Know The Deal

Podcast

A podcast hosted by Katya Fisher and John Lindsey exploring the people, decisions, and judgment behind deals. Through candid conversations with founders, investors, attorneys, innovators, and other accomplished leaders, each episode examines the risks, strategies, and experiences that shape outcomes across business and beyond.

Aracor Presents
Know
the
Deal.
Because everyone is a dealmaker.
Latest episode

Know the Deal. Episode 12

with Carl DavidThird-Generation Fine Art Dealer and Director of David David Gallery

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Episodes
WatchCarl Davidyt

Know the Deal. Episode 12

with Carl DavidThird-Generation Fine Art Dealer and Director of David David Gallery

Carl David is a third-generation fine art dealer and the director of David David Gallery, the family business founded in Philadelphia in 1910 and now in its fourth generation. Working from Rittenhouse Square and from Provident Fine Art in Palm Beach, the gallery specializes in American and European paintings from the 17th to the 21st century, with clients ranging from private collectors to major museums. David is a member of the Appraisers Association of America and the Art and Antique Dealers League of America, and the author of several books, including Collecting and Care of Fine Art. He joins Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to talk about what actually sets the price of a painting, how dealers protect themselves from fakes and forged provenances, and why one mistake can end a reputation. They also cover how a deal gets done, the daisy chains that inflate prices, and what the art market has gained and lost as it has become more commercial.

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WatchAnnelise Osborneyt

Know the Deal. Episode 11

with Annelise Osborne

Annelise Osborne is a capital-markets and digital-assets executive who spent more than a decade at Moody’s, where she led a team responsible for rating some $400 billion of real-estate securities. She later moved into blockchain and digital assets, holding C-suite roles at companies focused on tokenization and the convergence of traditional finance and crypto. She lectures at Columbia University and is the author of From Hoodies to Suits and the novel Hold On for Dear Life. Osborne joins Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to talk about what the 2008 ratings failures taught her, what tokenization actually changes, and how crypto went from a movement of hoodies to a room full of suits.

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WatchDavid Wasilewskiyt

Know the Deal. Episode 10

with David WasilewskiIndependent Operator | Former COO/CFO, SPANX | Former President, Privé Revaux

David Wasilewski is a business architect who helps founders build businesses that create more value, grow more predictably, and maximize long-term business value. He began his entrepreneurial career helping launch Spanx alongside Sara Blakely, serving as COO and CFO as the company grew from a startup to more than $1 billion in enterprise value. He later led several high-growth consumer brands, including as president of Privé Revaux, the celebrity-founded eyewear company co-founded by Jamie Foxx, where he helped lead the company’s sale to Safilo. Wasilewski joins Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to talk about why founders get exhausted once a business reaches eight figures, and why that is a design problem, not a personal failure. They cover how a founder’s idea has to become something a team can run, what to look for before hiring a COO, and why advice always carries the experience of the person giving it. He also explains what makes a company worth more at exit and when a strategic buyer will overpay.

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WatchDr. Wesley Fisheryt

Know the Deal. Episode 9

with Dr. Wesley FisherDirector of Research for the Claims Conference and the World Jewish Restitution Organization

Dr. Wesley Fisher is Director of Research for the Claims Conference and the World Jewish Restitution Organization, where he leads global efforts to recover Nazi-looted art and negotiate with governments over Jewish property. He served as executive director of the Victim List Project of the Swiss Bank Settlement and holds a PhD from Columbia University, where he also taught. Fisher joins Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to explain how the effort to find stolen art works, from the KGB archives to Nazi records, and how moral pressure, patience, and persistence shape negotiations with governments. He also shares what a returned keepsake means to a family, and the story of a lost painting from his own childhood. 

Episode 9 · 45 minutes · October 19, 2026Spotify
WatchSeth Farbmanyt

Know the Deal. Episode 8

with Seth FarbmanChairman and President of VStock Transfer

Seth Farbman is a serial entrepreneur and capital markets veteran who has built and sold four companies in the infrastructure of the public markets. A securities lawyer by training, he is chairman and president of VStock Transfer, serves on the boards of two publicly traded companies, and leads the LinkedIn marketing agency ShareMedia.co. He joins Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to talk about what four exits taught him, why he never started a company with a sale in mind, and what really happens the morning after the IPO bell rings.

Episode 8 · 21 minutes · October 12, 2026Spotify
WatchMarkus Dreißigackeryt

Know the Deal. Episode 7

with Markus DreißigackerConstructor Group

Dr. Markus Dreißigacker has spent two decades in-house at some of the world's most recognizable companies. That includes Kellogg's, Pringles, and JDE Peet's, where he led compliance through a €15.6 billion IPO. Most recently, he served as Group General Counsel and Compliance Officer at Bruker Corporation. He has driven more than 40 M&A and integration deals, and was named 2025 M&A Counsel of the Year. Now leading legal for Constructor Group, Markus joins Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to unpack what separates a real compliance program from one that just avoids liability. They also discuss how he puts a price tag on every negotiation, and the human side of deals that spreadsheets never capture. 

Episode 7 · 33 minutes · October 2, 2026Spotify
WatchShai Sternyt

Know the Deal. Episode 6

with Shai SternFounder and CEO of Gotavi

Shai Stern is a six-time founder who has spent his career building the back-office infrastructure that businesses depend on: company formation, compliance, insurance, and payments. His companies have collectively served tens of thousands of businesses, and he is now the Founder and CEO of Gotavi, a single platform that helps founders start and run a company across formation, compliance, insurance, payments, and AI. Stern joins Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to talk about the parts of a company that get zero applause but decide whether it survives. They get into why the "boring" side of business is actually where the money lives, what buyers are really paying for when they acquire a back-office company, why trust built over decades is the hardest thing to replicate with software or AI, and the hard-won lessons from six exits about knowing your cap table before you sign. 

Episode 6 · 27 minutes · September 28, 2026Spotify
WatchAmit Pradhanyt

Know the Deal. Episode 5

with Amit PradhanFounder and CEO of Rainfall

Amit Pradhan is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor, and technologist with more than 25 years at the frontier of deep tech, and he argues that most builders skip the one question that actually matters: not what they're building, but who it's for. He is the Founder and CEO of Rainfall, building infrastructure for a more self-sovereign future for AI, and the founder of JetVentures, investing in entrepreneurs working at the edges of emerging technology. He also serves on the board of the Norwegian Refugee Council and the BMW Global Mobility Council, as President of the Silicon Valley Blockchain Society, and as a Responsible Leader with the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt. Amit joins Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to talk about the incentives quietly running the tech and venture world, from the convenience economy that got everyone to hand over their data, to the agentic AI now living inside people's homes with access to more than it needs. They get into why data has become more valuable, and more dangerous, than oil, why real cultural change comes from heroes rather than committees, and where he lands, somewhere between optimism and alarm, on what comes next.

Episode 5 · 30 minutes · September 21, 2026Spotify
WatchVictoria Pelletieryt

Know the Deal. Episode 4

with Victoria PelletierThe Turnaround Queen

Victoria Pelletier became one of the youngest COOs in the country at 24. More than 40 acquisitions later, she is known as the Turnaround Queen, and she argues that most deals succeed or fail for a single reason: the people. Pelletier has been a COO, president, and CEO across companies ranging from a few hundred employees to nearly half a million. She joins Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to dig into the part of dealmaking the spreadsheets miss, which is everything that happens after the merger closes. They cover why change management has to start before the ink dries, how culture clashes quietly erase the value a deal was supposed to create, the warning signs that make her walk away, and why she is skeptical of companies blaming layoffs on AI.

Episode 4 · 25 minutes · September 9, 2026Spotify
WatchSal Buscemiyt

Know the Deal. Episode 3

with Sal BuscemiCEO, Brahmin Partners

When the market breaks and everyone else is forced to sell, distressed investors are the ones still writing checks. Sal Buscemi explains how that works. Buscemi, CEO of Brahmin Partners, started at Goldman Sachs and built one of Miami’s leading private multifamily investment offices. He sits down with Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to break down distressed credit and real estate: why the market runs in cycles, how rising interest rates expose the buyers who overpaid, and how disciplined capital makes money when the timing is right. Contrarian, and refreshingly blunt about how the business really works.

Episode 3 · 23 min · August 24, 2026Spotify
WatchKurt Danielyt

Know the Deal. Episode 2

with Kurt DanielCEO, Virtuozzo

Kurt Daniel talked his way into Harvard from a public school, pitched Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer at Microsoft, and has since run five companies and a long list of exits. Now CEO of Virtuozzo, which builds infrastructure software for AI and the cloud, Daniel joins Katya Fisher and John Lindsey to walk through what he learned building and selling companies, with exits touching MongoDB, Worklight (acquired by IBM), Parallels, and Ubersmith. They get into what separates the companies that scale from the ones that stall, how to make complex technology simple enough to sell, and what a serial operator actually does differently.

Episode 2 · 24 min · August 17, 2026Spotify
Watchyt

Know the Deal. Premiere

with

Know the Deal. is a show about how deals actually get done, hosted by the people who do them. In the first episode, co-hosts Katya Fisher and John Lindsey set the table. Fisher is an attorney and the founder and CEO of Aracor, a dealmaking platform, and has spent more than sixteen years inside mergers, acquisitions, and the fine print that decides who gets paid. Together they lay out what the show covers: negotiation, financing, law, leadership, and the technology reshaping every seat at the table. Real transactions, the ones that closed and the ones that fell apart, and the judgment behind both.

Episode 1 · 43min · August 11, 2026Spotify
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