You got laid off. Or you’re watching AI and “re-orgs” quietly erase your role.

You can either pray for the next two-week paycheck…or you can start owning the thing that prints the paychecks.

In this episode of Laid Off Legends, I sit down with Greg Ugwi, a Princeton-trained mathematician, former Goldman Sachs quant, founder of a multi-million dollar data startup (Thinknum) with a successful exit, and now CEO of WeFranch, a platform helping people buy into iconic franchises the way PE firms do.

Greg went from growing up in Lagos watching his mom get laid off over and over…to valuing billion-dollar businesses on Wall Street…to realizing that the real unlock for generational wealth is owning a piece of an iconic brand... think Wingstop, McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, youth education, coffee, spas, and more. And he’s now bringing that playbook to regular people, especially those coming out of corporate layoffs.

We dig into:

Why franchising creates more millionaires in the US than tech or finance

How PE firms evaluate franchises vs. how “regular” people do it — and how to close that gap

How to use data, FDDs, and SBA loans to de-risk your first franchise instead of YOLO’ing your life savings

The mindset shift from employee to owner: intelligent risk, agency, and living with “24/7 liability” without burning out

The biggest myths about “passive income” and franchising that keep corporate high performers stuck

If you’ve been laid off, are tired of playing corporate musical chairs, or just want to stop renting your talent and start building equity, this conversation is a masterclass. It’s not fluff. It’s the actual playbook Greg’s using to help operators step into ownership.

🔗 Connect with Greg & WeFranch

Learn more / book a consult: wefranch.com

Email Greg: gregory.ugwi@wefranch.com

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