When you’re growing a business, it’s no surprise that you need friends who will advocate for you. I’ve relied on more than my fair share over the last 15 years as I’ve built the business - friends both outside the firm as well as within it - and they’ve been essential to the success that we’ve achieved.
A subset of these friends have gone above and beyond - they’ve truly put themselves out there for us. These are individuals who’ve (certainly in our early days) put their reputations on the line, or gone out of their way to help the firm, or given materially of their precious time to further our goals.