Empire Flippers Podcast

What separates great entrepreneurs from everyone else is not avoiding failure. It's their ability to get back up and keep trying new things.

Grant Hensel started 10 businesses, watched seven fail, scaled one into a 60-person company, shifted from building businesses to buying them, and recently raised nearly $12 million to back entrepreneurs acquiring small businesses. 
In this episode of The Opportunity podcast, Grant joins us to share what separated his successful ventures from the failures and the benefits of buying businesses instead of building them from scratch.

One of the keys to success for Grant was finding the right people. He explains that many of his own successes came from partnering with operators who were better suited to run the day-to-day business, while he focused on vision, support, and capital allocation. That philosophy now shapes how his fund evaluates acquisition entrepreneurs.

We also dig into how he raised the fund itself, why he believes "boring" businesses can be incredible investments, and the warning signs that immediately kill a deal for him.

We also discussed AI's impact on SEO agencies and why Grant believes AI is actually creating new opportunities for digital marketing businesses rather than destroying them.
If you're interested in buying businesses, raising capital, or building long-term wealth through acquisitions, this episode is packed with practical insights and hard-earned lessons.

Topics Discussed in this episode:
04:12 - What separated Grant's successful businesses from the failures 
11:26 - Why Grant switched from building businesses to buying them 
13:41 - How Grant found his first acquisition 
14:30 - How AI is affecting marketing agencies 
17:34 - How the first acquisition was structured  
20:03 - The benefits of buying vs building a business
23:23 - Ins and outs of raising a fund
30:28 - Why Grant is sceptical of acquisition synergies 
39:52 - How Grant evaluates searchers 
46:26 - How Grant raised $12 million for acquisitions
Mentions: 
Empire Flippers Podcasts
Empire Flippers Marketplace
Create an Empire Flippers account
Subscribe to our newsletter
Main Street Capital Network
Grant's LinkedIn


Sit back, grab a coffee, and look behind the scenes of a $12million fund!

Most founders think selling a business is the finish line.

For Beth Mazza, it was the start of a completely different challenge.
After selling her first consulting firm for a modest valuation, Beth rebuilt her next company with an exit in mind from day one. The result? A roughly $40 million exit and a crash course in what buyers actually value.
In this episode of the Opportunity Podcast, Beth shares the lessons she learned from both exits, including building systems that reduce founder dependency and creating relationships with potential buyers years before selling.
We discuss what really drives high-value exits: positioning, operational readiness, recurring relationships, and strong financials. Beth also explains why most founders wait too long to prepare their business for acquisition.
She also opens up about the emotional side of entrepreneurship, the identity shift that comes after an exit, and balancing motherhood while building companies at scale.
If you've ever wondered what separates a sellable business from one that traps the founder inside it, this episode delivers an honest look behind the curtain. 

Topics Discussed in this episode:
02:00 - The mistakes Beth made when exiting her first company 
05:30 - Why Beth's second business earned a much higher valuation 
08:00 - Building buyer relationships years before selling 
13:00 - Lessons from bad LOIs and failed positioning
16:30 - Beth's thoughts on AI, SaaS, and agency businesses
25:00 - Turning founder expertise into systems and processes 
28:00 - How Beth's $40M exit came about
36:00 - Why PE-backed strategic buyers pay higher multiples
40:00 - The emotional reality after selling a company
Mentions: 
Empire Flippers Podcasts
Empire Flippers Marketplace
Create an Empire Flippers account
Subscribe to our newsletter
Female Mavericks

Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to prepare for a profitable acquisition from the start!

For many eCommerce brands, getting the first sale is not the hardest part. Keeping customers coming back is.
In this episode of the Opportunity Podcast, Greg speaks with Matthew Holman, founder of D2C subscription agency Subscription Prescription, about how eCommerce brands can improve retention and increase recurring revenue by adding a subscription component to their business.

Matt explains why subscriptions are often misunderstood by founders. Many brands treat them purely as a way to increase lifetime value, but according to Matt, the real opportunity is creating a better customer experience that naturally drives recurring revenue.
Good onboarding is key. Matt explains that the first 7–10 days after a purchase are critical because that is when customers decide whether they feel like they are "winning" with the product. Brands that educate customers early, guide them through the experience, and reinforce value tend to see far stronger retention.

Greg and Matt also dive into why some ecommerce businesses force subscriptions where they do not belong, the psychology behind multi-month subscription offers, and why value stacking often works better than endless discounting.

For founders looking to improve customer retention and grow recurring revenue, this episode is filled with practical insights and real-world examples.


Topics Discussed in this episode:
What makes a business a good fit for subscriptions  (06:16)
When subscriptions do not work for ecommerce brands  (09:30)
The weirdest subscription product Matt has ever seen (12:38)
What separates high retention offers from those that just churn (14:38)
Mistakes founders make when trying to grow subscription revenue (18:56)
Building offers that increase retention and LTV  (22:03)
How new businesses should test subscription offers (27:29)
Matt's recommended testing framework for new subscription offers (32:42)
How to attract high-value consumers instead of discount shoppers (36:17)
Mentions: 
Empire Flippers Podcasts
Empire Flippers Marketplace
Create an Empire Flippers account
Subscribe to our newsletter
Matt's LinkedIn
TheSubscriptionDoc.com

Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to reduce churn and increase recurring revenue through subscriptions!

Paid ads used to be simple: find the right audience, dial in your targeting, and scale.
Now? It's where a lot of businesses quietly burn cash. 
In this episode, we are joined by Hernan Vazquez, a paid ads expert with over a decade of experience.

Hernan explains why so many business owners are spending more on ads and getting less back.

The biggest problem is the math. What used to work at $3 leads or cheap clicks doesn't work when acquisition costs have doubled or tripled. But many businesses haven't adjusted. They're still running the same funnels, expecting the same outcomes, and wondering why margins are disappearing. 
According to Hernan, platforms like Meta and Google now rely heavily on AI, which means your creative is doing the real work. If your message doesn't land instantly, your budget gets eaten alive.
That's why more operators are shifting to low ticket offers.
Instead of risking everything on a cold high-ticket sale, Hernan suggests using low-ticket products to test demand, recover ad spend faster, and avoid wasting months on funnels that don't convert.
If you've ever looked at your ad spend and thought, "this should be working by now," this episode will show you what's actually going wrong, before it costs you even more.

Topics Discussed in this episode:
Hernan's background in paid ads  (02:31)
Paid vs organic and where to invest today  (04:23)
Hernan's advice for hiring your first media buyer (15:28)
How paid media has changed and the current struggles with Meta (21:59)
The shift from targeting to creative (25:30)
Why low ticket offers are making a comeback (28:05)
Funnels vs ecosystems and how to structure your strategy (35:31)
Retargeting and what still works today (45:43)
Mentions: 
Empire Flippers Podcasts
Empire Flippers Marketplace
Create an Empire Flippers account
Subscribe to our newsletter
Hernan's LinkedIn
Low Ticket Profits - Hernan's book

Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to get more conversions from your paid ads!

In a world flooded with AI-generated content, standing out is harder than ever. Which is exactly why understanding why people make decisions matters more now than ever before.
In this episode of the Opportunity Podcast, we're joined by Nancy Harhut, co-founder and Creative Director of HBT Marketing. Nancy specializes in blending marketing with behavioral science to uncover what actually drives customer action.

It's simpler than you might think. People rely on mental shortcuts to make decisions. Instead of carefully weighing every option, we act on instinct, often without realizing it. This impacts our purchasing decisions. 

Nancy explains that this is why tactics like loss aversion (avoiding mistakes), reciprocity (giving before asking), and autonomy (offering choice) are so effective. Small tweaks, like framing an offer as something to avoid losing, or giving two options instead of one, can have a big impact on conversions. 
An added challenge is that AI has made content faster and cheaper to produce, which makes standing out harder than ever. That's where the Von Restorff Effect comes in. People notice what's different. And as more businesses rely on AI, differentiation becomes your biggest advantage.

Nancy believes we're in a transitional moment. AI is changing how content is created, but human psychology still determines what sells. 
The businesses that win won't be the ones producing the most content. They'll be the ones who understand how people think, feel, and decide.

Topics Discussed in this episode:
04:33 - What neuromarketing is and why you should use it 
07:30 - Loss aversion in action
10:30 - Reciprocity and influence
16:30 - Autonomy bias and choice
25:00 - Decision-making and "liminal spaces"
30:30 - Pricing psychology tactics
35:30 - The impact of AI on marketing
44:00 - Risks of over-relying on AI
52:00 - How to stand out (Von Restorff Effect)
Mentions: 
Empire Flippers Podcasts
Empire Flippers Marketplace
Create an Empire Flippers account
Subscribe to our newsletter
Using Behavioural Science in Marketing - Nancy's book
HBT Marketing
Nancy's LinkedIn

Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to boost your sales and stand out from the crowd using neuromarketing!