The way I think about business is pretty simple. We are here to build something real, something that actually creates value for people, and something that can hold up over time. If we get that right, most of the other things people spend time optimizing for tend to take care of themselves. If we get it wrong, no amount of short-term wins or optics really matter.
At the core of that is a belief that we are here to solve real problems. If we solve real problems, we create real value. And if we create real value, the business grows in a healthy way. But more importantly, it allows us to improve the lives of our customers and our team members at the same time. That is the kind of business I want to be a part of building. Not one that extracts value in the short term, but one that compounds it over time. And honestly, life is short. The people we get to serve and the people we get to work alongside are not abstractions. They are real people with real lives, and that actually means something to us.
Because we think about this long term, it forces a different set of decisions. We are not interested in driving short-term gains that ultimately put us in a worse position down the road. If we take advantage of customers with unfair pricing, or cut corners with our team just to improve margins, it may look good for a moment, but it will catch up to us. It always does. Sustainability is not just a nice idea, it is a requirement if you want to last. The goal is to build something that works well beyond any one moment, and ideally, well beyond any one of us.
One of the biggest lessons I have learned, sometimes the hard way, is that structure and incentives drive behavior. There is a quote from Charlie Munger that I think about often: show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome. A lot of businesses are built on structures that force short-term thinking, whether that is fund timelines, quarterly pressure, or the need to constantly prove something externally. Those are not inherently bad, but they do create pressure that leads to decisions that are not always aligned with long-term value.
Where I think we are different, and where I want us to continue to lean in, is that we are building and operating with a long-term lens. We are not working against a three to five year clock. We are trying to make decisions that hold up over a much longer horizon. That allows us to be more patient where it matters, more thoughtful in how we build, and more focused on getting things right instead of just getting them done quickly. We are stewards of capital, and we take that seriously. But we also acknowledge that there are bigger things in life than capital. The way we treat our customers and the way we treat our team members is not separate from our business model. It is the business model. When those things are right, the long-term sustainable path becomes clearer, not harder.
That said, structure still matters inside the business just as much as it does at the ownership level. Where I think we have gotten it wrong at times is not being structured enough in how we operate, which leads to us getting pulled in too many directions and, frankly, losing control. We want to solve real problems for our partners, but how we solve them matters. Our value is not just that we can do the work, it is that we have a system, a process, and a point of view on what actually works. When we lose that, we lose what makes us effective.
I also think a lot about people, because at the end of the day, this is a people business. Everything we do is only as good as the people behind it. I care about building something where people can grow, where they are challenged, and where they feel like what they are doing matters. That does not mean it is always easy, and it should not be. Growth comes with pressure and accountability. But if we are going to ask that of people, then we also have to show up for them, invest in them, and create real opportunities, not just talk about it. We genuinely care about the people we interact with every single day. That is not something we say because it sounds right. It is the thing that makes everything else worth doing.
A lot of companies say they think long term, but very few actually operate that way. Long-term thinking is not about being passive, it is about making the right decisions even when they are harder in the moment. It is about fixing what is broken, being honest about where things are not working, and not taking shortcuts just to make something look better than it is. And underneath all of it is a belief that a rising tide should raise all boats. When our customers win, when our team members win, when the people we work with are genuinely better off, that is what a healthy business actually looks like. We want to buck the trend of companies that optimize for their own outcomes at the expense of everyone around them. We do not think that is the right way, and we do not think it lasts.
We are not where we want to be in a lot of areas right now, and that is the truth. But I would rather be clear about that and do the work to improve it than pretend otherwise.
At the end of the day, we are not trying to be everything to everyone. We are trying to build something that works, with people we trust, solving problems that actually matter. People are what make us believe in what we are doing. If we stay focused on that, align our incentives with the long term, and continue to improve where we fall short, I think we give ourselves a real shot at building something meaningful that lasts.
Sincerely,
