We’re Not for Everyone. Only Founders Who Care More About Legacy Than Multiples.

It’s a curious thing, selling a business. You spend decadesnurturing an idea into something living — a company full of people, quirks,habits, and shared jokes — only for the market to treat it as an asset class.For many founders, the day they sell is both the proudest and the mostbittersweet of their lives. Yet the process has been reduced to a grimlyefficient exercise in valuation, EBITDA adjustments, and multiples, as thoughthe meaning of a lifetime’s work can be captured by a formula in a spreadsheet.

At Define Capital, we’ve always found that a little absurd.Spreadsheets are wonderful tools, but terrible storytellers. They can calculatethe rate of return but not the rate of trust. They can forecast cash flow, butnot culture. They are blind to the small, human details that make a companymore than a machine for generating profit. And yet those details, such as theloyalty of the first hire, the pride in a well-built product, the late-nightphone calls with customers, are what give a business its real strength.

That’s why we see legacy as the most undervalued asset in business. Legacy compounds. It creates a kind of goodwill that never appears on the balance sheet but quietly drives everything that does. Companies that honour their history and preserve their culture tend to attract loyal customers, dedicated employees, and long-term partners. There’s a strange kind of durability that comes from being built on care rather than mere capital, and it’s precisely that durability that we aim to protect.

We’re not for everyone. We’re not the right buyer forfounders who simply want to cash out and vanish to a beach. We’re for those wholook around their office on the day of signing and feel a lump in their throat.Those who wonder, “Will my people be okay after I’m gone?” We don’t promise thehighest multiple. We promise that the business you built will still feel likeyours, still stand for the same things, still take care of the same people,still matter.

There are quicker ways to make money. But the point ofbuilding something enduring is not to leave with the most, but to leavesomething that lasts. We believe the best investment isn’t in optimization, butin preservation. Because in a world obsessed with flipping, the rarest and mostvaluable thing you can do is keep.

We’re not for everyone. Only founders who care more about legacy than multiples will understand why that’s the best compliment we could give.