Core Values

Partnership

This is our governing principle and applies to how we work with the management teams of the companies in which we invest, with our investors, and within our organization. Great partners align interests. Great partners keep their commitments. Great partners distinguish themselves by being supportive in bad times. Great partners are respectful and transparent in their motives, ask insightful questions, and listen thoughtfully to the answers. A great partner says, "how can we help?" not "I told you so."

We strive to be great partners, to work with great partners, and to align our interests with them.

Long-term Thinking

We know compound interest accrues fastest in later years and occurs in relationships and careers as well as financial performance. We know risk management supports rather than hinders value creation. Long-term thinking (being "long-term greedy") means never choosing the quick fix over a long-term solution and not doing things one would be embarrassed to make public.

We will be long-term focused.

Team

We know all things are possible if we don't care who gets the credit. We know culture beats strategy. We take our responsibilities as board members, managers, and fiduciaries seriously. We do not take ourselves seriously.

We strive to leave our egos at the door and seek the team victory while recognizing and rewarding outstanding contributions.

Kaizen

We know everything we do can be done better and faster (and cheaper) and attention to detail has a major effect on results. We respect action-orientation and prefer decisive action with adjustments made on the fly rather than waiting until uncertainty decreases. We encourage experimentation and calculated risks and view failure and mistakes as learning opportunities (and do not want to make the same mistake twice).

We seek to improve all aspects of our business, our investments, our investment processes, and ourselves all the time.

Empirical

We know all models are wrong yet some are useful, and accuracy is more important than precision. We know correlation does not equal causation and seek to find the truth. We know we are fallible and strive to identify and prevent biased-decision making in all its forms. We respect diversity of opinion and all points of view that are supported by logic and analysis of relevant data.

We seek to be rigorously analytical and fact-based when making decisions.

Grit

We know adversity is all but certain and success or failure is often a function of perseverance or a lack thereof. We know it CAN be done.

We will have grit.