[Top Author & Private Equity Series] Three Keys to Better Negotiation With Corey Kupfer

Corey Kupfer is the Founder and Managing Partner of Kupfer., PLLC, a corporate and deal law firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions, entity and platform design, and entrepreneurship. With decades of experience, he has represented, trained, and mentored thousands of companies and entrepreneurs and has handled hundreds of complex deals and business transitions. Corey is the author of the Amazon bestselling book Authentic Negotiating and host of the DealQuest Podcast. He is also a former Chapter President of the New York Entrepreneurs’ Organization and is known for his expertise in negotiation strategy, business growth, and the role of mindset and clarity in successful deal-making.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [1:43] Corey Kupfer on the book that influenced his approach to personal and business growth
• [8:29] How Corey helped a wealth manager negotiate an exit from a bad deal
• [10:30] The three keys to authentic negotiating: clarity, detachment, and equilibrium
• [14:19] Why achieving your objectives matters more than winning
• [20:14] The human factors that cause negotiations to fail
• [27:43] What entrepreneurs should know about private equity roll-ups and deal structures
• [34:53] Red flags to watch for when evaluating private equity offers and deal structures
• [42:30] The difference between an entrepreneurial mindset and a dealmaker mindset

In this episode…

Great negotiations aren’t always about having the strongest position or the best tactic. When emotions run high and the stakes are significant, the ability to stay grounded can make all the difference. So, what really separates an effective negotiator from the rest?

For Corey Kupfer, an experienced negotiator and attorney, successful negotiation starts with internal clarity, detachment, and equilibrium. He highlights how self-awareness and preparation help negotiators stay composed, reframe difficult situations, and navigate high-pressure deals — even when they have limited leverage. Through real-world examples, Corey shows how ego, fear, and poor preparation can derail negotiations, while strategic pauses, creative thinking, and adaptability can lead to better outcomes. His approach shows that mastering the internal side of negotiation matters as much as mastering the strategy.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Corey Kupfer, Founder and Managing Partner of Kupfer., PLLC, to discuss authentic negotiating and successful deal-making. They explore the role of mindset, the three keys to negotiation mastery, and strategies for handling heated situations. Corey also shares insights on bad deals, private equity rollups, and deal-making red flags.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Corey Kupfer LinkedIn | Website
• Kupfer Law
• DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer
• Cleinman Connect Podcast
• Built to Sell Podcast
• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It ― Unlock Your Persuasion Potential in Professional and Personal Life by Chris Voss, Tahl Raz
• The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
• Authentic Negotiating: Clarity, Detachment, & Equilibrium: The Three Keys To True Negotiating Success & How To Achieve Them by Corey Kupfer
• Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy
• Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow

Special mention(s):

• Corey Kupfer Mentors

Related episodes:

• “[One Question] Hostage Negotiator Loses The Hostage with Chris Voss of Black Swan Ltd” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Sweet Process Series & Top Author Series] How to Make Your Business the Next McDonalds of Your Industry with Michael E. Gerber Author of The E-myth” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “How to Craft a Compensation Plan that Attracts and Motivates the Right People For Your Company With Verne Harnish, Owner Scaling Up” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Top Israel Leader Series] Engineering the Autonomous Revolution with Rabbi Mois Navon of Mobileye” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Sweet Process Series] How to Build a Business That Can Thrive Without You with John Warrillow of Built to Sell” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “Episode 266: From Sheepskin Boots to Billion-Dollar Success with Brian Smith” on DealQuest Podcast
• “Episode 423: Making M&A a Force for Good with Hannah Sandmeyer” on DealQuest Podcast

Quotable moments:

•  “The goal is to achieve your objectives — not to win. Letting go of the need to win makes you a much more successful negotiator.”
• “Great negotiators have total clarity on everything they want — both from external research and deep internal understanding of their true priorities.”
• “Most people screw up negotiations because of their own limitations, reactions, or lack of ability to stay centered and clear.”
• “The best thing is getting a deal done if it’s the right deal — the second best is not doing a deal if it’s the wrong one.”
• “Any business frustration, issue, or challenge you have — there’s a deal for that. It shifts your mentality and opens up new solutions.”

Action steps:

1. Define your objectives before negotiating: Clearly identify what you want from a deal, including your priorities, non-negotiables, and true bottom line, so you can negotiate from clarity rather than fear or uncertainty.
2. Practice detachment from the outcome: Focus on achieving your objectives rather than simply “winning,” and stay willing to walk away when a deal no longer serves your interests.
3. Use grounding techniques to manage emotions: When negotiations become heated, pause, take a break, breathe, and reconnect with your purpose to maintain composure and make better decisions.
4. Explore creative deal structures: Look beyond traditional acquisitions and consider options such as licensing, joint ventures, and acqui-hires to solve business challenges and create growth opportunities.
5. Evaluate the full deal, not just the headline numbers: Look beyond valuations and multiples to assess earn-outs, rollover equity, terms, risks, and cultural fit before committing to an agreement.

Episode Transcript:

Intro 00:15

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 00:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here. I am the Founder of InspiredInsider.com, where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Corey Kupfer. You can check them out at KupferLaw.com. That’s KupferLaw.com. You can also check out. He’s got a podcast and a book at his full name.com as well. This is part of my Top Author Series. You know, I was thinking about what I was like. Before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes of the podcast people should check out. And, you know, because it’s a Top Author Series, I’m like, what other authors, first of all, Authentic Negotiating. You can check it out on audible.

I bought it on Amazon also from Corey’s book. And Corey, I’m gonna put you on the spot in a second and I want to hear some of your favorite books. And I know from listening and researching, there’s one, an old school one that you like a lot, but yours made me think of Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference. One of my favorites. That was a great episode. Michael Gerber of the E-myth was also a good one. David Allen of Getting Things Done, Verne Harnish of Scaling Up. Both Corey and I are in EO and Verne started EO. Actually, that was a good one. So many more. I mean, I’m an avid reader, Corey. I love to hear some of your favorites.

Corey Kupfer: 01:43

Yeah. I mean, the one, the one you referenced when you said old school. It’s really old school. It’s like from 1908 or 7 or something like that. Yeah. It’s a book called The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. And I’m a big business growth, personal growth, spiritual growth, like all kinds of, you know, you know, courses and books and training programs and whatever. And, you know, if you actually a lot of the personal growth and business growth folks that you more people would know actually reference Wallace Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich as one of their seminal texts. And it’s kind of amazing. You know what it is right here.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 02:18

You go on Corey’s website. I don’t, I’ll let you go. But I do want to point out if you go to if you’re listening to the audio, I am showing CoreyKupfer.com/mentors and he’s actually got the book. You have no excuse, right? I mean, you have the book.

Corey Kupfer: 02:31

I mean, it’s, you know, it’s out of copyright, long out of copyright, because it was so long ago that you can just out, you know, it’s a free, a free download PDF of it. There are also people who read. I mean, obviously, Wallace Wattles did not read it in the early 1900s, but there are also people who’ve read it on audible. So there are audible versions of The Science of Getting Rich. And it really just underlies a lot of this stuff. You know, in terms like the law of attraction and some of the things that people talk about now. But it’s. You know, he was on to stuff very early on. Yeah. Bob Proctor’s another huge mentor of mine. He passed away recently. That you’re showing. And you know. Yeah. Wayne Dyer. All these people that have inspired me. So yeah, that’s a book. I mean, you mentioned some of my other favorite books.

I mean, you know, Michael Gerber and E-myth is, you know, is a phenomenal book. And yeah, I mean, a lot of these folks on here are, are more like, you know, personal growth, business growth folks that you’re showing the Jack Canfield’s and Lisa Nichols and the, you know, and, and all those folks. Wayne Dyer was huge for me. I mean, for me, I guess the thing I’d say on it as a high level is that I believe that our business success is limited eventually as entrepreneurs by our own, you know, personal growth and our ability to receive our ability to, you know, attract our ability to, you know, not have limiting beliefs that stop us. So I do a lot of that kind of work in addition to, you know, all the business education stuff I do as well.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 03:58

So totally. I mean, I find that for me, just as important, I have a lot of Tony Robbins stuff, personal power and awaken the giant within. And when I go swimming, I get these, this headset and literally people think I’m listening to music. I’m actually listening to his programs on my as I’m swimming, so I, I totally agree with you on that.

Corey Kupfer: 04:23

Yeah. Tony was the first, like in the late 80s, 90s, his first. You know, I don’t want to date myself, but, you know, cassette tape, you know, was the format that I had that on originally. You know, he was my first access to, you know, stuff back in the day.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 04:38

Yeah. I mean, I when, when I look at the Wayne Dyer stuff, Corey, I had that, you know what I’m talking about the cassette tape book thing. I had all of those cassettes.

Corey Kupfer: 04:48

Tapes slotted into the you know.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 04:49

That’s what I had. I had Brian Tracy’s, I had Wayne Dyer’s. I had the Zig Ziglar. I had all those. So I’m, you know, a big fan. So I, I don’t remember, I’m gonna have to check out The Science of Getting Rich. I can’t remember if I actually read at one point or not, but I definitely need to revisit it.

Corey Kupfer: 05:07

A lot of, a lot of people have it, you know, it’s, it’s because it’s, it’s, you know, it’s, it’s so many generations back, right? That a lot of people have read some stuff who were inspired by wattles, but, you know, they haven’t. I, I probably that’s one of those things that I’ve read or listened to probably at least 70 or 80 times over the years, believe it or not.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 05:27

Yeah. I love it. Well, this episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25, we help businesses connect to their dream relationships, partnerships. We do that in a few ways. One, we are an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. So we do the strategy, accountability, the full execution production. It’s been the best thing I’ve ever done in my life over the past 17 years formed amazing relationships. You can check, you know, check out Corey’s podcast. Also DealQuest, he’s done hundreds and hundreds of episodes, which we’ll talk about a few of those as well. Second, really, I thought about what the core of what I do is building relationships. And so I am also an easy button for direct mail and gifting for companies.

And so they send me the list of their best referral partners, strategic partners, clients, even prospects. And I send them a it’s not like a one off gift. It’s a series about 3 to 4 pictures, 3 to 4, you know, pieces of content with a gift for five years. Okay. And it’s, you know, for me, the number one thing in my life is building relationships. And I always look at ways to give by. I find no better way to profile the person I admire in the podcast and send them sweet treats in the mail with some content. So check out. You can email [email protected] if you have questions.

I am really excited to introduce Corey Kupfer is an entrepreneur, attorney, expert negotiator with more than 40 years of experience helping business owners structure deals and accelerate growth. Okay, he’s the founder, as we talked about Kupfer, which is you can check him out, KupferLaw.com. And it’s a corporate and deal law firm that’s handled hundreds of financial advisor transitions to independents and mergers and acquisitions in various industries, representing both buyers and sellers. He’s represented, trained and mentored thousands of companies and entrepreneurs over his decades of experience. He. As I mentioned, he authored the Amazon best selling book, Authentic Negotiating: Clarity, Detachment, & Equilibrium: The Three Keys To True Negotiating Success & How To Achieve Them. And the host of DealQuest Podcast, with hundreds of episodes on exploring really successful business leaders, how they find, negotiate and close deals. So Corey, thanks for joining me.

Corey Kupfer: 08:05

I’m thrilled to be here, Jeremy. I love what you do and I’m excited for our discussion.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 08:11

You know, there’s so many places we can go. I want to start with the book. Okay, for a second. And you know, you had someone in the book that made a bad deal that you talked about. And because I figured if someone knows how to get out of a bad deal, they can figure out the good deal stuff. So do you want to talk about that?

Corey Kupfer: 08:29

Yeah. So this was a situation, you know, in the book, I don’t even identify the industry because I wrote the book. It was a little closer in time. And I, you know, as an attorney, obviously I gotta be careful about privilege, but at this point, it’s so long ago, I could say it. It was somebody in the wealth management space. And although, you know, we do a lot in that space and we’re really well known. It’s not the only space we do business in. But it happened to be space. And they. And they had left one of the one of the big wirehouses like. You know, Merrill Lynch, you know, Morgan Stanley and Wirehouses.

Those kinds of places and went to a regional firm. That we didn’t represent them in the incoming deal. And the bottom line is they reached out to us a couple of years later, they were very dissatisfied that what was promised to them, you know, in the new place, the support, the, you know, everything they need. They were losing clients because the service was bad. They had all kinds of problems. The problem was when I reviewed the legal agreements. Now, by the way, they got a check for about, I think it was $13 million, right? So they it’s not, you know, when they brought their business in there. But what that also did was it created some enforceable agreements that they had.

Because they had sold their business where they had, you know, non-competes and non-solicits and all these kinds of restrictions. Right? So the issue was okay, they’re really unhappy. They are not very strong legally, although maybe they had some default claims and things like that. How do we negotiate them out of this bad deal so that they can go and, you know, start their own thing or join someone else and be able to service their clients? And, you know, I use this as an example in the book because my whole fundamental framework, which is in the subtitle that you mentioned, is clarity, detachment, and equilibrium. And one of the differences in sort of where I play, you mentioned Chris Voss book, right? Never Split the Difference.

I think Chris’s book is one of the best books out there on the strategic framework, tactical counter tactic. You know what they say. You should say this kind of level, right? Frankly, there’s a lot of bad information out there on that level, Chris. His book is one of the really good ones. And what I say to folks is if you actually read my book and follow my stuff and then apply Chris’s stuff on top of it, that you’re in great shape. Why? Because my book is much more about the internal work you need to do, right? The state you need to be in to be a great negotiator, right? So, you know, my assertion is that no matter how great, for example, somebody like Chris’s stuff is that someone else’s stuff is if you go into a negotiation from a place of, you know, of fear or scarcity or ego or insecurity.

I don’t care what you know, you’ve learned to say or what tactics or what counter tactics or what things to say. Great negotiators are going to be able to sense that they’re going to be able to read your energy. Like, I know when people are desperate in a negotiation, I know when people are covering up with, you know, their ego. I know when. So there’s a body of internal work that great negotiators have done, and the best negotiators, right, have total clarity on everything that that they want. Right. And clarity takes two things. There’s the external research. What’s the market? What’s the intention of the other company? What are they trying to achieve? But it also takes a body of internal research work, right?

Like what do I really want? What’s important to me? What’s not important to me. What is my true bottom line? What am I willing to give up or not give up? What are my objectives? So when you get clear on that, that’s the C, then the D is detachment. This is something that the best negotiators always have a preference, right? If Jeremy, Jeremy and I are negotiating a deal, I should have a preference. It gets done or else why am I wasting my time? But ultimately, right, it’s either going to get done or not done with Jeremy. And the best negotiators are going to be fine either way, right? They detach the outcome. Now, this is very different. Almost every negotiating training tells you you have to be willing to walk away right from a deal.

But what they don’t tell you is that the best negotiators don’t walk away from upset, anger, ego judgment. Right? We’re not walking away because Jeremy’s a jerk or because, you know, whatever. We’re walking away because we’re clear that we just can’t achieve our objectives in this negotiation with what Jeremy needs. Now, it’s not a, you know, a bad reflection on Jeremy. It just is what it is. And we’re equally fine walking away. We have no attachment to it. And then the E is the equilibrium where we can maintain that centeredness, that equilibrium during the negotiation. Right. So in the book, I talk about this example of hey. And then I also talk about this context, purpose and results tool, which I won’t go into detail on, but I train people on.

But I give a specific example with this team because every like, like they talk about in business, that every firm has a culture. Whether it’s consciously created or by default, everybody has a context going into negotiation. And frankly, this example I gave in the book, their context was, we hate these people. They’re jerks. They’re trying to screw us. We got to get out of here. And that’s not a very empowering context to be able to have a successful negotiation, especially when you have weak legal, you know, strong legal agreements against you. You’re weak. So we had to have them reframe the context and get clear on the purpose.

And the results they want out of the negotiation. So I could spend hours talking about that. I won’t. But the point is, it’s a great example of how you negotiate. And the last key point I’ll say is some people make the mistake to think that the tough negotiators are always the ones, the ones that win only if you have leverage. This is a great example where they had they they had some leverage, but they didn’t have legal leverage. And how do you how do you get to that state where you can be successful in negotiation, even when you don’t have leverage? And the book gives that example.

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