WHY CONSUMER · MARKET DYNAMICS

Many founders want to start cool brands they can talk about at dinner parties. They love founding. They love the launch, the first thousand customers, the press hit. But they do not love the seventh hire, the doldrums of daily PPC bid optimization, the ninety-six point manufacturing contract negotiation, or the year-end inventory financing decision.

Because founders outnumber operators by orders of magnitude, the supply of stalled brands available for acquisition vastly exceeds the supply of operators capable of fixing them. This is a permanent supply-demand imbalance that keeps multiples reasonable and ensures deal flow at fair prices.

Founders often reach out to me for help. They sense the asymptote they are approaching and wonder what's wrong; looking for guidance, capital — an unlock. Many look for a silver bullet that doesn't exist. My hope is to work with the rare humble founder willing to take chips off the table and hand over control. This often means they can focus on the part they love most — usually product development and storytelling — and if I do my job right, their rollover stake will pay them more years later than the day-one sale would have, sometimes more than they could have grown the business to on their own.

I've also seen a pattern of founders trying to make something perfect at the expense of something useful. An eco-friendly home-goods linen company I spoke to was resistant to manufacturing overseas because it was less sustainable. I agreed in principle, but shipping the linen by ocean freight brings cost savings to make the product more accessible. And the brand would do more good for the world in more people's hands — after all, every linen napkin replaces thousands of paper towels. Perfection at small scale is its own form of waste.