggressive cost reduction can eliminate innovation capacity in consumer products
• Post-merger integration strategies must balance efficiency with brand development
• Market research capabilities become essential during rapid cultural shifts
• Strategic exit planning requires objective assessment of recovery prospects

The complete merger failure analysis reveals why sophisticated investors missed consumer preference shifts toward natural foods and how 3G Capital's cost optimization strategy backfired in processed food markets.

Essential listening for dealmakers in consumer products industries.

• • •
FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE:
https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/kraftheinz
• • •

FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/
http://coreykupfer.com/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today!

Think great communication in deals is about having the right words or perfect hand gestures?

After 35 years of negotiating deals, I can tell you this: all the tactical training in the world won't help if you haven't done the internal work to understand who you are and what you bring to the table.

In this episode, Dia Bondi breaks down why your leadership voice matters more than any communication skill. She turned a $30,000 project into over a million dollars by structuring it as a mix of cash and equity. She helped a client maneuver a complex secondary deal by crafting a multi-layered ask that positioned him as an equal partner. And she showed a founder how to create $10 million in value by painting a picture that helped an entire room recognize the moment they were in.

Dia shares her six attributes of clutch communicators, including how to:
Make strategic asks that create value for everyone (not just get you what you want)
Use killer setups that feel natural to your voice
Bridge your unique perspective to whatever you're building
Show up big in big moments even when it feels uncomfortable

This conversation reveals why "be authentic" is useless advice and what to focus on instead.

Perfect for founders heading into funding rounds, executives negotiating partnerships, or anyone who needs to speak powerfully when stakes are high.

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FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE:
https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/diabondi

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FOR MORE ON DIA BONDI
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dia-bondi/
Company: https://www.diabondi.com/
The Book: https://www.asklikeanauctioneer.com/

FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/
https://www.coreykupfer.com/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today!