Why I’m writing about things worthy of investment. Subscribe (for free) below
Whenever someone asks “what are you obsessed with?”, I know my answer will result in them showing their thinking face. Everyone has a thinking face. Common examples are furrowed brows, slow head nods, or blank stares with eyes up and to the right. My answer – “things that get better with age” – makes the brain wander.
I define “better with age” as something more likely to be alive tomorrow than yesterday1. It’s not about immortality. It’s a life where quality and aesthetics improve for a prolonged period of time. It’s easy to visualize this with classic (and cliche) examples like leather club chairs, cedar-shingled homes, or a business like Costco. You know these things from the end product, but have you ever thought about the common underlying qualities?
Before we go deeper – I need to say the quiet part out loud – creating something that gets better with age is generally bad business. If a product lasts forever, you leave your customer with the commerce version of an unforgettable one-night-stand. You scroll Reddit’s r/buyitforlife and the posts of 50-year old toaster ovens are always accompanied with “they just don’t make’em like this anymore”. There are good reasons why… and no, it’s not all greed.
And why do I find these things so interesting? I am not your typical cliche finance guy who develops a taste for the finer things. I am a quasi-cliche finance guy who slowly connected the dots on this weird obsession, but it was always there.
- Shopping for t-shirts at age 13 with visions that I would still be wearing them at 35, was a sign. Those visions did become reality.
- Passionately planting gardens at age 27 with the pride and joy being two climbing hydrangeas, was a sign. They are now both show’ers and grow’ers.
- Spending Friday nights scrolling 23 pages into old message board threads on chore coats, the zipper industry, and countless other things, was a sign.
That list is endless. But my day job really tied the knot. While my peers were (and are) understandably obsessed with the latest tech giant to 10x, I was infatuated over the industrial companies that compounded steadily for 30+ years. Are there overlapping lessons from brands like LEICA, materials like raw denim, and companies like Vulcan Materials? Yes indeed.
This is not to say I don’t admire innovation. I love it, but I am known to provide a record-scratch in the conversation when I poke around to see how sturdy a new hero is. It’s all to say – when I buy something – a jacket, a house, a stock – I like to own it…for a long time. Is that a crime? And while I do enjoy the dark arts of finance, I don’t view subscription tiers to a franchised preschool chain as “admirable innovation.”
I am an optimist and think it’s the best time to be alive. I also think it’s the most slop-filled time to be alive. The Instagram Ad t-shirt that gets a bacon neck after 2 wears. The media that has a 13 second shelf-life. It smothers us. I don’t fight this natural evolution. I am a capitalist with the utmost respect for the system. I am not even mad at the slop producers – I am a slop consumer from time to time – and everyone needs a little slop! But slop is disposable consumption that slowly eats away at the idea of long-term investment.
The creation of enduring things starts with builders and craftsmen but it extends into the ecosystem of consumers and investors. Beyond spending my hard-earned money, I believe the best way to support these endeavors is to shine a light. How is it done? Who is doing it? What can we learn and apply ourselves? In these posts/essays/columns – I will attempt to:
- Honor products, people, and businesses that get better with age
- Dissect the science and pseudo-science that makes it happen
- Inspire a few heroes to go against the grain and build shit that lasts
If you’re feeling some adrenaline in those veins, don’t be alarmed, embrace it.
Here is my best distillation for what makes something that gets better with age.
It’s more abstract than I’d like it to be – but I think this captures individual products, teams, and businesses in one framework.
- The foundation for anything that gets better with age is driven by the organic components – the elements inside
- Exposure to the outside world determines whether those components strengthen or weaken as a cohesive unit
- Aesthetics are a byproduct of strengthened chemistry
- Attachment to aesthetics extends life – even if it is not always economically viable.
Much like a human life, the idea of “being more likely to be alive on day 2 than day 1” requires outside support. You can’t get better with age without survival. You incorporate pieces of this framework from day 1, but it evolves into form. Here are some simple questions worth asking when aiming to build something in this category:
1. Will my customer’s experience improve on each sequential usage of this product? When does that stall out and why?
2. Does the team building this product/company align
3.
What is this not?
This is not blanket support of luxury, “Made in the USA”, or companies based on culture. These tags are littered with exploitation. I lost my mind when I received a “Made in Maine” loafer that skipped the quality control line.
This is not all about hardware and physical goods. We have little sentimental attachment to our iPhones while their photo libraries would be devastating to lose.2 We can still admire the iPhone (undoubtedly net positive) and be frustrated over its planned obsolescence cycle.
What is my personal goal here?
I toyed with monetary ideas but ultimately decided to just start writing. Whether I was a full-time employee or a consultant, my favorite projects always produced something with long shelf life.
This is a creative project, and in my experience, these projects have a funny way of creating relationships and opportunities you can’t imagine. My goal is to spark conversation with you and hopefully a broader group of “yous.” That may be builders, consumers, or investors. I am here for the talking.
And if nothing else, there will be an archive that “gets better with age”.
