80/20

April 29, 2024

In a follow up to the note from last week where we found our vision to be 80% of what we anticipated and 20% of it to not be exactly quite right, I'm excited to share our own adjustments to our vision off the heels of what we've accomplished in the last two quarters in the all hands this week.

When you first hear it laid out, it may sound obvious but as is always the case, it's never as clear from the beginning. In some ways, we've always been building towards this future but it takes years of iteration, building foundational components, gauging market feedback, adapting to the times, to know where to take the company next. We had a thesis around private credit being an opaque asset class that needed better workflow tools and better transparency, all valid points, even if the specific workflows needed to be learned. We had a thesis around the lower middle market being a ripe opportunity to capitalize on from the get go and that's been proven to be true, but only for a specific segment of the market. We had a thesis around underwriters being the key to unlocking scale and it has certainly helped us in 2023 till now in pushing more volume than we could ever do on our own, there's always limitations when we're relied upon for capital. It's all these and more that have allowed us to get to where we are today and what will propel us forward into the future

80% right, 20% wrong, rinse and repeat. Working to figure out how to continuously fine tune the 20% is what it takes to build a company that lasts.