Red Ventures' Permanent Capital Fuels Culture-Driven, Long-Term Business Compounding

Key Quotes

"My big dream is to live in a state of well-being most of the time and to have a sense of lifelong satisfaction when the end comes. So it's really very internal versus something that gets accomplished or left behind."

Ric Elias articulates a personal aspiration focused on internal states of being rather than external achievements. This highlights a philosophy that prioritizes sustained contentment and a peaceful end-of-life reflection over the accumulation of accomplishments or material success.

"The easiest way to understand it at a high level you can think of ourselves as a operating private equity platform with permanent capital hyper focused on the digital world with different business models under the belief that culture really matters and that if you use that as the connective tissue inside of the portfolio companies you can get some level of alpha versus these companies being separate."

Ric Elias describes Red Ventures as a unique private equity model that leverages culture as a competitive advantage. This approach suggests that by fostering a strong, unified culture across diverse portfolio companies, they can achieve superior performance beyond what individual entities might accomplish alone.

"We never have to work true definition of being an entrepreneur and then the second one and i think we said it at the time without really understanding it which was a company that would outlast us and even though we will want to do this for a long time dan retired about a year ago a company that would outlive us what i have come to realize is it will outlive us through the people that get trained in our platform not as a company itself and then many of the businesses hopefully are here for decades to be."

Ric Elias explains the foundational principles of Red Ventures, emphasizing the entrepreneurial goal of creating a business where work is enjoyable and the long-term vision of building an enduring organization. He clarifies that the company's longevity is envisioned through the development of its people and the sustained success of its businesses, rather than solely through its corporate structure.

"It's a strange story survival to some extent when you spend the first four years with two little kids both of us not taking any money home humility understanding that this could change easily early on we would meet with our 80 employees call it 2007 and 8 and we were now making millions of dollars of profit and now we'll say oh enjoy this these are the good old days someday this will end it was this constant belief that this was a moment in time and if didn't work as hard as we worked the last three years this will end so a lot of it was like we were relentless."

Ric Elias attributes Red Ventures' early success to a combination of survival instinct, humility, and relentless hard work. He describes a mindset where even during periods of profitability, they maintained a sense of urgency and a belief that their success was temporary, driving them to work exceptionally hard to ensure its continuation.

"The greatest gift one can get it's the greatest gift to know that you're going to die... you have 90 seconds to say goodbye to your life with no suffering zero suffering and then on the other side of this no one dies so you can talk about it and celebrate it and understand it."

Ric Elias reflects on his experience during the Hudson River plane landing, framing the near-death event as a profound gift. He emphasizes the clarity and opportunity it provided to reflect on life and say goodbye without suffering, highlighting the unique perspective gained from such an experience.

"The pursuit of more robs you from that you can't take it with you it becomes a responsibility the more you have and i tell this to a lot of our employees when they're leaving and i said okay great you're ready to graduate i'm for you but when they're replacing happy with happier that's when they get in trouble there's no such thing."

Ric Elias cautions against the relentless pursuit of more, suggesting it detracts from inner peace and well-being. He advises that focusing on accumulating more can lead to trouble, especially when the motivation is to replace happiness with a fleeting sense of "happier," implying that true contentment comes from within rather than external gains.