October 22, 2023 • 10 mins
Frank Mottek from 790 KABC's Mottek On Money interviews Brian Rabinovitz, Director of Business Development West Coast for Citrin Cooperman, Los Angeles. Frank Mottek interviews for Echelon Business Development at The Original Mixer at The Luxe Hotel in Los Angeles.
The Original Mixer is a business networking event that has been bringing together great business people in one place since 2018. Echelon Business Development has sponsored the event beginning in 2023.
There are a lot of great people at The Original Mixer who can help you find new clients and get connections. Additionally, it lets you promote your business, work together with experts, become a leader in your field, and discover fresh ways to expand.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:00):
From Los Angeles, this is the Echelon Radio
(00:03):
Network
Frank Mottek (00:04):
Here we are at The Original Mixer and with me now
is Brian Rabinovitz, thedirector of business development
on the west coast for CitrinCooperman, Los Angeles, put this
whole thing together withEchelon Business Development.
I'm Frank Mottek from 790 KABC.
And Brian, it's fantastic to bewith you. Congratulations on a
(00:26):
really fabulous, energetic eventhere tonight.
Brian Rabinovitz (00:30):
Thank you. I'm so amazed on the turnout that we
had the professionals that wehave here that various
industries that are all in itexceeded my expectations
tonight.
Frank Mottek (00:39):
Tremendous energy in this room here and mega
schmoozing going on, we can sayand dealmaking appears to be
happening here and what a greatmix of professionals tell us,
Brian, how you put all thistogether.
Brian Rabinovitz (00:53):
Interesting story about 20 something years
ago, I moved out here from NewYork, I was invited to a
ten-person Monday night dinnergroup, and this metamorphosis
from that we then all of asudden, about 15-20 people at
dinner, we would do events atqueues on the west side of LA,
we moved it all around. Then westarted doing certain events at
(01:14):
Trader Vic's, the X Bar on thewest side, and the Luxe on
Sunset. We've been doing anevent like this here for about
12 years, they were so graciousto us.
Frank Mottek (01:24):
That's great. And certainly at the right time here
with people eager to get backout. There's no substitute for a
real social networking site. Andcertainly we're seeing that
here.
Brian Rabinovitz (01:34):
It's wonderful. COVID was a big
detractor to networking. A lotof people learned how to do
virtual networking. But you lookat this event tonight, we have
about almost 300 people, andeverybody's just socializing and
so happy to be together. And tome, the best way to get to know
somebody is face to face. Andyou for me when I'm here, all I
(01:57):
tried to do is bring peopletogether that could be mutually
beneficial to each other. And somany deals are getting done
tonight. And it's incredible.
Frank Mottek (02:04):
That's fantastic.
Nobody's on mute here tonight,that's for sure. It's great that
we're off of zoom finally, andreally enjoying this kind of an
event. So tell us about some ofthe membership here. The various
businesses represented and howpeople can get involved with
Echelon first of all.
Brian Rabinovitz (02:21):
Tonight is just an amazing eclectic group.
We have everybody from familyoffices, venture capital,
investment, banking, accounting,other finance professionals, we
have business brokers, we havemarketers, it's just a great
group of people who can worktogether and do business
(02:42):
together. That is the wholebackground of Echelon. Echelon
tries to bring a group oflike-minded people together from
different industries, to get toknow each other and be more of a
mastermind group. We only try toget a group of about 16 people
together. And you get to knowthat group, you get to build the
(03:02):
front side and back side of thebusiness card. And that's what
makes it work. Because who doyou want to do business with?
People that you're friends withpeople that you trust? And
that's a major factor.
Frank Mottek (03:13):
That's great. And what an interesting mix, you got
bourbon and brownies and allkinds of interesting features
about this evening.
the biggerbusiness events and groups here
(03:34):
and and certainly in the M&Aworld. Tell us how you see
things happening on the businessfrontier and what is the buzz
here tonight and at the businessevents that you've been
attended?
Brian Rabinovitz (03:46):
Interesting question. The buzz is optimism.
People are really hoping thatthings change. The supply chain
has the problem that we had hasdissipated a little bit. But
there are a lot of other factorsthat are causing businesses to
have difficulties, especially onthe interest rate side. But I
(04:06):
feel optimistic by the end ofthe fourth quarter or the
beginning of 2024 that thingswill really change
Frank Mottek (04:14):
And we gratefully acknowledge Citrin Cooperman for
supporting this great event andtell us what's happening on the
M&A front and what kind of dealsare applying nowadays.
Brian Rabinovitz (04:24):
Interesting.
The deal front is a little bitslow. It's getting back. There's
been a lot of hiccups, I guesswe could say certain industries,
consumer retail, the multipleshave gone down. Some industries
like healthcare are doing verywell. But the marketplace we're
hoping gets a little bit of apush in the next six to nine
(04:48):
months.
Frank Mottek (04:52):
Tell us what is happening on real estate.
Commercial Real Estate seems tobe distressed at the moment
especially in in downtown Lafrom what we've seen and and
what kind of deals relating toreal estate are you seeing?
Brian Rabinovitz (05:05):
In the real estate market, I'm seeing a lot
of activity. And basicallywhat's happening is there's a
lot of money on private equityand private equity sitting on
the sidelines that is trying toget in and they're finding their
deals. What happened duringCOVID, which was very
interesting is prices wentthrough the roof, no one would
have expected that when March of2020 came along, everybody
(05:28):
thought the worst, and theeconomy did exceptionally well
for a couple years. Right now,the people that kept their money
in the sidelines are findingsome bargains out there and are
doing really well. For theseller side, though, they're not
getting the prices that theythought they would get a few
years ago.
Frank Mottek (05:46):
All right, we saw that mega merger deal in the
supermarket business. Do you seeany other big deals on the
horizon? Here in 2023?
Brian Rabinovitz (05:55):
No, I don't have my crystal ball right now.
But I think there's going to bea lot of activity coming on at
the end of 2023.
Frank Mottek (06:02):
Healthcare, again?
Brian Rabinovitz (06:04):
healthcare will be an industry that, again,
is something that is veryimportant to our country. And
there is a lot of backingbetween both sides of our
government trying to initiatemore affordable health care and
other things for our country.
Frank Mottek (06:24):
All right, I was just at the LA EDC event of
they're still trying to makeL.A. more business friendly.
Certainly, it's been a, anuphill fight for a lot of
businesses here in California,and especially here in Southern
California facing high taxes andregulation and all that, again,
among the movers and shakers,you talk to here and other
events, what's the mood outthere at the moment?
Brian Rabinovitz (06:46):
You've hit the nail on the head. We work with a
lot of high net worth familiesthat have really been scratching
their head. They love theweather in California, but where
do we want to live. And we canoperate our business from
anywhere. Or we can move ourbusiness to the same as Tesla to
(07:06):
Texas to other states. And thathas been an issue. California,
LA is really going to have tolook at what's going on. I
believe and get into a littlebit of an issue where a lot of
our clients that live in likethe city, the new rule that was
passed with taxes, if you own ahome over $5 million and sell
(07:30):
it. I mean, it's a veryinteresting aspect because LA
has just been has become veryexpensive to live in. For
myself, I moved out here fromNew York 20 years ago, the
weather to raise a family. It'sjust an absolute wonderful place
to live. But some people havemade decisions to move out and
especially a lot of companies.
Frank Mottek (07:51):
We're going to be the last of the Mohicans. Are
you helping other people moveout? What's the typical
situation you see nowadays?
Brian Rabinovitz (07:57):
We have a lot of families that are moving to
Nashville, moving to Utah,moving to Texas. And it's all
caused by the tax brackets. Butagain, LA is a vibrant
community. Silicon key is excuseme, Silicon Beach is coming
back. Our VC community is doingreally well. Private equity is
(08:17):
great out here. And it is justsuch an affluent place to live.
So LA will survive.
Frank Mottek (08:24):
You have to be successful to be here.
Brian Rabinovitz (08:27):
You do. The cost of living is extreme. We
see that as a verb in theclients that we help.
Frank Mottek (08:33):
Right and that's another reason why we're seeing
such energy in this room. Peopledo whatever it takes to to
succeed.
Brian Rabinovitz (08:41):
Exactly.
Frank Mottek (08:42):
All the more reason to celebrate to this
evening, Brian, anything elseyou'd like to mention about what
you do at Citrin Cooperman oranything else about the Echelon
and how people can connect withboth.
Brian Rabinovitz (08:52):
I'd love to mention a little about Citrin
Cooperman. We are a full servicenational professional service
firm. Just a little funny thing.
We used to be called anaccounting firm. But about a
year and a half ago, we wentthrough a recapitalization. And
we are private equity on rightowned right now. There has been
a roll up in the accountingindustry. So since we're not
majority owned by CPAs, we'recalled a professional service
(09:14):
firm. But it's an amazing placethat I work. We do buy side sell
side due diligence quality ofearnings. We work with family
offices. One of the big thingsthat's out there right now that
every business has to understandis really understand your
cybersecurity. That's a big partof what we're doing for our
clients. We do traditional audittax but it's a great marketplace
(09:37):
out there. You look at this roomright now I'm looking around. It
is fabulous. It's vibrant.
People want to do business. Andthe one thing I can state to
everybody is when you go to anevent like this, you're not
going to get a deal right away.
Everybody is making aninvestment in time, and you have
(09:59):
to build your relationships. Andthat's what's very important.
Frank Mottek (10:04):
I wish we had more time I see people eager to hear
to speak with you. So we'll letyou get back to the mixer Brian
Rabinovitz, Director of BusinessDevelopment, West for the Citrin
Cooperman firm. Put us alltogether tonight. Brian, thank
you very much for your greatstory and for being here tonight
and making this possible.
Brian Rabinovitz (10:22):
Thank you Frank.
Frank Mottek (10:24):
Thank you.
Announcer (10:28):
Presented by Echelon Business Development. More than
just networking, way more!
From Los Angeles, this is the Echelon Radio
(00:03):
Network
Frank Mottek (00:04):
Here we are at The Original Mixer and with me now
is Brian Rabinovitz, thedirector of business development
on the west coast for CitrinCooperman, Los Angeles, put this
whole thing together withEchelon Business Development.
I'm Frank Mottek from 790 KABC.
And Brian, it's fantastic to bewith you. Congratulations on a
(00:26):
really fabulous, energetic eventhere tonight.
Brian Rabinovitz (00:30):
Thank you. I'm so amazed on the turnout that we
had the professionals that wehave here that various
industries that are all in itexceeded my expectations
tonight.
Frank Mottek (00:39):
Tremendous energy in this room here and mega
schmoozing going on, we can sayand dealmaking appears to be
happening here and what a greatmix of professionals tell us,
Brian, how you put all thistogether.
Brian Rabinovitz (00:53):
Interesting story about 20 something years
ago, I moved out here from NewYork, I was invited to a
ten-person Monday night dinnergroup, and this metamorphosis
from that we then all of asudden, about 15-20 people at
dinner, we would do events atqueues on the west side of LA,
we moved it all around. Then westarted doing certain events at
(01:14):
Trader Vic's, the X Bar on thewest side, and the Luxe on
Sunset. We've been doing anevent like this here for about
12 years, they were so graciousto us.
Frank Mottek (01:24):
That's great. And certainly at the right time here
with people eager to get backout. There's no substitute for a
real social networking site. Andcertainly we're seeing that
here.
Brian Rabinovitz (01:34):
It's wonderful. COVID was a big
detractor to networking. A lotof people learned how to do
virtual networking. But you lookat this event tonight, we have
about almost 300 people, andeverybody's just socializing and
so happy to be together. And tome, the best way to get to know
somebody is face to face. Andyou for me when I'm here, all I
(01:57):
tried to do is bring peopletogether that could be mutually
beneficial to each other. And somany deals are getting done
tonight. And it's incredible.
Frank Mottek (02:04):
That's fantastic.
Nobody's on mute here tonight,that's for sure. It's great that
we're off of zoom finally, andreally enjoying this kind of an
event. So tell us about some ofthe membership here. The various
businesses represented and howpeople can get involved with
Echelon first of all.
Brian Rabinovitz (02:21):
Tonight is just an amazing eclectic group.
We have everybody from familyoffices, venture capital,
investment, banking, accounting,other finance professionals, we
have business brokers, we havemarketers, it's just a great
group of people who can worktogether and do business
(02:42):
together. That is the wholebackground of Echelon. Echelon
tries to bring a group oflike-minded people together from
different industries, to get toknow each other and be more of a
mastermind group. We only try toget a group of about 16 people
together. And you get to knowthat group, you get to build the
(03:02):
front side and back side of thebusiness card. And that's what
makes it work. Because who doyou want to do business with?
People that you're friends withpeople that you trust? And
that's a major factor.
Frank Mottek (03:13):
That's great. And what an interesting mix, you got
bourbon and brownies and allkinds of interesting features
about this evening.
the biggerbusiness events and groups here
(03:34):
and and certainly in the M&Aworld. Tell us how you see
things happening on the businessfrontier and what is the buzz
here tonight and at the businessevents that you've been
attended?
Brian Rabinovitz (03:46):
Interesting question. The buzz is optimism.
People are really hoping thatthings change. The supply chain
has the problem that we had hasdissipated a little bit. But
there are a lot of other factorsthat are causing businesses to
have difficulties, especially onthe interest rate side. But I
(04:06):
feel optimistic by the end ofthe fourth quarter or the
beginning of 2024 that thingswill really change
Frank Mottek (04:14):
And we gratefully acknowledge Citrin Cooperman for
supporting this great event andtell us what's happening on the
M&A front and what kind of dealsare applying nowadays.
Brian Rabinovitz (04:24):
Interesting.
The deal front is a little bitslow. It's getting back. There's
been a lot of hiccups, I guesswe could say certain industries,
consumer retail, the multipleshave gone down. Some industries
like healthcare are doing verywell. But the marketplace we're
hoping gets a little bit of apush in the next six to nine
(04:48):
months.
Frank Mottek (04:52):
Tell us what is happening on real estate.
Commercial Real Estate seems tobe distressed at the moment
especially in in downtown Lafrom what we've seen and and
what kind of deals relating toreal estate are you seeing?
Brian Rabinovitz (05:05):
In the real estate market, I'm seeing a lot
of activity. And basicallywhat's happening is there's a
lot of money on private equityand private equity sitting on
the sidelines that is trying toget in and they're finding their
deals. What happened duringCOVID, which was very
interesting is prices wentthrough the roof, no one would
have expected that when March of2020 came along, everybody
(05:28):
thought the worst, and theeconomy did exceptionally well
for a couple years. Right now,the people that kept their money
in the sidelines are findingsome bargains out there and are
doing really well. For theseller side, though, they're not
getting the prices that theythought they would get a few
years ago.
Frank Mottek (05:46):
All right, we saw that mega merger deal in the
supermarket business. Do you seeany other big deals on the
horizon? Here in 2023?
Brian Rabinovitz (05:55):
No, I don't have my crystal ball right now.
But I think there's going to bea lot of activity coming on at
the end of 2023.
Frank Mottek (06:02):
Healthcare, again?
Brian Rabinovitz (06:04):
healthcare will be an industry that, again,
is something that is veryimportant to our country. And
there is a lot of backingbetween both sides of our
government trying to initiatemore affordable health care and
other things for our country.
Frank Mottek (06:24):
All right, I was just at the LA EDC event of
they're still trying to makeL.A. more business friendly.
Certainly, it's been a, anuphill fight for a lot of
businesses here in California,and especially here in Southern
California facing high taxes andregulation and all that, again,
among the movers and shakers,you talk to here and other
events, what's the mood outthere at the moment?
Brian Rabinovitz (06:46):
You've hit the nail on the head. We work with a
lot of high net worth familiesthat have really been scratching
their head. They love theweather in California, but where
do we want to live. And we canoperate our business from
anywhere. Or we can move ourbusiness to the same as Tesla to
(07:06):
Texas to other states. And thathas been an issue. California,
LA is really going to have tolook at what's going on. I
believe and get into a littlebit of an issue where a lot of
our clients that live in likethe city, the new rule that was
passed with taxes, if you own ahome over $5 million and sell
(07:30):
it. I mean, it's a veryinteresting aspect because LA
has just been has become veryexpensive to live in. For
myself, I moved out here fromNew York 20 years ago, the
weather to raise a family. It'sjust an absolute wonderful place
to live. But some people havemade decisions to move out and
especially a lot of companies.
Frank Mottek (07:51):
We're going to be the last of the Mohicans. Are
you helping other people moveout? What's the typical
situation you see nowadays?
Brian Rabinovitz (07:57):
We have a lot of families that are moving to
Nashville, moving to Utah,moving to Texas. And it's all
caused by the tax brackets. Butagain, LA is a vibrant
community. Silicon key is excuseme, Silicon Beach is coming
back. Our VC community is doingreally well. Private equity is
(08:17):
great out here. And it is justsuch an affluent place to live.
So LA will survive.
Frank Mottek (08:24):
You have to be successful to be here.
Brian Rabinovitz (08:27):
You do. The cost of living is extreme. We
see that as a verb in theclients that we help.
Frank Mottek (08:33):
Right and that's another reason why we're seeing
such energy in this room. Peopledo whatever it takes to to
succeed.
Brian Rabinovitz (08:41):
Exactly.
Frank Mottek (08:42):
All the more reason to celebrate to this
evening, Brian, anything elseyou'd like to mention about what
you do at Citrin Cooperman oranything else about the Echelon
and how people can connect withboth.
Brian Rabinovitz (08:52):
I'd love to mention a little about Citrin
Cooperman. We are a full servicenational professional service
firm. Just a little funny thing.
We used to be called anaccounting firm. But about a
year and a half ago, we wentthrough a recapitalization. And
we are private equity on rightowned right now. There has been
a roll up in the accountingindustry. So since we're not
majority owned by CPAs, we'recalled a professional service
(09:14):
firm. But it's an amazing placethat I work. We do buy side sell
side due diligence quality ofearnings. We work with family
offices. One of the big thingsthat's out there right now that
every business has to understandis really understand your
cybersecurity. That's a big partof what we're doing for our
clients. We do traditional audittax but it's a great marketplace
(09:37):
out there. You look at this roomright now I'm looking around. It
is fabulous. It's vibrant.
People want to do business. Andthe one thing I can state to
everybody is when you go to anevent like this, you're not
going to get a deal right away.
Everybody is making aninvestment in time, and you have
(09:59):
to build your relationships. Andthat's what's very important.
Frank Mottek (10:04):
I wish we had more time I see people eager to hear
to speak with you. So we'll letyou get back to the mixer Brian
Rabinovitz, Director of BusinessDevelopment, West for the Citrin
Cooperman firm. Put us alltogether tonight. Brian, thank
you very much for your greatstory and for being here tonight
and making this possible.
Brian Rabinovitz (10:22):
Thank you Frank.
Frank Mottek (10:24):
Thank you.
Announcer (10:28):
Presented by Echelon Business Development. More than
just networking, way more!
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