I’ve spent 17+ years building, buying, and investing in companies. I started as a bootstrapped operator, founded roughly a dozen small businesses, and was in the trenches day in and day out. SaaS, ecommerce, a search marketing agency, a community. Everything was scrappy, everything was hands-on. I loved almost every minute of it.

Over time, a few of those businesses grew far bigger than I expected, which led to some sizable exits. After that, I did what most do. I became “an investor.”

I allocated capital to just about everything. Dozens of angel investments, LP positions in multiple funds, public equities, private debt, real estate. I was looking for the thing I could pour my professional energy into. Something that provided great returns but also felt right.

Angel investing is fun and occasionally lucrative, but watching 8 out of 10 companies chase growth at the expense of profitability, then waiting a decade for liquidity, is not how I want to spend all my time. Real estate is tangible but oversaturated and rate-dependent. Public markets are efficient, which is a polite way of saying I’m probably not beating an index fund.

So I went back to my roots. Small businesses. Real companies with real profits, owned and compounded over the long term.

Go visit your local country club. Ask around and see what careers the members have. Unless you’re in Manhattan, the answer probably isn’t “picking stocks.” It’s something simpler. “I own a dumpster company.” “I own a small agency.” “I own a painting company.”

No financial trickery. No obsession with the latest hot niche. Just tried-and-true companies that play long-term games with long-term people.

That’s the asset class I decided to double down on. Today I invest alongside independent sponsors and self-funded searchers in lower middle market acquisition deals. I back acquisition entrepreneurs with capital, and I come ready to help grow the business after close. These are the types of companies I love to build, and these are the people I want to do business with.