Category: Investment & Business Models

Portfolio Churn — Enemy of Investment Returns

Churn destroys investment return.  Strangely, traditional private equity builds itself to churn.  Churn reduces investment returns for several reasons such as transaction costs, business disruption, and the difference in tax rates between ordinary income and capital gains.  This last difference is the easiest to quantify as… Continue reading

The Mirage and False Hope of an “Exit Strategy”

At best, an exit strategy becomes overrated and a waste of breath.  At worst, an exit strategy becomes a destructive mirage of certainty and false hope.  I realize that it is conventional wisdom for every entrepreneur to specify their exit strategy.  I have even heard… Continue reading

Private Equity Trending Toward Longer Term Models Like Greybull Stewardship

Momentum is growing toward private equity structures with longer term time horizons and movement toward more “permanent capital” — structures that are more similar to Berkshire Hathaway and Greybull Stewardship (my private equity fund focused on companies with $1-3 million in profit). Blackstone private equity… Continue reading

A Business Strategy to Capture More Value

The best entrepreneurs and business owners know that capturing value, not just creating value, is critical to success. The phrase “capturing value” is not meant to convey a zero-sum concept of one person capturing what another person loses. It is a way of saying that… Continue reading

Super Investor, Seth Klarman, on Lessons Learned from Buffett

Seth Klarman has a legendary hedge fund that you may not know, the Baupost Group.  His returns in that fund have been Buffett-like. He is a value investor . . . truly, not just someone who likes to say that word.  His insights are treasured,… Continue reading

Simple Strategy Lessons: Better before cheaper. Revenue before costs.

Sometimes the best ideas and best advice are the most simple. When I read the following article a while back, I loved it. And believed it. And continue to believe it. Michael Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed from Deloitte Consulting performed a study that began with 25,000 companies… Continue reading

Disparate Data Points: Entrepreneurship Exploding or Dying?

An explosion of young companies that are bootstrapped, or financed outside of traditional venture capital (i.e., Silicon Valley) or traditional bank financing, is what I see every day.  I see many companies finding their way to a point of lift-off, stability, and medium-sized revenue and profit… Continue reading

Companies and Founders Deserve Better Financing Options

Business financing and capital raising are full of contradictions.  The world is awash in capital, but the availability of capital to businesses is often binary.  For some, too much capital is stalking them.  For others, the switch to turn on capital flow remains hidden.  Size… Continue reading

Investment in Allied Health Education Company

I am excited to announce that my investment fund, Greybull Stewardship, has acquired an education company that helps health professionals maintain their licenses and certifications.  The company, Summit Professional Education (www.summit-education.com), offers seminars each year for over 75,000 physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, K-12… Continue reading

Business Brokerage: Greybull Stewardship Makes Growth Investment in Murphy

My investment fund, Greybull Stewardship, has made a growth investment in Murphy Business Brokerage, the #1 business brokerage company in North America.  The press release about this investment can be found here at the Greybull Stewardship blog.  I am very enthusiastic about this investment for… Continue reading