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“Ed, a man by the name Kibbie Poulet is here to see you” announced my administrative assistant. “He says he knows you.”
Indeed he did. But I had no idea why he was in Boston to see me. An African American entrepreneur and inventor, Kibbie lived in Louisiana, not far from New Orleans, or at least I thought he still did. I had lost touch with him after his first company declined.
I had first met Kibbie several years before when he had come to Boston seeking an investment for his company from UNC Ventures. From that first meeting Kibbie had intrigued me. He did not fit the stereotype of an “investable” entrepreneur. He had a long history of working in and around oil fields, and had invented a device that would do a better job of detecting stresses and leaks in oil pipelines. When I first met him his product worked and his market was substantial, but his company was fledgling and his customers were few.
What captured my attention was the man. His weathered face, straight posture and deliberate speech spoke to a man of character. His story of his family and personal journey that brought him to my door spoke to a man with a strong moral compass. Kibbie struck me as solid as a rock.
I could see that Kibbie’s success would have positive ripple effects well beyond the value of our investment. Jobs for other folks of color, wealth spread among more than the usual few, hope spread to countless others. All I had to do was to allow equity and personal character to carry weight in our investment decision.
Easier said than done.
Even though UNC was created in response to the realization that business-as-usual investment practices worked for fewer and fewer and needed to change, there was always the temptation to play it safe. So much easier than creating a new template that allowed the value ladened intangibles of equity and character to weigh-in more heavily than usual. What should our values tell us about what was too little or too much? Should our values matter at all? Every day we struggled to devise our best answer to the question, “What should we do?”
When I was very young my mother told me, “Take your values with you wherever you go and never leave them at the door. Sometimes leaving them outside is what you’ll want to do because its easier or less scary. Show courage instead.”
So we had summoned up some courage and UNC made a modest $250,000 investment in Kibbie and his company. It was not just a bet that he would succeed, but also that he deserved the opportunity to succeed or fail.
Unfortunately, Kibbie’s company did not have a great outcome. The company got off to a good start, then struggled, then declined. Electing not to pursue our legal remedies, we had written our investment off and called it a day.
So why was Kibbie here to see me two years later?
I went out to greet him and suggested we go to the conference room; he said that would not be necessary. Standing in the reception area he said to me, “Mr. Dugger, my grandpa told me to always pay my debts.” He then handed me an envelope, turned and left. Not knowing what to say, I opened the envelope. It contained a check for the exact amount of our investment in Kibbie’s company, $250,000.
I have been thinking about Kibbie a lot this past two weeks since our Presidential election.
I think about the minimal courage of my convictions that I showed him, and the huge courage of his convictions that he showed me in return. I don’t know what it cost Kibbie to be able to hand me that check. But I do know that staying true to his values was invaluable to him.
UNC had much more impressive portfolio outcomes, and I am proud of the investment model we pioneered and the track record we established. Yet I could not be prouder of the opportunity we gave Kibbie and the gratitude he showed in return.
I have been thinking about our country as well. For me, election night exposed the urgency of our national predicament, and our perilously endangered American Dream. For me, Van Jones’ comments eloquently voiced feelings I was too stunned to utter. It made me feel that we are in the midst of a clash and crisis of values that will require extraordinary courage to overcome.
I concluded that resetting the American Table in a dramatically more fair and equitable way, to restore and reinforce our social fabric, is as important as anything we can immediately do to preserve a desirable future for ourselves and our children. Following Kibbie’s example, we can choose to reframe our collective standards from what is permissible to what is ethical. We can show courage.
Today I have committed to redouble my efforts to do just that. And I am more convinced than ever that we will create more value by acting on our values.
Reinventure is where I am putting that commitment to practice. Do you believe as I do, that we create more value by showing the courage of our values? Join me. Drop me a note: ed@reinventurecapital.com. I’m looking forward to working together.
3 Comments
Thank you for sharing these events. Your humanistic approach and. Kibbie’s morals are a reminder of the best aspects of mankind.
Thank you Jim. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!
What a great man – in a world where it seems we have all but lost those values, his story is especially powerful.