Don't Forget the Big Picture
Last week, I had the privilege to attend Capital Camp, a 3-day investor conference held in Columbia, Missouri.
If you’ve never been to Columbia, you’re not alone - it’s a town with a population of about 125,000 smack dab in the middle of the American Midwest. Columbia is probably best known as the home of the University of Missouri (aka “Mizzou”), but it’s also home to a unique private equity fund called Permanent Equity, the hosts of Capital Camp.
Columbia, Missouri was not on any of my American geography tests growing up in Canada…
Permanent Equity invests in “private companies deliberately built for long-term success…with 30-year funds.” It goes without saying that any group of people who would have the audacity to create a PE firm that invests in 30-year fund cycles think about the world in a different way, which is part of why I was so excited to attend Capital Camp. The thing is, other than having a number like-minded investors telling me for the past few years that I “have to go to Capital Camp,” I really didn’t know what to expect.
What I got was a 3-day reminder of why many of us do what we do: to make the world a better place for our children and our communities.
Opening night (photo courtesy of Kirby Winfield)
While Capital Camp is an investor conference insofar as all of the attendees are investors, it’s not a conference about investing. Yes, there were talks on interest rates, emerging markets and M&A. But there were also panels on developing audiences, strengthening marriages and reinvigorating communities. Moreover, the entire 3-day event was curated specifically to facilitate building genuine connections through small group activities (many of which involved food).
Here are some of my takeaways from this year’s Capital Camp:
Tech Really is a Bubble
While I saw a number of familiar faces at Capital Camp, I would guess that fewer than 25% of the attendees were tech investors. To my sincere delight, I met incredible investors who were every bit as deep into areas that I know nothing about as I am into tech. Some owned brick-and-mortar businesses while others were focused on creating financially self-sustaining models for reducing global poverty and homelessness. Over the course of three days, I spent almost no time talking about tech investing, other than when answering questions from my fellow “campers” about how our industry works (it was quite entertaining to see the looks of confusion on the faces of so many investors when I shared that my job is primarily to invest in businesses that have no business plan 🤣).
AI Will Change Everything…Maybe
One of the most talked-about sessions was from Kanyi Maqubela of Kindred Ventures, who gave a riveting overview of the history of AI and shared his thoughts on where things might be headed. On the one hand, it was apparent to everyone in the room that the rise of AI will have a monumental impact on everyone. On the other hand, many of the investors I spoke to afterwards reacted with bemusement to the thought that AI could threaten their businesses (“I promise you, AI is not going to stick its arm into a dirty pipe to remove a jammed sock from a washing machine.”). Overall, the feelings around AI were a mix of excitement, trepidation and ambivalence - which is probably the right balance.
Investor-Philosopher Kanyi Maqubela
Food Builds Connection
At the start of Capital Camp, the hosts — Brent Beshore and Patrick O’Shaughnessy — playfully joked that one thought of Capital Camp as an investor conference with great food, while the other looked at it as a food and wine event with a bunch of investors. That perspective was the foundation for many of the conference’s activities: small-format demonstrations and hands-on tutorials for groups of 10 - 30 investors. Each session was intentionally designed to be informative and entertaining, while facilitating conversations and connections between the attendees. As someone who loves to cook and host food-related events, I came away with a ton of ideas for future Panache events (along with a full belly and many new friends).
What Matters is People
Whether it was the founders of Marsh Collective sharing stories from their 30-year marriage and their mission to revitalize small towns across America or David Steward and Jim Kavanaugh of World Wide Technology inspiring the audience with lessons from building the largest black-owned company in America, the focus throughout Capital Camp was on the people. The employees, communities and families without whom nothing is possible. At a conference attended by some of the most successful investors in the world, the humility, groundedness and feeling of genuine care for people in each and every conversation was amazing and served as a poignant reminder of what really matters.
Not a bad place to hold a conference
While I never expected to attend an investor conference in Columbia, MO (heck, until recently, I never even knew such a place existed), I am beyond grateful to have escaped my VC bubble for 3 days in the American Midwest. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of our industry, which makes it all the more important that we step out of our bubble from time-to-time to reflect on the big picture.