The Owner Seat

5 provocative, AI-SEO-friendly episode titles (Bob Thomas) GLP-1s Are Rewriting the Gym Business Model — Here’s the Playbook (Bob Thomas) Gyms Are Becoming Longevity Centers: GLP-1s, Peptides, HRT & the Truth About Profit The Longevity Supply Chain: Why Your GLP-1 Partner Can Make or Break Your Brand Ozempic Didn’t Kill Fitness — It Exposed Weak Retention, Weak Systems, Weak Economics From 6 t...

Today on The Owner Seat Podcast , host Albert Ramos goes straight at the thing most fitness + wellness founders keep trying to “AI their way out of”… Broken financial infrastructure. My guest is Bill Dillmeier — an operator-minded finance leader who’s obsessed with the boring stuff that actually determines whether your studio scales cleanly : accounting systems, revenue + cost truth, cash timing,...

Today on The Owner Seat Podcast , host Albert Ramos goes straight at one of the fastest-growing (and most misunderstood) categories in wellness and recovery: halotherapy (dry salt therapy) — what it is, what it isn’t, and how operators can monetize it without hype . My guest is Lisa Marie Semerly — Chief Revenue Officer at Halotherapy Solutions , President of the World Halotherapy Association , an...

Today on The Owner Seat Podcast , host Albert Ramos breaks down the truth about what’s coming next in fitness, wellness, and franchising — and why AI isn’t a feature … it’s a business model shift . My guest is Garrett Marshall — CEO & Founder of Wellbuilt Ventures and former President of Xponential+ . Garrett has 22+ years across fitness + tech + SaaS growth, with real operator outcomes (inclu...

Today on The Owner Seat Podcast , host Albert Ramos goes straight at the reason most boutique fitness studios and online coaching businesses feel “successful” but still feel broke: profit leaks + payroll drift + zero cash visibility — not a “more leads” problem. Paul Roch, CPA helps online fitness coaches and boutique studio owners translate confusing financials into operator language, tighten pro...

Today on The Owner Seat Podcast , host Albert Ramos goes straight at the real reason most fitness and wellness businesses stall out: execution drift — not a “marketing problem,” not a “more leads” problem. Ben Ludwig is a fitness industry leadership, sales, and strategy operator who’s trained teams across 60+ countries , helped support nearly 2,000 F45 studios globally , and served in executive le...

Today on The Owner Seat Podcast , host Albert Ramos goes behind the curtain of fitness + wellness media — and into the coaching economy problems most brands would rather keep off-camera. Elisa Edelstein is the Editor-in-Chief of Coach360 and a NASM Certified Personal Trainer — which means she’s not just reporting on coaches… she is one. She sits at the center of what gets amplified, what gets igno...

Today on The Owner Seat , host Albert Ramos goes straight at the finance problem that’s about to wreck margins for a lot of operators in 2026: Usage-based pricing + AI spend + “I’ll check it at month-end” finance. Our guest is Catherine Neuman , Co-Founder of SpendPilot — the ambient finance layer built to stop reactive chaos and give owners real-time visibility into spend, risk, and performance b...

Today on The Owner Seat , host Albert Ramos goes inside the real transformation story most founders never talk about: the moment your health, your family, and your identity collide — and you either change… or you drift. Don LaTorre is the Founder of Layman’s Fitness — an online coaching business helping busy parents lose weight with simple, sustainable, kettlebell-based training. But Don didn’t st...

Today on The Owner Seat , Albert Ramos sits down with Pete Moore , and they go inside the deal discipline that separates real fitness and wellness brands from the ones quietly headed for a valuation haircut. Pete Moore is the Founder & Managing Partner of Integrity Square — the advisory and investment platform that’s helped shape the modern HALO economy. He’s advised on $1.5B+ in transactions,...

Today on The Owner Seat, Albert Ramos sits down with Joseph Cicero to talk about what it really takes to scale a brick-and-mortar fitness brand without the façade — just utilization, discipline, and the emotional grind most owners never admit out loud. Joseph is the Founder of The Yard , a strength-forward training model with two high-performing studios in San Francisco and Mill Valley — both prof...

In this episode of The Owner Seat, Albert Ramos sits down with David Ramos — President & Owner of StretchLab First Coast and a mission-driven tech executive who’s led global platforms at Aetna/CVS, Rakuten, and high-growth startups… and then chose to build a local, family-owned wellness portfolio in Northeast Florida. David has lived both sides of growth: - Boardrooms, M&A, platform scale,...

Today on The Owner Seat , Albert Ramos sits down with Tanner Holmes to go inside what multi-unit, multi-brand franchise ownership actually looks like — not the Instagram version, the real one. Tanner Holmes is a multi-unit, multi-brand franchisee, investor, and Area Developer across Illinois and Wisconsin, building a portfolio under Impact Brands LLC with concepts like Perspire Sauna Studio and So...

In this episode of The Owner Seat, Albert Ramos sits down with Ali Orleski — Operating Partner at Momentic Studios , former VP of Franchise Development at Pause Studio, and former national operations leader helping scale Orangetheory Fitness Canada with FSO. Ali has opened 137+ boutique studios across two continents and now sits at the center of a multi-brand expansion engine with SweatHouz and ST...

Today on The Owner Seat , we go inside the dealmaking model that’s reshaping lower middle market M&A — with someone who’s mastered it. Casey Minshew , Managing Partner at Equity Launchpad , has acquired legacy industrial businesses like H&M Plating and Mercer Controls — and rebuilt them with bolt-ons, culture transformations, and CapEx-forward growth. He calls his blueprint the SWOT Team :...

Today on The Owner Seat, host Albert Ramos , Fractional CFO of Stratego, breaks down how YourFitPrint is transforming local gyms into full health hubs and why this shift will define the next decade of boutique fitness. Our guest Devon Baldino is the Executive Director of Vendor Relations & Women’s Health + Founding Board Member at YourFitPrint. She’s building the partnerships that help gyms: -...

In this episode of The Owner Seat , Albert Ramos sits down with Beth Potter — Franchise Owner of True Movement® , former VP of Sales at Walla, and former Chief Experience Officer at Studio Grow. Beth has spent over a decade inside the heart of boutique fitness — helping studios all over the world design businesses that actually scale and feel good to run. Today, she’s building her own chapter as a...

In this episode of Season 2 of The Owner Seat – formerly The Valisights Podcast – Fractional CFO Albert Ramos sits down with Travis Pomposello , a creative leader who’s lived multiple professional lives at the very top of media and then chose to completely redefine what success looks like. Travis is the former Chief Creative Officer at Paramount Global, Co-Founder of EPIX, and Founder of Bella Vit...

In this episode of Season 2 of The Owner Seat – formerly The Valisights Podcast – Fractional CFO Albert Ramos sits down with Alan “The Train” Thompson, Founder & CEO of Groe Solutions, to unpack what happens when you combine Marine Corps discipline, data science, and human performance. Groe Solutions is a fast-rising B2B SaaS company working at the intersection of gyms, the military, and healt...

In this episode of Season 2 of The Owner Seat – formerly The Valisights Podcast – Fractional CFO Albert Ramos sits down with Benji Donhardt , Co-Founder & CEO of SupaFitGrow, to talk about what happens when you combine M&A, AI, and an operator’s mindset to rewrite the rules for fitness growth. SupaFitGrow is building one of the most aggressive roll-up platforms in the fitness and marketing...

In this episode of The Valisights Podcast, host Albert Ramos sits down with Ryan Seifert , Founder & CEO of Teric Technology , to unpack how mid-market companies can turn fragmented systems and spreadsheet chaos into a scalable, AI-ready operating model. Ryan’s background spans two decades across enterprise architecture, M&A integrations, and IT strategy (including Chief Technical Architec...

In this episode of The Valisights Podcast , host Albert Ramos sits down with Leah Weiss , Co-Founder & CEO of Preql and Co-Founder of Data Culture , to tackle one of the most overlooked challenges in AI-driven finance — why good AI still fails when the data logic underneath is broken. Leah’s background bridges enterprise scale and startup speed — from leading data products and BI at WeWork , t...

In this episode of The Valisights Podcast , host Albert Ramos sits down with Valquir “Val” Correa , Vice President of Corporate Finance at Baha Mar — one of the most ambitious hospitality operations in the world — to explore how AI, automation, and people-first leadership are transforming the future of finance. Val oversees finance for a $4.2 billion resort that includes three luxury hotels, a cas...

In this episode of The Valisights Podcast , host Albert Ramos sits down with Chris Ortega , Founder & CEO of Fresh FP&A, to talk about the future of finance leadership, the rise of fractional CFO services, and why clarity — not complexity — is the real superpower in finance. Chris has spent over 20 years leading FP&A, corporate finance, and global teams at companies like GE Capital, Co...

In this special edition of The Valisights Podcast , host Albert Ramos sits down with Kathleen Ferguson — the driving force behind Coach360 to explore how coaching, media, and technology are reshaping the wellness and fitness industries. Kathleen has built Coach360 into a dynamic media platform and staffing solution that connects, develops, and elevates coaches across the globe. She’s behind the IG...