Built by Margin with Laurie Chen
Built by Margin is the podcast at the intersection of risk, numbers, and decision-making for founders, CEOs, and high performers. Hosted by CPA, fractional CFO, and author of the upcoming book Risk Worthy, Laurie Chen, CPA, MBA, the show explores how better decisions create better businesses, stronger leadership, and more meaningful long-term outcomes. From financial strategy and entrepreneurship to intelligent risk-taking and growth, each episode helps you think sharper and build with intention.
Episodes
63 episodes
The Best Possible Future with Laurie Chen, CPA, MBA - Lessons from Steve Jobs on Connecting the Dots
What if the decisions that don't make sense today are the very ones that shape your best possible future? Steve Jobs famously said, "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward." Fro...
The 2mm Shift: How Tiny Decisions Transform Leadership with Gamal J. Palmer
What if the biggest breakthrough in your leadership doesn't require a major transformation, but just a two-millimeter shift? In Episode 61 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Gamal J. Palmer, founder of Co...
Episode 60: The Risk Worthy Framework with Laurie Chen, CPA, MBA - How to Make Your Next Decision
60 episodes. Countless conversations about risk, numbers, and decisions. Now, it's time to introduce the framework that brings it all together. For this milestone 60th episode of Built by Margin, host Laurie Chen, CP...
How One Sales Decision Took Win Rates from 20% to 65% with Erik Haas
What if the secret to closing more deals isn't speeding up your sales process but slowing it down?In Episode 59 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Erik Haas, Founder and Principal Consultant of Fieldlin...
The Discipline Behind Smart Risk: Liquidity, Leadership & Lessons from UNC Basketball with Dewey Burke
What happens when you’re wealthy on paper but the opportunity in front of you requires cash right now? In Episode 58 of Built by Margin, Laurie sits down with Dewey Burke, founder and CEO of Luxury Asset Ca...
No Margin, No Mission: Scaling Crisis Care with Justin Chase
What does it take to lead an organization where the decisions you make can directly affect people on the worst day of their lives? In episode 57 of Built by Margin, Laurie sits down with Justin Chase, CEO of Solari, to...
Build It Scared: Finding Purpose and Serving Small Businesses with Antonia Blanco
In Episode 56 of Built by Margin, Laurie sits down with Antonia Blanco, founder of Trusty Transactions, to explore what it means to build a business through fear and discover a renewed sense of purpose along the way.What would ...
Don’t Just Build the Product - Build the Business with Stephanie Musinsky
In Episode 55 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Stephanie Musinsky, founder and principal of VIA Product Development, to talk about what it really takes to turn technical ideas into viable products and build a company arou...
Transformation Is Not Outperformance: Building Competitive Advantage in the Age of AI with Roberto Espinosa
What if the transformation you’re investing in changes your business, but doesn’t actually make you better than your competition? Transformation is everywhere, but transformation alone doesn’t guarantee outperformance. In Episode...
Pricing is a Decision Problem, not just a Numbers Problem with Etinosa Agbonlahor
In Episode 53 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Etinosa Agbonlahor, founder and CEO of Decision Alpha and a behavioral economist who has spent more than a decade studying how people make financial decisions.The conv...
The Risk of Not Deciding: How Founders Navigate Controlled Chaos with David Niccolini
What’s more dangerous for a founder: making the wrong decision, or waiting too long to make one? In episode 52 of Built by Margin, David Niccolini joins Laurie Chen to explore how founders can manage risk without allowing fe...
The Risk of Staying Comfortable: Brad Lauter on Reinvention, Systems, and Building in Mexico
What if the greatest risk isn’t making a dramatic change—but staying comfortable in a life that no longer fits? In episode 51 of Built by Margin, Laurie sits down with entrepreneur Brad Lauter, who shares how the loss of hi...
Episode 50: Three Questions That I'll Still Be Thinking About One Year From Now. Pink Skirt Summit Reflections with Laurie Chen
Episode 50 marks a major milestone for Built by Margin. Laurie Chen reflects on the journey from launching the podcast in May 2025 as an extension of Advanced CFO to building a platform that now reaches founders, CEOs, and entrepr...
The Risk Calculator Said 1 in 99. Then She Became the 1. Insights with Kristin Gype
What happens when the person trained to assess clinical risk becomes the patient at the center of a life-threatening event?In episode 49 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen speaks with Kristin Gype, DNP, MSQM, APRN-CRNA, CNE, a lead...
The Risk, Capital, and Regulatory Path Behind Medical Innovation with John Konhilas
In episode 48 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen speaks with John Konhilas, founder, professor, and Chief Science Officer at BioXGen, about what it really takes to turn scientific discovery into a product that can reach patien...
Building Lyncoris: Turning Dental Billing Chaos Into Smarter Practice Operations with Adi Daryanani
In episode 47 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Adi Daryanani, founder and CEO of Lyncoris, to talk about the hidden complexity behind dental insurance, billing, and collections. After acquiring a dental practi...
Leading With Mission: How Roller Coasters, Community, and Risk Shape a 7,000-Member Nonprofit with Elizabeth Ringas
In episode 46 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen talks with Elizabeth Ringas, president of American Coaster Enthusiasts, an international 7,000-member nonprofit dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and educating peop...
Healthier Habits: Building a Gym That Changes Lives with Phil Fortin
In episode 45 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Phil Fortin, CEO of OCFit in Ottawa, Canada, to talk about his journey from respiratory therapist to gym owner. After 12 years working in hospitals and seeing the...
The Numbers, Systems, and Decisions That Scale a Business with Jaramogi K. Adams
In episode 44 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Jaramogi Adams, founder of Jarkara Strategies, to discuss his journey from dot-com consulting to an 18-year career at American Express, global finance leadership,...
From Coffee to Code: Building an AI Startup That Predicts Customer Churn with Alisha Esmail
In episode 43 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Alisha Esmail, founder and CEO of Latch, an AI-native customer retention platform helping founders detect churn before it happens. Alisha shares her unexpected jo...
Building Trust for the Agentic Future: Decentralized Identity, Healthcare Fraud, and Startup Growth with Javier Casado-Cocero
In episode 42 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Javier Casado-Cocero, Duke MBA graduate and founder working on Valyd, an identity infrastructure company using decentralized identity technology to fight fraud in health...
Scaling With Depth: Risk, Numbers, and AI in Healthcare Leadership with Gunjan Vermani
In episode 41 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Gunjan Vermani, physiotherapist, entrepreneur, mentor, and founder of PhysioCare Physiotherapy, to talk about the risks, numbers, and decisions behind building a healthc...
Building by Margins, Not Constraints: How Basil Khan is Turning Limitations into Leverage
In episode 40 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Basil Khan, founder of Rev Trinity and LifeOS Technologies, to explore what it means to build an AI-driven startup from a constraint-heavy environment. Basil shares how ...
How Autyn Is Reimagining Mortgage Lending with Myra D'Souza
In episode 39 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Myra D’Souza, founder of Autyn, an AI-native mortgage origination platform built for mortgage brokers. Myra shares how her background in software engineering, data scien...
Risk, Tax AI, and the Modern CPA Firm with Johnny Terra, CPA
In episode 38 of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Johnny Terra, CPA, Partner at LPT CPAs and Advisors, for a conversation about tax strategy, risk management, AI, leadership, and the personal growth that co...