“19% of our GDP attracts about 55% of capital inflows, aka venture activity, and 81% is underinvested.” – Vijen Patel
We’re back with one of our crowd favorite formats, where we bring on one LP and one GP, and share why that LP invested in this GP. This time, we have Grady Buchanan, co-founder of NVNG, and Vijen Patel, founding partner of The 81 Collection.
Vijen Patel is an entrepreneur and investor. He founded The 81 Collection, a high growth equity firm in boring industries. Previously, he founded what is now known as Tide Cleaners. He bootstrapped what eventually became the largest dry cleaner in the country (1,200 locations) before selling to Procter & Gamble in 2018. Before Tide Cleaners, he worked in private equity, McKinsey & Company, and Goldman Sachs. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two kids.
You can find Vijen on his socials here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijenpatel/
X / Twitter: https://x.com/itsvijen
Grady Buchanan is an institutional and risk-based asset allocation professional with a passion for bringing venture capital to those who have the interest. He founded NVNG in late 2019 and oversees investment strategies, the firm’s venture fund pipeline, manager sourcing, due diligence, and external events. Before launching NVNG, Grady worked with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s (WARF) $3B investment portfolio, focused on private equity and venture capital initiatives, including fund diligence, investment strategy, and policy. Grady is based in Milwaukee, WI.
You can find Grady on his socials here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gradynvng/
X / Twitter: https://x.com/GradyBuchanan
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here.
OUTLINE:
[00:00] Intro
[02:41] The pressure of quitting a PE job for dry cleaning
[05:09] Vijen’s self talk as a founder
[06:50] How to overcome doubt
[09:00] How Vijen learned customer success
[10:35] What did Pressbox become?
[12:41] The dichotomy between society’s needs and what gets funded
[14:19] How did Grady go from selling pancakes to being an LP?
[23:51] Why did Grady think he bombed the LP interview?
[29:15] What is The 81 Collection?
[32:22] How did Vijen meet Grady?
[34:39] How is Vijen fluent in Spanish?
[36:40] How did Grady meet Vijen?
[42:21] How did Grady underwrite 81 Collection?
[44:44] What about Vijen made Grady hesitate?
[48:35] What’s one thing about 81 Collection that could’ve gone wrong?
[50:33] The 3 things that create alpha
[52:42] Why does NVNG have the coolest fund of funds’ names?
[53:47] The legacy Grady plans to leave behind
[56:06] The legacy Vijen plans to leave behind
SELECT LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Pressbox
- Tide Cleaners
- Procter & Gamble
- The 81 Collection
- NVNG
- McKinsey & Company
- Goldman Sachs
- Chicago Cubs
- Coca-Cola
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- Jack Pandl’s Whitefish Bay Inn
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Wells Fargo
- Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
- Northern Trust
- University of Notre Dame
- Milken Institute
- Carrie Thome
- Ryan Abrams
- Constellation Energy
- Sharpe Ratio
- Sortino Ratio
- Pepsi
- Bridgewater Associates
- University of Illinois Chicago
- PwC
SELECT QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“I wrote down everyone’s concerns, and I just sat on it. A lot of the founders we like to work with, the ones who we really love are the ones who take it in and listen, write it down, then take some time to synthesize everything and then they’ll act with conviction. ‘Why is this stupid? Tell me why. Let’s go deeper and deeper.’ And oftentimes these reasons are very rational and slowly over time, what if I derisk this by doing that?” – Vijen Patel
“19% of our GDP attracts about 55% of capital inflows, aka venture activity, and 81% is underinvested.” – Vijen Patel
“There’s this crazy stat we recall often: the 50 richest families on Earth, who often build in this 81, they’ve held, on average, their business for 44 years.” – Vijen Patel
“We invest in only amazing managers; we will not invest in every amazing manager.” – Grady Buchanan
“Alpha’s three things: information asymmetry, access, and, actually, taxes.” – Vijen Patel