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Selling 600 Sandwiches a Day in NYC with Sandwell Founder Andy Gottlieb
Andy Gottlieb is the founder of Sandwell. A New York City sandwich brand focused on serving healthy-ish sandwiches made with high quality proteins, fresh baked bread and simple ingredients. What…
Building an Indoor Golf Club in NYC - Clubhouse Golf with Liam Hyde
Liam Hyde is the founder of Clubhouse Golf. A premium indoor golf simulator concept in New York City that officially opened in April 2026. Designed as a 24/7, self-service golf experience, Clubhouse…
Building WTHN, a Modern Acupuncture Clinic with Michelle Larivee
In this episode, we sit down with Michelle Larivee, co-founder and CEO of WTHN. An acupuncture and wellness brand with multiple locations across New York City focused on making Eastern medicine more…
Starting California Pizza Kitchen With No Restaurant Experience - Rick Rosenfield
Rick Rosenfield is the co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen. The restaurant brand that helped pioneer California style pizza and introduced the world to the iconic barbecue chicken pizza. Before…
From Tech Founder (The Knot) to Omakase Restauranteur (Kinjo) - David Liu
David Liu is the founder of Kinjo, a 14 seat omakase counter and cocktail lounge in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Before launching Kinjo, David spent more than two decades building one of the internet’s most…
How Franco Noriega Built 15-sq-ft Fellini Coffee Into One of NYC’s Most Viral Brands
Franco Noriega is the founder of Fellini Coffee, one of New York City’s most popular coffee brands, with more than six locations opened in under three years. Before launching Fellini, Franco had an…
Building a $10M Brewery starting in high school: The 30 Year Journey of Ska Brewing
Dave Thibodeau is the founder of Ska Brewing, one of the early pioneers of the American craft beer movement. He started brewing beer in high school after discovering his dad’s old homebrewing…
Building a $1 million Social Club with Draymond Washington (Three Cities Social Club)
Draymond Washington is the founder of Three Cities Social Club, a Chicago-based membership club designed to help adults make real friends and build a meaningful community. Before launching the…
Building Ziggy’s Roman Cafe: A Family-Friendly Restaurant Born From Parenting Reality
Helen Zhang is the co-founder of Ziggy’s Roman Cafe, a new restaurant in Dumbo, Brooklyn designed to solve a problem many parents have. How do you go out to eat with kids and still enjoy a great…
From Garage Pop-Up to $16M Grocery Store: The Riverwards Produce Story with Vincent Finazzo
Vincent Finazzo is the founder of Riverwards Produce, a neighborhood grocery market in Philadelphia that started in a 20x20 garage and has grown into a multi-location business doing nearly $16…
From Chobani to Pop-Up Grocer: How Emily Schildt Built a New Kind of Grocery Store
Emily Schildt is the founder of Pop-Up Grocer, a grocery store designed to help emerging, better-for-you brands reach customers. What started as a 10-day experiment in New York City has grown into a…
From Dishwasher to $6MM Dallas Restaurateur: The Unexpected Journey of Stephan Courseau
Stephan Courseau is the founder of Travis Street Hospitality and some of Dallas’ most beloved French-inspired restaurants including Le Bilboquet Dallas, Knox Bistro and Georgie. Stephan arrived in…
From Big Tech to a 19-Sq-Ft Photo Booth: Building Memento with Ireland McGill
Ireland McGill is the founder of New York Memento, a triangular 19-square-foot photo booth in the West Village in New York City. Before launching Memento, Ireland grew up in a small town in southern…
Opening a $100K Fitness Studio in 6 Months - The Forte Vita Story with Marcella Giuffrida
Marcella Giuffrida is the co-founder of Forte Vita , a heated, weighted workout studio in Brentwood, Los Angeles, and the founder of MGPR, a boutique PR and social media agency specializing in…
How Brittney Wysong Built a Kids’ Art Studio While Working Full-Time
Brittney Wysong is the founder of Artsy Studio, a 1,700-square-foot process-based art studio for kids in Trussville, Alabama. Before opening the studio, Brittney spent a decade in healthcare…
$2,500/Month Rent & 300 Sq Ft: How Sam Saverance Built NYC’s First Sloppy Joe Diner
Sam Saverance is the co-founder of Bunna Cafe in Bushwick and the creator of Farley’s Sloppy Joes in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Before opening restaurants, Sam worked as a freelance designer , spent time in…
How Benjamin Berg Built Houston’s $17M Steakhouse and a 14-Restaurant Empire
Benjamin Berg is the founder and CEO of Berg Hospitality Group , the team behind B&B Butchers and more than a dozen restaurant concepts across Texas. Ben started out as a bellman at the Lake…
$80k in 30 days: Arnold Byun’s Journey Building MAUM Markets
Arnold Byun is the co-founder of Maum Market and Store. After nearly a decade managing some of New York’s most acclaimed restaurants including Eleven Madison Park, Bouley, and Atomix, he found…
From Cart to Canal Street: Selling $5K of Coffee a Day at Blue Dove with Amadeo Falce
Amadeo Falce is the founder of Blue Dove Coffee , a viral coffee brand that started as a cart in Union Square and has since expanded to a brick-and-mortar café on Canal Street. A former Army…
Reinventing Dentistry: Wally’s $249/Year Membership Model with CEO Tyler Burnett
Tyler Burnett never planned to reinvent dentistry. But after a 2017 visit where a dentist told him he needed eight fillings on the spot , he walked out skeptical and down a path that would lead to…
Scaling a Gift Shop in NYC - Annie's Blue Ribbon General Store with Ann Cantrell
Ann Cantrell thought she was building a career in fashion. She spent over a decade in product development at Ralph Lauren, Coach, and Brooks Brothers, turning sketches into products and learning the…
Building Jonny's Pizza in NYC at just 24 years old with Jonny Rashtian
Jonny thought he was headed for a JD/MBA and a career in tech. Instead, a chance encounter with the founder of 7th Street Burger pulled him into the restaurant world. He hustled through cashier…
Scaling a NYC Fitness Studio to 2 locations and 9 trainers with Victor Del Valle
Victor Del Valle went from aspiring dentist to NCP bodybuilder to scrappy trainer hustling through the pandemic, literally converting his NYC apartment into a one-on-one gym. Within weeks he was…
Marissa Martin - Building House of Tone, a Nashville salon, for $50K
In this episode, Alan talks with Marissa Martin, Nashville-based colorist and co-founder of House of Tone, a boutique salon in the Wedgwood-Houston neighborhood. After three years of college, Marissa…
Better than Crumbl? THIN COOKIES - Selling 4,000 per day with Yoseph Raja
In this episode, Alan talks with Yoseph Raja, co-founder of Thin Cookies , a fast-growing cookie brand with locations in Long Island and Manhattan’s West Village. Trained as a pharmacist, Yoseph…
Building Glo Up Salon: From basement startup to $70k months - Nicole Farsalas
In this episode of Opening Soon , Alan sits down with Nicole , the founder of Glo Up , a thriving beauty brand and spray tan studio based in Chicago. Nicole shares her journey from working in…
Building Miami’s First Hand Roll Bar with Edouard Benitah of Pari Pari
In this episode, Alan talks with Edouard Benitah , co-founder of Pari Pari , a hand roll bar in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. Originally from Paris, Edouard came to the U.S. in 2015, working his way…
Raising $6M to Build 5,000 Suburban Coworking Spaces — Enclave’s Robert Kellman
What if you could launch a profitable coworking space for $65,000, with no staff, and scale that model to thousands of locations? That’s exactly what Robert Kellman is doing with Enclave, a suburban…
Pilates Studio Owner at 23 Years Old - Sheridan St. Claire
Before Sheridan St. Claire opened her boutique Pilates studio in St. George, Utah, she was a former gymnast with two bad shoulders, a sore back, and no clear path forward. That changed when she…
From SaaS to Salons: How Jordan Feise Built Two of a Kind
Jordan Feise spent over a decade working in B2B SaaS marketing at companies like Gong and early-stage startups. But after years of struggling to find consistent, high-quality brow care, she saw an…
Quitting Tech to Open a Vintage Store - Sunset Club Vintage
After eight years in tech and a detour into custom resort wear with her brand Malibu Darby, Darbe Canady followed her instincts, and her wardrobe, into the world of vintage fashion. Today, she runs…
Bootstrapping a 6-location Hair Removal Salon with Shobha
On this episode of Opening Soon, we sit down with Shobha Tummala, founder of Shobha, one of the most trusted names in hair removal. With six locations across New York City and Washington, D.C.,…
Building Bodhe, a Boutique Work & Social Club in San Diego
In this episode, Alan sits down with Samantha Score , the founder of Bodhe , a beautiful coworking and social club for creatives, professionals, or freelancers based in San Diego, California. Sam…
3 Pilates Studios in 1 Year w/ Cassie Piasecki - The Full Routine
In this episode of Opening Soon, we sit down with Cassie Piasecki, the powerhouse behind The Full Routine — a pilates meets full body transformation brand that expanded to three locations in just one…