"What Is Revenue, Really?"
Dear Limited Partners,
This year the firm grappled with a philosophical question that has haunted us since inception: what is revenue, really? Is it money a company receives? Or is it, more profoundly, a state of mind?
Our portfolio companies have embraced the latter view. None of them have revenue in the traditional, vulgar, cash-changing-hands sense. But they have "ARR potential," "design-partner momentum," and "signed letters of intent to consider a pilot." When you think about it, isn't a letter of intent just revenue that hasn't found the courage to exist?
We have accordingly updated our metrics. Where we once tracked revenue, we now track "narrative velocity." Where we once tracked margins, we now track "vibes per dollar." Our numbers have never looked better, in the sense that there are no longer any numbers.
Revenue is, ultimately, a social construct. So, increasingly, is this fund.
Philosophically,
Chadwick "Chad" Burnsworth III
Managing Partner