The approach.
Patience compounds. Traction validates.
The right table, every time.
Five notes I keep on my desk.
- ISurround yourself well
I’ve built a team whose reading of fundamentals sharpens every position I take. The right people don’t replace your judgment — they refine it.
- IITraction over thesis
I look for businesses that have already earned their category, run by management capable of compounding the lead across cycles. Not bets, not theses — proof.
- IIIAccess compounds
Twenty years of Wall Street relationships means the work I see has been pre-filtered by trust. The right deals reach the table before they reach a banker.
- IVIn every deal
I’m at the table for every read I commit to. Not a passenger on someone else’s call. Passive on the position, active on the relationship — that is the difference.
- VTime as the edge
The clock moved south for a reason. Patient capital lets a position do its work, lets a thesis prove itself, lets trust compound. Time is the only edge nobody can replicate quickly.
What I look for.
- Stage
- Category leaders · Established businesses · Proven traction
- Type
- Passive allocations · Long-horizon positions · Co-investments
- Sector
- Financial services · Capital markets · Technology platforms
- Geography
- United States · Selective international
- Not for
- Startups · Turnarounds · Anything trading on narrative alone
Stage, check size, and timing are conversation-dependent. The thesis is consistent; the box is not.
Why private. Why now.
A dozen years on the public markets first. First exposure to private came in 2016; I bought in by 2019; by 2021 it was the sole focus.
The premise: private markets were becoming the venue where value actually compounded, and the gates were finally opening to capital arriving with patience.
Sakal Ventures (2023) is the vehicle. In 2026 none of this is novel — earlier, it was the trade.
- 2016First exposure
- 2019Bought in
- 2021Sole focus
- 2023Sakal Ventures
- 2026Consensus
How an introduction lands best.
- Allocators or co-investors bringing late-stage opportunities in proven categories.
- Banking and broker-dealer relationships sourcing institutional buy-side transactions.
- Operators with positions already vetted at the institutional level seeking syndication.
- Family offices and funds with diligence in hand, looking for the right co-investor.
- Early-stage founders raising a first round.
- Cold introductions for businesses still proving demand.
- Restructurings, turnarounds, or any role requiring a hands-on operator.
How an opportunity finds capital.
Deal flow arrives through relationships earned over twenty years. I take the first read myself — the shape of the business, the people behind it, the room it will sit in.
I bring the read to the people I’ve surrounded myself with. They press the fundamentals and the assumptions, asking the questions I might not have. Conviction is earned, never assumed.
We allocate passively, hold over years, and stay clear of the operators we trust to run the businesses. Patient capital does its best work when the partner doesn’t fidget.
The biggest risk is not taking any risk.