I'm just a regular guy who's gotten more wrong than right. I've stumbled, failed, and asked for forgiveness more times than I can count. But after 30 years of building, one truth has become undeniable to me: founders are — and always will be — the engine of capitalism.

For years, private equity tried to change me to fit their box. I thought maybe that was the cost of playing the game. But the deeper I went, the clearer it became: I wasn't the problem. The system was the problem.

The truth is, private equity was built to scale capital — not founders. It rewards fees, not obsession. And in that system, the founder's vision — the very thing that makes a business extraordinary — too often gets diluted or lost.

This is why I started Founders Row. Not because I think I have it all figured out, but because I've lived enough of the founder's struggle to know what's missing. Money alone doesn't build brands. It takes empathy. It takes operators. It takes storytellers. It takes people willing to get in the trenches and build alongside you.

At Founders Row, we back gritty, visionary founders who are willing to bet it all — and we bet it all with them. We keep it small, we keep it nimble, and we get our hands dirty in the earliest years when the support matters most. Because when founders win, everyone wins.