June 16, 2025 • 32 mins
Had an AHA or Insight? Share it:
We’ve heard ‘the day I lost it all’ before. But this story is extraordinary. What happens when everything crashes at once—your business, your beliefs, your identity? In this powerful episode of overcoming a massive set of obstacles, Vince Covino shares the day his $60M empire collapsed and how that breakdown led to a breakthrough.
This is one of the most emotional, raw, and thought-provoking interviews I’ve had the privilege of hosting. In this episode of the Business Growth Architect Show, I welcome Vince Covino—serial entrepreneur, CEO of Warrior Sage, and the creator of the Impact Accelerator Summit. We’ve heard ‘the day I lost it all’ before. But this story is extraordinary. What happens when everything crashes at once—your business, your beliefs, your identity? In this powerful episode of overcoming a massive set of obstacles.
Vince opens up about losing his $60 million business, filing for multiple bankruptcies, and watching a life he spent years building completely fall apart, right along with his religious beliefs.
The size of the defeat is massive. And so is the story of awakening, alignment, and what it really means to live an epic life.
Vince was the embodiment of the traditional capitalist—obsessed with shareholder value, exponential growth, and profitability. Until everything collapsed. COVID forced his hand, shutting down locations, freezing income, and devastating a company that had once received a $100 million growth capital offer. As I listened to him describe how he laid off 500 people in 48 hours and tried to hold it all together while quietly losing his faith, I felt the weight of what he’d endured.
Fast forward to today. Vince is a powerful voice in shaping conscious capitalism. He’s helping successful founders align with purpose, raise capital from value-driven investors, and build businesses that don’t just scale—they heal. Through his Impact Accelerator Summit, he’s connecting high-impact leaders with investors who want to see your soul and your spreadsheet.
In our conversation, we talk about the massive shift happening in the investment world and why being vulnerable, authentic, and mission-led is no longer a liability—it’s your greatest asset.
If you're a founder ready to go bigger, but you're not willing to sell your soul to get there, this episode is for you. You’ll walk away with a new understanding of multidimensional success and what it means to grow a business that actually feeds your spirit. Tune in now, and then visit VinceCovino.com to learn more about how Vince is leading the charge for a better, more heart-centered way to build wealth.
Resources Mentioned:
Website | Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook |
_____________________
We appreciate you, thank you for listening. Let us know in the comments what resonated in this episode, we want to hear from you.
Leave a comment, like, share with one person who needs to hear the message our guest shared.
Take our QUIZ and find out what your talent is worth in this market: What's Your Talent Worth (http://WhatsYourTalentWorth.com)
Follow us on Instagram:
Check us out on Tik Tok:
Work W
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Vince Covino (00:00):
This is Vince Covino. I'm the CEO of
WarriorSage. And on this episodeof Business Growth Architect
Show, I'm going to share how tobecome a multi-dimensional
success. We're going to go intothe four dimensions of success
and identify how you can trulyhave an epic life through multi
dimensional success.
BEATE CHELETTE (00:19):
And hello, fabulous person! Beate Chelette,
here. I am the host of theBusiness Growth Architect Show,
and I want to welcome you totoday's episode where we discuss
how to navigate strategy andspirituality to achieve time and
financial freedom. Trulysuccessful people have learned
how to master both a clearintention and a strategy to
(00:39):
execute that in a spiritualpractice that will help them to
stay in alignment and onpurpose. Please enjoy the show
and listen to what our guesttoday has to say about this very
topic. Welcome back, everybody.
Beate Chelette here today withVince Covino, and we're talking
about his impact accelerator andwhat it is like to ask for money
(01:02):
right now, to get capital andinvestment, because his
background is nothing short ofextraordinary when it comes to
capital and finding money andmoney is, In most entrepreneurs
eyes, either the answer toeverything or something that
remains very elusive. Vince, I'mexcited to have you on the
(01:25):
Thank you so much for being
Vince Covino (01:28):
here today. It is a pleasure. Thank you. This is a
topic I love talking about, so Ihope we go to the deep end. We
BEATE CHELETTE (01:33):
will definitely go to the deep end. So my
opening question to you is, sowe talking to founders of the
future, and for somebody who'snever heard about you or is
unfamiliar with your work, whatdo you do and what problem do
you solve for your clients?
Vince Covino (01:49):
Yeah, most business owners want to expand.
They see the contributionthey're making in the world, and
growth capital helps them toexpand and turn what could be a
20 or a 30 year into a five or a10 year. What's a 10 year?
What's a 10 year into a threeyear and get seven years of the
life back, accomplish more insuch a shorter period of time?
BEATE CHELETTE (02:07):
Excellent. So you have an interesting
background, and I think it'simportant for us to just touch
on this a little bit, on whereyou come from. Because what
about 10 years ago, you and Iwould have had a completely
different conversation about anyof this, so tell me, who are you
meant? Yeah,
Vince Covino (02:25):
no, Beate. It's fortuitous that we met when we
did, because you probablywouldn't like me when I was a
capitalist, a very Die Hardcapitalist, I thought profit
comes first shareholders. I'vehad a transition since then,
which is why I think we have agood resonance, and why I want
you to co facilitating our biggrowth capital event is I moved
from 1P which is
BEATE CHELETTE (02:45):
profits, to Oh, wow.
Vince Covino (02:49):
I see why I'm doing it. I see the purpose. I
made that connection. I see thepeople you talk about Conscious
Capitalism. I see I have a wakeof dead bodies behind me, right?
thousands of thousands ofemployees that I believe that in
some capacity great I gave thema paycheck and not a whole lot
more for most of them, right?
Maybe, maybe ulcers, but nowwith a higher consciousness of
(03:14):
the impact that I can have intheir lives, and recognizing
that that very impact createsthe most epic life for me.
BEATE CHELETTE (03:22):
How does somebody go from capitalist to
conscious capitalism? What's thestory here?
Vince Covino (03:28):
Hugh Jackman was in the show, greatest showman,
and his whole factory burneddown, if you saw it. And he
sitting on those ashes with his,I'm trying to remember the name
of his, Zac Efron. And in thatsetting, they realize there's a
song from now on. But he saysthis, from those ashes, what
remains must only be what'strue. So his business burns
(03:49):
down. He's like, what's left? Ihad a business that was
extremely successful across thecountry, you know, doing six
figures every day, seeing 20,000guests per day. I scaled the
business from startup, I raised10s of millions of dollars. And
like I said, there was a wake ofdead bodies. There was a lot of
in that process of seekingcapital and being obsessed with
the shareholder. Me being 70%shareholder, I was driven by
(04:13):
that. I believed that for me,God had appointed me to do that
so I could use those funds to beable to grow his kingdom. I lost
my faith over COVID through aninteresting series of events and
my business as well, at leastseven of my locations, I had to
bankrupt, and that was justextremely painful. But it was
(04:34):
sitting on those ashes andsitting with the identity crisis
of losing my faith that I wentvery deep inward in that
process, I began to realize itisn't shareholders. The
stakeholders are the 20 millionguests, the 1000s of employees.
Yes, the shareholders. There'sall of these stakeholders, and
(04:58):
how was I serving them? I. Yeah,and I realized that there were
some real deficiencies in theway that I was approaching when
first Profit First instead ofwhat impact is this on the
planet, on the people. And as Irecalibrated to be adjusted to
purpose, to people, to planet,the profits are so much more
(05:19):
delightful, so much sweeter, somuch more abundant. And that was
my experience. It took about ayear, and I shouldn't say took
about a year, because I'm stillon that path. I still, you know,
I think in the last month, I hadahas here and there, through
different meditations, and, youknow, through coaching and so
forth. And everybody I havecoach that help, that continue
to help me to see why I'm doingit, the impact that it makes,
(05:43):
and why that really is the onlyway to truly succeed. I want to
ask
BEATE CHELETTE (05:48):
a couple of follow up questions, because,
you know, when we talk aboutthese transformational journeys
in like three minutes, youexplained how you changed your
entire life. Obviously took morethan three minutes and more than
three minutes to come to termswith it. Was there a moment? Or
what was that moment where yousaid anything but this that I'll
take the pain of changingbecause I cannot continue like
(06:10):
this. What was it?
Vince Covino (06:11):
Well, the pain of losing money for investors and
for friends. Some of my friendsinvested millions, and I had
lost for them, I believe it wasin that setting that caused me
to go to a place ofintrospection. It was in that
place that wonderful lovingguides helped me to go deep
enough to have a big flip thatswitched. It was this switch I
(06:34):
went from seeking externalvalidation because of wounds
that I had had from my childhoodand otherwise, to truly having a
deep level of compassion andrespect for Vince, all of a
sudden, I loved who I was. I wasenough. I had always been good
enough. I didn't feel I'm justthis sinner that's not good
enough, and I need this, and I'malways going to fall short no
(06:56):
matter what happens, and myworth is going to be measured by
for me, at least my programmingthat I received was or or that I
interpreted was, How much moneydo you have, how big is your
business, and what is yourposition in this church? And
when I moved to a place of selflove, I realized, no, none of
that defines my worth. I definemy worth, and it is infinite.
(07:20):
It's beautiful. It'smagnificent. And my offering,
then isn't how much money canyou make what you're calling but
what is really my true gift?
What's the North Star thatlights me up, and then finding
the way to most broadly expandthat and deliver that to the
world,
BEATE CHELETTE (07:39):
I want to just explain on how large this level
of pain was, because yourbusiness wasn't a $1 million
business and it wasn't the $5million business, this was a
gigantic business.
Vince Covino (07:49):
Yeah, yeah. So when COVID came along and in
2017 I got my first privateequity offer at 40 million, and
my partners didn't want to takeit, because we were going to be
giving up 37% of the company.
Fast Forward, three years later,we had good growth capital. We
had incredible profitability.
And I had a $60 million offerplus $100 million of growth
(08:09):
capital. I had 46 companies inmy M and a pipeline. We were
already the biggest in theworld. Nobody's ever grown
faster in terms of the zoo,aquarium space. You know, I had
50,000 animals in COVID hit, andhad to continue to feed those
when the government made me shutthem all down. Over the course
of 18 months, I lost virtuallyall of that value. I laid off
(08:32):
500 people. In fact, when COVIDhit, I laid out, laid off 500
people in 48 hours. It was a bigloss, and I don't know that it's
any more poignant than thepainter who has three employees
that has to close that I don'tknow. I do know that it felt
like there was a fridge on mychest, because I had so many
people that I let down in somany states, on so many levels,
(08:55):
and that felt immense, that feltlike a tremendous amount of
pressure. I'm a resilient guy bynature, and I have an incredibly
supportive support system, and Irecognize a lot of entrepreneurs
don't have that. But even withthat, I still felt like I
suffered in silence. I stillfelt like I'm not going to tell
my brother or my friends or thisperson or my investors how
(09:16):
absolutely, you know, distraughtI am. I can't let my employees
think that that I feel like theweight of the world is on my
shoulder, and so I put on amask. You know, Hey guys, COVID,
younger just and people knew itlike they could tell. Even if
they didn't know up here, theycould feel it like, really,
(09:40):
we're good. I do believe I'm asensitive guy. I've had a big
heart, but I was driven byprofits, because I believe
that's what behooved me. Ibelieved it was incumbent upon
me for the shareholders that Ihave. I had a fiduciary
responsibility, and that is athought error in capitalism. I
believe the next version ofcapitalism, the next evolution
that's. Is, it's essential andit's inescapable, is that we
(10:03):
move as a society, we movebeyond that very narrow prism of
thinking. And I think that'shappening right now.
BEATE CHELETTE (10:10):
I agree with you on that, yes. So I want to make
sure that we really covered thispart properly. So here's someone
who is super successful, thensomething terrible happens. You
are responsible for all theseanimals. You have to let people
go. You have to do all these,all these different things. What
was your emotional state at thetime? Because there had to be,
(10:32):
you know, and having losteverything in the Palisades fire
five months ago, I can certainlyrelate to this magnitude of a
catastrophic loss. How did youemotionally survive
Vince Covino (10:46):
this? Well, I'll tell you how it felt, and then
how I survived it. How it feltis, there was a fire up by
Folsom, and the whole cityburned down. I was going to my
grand opening in Folsom, one ofmy locations that I built there.
This was late, 2019 I believe,and big opening, very successful
location, 1000 to 2000 peopleevery single day coming in at
(11:09):
2030 bucks, right? It was prettygood store. When I was there
opening, somebody who had hadtheir home and their restaurant
burned to the ground was in thehot tub, and I saw tears in his
eyes in the hot tub. And I said,Hey, man, you okay? And he said,
I've lost everything my kids andhis play kids were swimming in
(11:30):
the pool. And he said, My Placeburned down. I'm one of the guys
here from down where the wherethe city burned. He said, I
can't go build a hotel. I can'tgo build my restaurant back.
It's gone. The recipes from mygrandmother are burned to the
ground. They were on paper. Hesaid it's gone. My kid's
identity is this restaurant.
They worked at the restaurantwith me. Said it's gone, and he
sunk below the water level. Wow,man, this, this poor guy. And I
(11:55):
did have words for him, right?
Like, I'm sorry, dude, thatsucks. It wasn't until COVID
hit, and I'm like, Oh my gosh,it's burning to the ground. And
then, you know, now I see HughJackman and the greatest
showman. I'm like, Yep, I knowhow that feels. It is the
greatest gift I've everreceived, because you see what
(12:15):
remains and you see what's true.
I wish I could go back to thehot tub and say, Dude, this is,
I wouldn't have said it thisway, but in short, this has to
be a gift. Wait till you seewhat grows out of this. Wait
till you see your heart'sexpansion. Yeah.
BEATE CHELETTE (12:32):
I mean, I that is something that I've
consciously made a choice in myparticular situation, to say, I
know, because of my beliefsystem that there has to be a
gift on the other side. But wereyou at the time, at a point
where you knew that there was agift, or did it just naturally
unfold, and did it unfoldquickly? The reason why I asked
(12:54):
this is because I know we had alot of people are going through
really difficult stuff rightnow, and they're afraid and
they're nervous. They don't knowif there's a future for their
business. They don't tariffs,economy, recession, yada yada,
yada yada. How do you handle it?
Vince Covino (13:09):
Well, this is mine. Is more complicated
because I had deep faith in inan omniscient, omnipotent God,
and in that very time when mybusiness was falling apart. So
was my faith shelf, not becauseof it. It wasn't a causation.
It's because there were, therewere some other things happening
that were causing me to do someresearch that made me sorry I
(13:30):
truly couldn't, because of whatI had intellectually read and
studied. You couldn't force meto believe the things that I had
believed for the first 48 yearsabout my faith.
BEATE CHELETTE (13:38):
And that was a that was an organized religion
that you were pushing upagainst,
Vince Covino (13:42):
yeah, and, well, it was Mormonism. I was very
devout in that space. It was mylife. My life revolved around
the church. So there was aperiod of time where I just
thought, this is just random.
This sucks, just bad luck, luckof the draw, because I had, I
don't know that well, I becameagnostic for about six months.
And then there was, there wasanother shift after the another
shift after that, but in thatperiod of time, it's just pure
(14:04):
darkness, pure heavy darkness.
What I have since realized, andit's been about two years now,
is there is it sure feels to melike there is a benevolent force
that is writing a story betterthan I could have ever imagined
it, and it's like any goodmovie. It's like, you do not
want it to just be a win, win,win, win, win. This is amazing.
(14:26):
I remember my partner and I soldthe business. We founded a
separate business in 2013 and wehad some struggles. There was
one point where his wife said,Vince, you're a real mofo. And
you know, I'm not gonna say thewords that she said. And I
reflected back, and I'm like,You know what? She was, right?
But it ended well, we sold thebusiness, and it was successful.
(14:48):
It was a multimillion dollarexit. And I remember us talking
at the time as this amazingpartner with his pure heart, and
his wife so incredible and soand I remember thinking, I'm
glad it. Wasn't easy, because itwas sweet to go through those it
was an adventure. It was filledwith fears, and we had to
exercise courage, and wethought, Oh, we're screwed. It's
(15:10):
over. Are we gonna pull out ofit this time? And when you when
you persevere this the doorsjust open. And I don't know if I
have a full explanation for how,but I've seen it enough times in
my life. They open every time,
BEATE CHELETTE (15:24):
every time. So you see, I think you do. You are
one of those rare people thathave done the work. So my
observation here is that whenpeople do the work right and the
work is you become conscious andyou examine who you are, your
own trauma, the stuff you lookat why you do things the way you
(15:46):
do, and what meaning you givethat story that you've told
yourself the entire time aboutwhat your mom did, what your dad
did, what happened to you. TonyRobbins always refers to it when
he says, what people tell meabout the dysfunctional families
all the time, and cited as areason, Michelle, it says, Show
me one family that's notdysfunctional. They kind of all
are. But you have this attitudethat this backbone bone, is this
(16:12):
something that you coined? Isthis something that you've
always had? Because I kind ofwant to also look into this.
What does it take to have thisattitude that you have in the
face of all of this.
Vince Covino (16:28):
I look at who I've been surrounded by. I've just
been so lucky to have
BEATE CHELETTE (16:34):
community. Yeah,
Vince Covino (16:36):
community just, it's just critical. It's one of
the reasons I'm in thismastermind is I look at, you
know, I hired a CEO coach whenthe shit really hit the fan in
my business. And you know, thatextended community my friends,
and the more I was able to bevulnerable with them so they
could truly see what was goingon my life, the more they loved
me. And so really, for the firsttime in my life, aside from my
(16:56):
mom, who just was love, she wasjust pure love, and I had such a
deep relationship with her justbeautiful is when I let every
mask down, or at least to mybest of my knowledge, I felt
like I did. I thought, oh mygoodness, they see all of the
ugly pieces and all those stupidthings that I've done. That's
that feel foolish in hindsight,when they love me anyway, and
(17:20):
I'm like, oh my goodness, that'slove. They love me. And I felt
what it was like to feel loved,to have a community around you
where they truly see you. Youcan be authentic. You can just
be yourself with them and beauthentic with them. And real
and vulnerable is is beautiful.
So I think that's perhaps a bigpart of it.
BEATE CHELETTE (17:37):
I think there's a perfect bridge for us on what
talking about, what you'rebuilding and what you have built
and continue to build. So now,today, you are in service of
conscious capitalism. Why doesthat mean
Vince Covino (17:50):
there are a lot of business owners out there that
have been on the same path youand I have they've had
successes, far greater successthan I've ever dreamed of, and
they realize that their successisn't how many zeros, how many
bank accounts, how many any ofthat? They realize that it is
impact, contribution, likethat's what truly creates value
(18:10):
in their life. That's thelegacy. That's what they want to
live for. It's how they want tobe remembered. They don't want
people at the funeral talkingabout how big their stock
portfolio was. They want peopleat the funeral, they want to be
remembered for their heart. Andso in this circle of friends,
and between our Mastermind andmy friend group, there are a few
(18:31):
dozen people who are justlooking for heart centered
leaders truly making an impact,that are out there saying, I can
do more. I'm passionate aboutthis, and if I had five or $20
million I could really blow thisthing up in remarkable ways,
like supernova. And thesebusiness owners are saying, I'm
aligned with you. I see yourheart. I see your vision. You
(18:54):
need a little business masteryover here. You need be out there
helping you with your messaging,because it's a little bit here
or there, but I see what you'redoing. We're going to dial you
up. Let's get your board. Let'sget you $10 million let's have a
growth strategy and your 15 yearplan. I want you to do it in
four Let's go.
BEATE CHELETTE (19:09):
So the business model right now is the impact
accelerator summit that you havecreated that comes from this
idea of conscious capitalism. Sothis event is designed to bring
investors together withfounders. Now, one of the things
I want to mention, as I was justat the Web Summit in Vancouver,
(19:32):
I think it's very difficult tofind good investment these days,
being an investor myself,certainly in the private equity
market, because it is the wildwest out there. What are you
seeing on the investor side ofthings? Because they got to park
this money somewhere. They gotto be investing this in
something. So what is theirproblem that they're or did
(19:54):
anything shift in that marketthat you want the audience to
know about? Well.
Vince Covino (20:00):
There's absolutely a shift. It is a trend. Wayne
Gretzky would say, look wherethe puck's going, and that's
that's where you are, not whereit is. There is an emerging
tidal wave of people who aresaying, I'm going to invest in
people who have heart andcontribution, who are looking at
the stakeholders, not theshareholders. They're looking
for purpose. They're looking forPlanet. They're looking out for
(20:21):
the people as you're creatingjobs, or the people that you
employ going home successful andseen like they feel like they're
making a contribution. They'retruly recognized for the immense
impact that they're making. Mostare not and it's sad. We don't
need that anymore. Yeah, I havesix kids, and a big part of my
drive is I want them working forleaders, who lead with heart,
(20:41):
who recognize who see them. Thethought of my kids, if my kids
were to go to work for me 10years ago, which they did,
incidentally, I was justbreaking all the child labor
laws, but I want them to workfor somebody who truly cares
about them, and that becomes abeautiful life, instead of them
(21:04):
going home tired andunappreciated and seen
overworked, underpaid. Businessowners want that now. People
have been very successful. So Iwould say, here's what's
changing right now, is if youwant to raise capital, make
connection with your heart, makeconnection with your purpose,
you'll make more money. Theshareholders will be happier.
Sure your culture will bebetter, and culture eats
strategy for breakfast. And bythe way, here's the best part,
(21:29):
your life's going to be epic.
It's just going to be epic yourrelationships. When you say
doing the work, that's what itis, right? Well, guess what?
That's great for your business.
It's great for your spouse. It'sgreat for your relationship with
your kids, instead of dyingsuper wealthy with your kids
estranged,
BEATE CHELETTE (21:45):
yeah, and on your stone in the cemetery, it
says invested successfully inAmazon,
Vince Covino (21:53):
right? Yeah, yeah, right, exactly right. You see
how trite is.
BEATE CHELETTE (21:57):
Yeah, I've always, I always say this, you
know, to my clients, is that,you know, what's it say on
these, on these stones, it saysbeloved father, husband, wife,
sister, brother. It truly is. Ittruly is what we, you know, we
live on through the memories ofothers of what we have done for
(22:18):
them. So this shift in theinvestor community. Is this new?
Is this something you'vepredicted? Is this something
that you see happening? Is itgetting stronger and stronger
Vince Covino (22:30):
and stronger? This is so fascinating, because just
in the last month, as I've beentalking to the some of the
biggest players in privateequity, multi 10s of billions of
dollars that they're managingand and in family offices, they
are getting so excited about theidea of, instead of, Okay,
here's another deal from theinvestment bank, here's a
spreadsheet, and here's howthey're doing it. They are
(22:50):
moving now, yes, the multiplesand valuations and enterprise
value, all those things stillplay a role, but it's not the
leading role. The leading roleis, what is the impact? Who is
the leader? They're investing ina person specifically they're
saying, show me your heart. Doyou have miles and miles of
heart? I don't care if you havemiles and miles of strategy. So
(23:12):
does everyone else. And it leadsto a lot of toxicity, and people
getting to a place where theyhave burnout, and they lose
their creativity, they losetheir focus, they become
corruptible, they embezzlemoney, they rip people off, they
make deals, they manipulate andthat always backfires. I've seen
it backfire in my life. Theseinvestors are like, I don't want
(23:32):
the next investment deal, andthey're just excited. So the way
that we do it is that we spendthree days with the business
owners, digging deep into theirleadership, their strategy,
their culture and their KPIs,their AI integration, which is
critical, their speed. And theinvestors are there with them,
seeing them, being with them,seeing their hearts, seeing them
in the most vulnerable, breakingthem down, seeing what's inside,
(23:54):
crack 'em wide open. And now theinvestors say, I see all of you,
and I'm gonna help you. Let'sgo. And you have alignment. You
have deep, heart centeredalignment.
BEATE CHELETTE (24:04):
I'm so happy to hear that, because I do think
that we had seen in the pastthis profit, profit, profit
conversation. And to hear thisfrom your side, that in the
investor world, also, there is asense of responsibility, social
consciousness, responsibility toeach other, to the world that
(24:25):
our kids and their kids aregoing to live in, that really
coming at the forefront. Becausewhen we turn on the television,
that's not what we're seeing atall. We still seeing the holding
on to this old, old matrix wetalk about on the show all the
time. But I want to talk to younow about the entrepreneur, the
founder. So who should be goingto this impact accelerator
(24:48):
Summit? What are they going tolearn? What are they going to
get
Vince Covino (24:50):
out of it? Yeah, well, so first of all, people
that are family offices, whichare probably a billion or
billions in private equitycompanies, which are billions or
10s of billions, it's hard. Forthem to deploy 300 grand here,
800 grand there, and really domuch in the small venture
capital or in the angel investorworld, that's a little more on
the individual side theinstitutional investors, who are
(25:11):
now really moving towardsconscious capitalism, they're
looking for people who arealready successful. They're
already seven or eight figuresin revenue, in business value,
and they're seeking seven oreight figures. They're seeking 3
million, or maybe 30 million. Wealready have several businesses
that are lined up. Some areseeking 5,000,001 is seeking 100
million. That'll probably be thepeak, and I'll be a part of that
(25:32):
presentation, because I'm a tinylittle partner on one of the
businesses that's doing it. Itis a very valuable business.
It's a very successful business.
It does maybe eight or 9 millionper year in EBITDA, but the
opportunity for development istremendous, and they're probably
going to pick up a big check atthat because of what they want
to do. It's sort of in thehospitality longevity space,
(25:52):
which is such a hot trend rightnow. So it's people who are
successful who say, I have thevision to expand this at the at
the largest scales. And if I had10 million bucks or 20 million
bucks, I could do this. Itwouldn't take me 10 years. It
wouldn't take me 15 years. Youknow, they're 35 they're 45
(26:13):
saying, I don't want to be 65when I finally hang this up and
exit. How can I do this in fouryears instead of 12. So it's
those people who believe thatit's time to really grow and
expand the business to thehighest potential. Yeah.
BEATE CHELETTE (26:28):
So I definitely think that there's a lot of food
for thought here, because what Ifind absolutely astonishing is
that on the investor side,things are changing, because
that's not something that'swidely being talked about. I
know out of my own personalexperience and with people that
I'm around, is that investorsare looking to invest, and
(26:51):
people always invest, as yousaid, in the person and the
character of the person. So youridea that the character of the
person has to be well definedand clearly identified what they
stand for is probably moreimportant than it's ever been.
And now you said that there'sgoing to be also workshops. So
(27:12):
when somebody signs up for this,because I'm obviously interested
in this, and you and I talkedabout me participating, which
I'll be extremely honored to do,because this is something I very
much believe in. What are thepeople going to get when they're
there? So some let's say I'mrunning a million dollar
business, or $2 millionbusiness. I'm right there at
(27:32):
that sweet spot. I need capitalto scale it to 10, 15, 20
million. What am I going to get?
I
Vince Covino (27:39):
spent maybe a third of my time as CEO raising
capital. Fly to this city, givea pitch. Fly to that city. Give
a pitch. It's not what they'relooking for. It's the wrong
audience, negotiations, back andforth, otherwise, 200 hours of
due diligence. So if you areheart centered, and there's no
faking it, if you connect withyour heart and your purpose, and
(28:02):
you've got good businessmastery, with a good track
record, you're probably going toget an alignment of people,
board of advisors and capitalthat will amplify you like no
nobody ever has system upgradeacross the board, people like
you coming in and helping themjust with their articulation of
what they truly do at the core.
10 seconds. Here it is. So forme, real simple, I help leaders
(28:25):
collect to their heart, leadfrom their heart, expand their
gifts. Easy,
BEATE CHELETTE (28:33):
easy enough. All right, so in closing out this
interview, so is there anythingelse you want the entrepreneur
or even the investor, to knowthat you have figured out that
would be good for them to takeaway from this. Stephen
Vince Covino (28:46):
Covey was so brilliant. He said, begin with
the end in mind. And as I thinkabout the end, what do I want? I
want to have an epic Life. Andhere's an epic life. It's epic
relationships and epic freedomthrough financial where I'm
taking my means to expand mymeaning, which is the whole
point of growth capital. It'sepic health. I'm in the best
(29:09):
health of my life, except formaybe when I was 18. I'm about
where I was when I was 18.
Essentially, it is. It's epicspirituality, where, if you feel
so connected to your to yourgifts and to whatever source is
for you, and that's an epiclife. It's not really amazing
success in one area, it'smastery, and all of them
becoming truly multidimensional. In my mind, that's
(29:31):
the meta guru that's trulysuccessful in each dimension is
the person that is a whole multidimensional human, and that's an
epic life. I
BEATE CHELETTE (29:43):
love this word.
I've not not heard this idea ofthe multi dimensional success,
but I think that's what coinsyour vision, is that we know
that the myth of beingsuccessful financially and then.
Waiting until the point comeswhere you then can be happy with
the family and the kids. Really,in reality, means you blow and
(30:05):
burn every bridge on the waythere, and then you have nobody
to celebrate the success withyou. But the multi dimensional
aspect is something that we knowGen Z wants. We know that nobody
wants to certainly live like,like, what we were taught. You
know, my generation was taught.
(30:25):
And it's not all bad. I thinkit's really good that this is
happening and that the systemsare being dismantled and this
emergence is actually happening.
So this event is happening inOctober in Austin, and we will
link, obviously, the summit tothe show notes, anything else
about the event, or anythingelse that they should check out,
(30:45):
other than the link for theevent,
Vince Covino (30:50):
just over three days, they're going to get the
most incredible,transformational experience in
life, not just for theirbusiness, but their whole life.
And I'm so convinced to that,that if they don't have 10x the
return, we give them 100% oftheir money back. It's gonna
happen.
BEATE CHELETTE (31:07):
I was there for a promise. All right, wins.
Well, thank you so much forbeing here. It's been absolutely
amazing to have you on the show.
I loved having a monetaryconversation about money and
investments that wasn't reallyabout money
Vince Covino (31:20):
at all. Beautiful.
Is my honor,
BEATE CHELETTE (31:22):
and with that, we say goodbye for today. If you
know anybody who is looking forcapital actively, or is thinking
about maybe evaluating iffinding capital is appropriate
for them, send them to the showand show them the link and see
if this resonates and makessense for your friend or even
(31:45):
for you, and with that, we saygoodbye for today. So appreciate
you being here. Thank you somuch for listening to the entire
episode. Please subscribe to thepodcast, give us a five star
review, a comment and share thisepisode with one more person so
that you can help us help morepeople. Thank you again, until
next time. Goodbye.
This is Vince Covino. I'm the CEO of
WarriorSage. And on this episodeof Business Growth Architect
Show, I'm going to share how tobecome a multi-dimensional
success. We're going to go intothe four dimensions of success
and identify how you can trulyhave an epic life through multi
dimensional success.
BEATE CHELETTE (00:19):
And hello, fabulous person! Beate Chelette,
here. I am the host of theBusiness Growth Architect Show,
and I want to welcome you totoday's episode where we discuss
how to navigate strategy andspirituality to achieve time and
financial freedom. Trulysuccessful people have learned
how to master both a clearintention and a strategy to
(00:39):
execute that in a spiritualpractice that will help them to
stay in alignment and onpurpose. Please enjoy the show
and listen to what our guesttoday has to say about this very
topic. Welcome back, everybody.
Beate Chelette here today withVince Covino, and we're talking
about his impact accelerator andwhat it is like to ask for money
(01:02):
right now, to get capital andinvestment, because his
background is nothing short ofextraordinary when it comes to
capital and finding money andmoney is, In most entrepreneurs
eyes, either the answer toeverything or something that
remains very elusive. Vince, I'mexcited to have you on the
(01:25):
Thank you so much for being
Vince Covino (01:28):
here today. It is a pleasure. Thank you. This is a
topic I love talking about, so Ihope we go to the deep end. We
BEATE CHELETTE (01:33):
will definitely go to the deep end. So my
opening question to you is, sowe talking to founders of the
future, and for somebody who'snever heard about you or is
unfamiliar with your work, whatdo you do and what problem do
you solve for your clients?
Vince Covino (01:49):
Yeah, most business owners want to expand.
They see the contributionthey're making in the world, and
growth capital helps them toexpand and turn what could be a
20 or a 30 year into a five or a10 year. What's a 10 year?
What's a 10 year into a threeyear and get seven years of the
life back, accomplish more insuch a shorter period of time?
BEATE CHELETTE (02:07):
Excellent. So you have an interesting
background, and I think it'simportant for us to just touch
on this a little bit, on whereyou come from. Because what
about 10 years ago, you and Iwould have had a completely
different conversation about anyof this, so tell me, who are you
meant? Yeah,
Vince Covino (02:25):
no, Beate. It's fortuitous that we met when we
did, because you probablywouldn't like me when I was a
capitalist, a very Die Hardcapitalist, I thought profit
comes first shareholders. I'vehad a transition since then,
which is why I think we have agood resonance, and why I want
you to co facilitating our biggrowth capital event is I moved
from 1P which is
BEATE CHELETTE (02:45):
profits, to Oh, wow.
Vince Covino (02:49):
I see why I'm doing it. I see the purpose. I
made that connection. I see thepeople you talk about Conscious
Capitalism. I see I have a wakeof dead bodies behind me, right?
thousands of thousands ofemployees that I believe that in
some capacity great I gave thema paycheck and not a whole lot
more for most of them, right?
Maybe, maybe ulcers, but nowwith a higher consciousness of
(03:14):
the impact that I can have intheir lives, and recognizing
that that very impact createsthe most epic life for me.
BEATE CHELETTE (03:22):
How does somebody go from capitalist to
conscious capitalism? What's thestory here?
Vince Covino (03:28):
Hugh Jackman was in the show, greatest showman,
and his whole factory burneddown, if you saw it. And he
sitting on those ashes with his,I'm trying to remember the name
of his, Zac Efron. And in thatsetting, they realize there's a
song from now on. But he saysthis, from those ashes, what
remains must only be what'strue. So his business burns
(03:49):
down. He's like, what's left? Ihad a business that was
extremely successful across thecountry, you know, doing six
figures every day, seeing 20,000guests per day. I scaled the
business from startup, I raised10s of millions of dollars. And
like I said, there was a wake ofdead bodies. There was a lot of
in that process of seekingcapital and being obsessed with
the shareholder. Me being 70%shareholder, I was driven by
(04:13):
that. I believed that for me,God had appointed me to do that
so I could use those funds to beable to grow his kingdom. I lost
my faith over COVID through aninteresting series of events and
my business as well, at leastseven of my locations, I had to
bankrupt, and that was justextremely painful. But it was
(04:34):
sitting on those ashes andsitting with the identity crisis
of losing my faith that I wentvery deep inward in that
process, I began to realize itisn't shareholders. The
stakeholders are the 20 millionguests, the 1000s of employees.
Yes, the shareholders. There'sall of these stakeholders, and
(04:58):
how was I serving them? I. Yeah,and I realized that there were
some real deficiencies in theway that I was approaching when
first Profit First instead ofwhat impact is this on the
planet, on the people. And as Irecalibrated to be adjusted to
purpose, to people, to planet,the profits are so much more
(05:19):
delightful, so much sweeter, somuch more abundant. And that was
my experience. It took about ayear, and I shouldn't say took
about a year, because I'm stillon that path. I still, you know,
I think in the last month, I hadahas here and there, through
different meditations, and, youknow, through coaching and so
forth. And everybody I havecoach that help, that continue
to help me to see why I'm doingit, the impact that it makes,
(05:43):
and why that really is the onlyway to truly succeed. I want to
ask
BEATE CHELETTE (05:48):
a couple of follow up questions, because,
you know, when we talk aboutthese transformational journeys
in like three minutes, youexplained how you changed your
entire life. Obviously took morethan three minutes and more than
three minutes to come to termswith it. Was there a moment? Or
what was that moment where yousaid anything but this that I'll
take the pain of changingbecause I cannot continue like
(06:10):
this. What was it?
Vince Covino (06:11):
Well, the pain of losing money for investors and
for friends. Some of my friendsinvested millions, and I had
lost for them, I believe it wasin that setting that caused me
to go to a place ofintrospection. It was in that
place that wonderful lovingguides helped me to go deep
enough to have a big flip thatswitched. It was this switch I
(06:34):
went from seeking externalvalidation because of wounds
that I had had from my childhoodand otherwise, to truly having a
deep level of compassion andrespect for Vince, all of a
sudden, I loved who I was. I wasenough. I had always been good
enough. I didn't feel I'm justthis sinner that's not good
enough, and I need this, and I'malways going to fall short no
(06:56):
matter what happens, and myworth is going to be measured by
for me, at least my programmingthat I received was or or that I
interpreted was, How much moneydo you have, how big is your
business, and what is yourposition in this church? And
when I moved to a place of selflove, I realized, no, none of
that defines my worth. I definemy worth, and it is infinite.
(07:20):
It's beautiful. It'smagnificent. And my offering,
then isn't how much money canyou make what you're calling but
what is really my true gift?
What's the North Star thatlights me up, and then finding
the way to most broadly expandthat and deliver that to the
world,
BEATE CHELETTE (07:39):
I want to just explain on how large this level
of pain was, because yourbusiness wasn't a $1 million
business and it wasn't the $5million business, this was a
gigantic business.
Vince Covino (07:49):
Yeah, yeah. So when COVID came along and in
2017 I got my first privateequity offer at 40 million, and
my partners didn't want to takeit, because we were going to be
giving up 37% of the company.
Fast Forward, three years later,we had good growth capital. We
had incredible profitability.
And I had a $60 million offerplus $100 million of growth
(08:09):
capital. I had 46 companies inmy M and a pipeline. We were
already the biggest in theworld. Nobody's ever grown
faster in terms of the zoo,aquarium space. You know, I had
50,000 animals in COVID hit, andhad to continue to feed those
when the government made me shutthem all down. Over the course
of 18 months, I lost virtuallyall of that value. I laid off
(08:32):
500 people. In fact, when COVIDhit, I laid out, laid off 500
people in 48 hours. It was a bigloss, and I don't know that it's
any more poignant than thepainter who has three employees
that has to close that I don'tknow. I do know that it felt
like there was a fridge on mychest, because I had so many
people that I let down in somany states, on so many levels,
(08:55):
and that felt immense, that feltlike a tremendous amount of
pressure. I'm a resilient guy bynature, and I have an incredibly
supportive support system, and Irecognize a lot of entrepreneurs
don't have that. But even withthat, I still felt like I
suffered in silence. I stillfelt like I'm not going to tell
my brother or my friends or thisperson or my investors how
(09:16):
absolutely, you know, distraughtI am. I can't let my employees
think that that I feel like theweight of the world is on my
shoulder, and so I put on amask. You know, Hey guys, COVID,
younger just and people knew itlike they could tell. Even if
they didn't know up here, theycould feel it like, really,
(09:40):
we're good. I do believe I'm asensitive guy. I've had a big
heart, but I was driven byprofits, because I believe
that's what behooved me. Ibelieved it was incumbent upon
me for the shareholders that Ihave. I had a fiduciary
responsibility, and that is athought error in capitalism. I
believe the next version ofcapitalism, the next evolution
that's. Is, it's essential andit's inescapable, is that we
(10:03):
move as a society, we movebeyond that very narrow prism of
thinking. And I think that'shappening right now.
BEATE CHELETTE (10:10):
I agree with you on that, yes. So I want to make
sure that we really covered thispart properly. So here's someone
who is super successful, thensomething terrible happens. You
are responsible for all theseanimals. You have to let people
go. You have to do all these,all these different things. What
was your emotional state at thetime? Because there had to be,
(10:32):
you know, and having losteverything in the Palisades fire
five months ago, I can certainlyrelate to this magnitude of a
catastrophic loss. How did youemotionally survive
Vince Covino (10:46):
this? Well, I'll tell you how it felt, and then
how I survived it. How it feltis, there was a fire up by
Folsom, and the whole cityburned down. I was going to my
grand opening in Folsom, one ofmy locations that I built there.
This was late, 2019 I believe,and big opening, very successful
location, 1000 to 2000 peopleevery single day coming in at
(11:09):
2030 bucks, right? It was prettygood store. When I was there
opening, somebody who had hadtheir home and their restaurant
burned to the ground was in thehot tub, and I saw tears in his
eyes in the hot tub. And I said,Hey, man, you okay? And he said,
I've lost everything my kids andhis play kids were swimming in
(11:30):
the pool. And he said, My Placeburned down. I'm one of the guys
here from down where the wherethe city burned. He said, I
can't go build a hotel. I can'tgo build my restaurant back.
It's gone. The recipes from mygrandmother are burned to the
ground. They were on paper. Hesaid it's gone. My kid's
identity is this restaurant.
They worked at the restaurantwith me. Said it's gone, and he
sunk below the water level. Wow,man, this, this poor guy. And I
(11:55):
did have words for him, right?
Like, I'm sorry, dude, thatsucks. It wasn't until COVID
hit, and I'm like, Oh my gosh,it's burning to the ground. And
then, you know, now I see HughJackman and the greatest
showman. I'm like, Yep, I knowhow that feels. It is the
greatest gift I've everreceived, because you see what
(12:15):
remains and you see what's true.
I wish I could go back to thehot tub and say, Dude, this is,
I wouldn't have said it thisway, but in short, this has to
be a gift. Wait till you seewhat grows out of this. Wait
till you see your heart'sexpansion. Yeah.
BEATE CHELETTE (12:32):
I mean, I that is something that I've
consciously made a choice in myparticular situation, to say, I
know, because of my beliefsystem that there has to be a
gift on the other side. But wereyou at the time, at a point
where you knew that there was agift, or did it just naturally
unfold, and did it unfoldquickly? The reason why I asked
(12:54):
this is because I know we had alot of people are going through
really difficult stuff rightnow, and they're afraid and
they're nervous. They don't knowif there's a future for their
business. They don't tariffs,economy, recession, yada yada,
yada yada. How do you handle it?
Vince Covino (13:09):
Well, this is mine. Is more complicated
because I had deep faith in inan omniscient, omnipotent God,
and in that very time when mybusiness was falling apart. So
was my faith shelf, not becauseof it. It wasn't a causation.
It's because there were, therewere some other things happening
that were causing me to do someresearch that made me sorry I
(13:30):
truly couldn't, because of whatI had intellectually read and
studied. You couldn't force meto believe the things that I had
believed for the first 48 yearsabout my faith.
BEATE CHELETTE (13:38):
And that was a that was an organized religion
that you were pushing upagainst,
Vince Covino (13:42):
yeah, and, well, it was Mormonism. I was very
devout in that space. It was mylife. My life revolved around
the church. So there was aperiod of time where I just
thought, this is just random.
This sucks, just bad luck, luckof the draw, because I had, I
don't know that well, I becameagnostic for about six months.
And then there was, there wasanother shift after the another
shift after that, but in thatperiod of time, it's just pure
(14:04):
darkness, pure heavy darkness.
What I have since realized, andit's been about two years now,
is there is it sure feels to melike there is a benevolent force
that is writing a story betterthan I could have ever imagined
it, and it's like any goodmovie. It's like, you do not
want it to just be a win, win,win, win, win. This is amazing.
(14:26):
I remember my partner and I soldthe business. We founded a
separate business in 2013 and wehad some struggles. There was
one point where his wife said,Vince, you're a real mofo. And
you know, I'm not gonna say thewords that she said. And I
reflected back, and I'm like,You know what? She was, right?
But it ended well, we sold thebusiness, and it was successful.
(14:48):
It was a multimillion dollarexit. And I remember us talking
at the time as this amazingpartner with his pure heart, and
his wife so incredible and soand I remember thinking, I'm
glad it. Wasn't easy, because itwas sweet to go through those it
was an adventure. It was filledwith fears, and we had to
exercise courage, and wethought, Oh, we're screwed. It's
(15:10):
over. Are we gonna pull out ofit this time? And when you when
you persevere this the doorsjust open. And I don't know if I
have a full explanation for how,but I've seen it enough times in
my life. They open every time,
BEATE CHELETTE (15:24):
every time. So you see, I think you do. You are
one of those rare people thathave done the work. So my
observation here is that whenpeople do the work right and the
work is you become conscious andyou examine who you are, your
own trauma, the stuff you lookat why you do things the way you
(15:46):
do, and what meaning you givethat story that you've told
yourself the entire time aboutwhat your mom did, what your dad
did, what happened to you. TonyRobbins always refers to it when
he says, what people tell meabout the dysfunctional families
all the time, and cited as areason, Michelle, it says, Show
me one family that's notdysfunctional. They kind of all
are. But you have this attitudethat this backbone bone, is this
(16:12):
something that you coined? Isthis something that you've
always had? Because I kind ofwant to also look into this.
What does it take to have thisattitude that you have in the
face of all of this.
Vince Covino (16:28):
I look at who I've been surrounded by. I've just
been so lucky to have
BEATE CHELETTE (16:34):
community. Yeah,
Vince Covino (16:36):
community just, it's just critical. It's one of
the reasons I'm in thismastermind is I look at, you
know, I hired a CEO coach whenthe shit really hit the fan in
my business. And you know, thatextended community my friends,
and the more I was able to bevulnerable with them so they
could truly see what was goingon my life, the more they loved
me. And so really, for the firsttime in my life, aside from my
(16:56):
mom, who just was love, she wasjust pure love, and I had such a
deep relationship with her justbeautiful is when I let every
mask down, or at least to mybest of my knowledge, I felt
like I did. I thought, oh mygoodness, they see all of the
ugly pieces and all those stupidthings that I've done. That's
that feel foolish in hindsight,when they love me anyway, and
(17:20):
I'm like, oh my goodness, that'slove. They love me. And I felt
what it was like to feel loved,to have a community around you
where they truly see you. Youcan be authentic. You can just
be yourself with them and beauthentic with them. And real
and vulnerable is is beautiful.
So I think that's perhaps a bigpart of it.
BEATE CHELETTE (17:37):
I think there's a perfect bridge for us on what
talking about, what you'rebuilding and what you have built
and continue to build. So now,today, you are in service of
conscious capitalism. Why doesthat mean
Vince Covino (17:50):
there are a lot of business owners out there that
have been on the same path youand I have they've had
successes, far greater successthan I've ever dreamed of, and
they realize that their successisn't how many zeros, how many
bank accounts, how many any ofthat? They realize that it is
impact, contribution, likethat's what truly creates value
(18:10):
in their life. That's thelegacy. That's what they want to
live for. It's how they want tobe remembered. They don't want
people at the funeral talkingabout how big their stock
portfolio was. They want peopleat the funeral, they want to be
remembered for their heart. Andso in this circle of friends,
and between our Mastermind andmy friend group, there are a few
(18:31):
dozen people who are justlooking for heart centered
leaders truly making an impact,that are out there saying, I can
do more. I'm passionate aboutthis, and if I had five or $20
million I could really blow thisthing up in remarkable ways,
like supernova. And thesebusiness owners are saying, I'm
aligned with you. I see yourheart. I see your vision. You
(18:54):
need a little business masteryover here. You need be out there
helping you with your messaging,because it's a little bit here
or there, but I see what you'redoing. We're going to dial you
up. Let's get your board. Let'sget you $10 million let's have a
growth strategy and your 15 yearplan. I want you to do it in
four Let's go.
BEATE CHELETTE (19:09):
So the business model right now is the impact
accelerator summit that you havecreated that comes from this
idea of conscious capitalism. Sothis event is designed to bring
investors together withfounders. Now, one of the things
I want to mention, as I was justat the Web Summit in Vancouver,
(19:32):
I think it's very difficult tofind good investment these days,
being an investor myself,certainly in the private equity
market, because it is the wildwest out there. What are you
seeing on the investor side ofthings? Because they got to park
this money somewhere. They gotto be investing this in
something. So what is theirproblem that they're or did
(19:54):
anything shift in that marketthat you want the audience to
know about? Well.
Vince Covino (20:00):
There's absolutely a shift. It is a trend. Wayne
Gretzky would say, look wherethe puck's going, and that's
that's where you are, not whereit is. There is an emerging
tidal wave of people who aresaying, I'm going to invest in
people who have heart andcontribution, who are looking at
the stakeholders, not theshareholders. They're looking
for purpose. They're looking forPlanet. They're looking out for
(20:21):
the people as you're creatingjobs, or the people that you
employ going home successful andseen like they feel like they're
making a contribution. They'retruly recognized for the immense
impact that they're making. Mostare not and it's sad. We don't
need that anymore. Yeah, I havesix kids, and a big part of my
drive is I want them working forleaders, who lead with heart,
(20:41):
who recognize who see them. Thethought of my kids, if my kids
were to go to work for me 10years ago, which they did,
incidentally, I was justbreaking all the child labor
laws, but I want them to workfor somebody who truly cares
about them, and that becomes abeautiful life, instead of them
(21:04):
going home tired andunappreciated and seen
overworked, underpaid. Businessowners want that now. People
have been very successful. So Iwould say, here's what's
changing right now, is if youwant to raise capital, make
connection with your heart, makeconnection with your purpose,
you'll make more money. Theshareholders will be happier.
Sure your culture will bebetter, and culture eats
strategy for breakfast. And bythe way, here's the best part,
(21:29):
your life's going to be epic.
It's just going to be epic yourrelationships. When you say
doing the work, that's what itis, right? Well, guess what?
That's great for your business.
It's great for your spouse. It'sgreat for your relationship with
your kids, instead of dyingsuper wealthy with your kids
estranged,
BEATE CHELETTE (21:45):
yeah, and on your stone in the cemetery, it
says invested successfully inAmazon,
Vince Covino (21:53):
right? Yeah, yeah, right, exactly right. You see
how trite is.
BEATE CHELETTE (21:57):
Yeah, I've always, I always say this, you
know, to my clients, is that,you know, what's it say on
these, on these stones, it saysbeloved father, husband, wife,
sister, brother. It truly is. Ittruly is what we, you know, we
live on through the memories ofothers of what we have done for
(22:18):
them. So this shift in theinvestor community. Is this new?
Is this something you'vepredicted? Is this something
that you see happening? Is itgetting stronger and stronger
Vince Covino (22:30):
and stronger? This is so fascinating, because just
in the last month, as I've beentalking to the some of the
biggest players in privateequity, multi 10s of billions of
dollars that they're managingand and in family offices, they
are getting so excited about theidea of, instead of, Okay,
here's another deal from theinvestment bank, here's a
spreadsheet, and here's howthey're doing it. They are
(22:50):
moving now, yes, the multiplesand valuations and enterprise
value, all those things stillplay a role, but it's not the
leading role. The leading roleis, what is the impact? Who is
the leader? They're investing ina person specifically they're
saying, show me your heart. Doyou have miles and miles of
heart? I don't care if you havemiles and miles of strategy. So
(23:12):
does everyone else. And it leadsto a lot of toxicity, and people
getting to a place where theyhave burnout, and they lose
their creativity, they losetheir focus, they become
corruptible, they embezzlemoney, they rip people off, they
make deals, they manipulate andthat always backfires. I've seen
it backfire in my life. Theseinvestors are like, I don't want
(23:32):
the next investment deal, andthey're just excited. So the way
that we do it is that we spendthree days with the business
owners, digging deep into theirleadership, their strategy,
their culture and their KPIs,their AI integration, which is
critical, their speed. And theinvestors are there with them,
seeing them, being with them,seeing their hearts, seeing them
in the most vulnerable, breakingthem down, seeing what's inside,
(23:54):
crack 'em wide open. And now theinvestors say, I see all of you,
and I'm gonna help you. Let'sgo. And you have alignment. You
have deep, heart centeredalignment.
BEATE CHELETTE (24:04):
I'm so happy to hear that, because I do think
that we had seen in the pastthis profit, profit, profit
conversation. And to hear thisfrom your side, that in the
investor world, also, there is asense of responsibility, social
consciousness, responsibility toeach other, to the world that
(24:25):
our kids and their kids aregoing to live in, that really
coming at the forefront. Becausewhen we turn on the television,
that's not what we're seeing atall. We still seeing the holding
on to this old, old matrix wetalk about on the show all the
time. But I want to talk to younow about the entrepreneur, the
founder. So who should be goingto this impact accelerator
(24:48):
Summit? What are they going tolearn? What are they going to
get
Vince Covino (24:50):
out of it? Yeah, well, so first of all, people
that are family offices, whichare probably a billion or
billions in private equitycompanies, which are billions or
10s of billions, it's hard. Forthem to deploy 300 grand here,
800 grand there, and really domuch in the small venture
capital or in the angel investorworld, that's a little more on
the individual side theinstitutional investors, who are
(25:11):
now really moving towardsconscious capitalism, they're
looking for people who arealready successful. They're
already seven or eight figuresin revenue, in business value,
and they're seeking seven oreight figures. They're seeking 3
million, or maybe 30 million. Wealready have several businesses
that are lined up. Some areseeking 5,000,001 is seeking 100
million. That'll probably be thepeak, and I'll be a part of that
(25:32):
presentation, because I'm a tinylittle partner on one of the
businesses that's doing it. Itis a very valuable business.
It's a very successful business.
It does maybe eight or 9 millionper year in EBITDA, but the
opportunity for development istremendous, and they're probably
going to pick up a big check atthat because of what they want
to do. It's sort of in thehospitality longevity space,
(25:52):
which is such a hot trend rightnow. So it's people who are
successful who say, I have thevision to expand this at the at
the largest scales. And if I had10 million bucks or 20 million
bucks, I could do this. Itwouldn't take me 10 years. It
wouldn't take me 15 years. Youknow, they're 35 they're 45
(26:13):
saying, I don't want to be 65when I finally hang this up and
exit. How can I do this in fouryears instead of 12. So it's
those people who believe thatit's time to really grow and
expand the business to thehighest potential. Yeah.
BEATE CHELETTE (26:28):
So I definitely think that there's a lot of food
for thought here, because what Ifind absolutely astonishing is
that on the investor side,things are changing, because
that's not something that'swidely being talked about. I
know out of my own personalexperience and with people that
I'm around, is that investorsare looking to invest, and
(26:51):
people always invest, as yousaid, in the person and the
character of the person. So youridea that the character of the
person has to be well definedand clearly identified what they
stand for is probably moreimportant than it's ever been.
And now you said that there'sgoing to be also workshops. So
(27:12):
when somebody signs up for this,because I'm obviously interested
in this, and you and I talkedabout me participating, which
I'll be extremely honored to do,because this is something I very
much believe in. What are thepeople going to get when they're
there? So some let's say I'mrunning a million dollar
business, or $2 millionbusiness. I'm right there at
(27:32):
that sweet spot. I need capitalto scale it to 10, 15, 20
million. What am I going to get?
I
Vince Covino (27:39):
spent maybe a third of my time as CEO raising
capital. Fly to this city, givea pitch. Fly to that city. Give
a pitch. It's not what they'relooking for. It's the wrong
audience, negotiations, back andforth, otherwise, 200 hours of
due diligence. So if you areheart centered, and there's no
faking it, if you connect withyour heart and your purpose, and
(28:02):
you've got good businessmastery, with a good track
record, you're probably going toget an alignment of people,
board of advisors and capitalthat will amplify you like no
nobody ever has system upgradeacross the board, people like
you coming in and helping themjust with their articulation of
what they truly do at the core.
10 seconds. Here it is. So forme, real simple, I help leaders
(28:25):
collect to their heart, leadfrom their heart, expand their
gifts. Easy,
BEATE CHELETTE (28:33):
easy enough. All right, so in closing out this
interview, so is there anythingelse you want the entrepreneur
or even the investor, to knowthat you have figured out that
would be good for them to takeaway from this. Stephen
Vince Covino (28:46):
Covey was so brilliant. He said, begin with
the end in mind. And as I thinkabout the end, what do I want? I
want to have an epic Life. Andhere's an epic life. It's epic
relationships and epic freedomthrough financial where I'm
taking my means to expand mymeaning, which is the whole
point of growth capital. It'sepic health. I'm in the best
(29:09):
health of my life, except formaybe when I was 18. I'm about
where I was when I was 18.
Essentially, it is. It's epicspirituality, where, if you feel
so connected to your to yourgifts and to whatever source is
for you, and that's an epiclife. It's not really amazing
success in one area, it'smastery, and all of them
becoming truly multidimensional. In my mind, that's
(29:31):
the meta guru that's trulysuccessful in each dimension is
the person that is a whole multidimensional human, and that's an
epic life. I
BEATE CHELETTE (29:43):
love this word.
I've not not heard this idea ofthe multi dimensional success,
but I think that's what coinsyour vision, is that we know
that the myth of beingsuccessful financially and then.
Waiting until the point comeswhere you then can be happy with
the family and the kids. Really,in reality, means you blow and
(30:05):
burn every bridge on the waythere, and then you have nobody
to celebrate the success withyou. But the multi dimensional
aspect is something that we knowGen Z wants. We know that nobody
wants to certainly live like,like, what we were taught. You
know, my generation was taught.
(30:25):
And it's not all bad. I thinkit's really good that this is
happening and that the systemsare being dismantled and this
emergence is actually happening.
So this event is happening inOctober in Austin, and we will
link, obviously, the summit tothe show notes, anything else
about the event, or anythingelse that they should check out,
(30:45):
other than the link for theevent,
Vince Covino (30:50):
just over three days, they're going to get the
most incredible,transformational experience in
life, not just for theirbusiness, but their whole life.
And I'm so convinced to that,that if they don't have 10x the
return, we give them 100% oftheir money back. It's gonna
happen.
BEATE CHELETTE (31:07):
I was there for a promise. All right, wins.
Well, thank you so much forbeing here. It's been absolutely
amazing to have you on the show.
I loved having a monetaryconversation about money and
investments that wasn't reallyabout money
Vince Covino (31:20):
at all. Beautiful.
Is my honor,
BEATE CHELETTE (31:22):
and with that, we say goodbye for today. If you
know anybody who is looking forcapital actively, or is thinking
about maybe evaluating iffinding capital is appropriate
for them, send them to the showand show them the link and see
if this resonates and makessense for your friend or even
(31:45):
for you, and with that, we saygoodbye for today. So appreciate
you being here. Thank you somuch for listening to the entire
episode. Please subscribe to thepodcast, give us a five star
review, a comment and share thisepisode with one more person so
that you can help us help morepeople. Thank you again, until
next time. Goodbye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.