Philosophy
What we believe about owning a business.
I
A business is a promise to a community.
The shop that fixes your furnace on Christmas Eve, the caterer who did your daughter's wedding, the landscaper whose truck you wave at every morning — these are civic institutions in a smaller-than-national sense. They deserve to be treated that way. Our first obligation is to keep the promise.
II
Permanence is a feature, not a constraint.
A twenty-year horizon changes every decision. It lets you hire the right person instead of the quick one, take on the slightly-harder customer, invest in the boiler that pays back in year eight. Most of the compounding in a good business happens after the spreadsheet runs out.
III
The operator is the asset.
We'd rather pay a fair price for a well-led business than a bargain for a broken one. The people inside the building have forgotten more about the work than any consultant will ever learn. Our job is to keep them, support them, and get out of their way.
IV
Debt is a tool, not a thesis.
We use leverage conservatively, and never in a way that would compromise the business in a downturn. If the deal only works at 6x EBITDA of debt, it isn't a deal we should be doing.
V
We don't do theatrics.
No quarterly letters, no thought-leadership on LinkedIn, no rebrand three months in. We do the work, we answer the phone, we show up to the holiday party. The only performance that matters is the one happening on the shop floor.
“There's no secret to running a small business well—it comes down to a long duration & three principles: have fun, work hard, and support your team.”
— House rule
How we differ
We are not a private equity firm.
Most PE funds
Mission Coast
Hold period
3–7 years
Indefinite
Deals per year
5–20
One, ever
Fund structure
LP-driven, with clocks
Family capital, no clock
After closing
Financial engineering
We move to town
Exit plan
Pre-negotiated
None, by design
You talk to
A deal team
The owner