Michael Coombs interviews Josh Spiegel, founder and chief creative officer of Birch Events, about his path from selling florals in his dad’s Brooklyn balloon shop to producing 200+ events a year. Spiegel says Birch’s foundation is service and listening, defining luxury as how clients feel and how heard they are. He recounts early financial naivety that led to about $1.5M in debt, and describes steps to regain control: paying himself a salary, using the “envelope diet,” finding partners with complementary skills, and selling 70% of the company to gain operational and financial support; he says the debt took about 10 years to resolve. He discusses partnership lessons, resilience through COVID, designing by extracting clients’ stories, the role of relationships and authenticity, excitement about AI-driven internal tools, hiring CEO Lance Emanuel in 2023, and plans for global growth and broader market service. Enjoy!
00:00 Service Is Luxury
00:16 From Balloon Shop
01:20 Listening Builds Birch
02:33 Debt And Naivete
04:20 Envelope Budgeting
07:15 Finding The Right Partner
09:59 A Decade To Debt Free
10:55 Surviving COVID
13:44 Resilience Mountain Mindset
16:47 Humility And Authenticity
18:17 Innovation At Scale
19:47 Client Discovery Process
20:45 Design Starts With Questions
21:07 Reimagining Navy Theme
21:50 Jewel Box Event Reveal
23:22 Listening As Superpower
25:52 Luxury Means Whole Sentence
27:18 Relationships Build Success
29:55 Social Media And Privacy
31:30 Standing Out In Luxury
33:46 AI Transforms Workflow
36:20 Why Hire A CEO
39:18 Whats Next For Birch
40:27 Final Thanks And Signoff
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