Always Be Building

Feb 27 2025 221 ep. 60 mins 57

Always Be Building Podcast artwork

The Always Be Building Podcast explores business, entrepreneurship, markets, and current events with insightful commentary and engaging conversations. Whether it's building a company, expanding your knowledge, or creating a better life, we’re all building something.

Hosted by entrepreneur Max Gagliardi—who has founded companies across Energy, Real Estate, Tech, Hospitality, and Media—the show brings unique perspectives on the forces shaping our world.

Originally launched as Talk Energy, the podcast ran for 160 episodes focused on the energy sector before evolving into Always Be Building. New episodes drop weekly.

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#222: The Ridge Wallet Story - Sean Frank

Feb 27 2025 62 mins

In this episode, I sit down with Sean Frank, CEO of Ridge Wallet, the brand that redefined men’s accessories with its sleek, RFID-blocking wallets and everyday carry gear. Men’s fashion rarely prioritizes accessories, and wallets are something most guys replace once a decade—yet Ridge built a thriving business in a space where success seemed unlikely. We dive into the Ridge W

#221: Building Luxury Cabins in the Woods - Jeff Burns

Feb 11 2025 59 mins

In this episode, we have my business partner in our real estate firm Jeff Burns. We start the conversation on how he made an incredible parlay early in his career that has been the foundation of everything we have built in real estate. We then touch on the journey, from starting out with an idea, to how it has evolved into a large scale company. We dive into the lessons learned and

#220: The ESG Bubble Has Burst

Feb 07 2025 9 mins

Is ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing dead? Once hailed as the future of finance, ESG is now facing a reckoning. From underperforming green investments and political backlash to corporate retreats and cultural pushback, the cracks in the system are undeniable. In this episode, we break down why ESG is crumbling—examining its financial failures, political reject

#219: Born to Build - Adam Rossi

Jan 13 2025 68 mins

In this episode, I sit down with Adam Rossi, who built and sold a successful cybersecurity software company serving federal agencies. Adam shares his journey from structural engineer to tech entrepreneur, offering key insights on starting and scaling a business. We discuss his strategic approach to entrepreneurship - working for two years to gain experience before launching his ven

#218: 2025 Oil & Gas Market Outlook - Dan Pickering

Dec 23 2024 59 mins

This episode's guest is Dan Pickering, the well known energy sector analyst and investor currently serving as the chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners. Dan has had a track record of successful entrepreneurship ventures throughout his career, notably co-founding Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. before launching PEP. He's a regular guest on mainstream media outlets p

#217: Luminus Capital - Karl Graham

Nov 26 2024 62 mins

This episode's guest is Karl Graham, co-founder and principal at Luminus Capital, an investment firm specializing in self-storage and industrial real estate. Karl is also a small business entrepreneur that has founded various start-ups. This episode we discuss Karl's journey from a geologist in the oil and gas industry to building a thriving real estate business. We talk about his

#216: Car Market Madness - John Ross

Nov 04 2024 63 mins

This episode's guest is John Ross from WatchJRGO— the popular YouTube channel where JR blogs his life and tackles multiple projects like fixing old cars and remodeling his AirBnb. We talk about the car market, the car flipping business, some of his craziest projects, EV trends, Tesla and its brutal pricing changes that have left thousands of people underwater on their car loans.

#215: $10 Billion in Transactions: A Masterclass on Building a Brokerage - Chris Atherton

Oct 14 2024 59 mins

This episode's guest is Chris Atherton. Chris is the CEO of EnergyNet, a leading online platform for oil and gas asset transactions. The company has brokered over $10 billion in deals since it was founded in 1999. This year EnergyNet has also launched separate marketplaces for real estate, alternative energy, and other real assets under the Efficient Markets platform. In this episo

#214: The Changing World Order - Doomberg

Sep 30 2024 65 mins

This episode we have returning guest Doomberg. Over the years Doomberg has made multiple appearances on the show and his episodes are some of my favorite to record. If you don't already know, Doomberg runs one of the largest paid substack newsletters and puts out some incredible content around energy, markets, business, politics, and the other craziness going on in the world. This

#213: From Getting Fired to Building Companies - Nik Hulewsky

Sep 13 2024 47 mins

This episode's guest is Nik Hulewsky, the co-founder of multiple 7 figure businesses that he has successfully built and flipped. Nik started on the corporate career path and ultimately got fired from his job. Rather than going back to the corporate world he used an SMB loan to buy his first business, a medical payments company. After a few years he grew the revenue of that business