Benefits of the Family office investor

Had a really good meeting with Chris Ackerley. He told me that he read my blog about my perception that they weren't as comfortable as Ignition. He went out of his way to express support for Judy's Book -- belief in the idea, the entrepreneurs (Chris Devore and I) and the investment. Since making the investment in August and my blog post in September, I've started to really appreciate the value that Ackerley Partners brings to Judy's Book. The Ackerleys approach the investment from a media perspective, they have deep media experience, they're always looking for ways they can help the company (and manage to find many ways!), and seem to be in the investment for the long term.  It's this last piece that became clear yesterday -- because they're a family office and don't have money from other limited partners, in the end, they report to themselves. Structurally, this allows the Ackerleys to be a more patient investor than most venture capitalists. I got excited about the prospects for the company after Chris' visit -- we're really fortunate to have pulled such a solid group of people together to make this company work.