I work with people with whom I would be willing to own a business someday. That's a high bar, but it tends to create favorable outcomes for both parties. These are people from across many professional domains who I find myself admiring and wishing to learn with and from.

Venture-backed businesses are a style of company I have learned to hate as a founder. Many reasons for this - the inevitability of equity decay, the unyielding nature of "growth for growth's sake," the realization that I'll only live once and my children are my life's work, etc.

That said, I have proven useful in helping entrepreneurs navigate those waters and tradeoffs as a Chief of Staff or consultant. I think the best outcomes for founders who wish to actually operate their businesses (not simply transact or financialize them) is to be obsessive about customer problem-solving and profitability.  

Businesses that I have started or joined since 2020 have a similar look and feel: self-funded, few owners (1-3), low capital requirements, near-immediate cashflow potential and industry tailwinds abound. These ventures excite me far more than chasing multiples in Ventureland.

There is a comfort to building a business with knowledgeable company. Hustle culture asks us to ignore the natural impulse to ask for help, but I work with founders who can set their ego aside in the interest of learning and growing professionally alongside a peer.

I capably proxy founders in their absence on key matters when attention is divided, but I'm always empowering them as the leader of the company. My work is often completed asynchronously and independently, but it is always timely and completed with rigor.

I take founders from feelings of "this will always require my direct involvement to succeed" to "wow, I don't need to be in every meeting to get favorable results anymore." Quite the unlock.

Treat your household income as you would treat your retirement accounts - have many and diverse holdings. Too many professionals think a well-paid W-2 role is the key to prosperity. In the age of AI, and amidst the continued fractionalization of employment due to automation, the average person should have 3-5 income streams to be sufficiently resilient to financial shocks and employment loss. Owning a business, or two, or five, will become the dominant employment configuration of the successful in the coming years.

I suggest you begin this parallel income configuration now. Happy to help.

I've built a life and career that allows me to indulge in any business opportunity that intrigues me. Write to me at the email below, tell me what you're working on, and if I'm the right person to help, you'll know. Not afraid to share an opportunity with others who are a better fit either.