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Welcome back to the CEO School Podcast!
This week, we flipped the script. Lisa Morel puts Suneera in the hot seat... and takes you all the way back. The immigrant household in Dallas. The sticker gun that taught her care scales. Getting laughed out of the room at 25. And the family dinner where her dad asked the question that built everything: why not you?
Then we get into the part nobody prepares you for: building a billion-dollar company with her brother Sal, and doing it without torching the relationship. Suneera shares her approach to dividing and conquering, staying out of each other's lanes, and having the conversation you're avoiding before it hardens into resentment.
If you've ever been told "never go into business with family," consider this your permission slip to do it right. Because less than 2% of women founders ever cross a million, and nobody should have to make that climb alone.
No one’s journey is perfect, especially in family business; but with humble courage, clarity, and intentional communication, you can create something truly lasting.
Time Stamps:
(00:00) The co-founder rule that protects a billion-dollar partnership
(01:04) Plot twist - Suneera takes the hot seat
(01:44) The immigrant household that was secretly an MBA
(08:21) The sticker-gun lesson: why care in the small things scales
(10:47) Eldest daughter, first to college - the weight of expectations
(16:00) How Fattmerchant started: the problem she couldn't unsee
(18:59) Laughed out of the room at 25
(21:06) The family-dinner question: "Why not you?"
(24:18) $5M in year one to a billion-dollar exit — the receipts
(26:36) Building with your brother: divide, conquer, trust the outcome
(33:12) The third-founder move that breaks the stalemate
(44:28) The tab-keeping trap: how resentment actually starts
(47:15) Humble courage: the conversations families avoid (and pay for it)
(53:37) Her real relationship to money, and the fear underneath it
(1:00:21) What she tells her daughters: do your passion, but own it
(1:04:25) Lisa's playbook: run the business like a business, the family like a family
Connect with Lisa at:
Website: https://www.openwithlisamorel.com/
Share this with your favorite co-founders!
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As Suneera said, entrepreneurship is too hard to do alone, and the best thing she has is partners who care as much as she does. If you're a 7- or 8-figure woman founder who's done climbing solo, this is THE table: a vetted room of women CEOs who refuse to play small. Pull up a seat: https://bit.ly/MFCApplication
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Only 2% of female founders ever break $1 million in revenue. We’re on a mission to change that. Subscribe to the CEO School and join the movement.
Watch and listen to us at:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1525261018
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/06KIvFFJP0yJv67N9ugigU
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CEOSchoolPodcast/
Learn more about CEO School because nothing bad ever happens when women make more money
Website: https://theceoschool.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ceoschool/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-schooll
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theceoschool
Learn more about how Suneera Madhani is paving the way for powerhouse female CEOs like you to take center stage, not just in your industries but in your whole life.
Website: https://suneeramadhani.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suneeramadhani/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suneeramadhani/
This episode was produced by Hi Hello Labs: https://www.hihellolabs.com/.
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08/05/2026