Episodes

There are four ways to take a company public. Brandon Sun says 95% of companies realistically have access to one.

Brandon Sun, Managing Director and Head of SPAC Investment Banking at Cohen & Company, has closed more than 130 DESPAC and M&A transactions representing over $210 billion in enterprise value, plus 120+ IPOs raising over $45 billion. He walks host Chaz Churchwell through the decision facing private companies today: an IPO backlog roughly 1,000 companies deep, bulge-bracket banks acti...

Most founders ask what a SPAC is worth before they ask whether they need it at all. Michael Strauss of Boardroom Alpha flips that: the first question is whether you need the capital now, or can afford to optimize price and stay private longer.


Michael Strauss, Director at Boardroom Alpha, joins host Chaz Churchwell for a data-driven look at the SPAC and DESPAC decision. Boardroom Alpha rates public-company CEOs, CFOs, and board directors, and tracks the sponsor teams behind SPAC vehicles. Mic...

Most private companies treat a DESPAC as the finish line. Jeffrey Duncan and Jonathan Grubbs of Aprio explain why day one as a public company is where the real work begins — and why targets that wait until the BCA is signed are already behind.


In this episode, host Chaz Churchwell sits down with Jeffrey Duncan, Partner and leader of Technical Accounting Consulting Services at Aprio, and Jonathan Grubbs, Director and Complex Financial Instrument Leader in Aprio's Valuation & Investigation Serv...

What actually disqualifies a private company from a SPAC deal? Patrick Sturgeon says the answer is often the same thing that would sink a traditional IPO — size. A single-asset biotech at Phase 1B with a sub-$100M valuation "just should not be a public company," and the exchanges are taking a harder look at microcaps trying to list.


In this episode, Chaz Churchwell sits down with Dimitre Genov, Managing Director, and Patrick Sturgeon, Managing Partner at Brookline Capital Markets, for a pract...

Most DESPAC votes don't fail at the ballot box. They fail months earlier, in silence — when no one is communicating with the shareholder base and the redemptions are already climbing. By the time the panicked calls go out to redeeming holders, it's already far too late to change the outcome. In this episode of The DESPAC Podcast, host Chaz Churchwell sits down with Desiree Carlo, Senior Vice President of Client Services at Laurel Hill Advisory Group, for a practitioner's breakdown of the prox...

What no one tells founders before a DESPAC: the deal itself is the easy part. Roshan Pujari took Stardust Power from a 2023 startup to a shovel-ready national lithium project in roughly three years — and he is refreshingly candid about the volatility, the hidden costs, and the discipline it took to survive year one as a newly public company.


EPISODE SUMMARY Roshan Pujari, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Stardust Power Inc. (NASDAQ: SDST) and Founder of VIKASA Capital, joins host Chaz Churchwell...

Why do so many DESPAC deals look great on day one and collapse months later? In this episode of The DESPAC Podcast, host Chaz Churchwell sits down with Douglas Ellenoff of Ellenoff Grossman & Schole, one of the most prolific securities attorneys in the SPAC ecosystem with 25 years and over 1,000 SPAC IPOs behind him.


Doug pulls back the curtain on what actually separates DESPAC deals that thrive from the ones that crater. The conversation moves from regulatory tailwinds under the current SEC ...

Misclassify warrants or earnouts and you can blow up your DESPAC valuation, delay closing by months, and stack millions in advisory, audit, and legal fees on a deal that was supposed to be ready.

Sam Salty (Managing Partner, GuzmanGray) and Mark Stoller (CMO, GuzmanGray) join Chaz Churchwell on The DESPAC Podcast to break down what real PCAOB readiness looks like, why AICPA-grade audit evidence rarely survives PCAOB scrutiny, and how the post-inspection shakeup created a vacuum that disciplined...

Alex Weniger-Araujo (Capital Markets & Securities Partner) and Shahrooz Shahnavaz (Tax Partner & Co-Leader) of McGuireWoods on DESPAC target readiness in the SPAC 4.0 era — the three non-negotiables every target must show today: audit readiness and PCAOB-qualified financials, a credible why-public thesis, and tax structuring discipline. Over 100 SPAC and DESPAC transactions of practitioner-grade insight.

James Tunkey, CFE and Managing Director of I on Asia, on executive due diligence in a de-SPAC — 50+ transactions of fraud-investigator-grade screening, why undisclosed directors collapse deals at the two-yard line, how short sellers exploit pre-merger disclosure gaps, the six-month expiry window, and why early diligence directly lowers cost of capital.

Michael Moscarelli of Houlihan Capital on projection disclosure risk in a DESPAC — why the financial forecasts shared with the fairness opinion team enter public filings and become the single biggest post-close liability for target CEOs.

A market update on why securities litigation has dropped since the SPAC boom — and why governance, valuation discipline, and strong advisory teams are shaping the next cycle of DESPAC deals.

Jesse Busch of iBankers on what investment bankers do in a DESPAC — deal structuring, capital raising, exchange approvals, and how boutique banks guide private companies through SPAC mergers.

Mohammad Hasham of Cohn Reznick on PCAOB audit prep before a SPAC merger — CFO advisory, financial statement readiness, and what private companies must fix before going public.

Caitlyn Van Valin of Odyssey Trust on what transfer agents do in a DESPAC — shareholder records, corporate action events, and when private companies should engage before close.

Alexandra Low of Appleby on why SPACs incorporate in the Cayman Islands — cross-border DESPAC structuring, charter provisions, and director responsibilities for newly public companies.

Chris Cottone of Greentree Financial on what target companies should look for in a SPAC — promote structure, dilution, PCAOB audit timing, and capital recycling strategies for post-close success.

Peter Goldstein of Exchange Listing on IPO vs. DESPAC for founders — market-driven price discovery, redemption risk, foreign filer rules, and how to avoid inflated valuations that cause post-close collapse.

Daniele D'Alvia of Queen Mary University on governance risk in SPAC transactions — sponsor promote alignment, valuation discipline, and why governance is the strongest defense against post-close litigation.

Jordan Darrow of Darrow IR on when to engage IR before a DESPAC — investor positioning, CEO communication, and why small-cap public companies need disciplined IR to survive volatile markets.

Securities litigator Jon Uretzky of PULP Law Firm on D&O insurance for newly public companies — why DESPACs attract elevated litigation, how SEC inquiries trigger shareholder lawsuits, and what protects directors and officers.

Seth Farbman of VStock Transfer on cap table management for newly public companies — the real role of transfer agents, why communication failures create financial risk, and when to engage early.

Elliot Goldstein of Federal Filings on what an EDGAR agent does in a DESPAC — the realities of SEC filings, XBRL tagging risk, and the hidden costs that derail deals and frustrate regulators.

Long Long, a veteran SPAC sponsor, on what SPAC sponsors look for in a target — internal ownership, deal cadence, promote structures, and why public readiness failures lead to lawsuits.