Building Smarter Businesses with AI (Not Just Chatbots)
Release Date: 01/14/2026
Why Cheap Shipping Can Cost You More
The Liquid Lunch Project
Think delivery is just the boring part after the sale? That’s where a lot of businesses screw it up. In this episode, Matthew R. Meehan and Luigi Rosabianca sit down with Randy Vlasic, founder of LIWMI Logistics, to talk about what really happens between “it shipped” and “it showed up.” They get into why trucking gets hit first when the economy gets weird, why chasing the cheapest option can blow up in your face, and why delivery is part of your brand whether you like it or not. Randy also breaks down how smaller trucking operations survive, what strong logistics support...
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Start Small: A Smarter Way to Use AI in Business
The Liquid Lunch Project
AI isn’t coming. It’s already in the room. The real question is whether your business is asleep at the wheel. Michael Finkelstein, founder and CEO of KINETK, joins Matthew and Luigi for a straight-up talk about AI, data, and why most businesses are still thinking way too small. This episode gets into what happens when data stops being static, why hidden relationships matter, and how small businesses can move faster than giant companies stuck in meetings about meetings. 🍸 What you'll hear in this episode: Why data is the real power behind AI What “building for the autonomous...
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How to Break Free From Limiting Beliefs and Family Expectations | Betsy Pepine
The Liquid Lunch Project
What if the life everyone claps for is the one quietly choking you out? Betsy Pepine joins Matt and Lou for a sharp conversation about the boxes people get shoved into by family, culture, work, gender, and plain old habit. This episode gets into what happens when you stop treating other people’s expectations like law and start asking a better question: Does this life even fit? 🍸 What you'll hear in this episode: The “good kid” trap is real. Family pressure can look a lot like love. Some boxes protect you. Some just shrink you. Moms get judged from every angle. Betsy...
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What Founders Get Wrong About Capital and Exit Strategy
The Liquid Lunch Project
What if the system isn’t broken… it’s working exactly how it was designed? Dr. Thomas Powell joins us to break down what founders get wrong about capital, why most businesses trap their owners, and how the same patterns show up in government. This is part entrepreneurship, part constitutional reality check…and a little uncomfortable in all the right ways. 🍸 What you'll hear in this episode: Why “raising capital” has nothing to do with money The brutal truth behind the Founder’s Isolation Paradox Why most founders don’t actually own a business… they own a job The...
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Why The Businesses That Grow Best Usually Do Less
The Liquid Lunch Project
What if your business is growing... and getting worse at the same time? Most founders think growth means adding more. More offers. More channels. More customers. More moving parts. Yarin says that works early, but somewhere between $2M and $20M in revenue, that same habit starts eating your margin alive. In this episode, Matt and Luigi sit down with Yarin Gaon of Fractional Partners to talk about the Clarity Playbook, a private-equity-style framework built for companies too small for private equity but big enough to need real focus. The conversation gets into why founders confuse friction with...
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Debt, Tariffs, and the Truth About Today’s Global Economy
The Liquid Lunch Project
What happens when a grown-up economist says the quiet part out loud: the U.S. is acting like it can break the rules forever? Andrés Velasco joins Matt and Luigi for a sharp, no-spin talk on debt, tariffs, copper, central banks, globalization, and why countries that treat boom times like a Vegas weekend usually end up crying in the shower. From Chile’s “save it, don’t blow it” playbook to America’s very expensive habit of pretending deficits don’t matter, this episode puts real-world economics back in plain English. 🍸 Episode Highlights: Latin America is doing better than the...
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How Story-Driven Growth Helps Small Businesses Scale
The Liquid Lunch Project
What if the thing you’ve been calling “branding” is actually the backbone of your business? Dan Grech joins Matt and Luigi to make the case that a founder’s story is not decoration, not nice-to-have, and not something you slap on a homepage after the real work is done. It’s the thing that holds the whole machine together. From getting fired out of journalism to building BizHack Academy, Dan breaks down how story drives revenue, hiring, trust, and the ability to keep going when business gets ugly. 🍸 Key Highlights: Getting fired pushed Dan into business. Most founders are...
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IRS Audits: What Business Owners Get Wrong
The Liquid Lunch Project
You think the IRS is scary? Cool. Now imagine TikTok is your tax attorney. Pietro E. Canestrelli (JD, LL.M.) jumps in to kill the “one weird trick” tax myths and explain how people actually get wrecked: audits, missing returns, bad CPA advice, and the quiet fact that you’re the one holding the bag. 🍸 What you'll hear in this episode: TikTok “tax hacks” are basically a DIY fraud starter kit. “Register it in Nevada” is not clever. It’s a trap. “Everyone should be an S-Corp” is lazy advice. Period. If the IRS says they don’t have your return… it’s not filed. ...
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What Actually Wins When Business Gets Hard: March Madness Edition
The Liquid Lunch Project
It’s March. Everyone’s arguing about brackets. So we built one for business. But instead of basketball teams, we’re matching up what founders lean on when things get real: Discipline vs. motivation. Vision vs. execution Speed vs. strategy. Branding vs. operations. Because when revenue dips and momentum stalls, you don’t get to rely on everything. You lean somewhere. This episode is a pressure test. What actually survives when your business hits a slump? 🏀 This one covers: Why motivation fades in long seasons Why discipline carries weight when things get quiet The...
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Why Some Brains Don’t Fit School
The Liquid Lunch Project
Some people are not bad at learning. They were just trained inside the wrong system. Russell Van Brocklen joins Matt and Luigi for a conversation that starts with dyslexia but quickly turns into something much bigger: how highly capable people get mislabeled, misunderstood, and boxed into models that do not match how their brains actually work. If you run a business, manage people, or have ever felt like you think differently than the world expects, this episode will feel strangely familiar. Inside this episode: Why dyslexics often function as specialists, not generalists How traditional...
info_outlineIs AI going to save your business… or make you feel like you’re still stuck in the second inning?
This week, we bring a real convo about AI (not the buzzword nonsense). Mark Andrews pulls back the curtain on what AI actually is, what most businesses get wrong, and how entrepreneurs can stop being overwhelmed and start using AI for real business growth without selling their souls (or wallets) to tech bros.
🍸 What you'll hear in this episode:
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AI isn’t some magic brain. It’s pattern prediction on steroids
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ChatGPT is just the tip of the iceberg
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Most companies screw up AI because they don’t know why they want it
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Bad data = bad results; cleaning data is where the real value starts
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You don’t need a $2M custom AI. You need direction and purpose
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Early adopters will crush competitors while skeptics get left eating dust
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AI fatigue is real — but smart use = more time, more focus, more revenue
💡 Notable Takeaway:
There is a test and learn and trial mentality… and you need to leave your comfort zone.
👤 About our Guest:
Mark builds AI that humans can actually use. He’s helped big companies and scrappy startups turn confusing tech into clear business results. From baseball analogies to real-world workflows, he breaks AI down in a way that makes you say, “Okay, now I get it.”
🎧 Why Listen:
You want a business that wins tomorrow? Hit play. This episode gives you a clear-eyed look at what AI really does and how to make it work for your team.
🔗 Links + Stuff
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealmandrews
📞 Want help prepping your business for growth or sale?
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Connect with us on Instagram:
➡️ @matthew.r.meehan
➡️ @luigi_rosabianca,
➡️ https://www.instagram.com/theliquidlunchproject/