Graham Weaver

And so we have a objective function that is specifically net MOIC. And I think cascading from that is how long you want to hold businesses, how you're going to invest in them, how you're going to build them, what's your objective function, I think matters a lot, what's your goalpost. And I think a lot of people use IRR maybe, or they're trying to raise their next fund or something like that.

And so we have a objective function that is specifically net MOIC. And I think cascading from that is how long you want to hold businesses, how you're going to invest in them, how you're going to build them, what's your objective function, I think matters a lot, what's your goalpost. And I think a lot of people use IRR maybe, or they're trying to raise their next fund or something like that.

And I think it can muddy up, you know, are you selling your best companies quickly so you can raise the next fund and have higher RRs or what are you doing? And I think the objective function matters. Another belief that we have is, The way that we're really going to create alpha is through talent.

And I think it can muddy up, you know, are you selling your best companies quickly so you can raise the next fund and have higher RRs or what are you doing? And I think the objective function matters. Another belief that we have is, The way that we're really going to create alpha is through talent.

That's probably the foundation of Alpine is just, we think that incredible leaders, CEOs, management teams are going to create amazing results. We'll look at B plus industries that other people really don't look at as much, but we've paired that with an A plus team. We found that to be just a great combination. We won't overpay for the A plus industry.

That's probably the foundation of Alpine is just, we think that incredible leaders, CEOs, management teams are going to create amazing results. We'll look at B plus industries that other people really don't look at as much, but we've paired that with an A plus team. We found that to be just a great combination. We won't overpay for the A plus industry.

We'll go down a little bit and I can talk more about that. That's number two. And then number three would be I'm a huge fan in thinking slash using your imagination. We schedule time outside of the office.

We'll go down a little bit and I can talk more about that. That's number two. And then number three would be I'm a huge fan in thinking slash using your imagination. We schedule time outside of the office.

In the Great Recession, we were spending a full day outside the office just really thinking, mapping out what do we want to build, what are the capabilities we want to have, using time to work on the business. The expression I use is we're planting seeds of oak trees that will yield us shade five years from now. And if you can do that consistently, you can always create moats effectively.

In the Great Recession, we were spending a full day outside the office just really thinking, mapping out what do we want to build, what are the capabilities we want to have, using time to work on the business. The expression I use is we're planting seeds of oak trees that will yield us shade five years from now. And if you can do that consistently, you can always create moats effectively.

But it takes a lot of discipline in the middle of all the crazy stuff you're working on to actually take time out to work on something that's important, but not urgent. And that's the imagination and innovation.

But it takes a lot of discipline in the middle of all the crazy stuff you're working on to actually take time out to work on something that's important, but not urgent. And that's the imagination and innovation.

When I do my like asking around, I'm always curious if you condense everything down to asking someone, what is Alpine known for? Like, what is the thing? You only get one thing. What you hear a lot is young talent development and relying on 20-something CEOs to run sometimes very large companies and the search and development process of that young talent, those young CEOs.

When I do my like asking around, I'm always curious if you condense everything down to asking someone, what is Alpine known for? Like, what is the thing? You only get one thing. What you hear a lot is young talent development and relying on 20-something CEOs to run sometimes very large companies and the search and development process of that young talent, those young CEOs.

So maybe you can explain, when did you plant that acorn seed? Why? How has it grown? We can spend as much time as we want on this thing because it does seem to be an elemental part.

So maybe you can explain, when did you plant that acorn seed? Why? How has it grown? We can spend as much time as we want on this thing because it does seem to be an elemental part.

Yeah, that's right, Patrick. That is core. So the way it came about was in the early days, we were doing all kinds of things, a number of businesses going well. So one of us would go out and run the company. So Dan Saner, one of my partners today, we moved to Detroit. For like a year, Will Adams moved to Maine for two years to run this horrible business. And a guy named Mike Duran was in Chicago.

Yeah, that's right, Patrick. That is core. So the way it came about was in the early days, we were doing all kinds of things, a number of businesses going well. So one of us would go out and run the company. So Dan Saner, one of my partners today, we moved to Detroit. For like a year, Will Adams moved to Maine for two years to run this horrible business. And a guy named Mike Duran was in Chicago.

I ran one of our companies, a slot machine business for a while. We got in when we were in the recession and we had all this time to kind of look back at our track record.

I ran one of our companies, a slot machine business for a while. We got in when we were in the recession and we had all this time to kind of look back at our track record.