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Insights

Notes on Building, Owning, and Enduring

Long-form thinking for operators, searchers, and long-term owners. We write about markets when it matters, and about patience, stewardship, and family governance the rest of the time.

The Archive

Recent Writing

Filter by what interests you. Everything here is written in-house, for the people we work with.

Family Governance9 min

Writing the Family's Investment Constitution

Before the first deal, a family needs to agree on what it will and will not own, and how it will decide. A short, honest document beats a long, aspirational one.

May 2026Read
Markets6 min

Why We Are Comfortable Holding Cash

Dry powder is not indecision. When prices are high and patience is scarce, cash is the option to act later, and we treat it as a position, not a failure to invest.

May 2026Read
Stewardship7 min

The First Hundred Days After an Acquisition

The transition year sets the tone for the decade. Here is how we help new owners listen first, keep the good, and change only what genuinely needs changing.

April 2026Read
Letters5 min

A Note to Our Operators, Spring 2026

A short seasonal letter to the founders and searchers we back: what we are watching, what we are reading, and the questions we are asking around the table.

March 2026Read
Markets8 min

Small Businesses in a Higher-Rate World

Rates change the math on leverage and the price of patience. We walk through how a higher cost of capital reshapes what a fair deal looks like for both sides.

February 2026Read
Stewardship6 min

How We Think About Boards

A good board is a resource, not a courtroom. We share the handful of things we ask of every board we sit on, and the things we deliberately leave alone.

January 2026Read
Family Governance10 min

Preparing the Next Generation to Own

Ownership is a skill, not an inheritance. We look at how families bring the next generation into real decisions early, with judgment rather than just a seat.

December 2025Read
Markets7 min

Patience as an Asset Class

The ability to wait is underrated and undervalued. We make the case that a long time horizon is itself an edge, available to anyone willing to be still.

November 2025Read
Annual Letters

A Letter Every Year, Whatever the Weather

Once a year we write honestly about what worked, what did not, and what we are thinking about next. No performance charts, just the reasoning behind the year.

2025

On Compounding and Patience

A reflection on our third full year, why we passed on more deals than we did, and what a quiet year teaches an owner who is not in a hurry.

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2024

Building the Foundation

The year we closed Fund II and added operators to the team. Notes on how we widened the circle without losing the discipline that started the firm.

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2023

Our First Full Year

Lessons from our earliest partnerships, the mistakes we made learning to be a good board, and the founders who taught us more than we taught them.

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2022

Why We Started Arven

The founding letter. What was missing in the market for search funds and small acquisitions, and the kind of partner we set out to become.

Read the letter
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