Making Order While Retaining Decentralization
Our General Managers run sales and operations. And they’re great. I provide “entrepreneurial services.” Some probably prefer I stand down, wild man. When we launched, I used the phrase “we believe in decentralization” quite often. At the time, I had a vague understanding of what that meant exactly. I figured the simple definition was “Hire […]
Reading & Writing Annual Reports
I recently asked Mikel what I ought to write. He suggested I write about writing the annual report for Little Engine Ventures or write about reading annual reports. While it seems rather metacognitive to write about reading and writing, I’ll give it a whirl –please bear with me. As with all my writing, my hope […]
Common Practice Too Often Replaces Common Sense
This week a prospective business seller said he didn’t run his business according to traditional cost accounting methods. (I had asked about gross margins to get a sense of gross profit. This is an important indicator to me because it often reveals intellectual property and annual growth ceiling.) He gently said, “that’s just not how […]
Notes & Commentary on “Common Stocks & Uncommon Profits” by Phil A Fisher (with applications to private companies)
I recently re-read Phil A Fisher’s classic, “Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits.” After first speed-reading a book, I return to those I think worthwhile, and the second time through take notes. On subsequent times I refine my notes. Below are my refined notes after several re-reads. Most of the words are the authors. Any errors […]
Where Is All Your Writing?
Each year we revalue all companies we control. This investigation leads me to write somewhere between ten and twenty five pages per company. I then edit the valuation memos down to five to fifteen pages each. With so many new companies this year’s valuation memos took longer. This cut into my blog writing time. In […]
Water, Weather, Vessel & Captain
A friend said business can be compared to boating. I love boating and I love metaphors. So here goes: He said the body of water is akin to the industry. It could be a vast ocean or a small pond. The weather is the present business climate. The vessel is the business. It could be […]
Low Opportunity Cost Investing
Opportunity cost is one of those concepts that slinks away from you when you’re not looking. For that reason, I start with the definition. Opportunity Cost – “the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen” How can the opportunity cost be zero? When you select your best alternative you sacrifice […]
Too Much Information
This upcoming Friday I have a meeting with a partner that was not able to attend the LEV Annual Meeting. During the scheduling process, I sent a link my notes and asked what our agenda was. He replied with the following: Review statements. How do I read these? Review current metrics and translation into goals. […]
2019 Annual Meeting Notes
Thank you for participating in the Little Engine Ventures Annual Meeting 2019. Your encouragement will propel us another year. +++Below are a few of my highlights from my notes. I’d love to hear yours. The new location matched our style. Thanks to DJ Powder and Nami’s for support. Compliments to Mike Witteveen on maintaining a […]
Review of BRK AGM 2019
Attending the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting was a bucket list item of mine. This year, I rented a house on VRBO and then figured out how to get there. What I learned was that waiting in line for two hours was near pointless… I still wound up in the second balcony. I also took […]