What No One Tells You About Scaling Fast

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Moneywise

Hampton

76 episodes

1 week ago

This is Moneywise, a podcast where hosts Sam Parr and Harry Morton are joined by high-net-worth guests to explore exclusive insights into personal finance and lifestyle tailored for other high-net-worth people, or those on their way. They'll get radically transparent about the numbers, revealing things like their burn rates, portfolios, and spending habits. This podcast was made for the Hampton community, a private, highly-vetted, peer membership community for founders and CEOs of fast-growing, tech-enabled startups. Check it out at https://joinhampton.com/.

All content for Moneywise is the property of Hampton and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Investing

Business,

Entrepreneurship

What No One Tells You About Scaling Fast

Moneywise

44 minutes

2 weeks ago

What No One Tells You About Scaling Fast

Stop making million-dollar decisions alone. Hampton gives you a personal board of eight vetted founders in your city who meet monthly to tackle your hardest problems. Find your group: joinhampton.com

Alex Smereczniak built a $100M laundry business and sold 118 franchise locations in just 14 months. But just as the business took off, life hit hard. After a series of personal and professional crises, he stepped down as CEO. Now he’s back – not for another big exit, but to fix a franchise industry riddled with bad incentives and hidden fees.

Here’s what we talk about:

Building a $100M brand from a college dorm laundry hustle
The personal crises that forced him to walk away
Why he thinks franchising is totally broken – and how brokers quietly take 60% commissions
What he’s doing differently at Franzy: flat fees, transparency, no bullshit
Why he’s not taking a salary, even with an $11M net worth
What it actually costs – financially and emotionally – to scale fast
The moment he knew he wasn’t the right CEO anymore
Why he believes franchising could be the path for millions displaced by AI
How he defines success today: not exits, but impact

Cool Links:

Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/
Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/
Franzy https://franzy.com
Alex Smereczniak https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-smereczniak-%F0%9F%A6%81-40310329

Sponsors:

Get US caliber talent at offshore prices with https://www.oceanstalent.com/
Achieve your dream body with https://www.dailybodycoach.com/moneywise
Protect your upside and get your time back at https://www.cressetcapital.com/moneywise

Chapters:

(0:41) Early Entrepreneurship: College Laundry Business
(1:31) Selling the First Business & Lessons Learned
(2:47) The Moment Alex Reconsidered Corporate Life at Ernst & Young
(3:37) Returning to Laundry: The Startup Vision
(6:07) Raising Capital & Startup Growth
(10:40) Team Building, Hiring Challenges, and Culture
(13:15) COVID-19, Franchising, and Business Model Shift
(18:21) The Franchise Broker Problem & Franzy's Solution
(20:45) Franchising as a Path to Wealth
(24:03) AI, Job Displacement, and the Future of Work
(28:30) Alex’s Personal Wealth, Fulfillment, and Impact
(31:00) Reflections on Net Worth, Liquidity, and Success
(34:40) Community, Support, and Peer Groups
(40:02) The Sweet Spot: Wealth, Happiness & Freedom for Founders

This podcast is a ridiculous concept: high-net-worth people reveal their personal finances. Inspired by real conversations happening in the Hampton community.

Your Host: Harry Morton

Founder of Lower Street, a podcast production company helping brands launch and grow top-tier podcasts.
Co-parents a cow named Eliza.