Announcing the Formation of Luana Investments

June 2020; written by David Linton

French author and Nobel Prize winner, Andre Gide wrote, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Well friends, we have shoved off and are paddling like crazy to get out to open water!

I am humbled to announce the official launch of Luana Investments. I invite you to visit our new website at www.luanainvestments.com where you can learn more about our mandates.

As most of you know, I was blessed to have an unusually long career (thirty five years!) with a single M&A advisory firm, Bigelow. I started there in 1984, a plebe fresh out of business school, and lucked into an association with colleagues that proved to be of the finest character and capability for what they do. It was a constant firehose of learning…about how different businesses worked and the “special sauce” that differentiated them; how industries were structured and evolved over time; how capital was formed and used to create value; and how these wonderful, compelling individuals called Entrepreneurs drove the bus on their chosen route and along the journey made a lasting contribution to our society. I was and forever will be hooked!

I also learned a lot about myself. Over the years, a number of you have generously complimented my deal negotiation skills. Truthfully, I most enjoyed the months and sometimes years in advance of crafting the deal, working in the trenches with the owner-manager building the value of his or her business.

Last February, I celebrated my 59th birthday, which reinforced that it was time to execute on my “last 30” (maybe I’m a year ahead, since I see life in 30 year increments). My goal in this next chapter is to honor those who have given me so much during my “first career” by putting their gifts to good use with moral purpose—what David Brooks captured so well in his book, The Second Mountain. This is my next one to climb.

Luana’s criteria for where it will devote resources is captured on our website (www.luanainvestments.com). From a single-family office platform, we will dedicate our time/talent/treasure serving three mandates:

Entrepreneurs who are building differentiated operating businesses into niche leaders;

Fund Managers with a narrow but deep investment scope and demonstrated domain expertise;

Passionate leaders of growing social enterprises that employ a “double-bottom line” approach to solving social sector issues.

Within those mandates, how will we decide where to participate? Simply put, in each case, only when invited and where we might also satisfy the following values-based objectives:

Will our participation make a real difference?

Will this present an opportunity for us to learn and grow?

Are we answering The Call—”What did you do with the gifts that I gave you, David?”

I look forward to learning more about what You are up to in your lives, families and careers in the coming days. And I’m not making any promises but there may be a Message or two coming from Luana Investments as we make the long ascent up the next mountain.

Be well,

David