What money is for

We spend our days around money, so people assume I think it's the point. I don't.

Money is a tool. A good one. It builds things, takes care of people, buys time with the people you love. But it's a terrible master. I've watched enough people chase it past the point of any real use to know the chase doesn't end on its own. There's always a bigger number. The wanting just gets heavier the further you go.

So I try to hold it loosely, even in a business that's all about it. I'd rather have enough and a clear conscience than more and a knot in my stomach. At Peoples Ventures we'd rather steward what we're trusted with than treat it as a scoreboard. That's not a soft position. It's a practical one. People who treat money as the point tend to cut corners eventually, because the number is never enough to make them stop. People who treat it as a tool can afford to be patient and honest, which, over decades, happens to be how the money compounds anyway.

So we look for people who seem to get this. Who are building something they'd be proud of even if it never made them rich. In my experience, those are usually the ones it does.

Money's a tool. The life it's for is the point. Here's to keeping that straight.