What if the person across the table is telling you a story, and the real story is the one you never checked?
J. Michael Fischer Jr. sits down with Cynthia Hetherington, founder and CEO of the Hetherington Group, and the author of the textbook investigators and agencies learn OSINT from. She helped investigate two of the largest Ponzi schemes in American history and trains thousands of professionals a year.
She breaks down open source intelligence for dealmakers: the human red flags no financial statement shows, why culture decides whether a founder thrives or becomes someone else’s employee after a sale, the poor man’s due diligence you can run in an afternoon, and how AI and deepfakes are changing who you can trust.
If you have ever shaken a hand and hoped you read the person right, this is the perspective founders get only after the damage is done. Listen now.
Timestamped Highlights
[00:00] – The story behind the story, and why the deal you are told is never the whole deal
[03:41] – From public librarian to running an intelligence operation out of New Jersey
[05:33] – What OSINT actually is, and why every business owner should care
[07:01] – I can find out anything about anyone, and what that means for your next handshake
[08:21] – The simple search that would have exposed Bernie Madoff years earlier
[11:54] – The two checks that tell you almost everything about a company
[14:03] – Why the comments section is a gemstone before you sign anything
[19:19] – Inside her team’s overwatch role at the 2026 World Cup
[27:33] – The expert missing from most deal tables, and the data they surface
[29:38] – The one thing that decides whether a founder thrives after a sale
[32:34] – The poor man’s due diligence you can run in a single afternoon
[35:31] – How AI makes a mediocre operator look like a rock star across the table
[37:02] – Turn the machine against them, and fact-check the deal with AI
Mentioned Resources
About the Guest
Cynthia Hetherington is the founder and CEO of the Hetherington Group, a consulting, publishing, and training firm specializing in due diligence, corporate intelligence, and cyber investigations. A former librarian turned open source intelligence pioneer, she has led national and international investigations, helped investigate two of the largest Ponzi schemes in American history, and trains more than 7,000 investigators, attorneys, and security professionals every year. She is the author of OSINT: The Authoritative Guide to Due Diligence.
🔗 LinkedIn | Website
Important Links
Going Beyond the Deal is an original podcast brought to you by J. Michael Fischer Jr. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
