SUMMARY

We develop trusting and generative partnerships with our co-investors, sources of capital, investment team, and others in our sphere of work. Instead of seeking merely to maximize our take, we create shared value and earn deep trust, making investment opportunities broadly available—especially to those who might otherwise be excluded—and keeping in view all the persons and relationships involved in a healthy investing ecosystem.

 

REDEMPTIVE OPPORTUNITIES

1. We lead our firm or office to become a more redemptive business in and of itself, beginning with a demonstrated internal commitment to a singular, truthful, and respectful story about the status, success, and intent of deals.

2. We develop a deep understanding of our investing partners’ medium- and long-term goals, investing philosophies, and guardrails, from a posture of curious learning and relational interest, in order to build alignment around how we will invest.

3. We join with other redemptively-minded investors to nurture ecosystems of funding, including sharing deal flow and pooling funds for redemptive investments, as well as alternative practices for term sheets, General Partner compensation structures, and investment evaluation schemes.

4. We earn a reputation as a high-value investing partner by sharing deal flow and inviting others into deals who will add direct non-financial value (such as sector expertise and connections). We take the time to understand, support, and learn from other investors in our deals—and even congratulate and celebrate the successes of peer investors when we have no stake in the outcome. 

5. We express our redemptive mindsets and practices in our communications and other dealings with current and potential investing partners, as an organic invitation into a different way of approaching investing. 

6. We take the lead on behalf of our investing partners to seek subject matter expertise beyond our own network to gain competitive insight into our theses and investments. We explore ways to fund thinkers and researchers to broaden the field’s imagination for what’s possible.

7. We recruit outsiders into an industry that is notoriously difficult to break into, with a particular attention to diversity—through proactive measures, such as public programs (apprenticeships, shadow days, Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions, and office hours) and active invitations to emerging investors into our deals, funds, and advisory boards.