Santa’s Naughty & Nice List: LLP's Best Episodes of 2025
Release Date: 12/31/2025
Before You Buy a Business, Check These Red Flags
The Liquid Lunch Project
Would you buy a business that loses its clients the minute the owner walks out the door? Muriel Touati reviewed more than 100 businesses while hunting for an acquisition. A lot of them looked good from across the room. Up close? Different story. Founder dependency. Weak recurring revenue. Too much money tied to one client. No real digital marketing system. And, in one case, a $3.7 million deal with 40% monthly customer churn. Hard pass. Muriel joins Matthew R. Meehan and Luigi Rosabianca to break down the biggest red flags in business acquisition, what lenders really care about, and how owners...
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Win Today: How Great Leaders Reset Under Pressure
The Liquid Lunch Project
Positive thinking might be the reason you’re still stuck. Pressure doesn’t vanish when you become a better leader. The stakes just get bigger. Performance coach and sports psychology expert Joshua Lifrak joins Matt and Luigi to explain how leaders can stay focused, reset after a bad result, and build confidence that is backed by real work, not wishful thinking and a motivational coffee mug. Joshua breaks down the same mental habits used by elite athletes, championship teams, and high-performing business leaders. The goal is not to feel great every second. It is to see the facts, control...
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The Real Cost of Owning a Bar with Chris Schneider
The Liquid Lunch Project
Think owning a bar is just pouring drinks and counting cash? Think again. Bar owner and coach Chris Schneider breaks down what really makes a bar work…and why a packed room can still leave you broke on Monday. Chris joins Matthew R. Meehan and Luigi Rosabianca to talk pricing, staff, food, location, profit, and the small costs that can quietly wipe out your margin. He also explains why gut instinct is not enough, why simple drinks often win, and why your parking lot may matter more than your cocktail list. 🍸 What you'll hear in this episode: Why bar owners need to follow the...
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Mark Roberge’s Formula for Smarter Sales and Safer Growth
The Liquid Lunch Project
Most sales problems start when the seller won’t stop talking. Mark Roberge (HubSpot’s founding CRO, Harvard Business School lecturer, and co-founder of Stage 2 Capital) joins Matt and Luigi to challenge the loudest myths in sales and startup growth. His take is simple: great selling is not about pressure, slick pitches, or talking someone into a bad deal. It’s about asking better questions, finding the real problem, and knowing when to walk away. The conversation also tackles a mistake that kills promising companies: scaling before customers are getting real value. Mark...
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Can Blockchain Actually Help World Peace?
The Liquid Lunch Project
Can blockchain do more than make rich people argue on the internet? In this episode of The Liquid Lunch Project, Matt and Luigi sit down with Erai Beckmann, founder of Peace Through Trade, to talk about a much bigger use case for blockchain, AI, and cryptocurrency: global trade that creates trust, financial access, and maybe even less fighting between humans. Wild concept, apparently. Erai breaks down why trade has historically been one of the strongest tools for reducing conflict, how blockchain can open doors for people left out of traditional finance, and why Peace Through Trade is building...
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The Four Signs Your Business Is Stuck
The Liquid Lunch Project
Your business can be busy and still be stuck. Revenue may be coming in. The team may be working hard. The founder may be carrying the whole thing on their back. But if margins are getting tighter, communication is breaking down, decisions are bottlenecked, and nobody really owns revenue… that business is not scaling. It’s surviving. In this episode of Built to Scale, Matt sits down with Autumn McFarland, a fractional COO who helps founder-led and growth-stage companies get unstuck, rebuild operational clarity, and create the foundation they need to grow without chaos running the show....
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Equipment Financing Without Getting Screwed
The Liquid Lunch Project
That “great deal” on equipment financing might be eating your lunch. In this episode of The Liquid Lunch Project, Matt and Luigi sit down with Rob Misheloff of Smarter Finance USA to talk about the stuff most lenders do not explain clearly: equipment financing, lease terms, credit scores, hidden fees, auction purchases, and why small business owners need to read the fine print before signing anything with a payment attached. Rob breaks down how equipment financing really works, why the market has gotten tighter, and what business owners should watch for when buying trucks, machinery, med...
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Your financial advisor may be nice. That does not mean they are safe.
The Liquid Lunch Project
In this episode of The Liquid Lunch Project, Matt and Luigi sit down with securities lawyer David P. Meyer to talk about the ugly side of investing: broker misconduct, crypto scams, hidden fees, fake online “experts,” and the very real ways smart people lose serious money. David also shares how he built a national securities litigation practice after taking on Prudential Securities in his twenties and winning a jaw-dropping $262 million jury verdict. Not bad for a guy who says he was basically just trying to avoid reading tax code forever. 🍸 What you'll hear in this episode: ...
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Built to Scale: The 5 Financial Blind Spots That Stop Business Owners from Scaling
The Liquid Lunch Project
Revenue looks great on a scoreboard. But if your cash flow is a mess, your margins are thin, and your financials only get attention during tax season… that growth might be hiding a much bigger problem. In this episode of Built to Scale, Matt sits down with Larry Rice, CPA, CEPA, and founder of RVG & Company, to talk about the financial blind spots that quietly keep business owners stuck, stressed, and scrambling. They dig into why revenue is not the same as financial health, how fast growth can actually make bad decisions worse, and why your CPA should not be treated like an emergency...
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America was the ultimate startup
The Liquid Lunch Project
Big idea. No safety net. Shaky money. Brutal odds. A giant competitor. And founders who were not just risking cash…they were risking their necks. Literally In this special 250th anniversary episode of The Liquid Lunch Project, Matthew R. Meehan and Luigi Rosabianca look at America’s founding like a business launch. The Declaration of Independence becomes the mission statement. Washington becomes the operator under pressure. Franklin becomes the closer. And the whole thing becomes a crash course in risk, debt, ownership, cash flow, and building something that lasts. 🍸 What you'll...
info_outlineLuigi couldn’t make it to the mic this time… but don’t worry, we had a special guest fresh off his sleigh: Santa Claus. That’s right. After delivering toys across the globe, Santa himself dropped by to join Matt and help break down the Top 10 most-listened-to episodes of 2025.
What’s stuffed in the stocking:
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How to protect your brand from copycats
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Why profit isn’t just about more revenue
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The emotional side of being a founder (and why that’s normal)
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The secret weapon difference between a CPA and a CFO
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And the tax strategy that legally makes five-figure bills disappear
Ready to dive deeper into one of the episodes mentioned? We’ve got you covered:
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Ep 221: Navigating E-Commerce’s New Challenges with Eric Youngstrom
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Ep 217: Building a Startup Is Ugly. Here's What Happens Behind the Scenes with Sahil Patel
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Ep 222: How to Own Your Idea: IP Moves That Actually Work with Austin Bonderer
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Ep 206: Bourbon, Branding & The Business of Food with Alex Sadowsky
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Ep 223: From Paperwork to Purpose: Launching a Nonprofit the Right Way with Missy Mastel
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Ep 205: Plan Like a Navy Commander, Win Like an Entrepreneur with Commander Mary Kelly
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Ep 228: Selling Your Business? Don’t Get Screwed (Financially or Existentially) with Eric Brotman
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Ep 207: CPA vs CFO: Are You Trusting the Wrong Financial Expert with Teresa Wagonseller
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Ep 225: How to Turn What You Know Into What You Sell with Stephene Marinaro
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Ep 208: How This CPA Turned Storage Sheds Into Tax-Free Wealth with Sean Graham
As Santa said, no one made the naughty list this year, but these guests?
They brought the 🔥.
From startup resilience to real estate hacks to IP protection and AI wizardry, this is the entrepreneurial highlight reel you need before stepping into 2026.
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