Quality Time with Quality People on Quality Projects

Quality is at the bedrock of our philosophy, both in terms of the kinds of investments we make and with whom we make them. Indeed, quality is that enduring and differentiating attribute that always places time on one’s side, both in life and investing. By focusing exclusively on quality, we think we can cultivate a portfolio of investments that have a high likelihood of compounding at high rates over extremely long periods. The latter factor – duration – is by far the more scarce attribute and its identification is our central focus.

Create More than We Capture

Integral to our purpose is the pursuit of value creation as a service to others. We are at our best as investors when we approach our craft through growing a win-win ecosystem rather than pursuing the maximization of our own interests. In our investments and undertakings, we deliberately aim to sow much more than we reap. This may include assisting our investment partners with fundraising & talent acquisition and supporting our capital partners as informal extensions of their team through introductions and idea generation. Paradoxically, we believe that spending time on these additional activities will result in more value creation for all than would otherwise have been attainable.

Our Time Horizon: Eternity

Every investment we originate reaches aspirationally toward the long arc of forever – irrespective of security type, fund structure or liquidity rights.  Therefore, when we back someone we intend to go ‘all in’ on them for life, or as long as possible. While this approach may seem naive, we think it confers numerous comparative advantages to our community. For example, we have observed little evidence that the typical behavior exhibited by most individual and institutional investors – a frenetic trading in-and-out of investments that are temporally underperforming – is anything but value destructive.

Moreover, if we are to truly be a partnership then we must act like one – in good times and in bad. This is not just the right thing to do – we think it makes good business sense too, as even the best investors underperform 1⁄3 of the time or more. As Buffett described decades ago, in order to achieve outstanding long-term returns, one has to stick with the ‘superinvestors’ during challenging times; indeed, it is our belief that during these difficult moments, trust and goodwill can compound at even higher rates, thus expanding the boundary of what is possible.  Of course, we will make our share of mistakes. That is okay because mistakes (like successes) size themselves appropriately over time while also offering some of the most fruitful and enduring learning opportunities.

Persistent Incremental Progress Eternally Repeated (PIPER)

We marvel at the power of compounding in relationships, trust, knowledge and capital. We believe that if one combines consistent efforts, a growth mindset and long duration, outcomes otherwise improbable can in time become predictable. We are seeking house odds rather than gamblers’ odds, and PIPER delivers this over time.

Love Wins

We know what you’re thinking – these guys really are nuts! After all, in the words of Tina Turner, what’s love got to do with it [investing]? In a business world generally characterized by zero-sum thinking and dog-eat-dog behavior, we believe in another way. Our conviction, based on our own experience and through our study of human nature and the history of civilizations, is that love is the most enduring force in the universe. As such, it seems sensible to us that a truly long-term approach and philosophy must embody qualities such as patience, kindness, respect, trustworthiness, and perseverance.   Anything else would be lunacy!