Hello there! Thank you for joining me at Casa Cinco, where I explore business as a conduit for connection.

Remember last week’s poll? I listened. I also listened to my dear friend who suggested Casa Cinco needed to be relatable - so I’ll be speaking in first person from now on.

Starting this week, my newsletter gets shorter and explores one concept at a time. Brevity is the soul of wit after all. Happy reading!

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Andy

PRINCIPLES COST MONEY

The VC that preaches equality but refuses employees equal parental leave.

The investment bank that preaches teamwork at the expense of the junior team.

The CEO who preaches generosity but keeps all the upside.

What do the VC, the bank, and the CEO have in common? They refuse to pay the price that equality, teamwork, and generosity require in these scenarios to qualify as principles.

“It’s not a principle until it costs you money” (not my words, but Bill Bernbach’s). A powerful concept that was somehow introduced into my life and has since served me greatly for gauging BS. Needless to say, the absence of BS is preferred (in business and in life).

This week I came across the incredible story of Mario Sicilia, co-founder of Cerralvo Capital. Mario founded the investment firm after successfully searching, acquiring, leading, and exiting Bomi – a healthcare company based in Mexico.

The IRR and ROIC metrics for Mario’s tenure at Bomi are undisclosed, but you get a feeling he made a lot of shareholders happy. What I found most unconventional of Mario’s story, however, was his determination to compensate his team upon the sale of the company.

Despite no legal requirement or expectation to do so, and at his and his shareholders’ expense, Mario gave a well-deserved piece of the pie to the company’s employees. Doing so provided many people with more money they had ever aspired to. Money that fundamentally changed their lives.

It cost Mario time and money to act in a principled way. That is 0% BS, 100% principles. That is who we should all strive to be.

That, is business as a conduit for connection.

HAPPENING AT CASA CINCO

I’m exploring the topic of business as a conduit for connection from EHL this week.

What does a course on designing hospitality concepts have to do with entrepreneurship and investing? That’s what I’m here to figure out. It’s like playing soccer to improve at math. But we’ll get there, eventually.

More on Casa Cinco’s pivot coming soon 👀.

We’ll talk soon. Thank you for joining us at Casa Cinco