Going along with the flow was the natural way for Jack Kolodny. But at some point he realized that the people that were paddling all around him might be on to something and he started paying attention to how his skills and values pointed him on the right course. Find out how getting the right people in the boat with you, however, can make all the difference.
Going along with the flow was the natural way for Jack Kolodny. He tended to stick with what he knew--particularly those things where there were cut-and-dried, right-and-wrong answers but he also followed his interests and things that other nice people were interested in and cultivated an interesting life in college. Upon leaving, he didn't change course so much, hearing from a friend that management consulting was fun and following nice people to a good firm. He characterizes this approach as being a leaf in a stream
But at some point, around the time of attending business school, he realized that the people that were paddling all around him might be on to something and he started paying attention to how his skills and values pointed him on the right course. He wanted more skin in the game so worked at a hedge fund helping the newly acquired businesses run. Eventually he wanted even more of. say in the values that would underlie the decision-making so co-founded his own firm. He finally shifted from being a leaf in the stream to paddling his own course.
In this episode, find out from Jack how getting the right people in the boat with you can make all the difference…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode’s Guest
Jack Kolodny is Managing Partner at Auxo Investment Partners, an operationally-focused private investment firm that specializes in investing in and growing founder- and family-owned industrial, manufacturing and business-services companies. He lives in one of the L.A. area canyons, growing wine grapes on his back slope. He's accompanied on his life's boat by his wife and their three children—one who envisions paddling toward far off oceans, one already blowing up Instagram with his fashion designs, and one who will figure it out in time.
For another story about centering other people in our lives, listen to our episode with Jonathon Stewart.
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Jack Kolodny: Sort of got to different places in the end, but I was really oblivious in many ways. Not just oblivious about what I wanted, but oblivious about even what the options were. Part of my journey really has been going from that sort of obliviousness to really learning how to think about paddling as opposed to being a leaf in a stream, and also thinking about things in the bigger picture.
Leslie Jennings Rowley: Going along with the flow was the natural way for Jack Kolodny. But at some point he realized that the people that were paddling all around him might be on to something and he started paying attention to how his skills and values pointed him on the right course. Find out how getting the right people in the boat with you, however, can make all the difference...on today's Roads Taken with me, Leslie Jennings Rowley.
Today I'm here with Jack Kolodny and we are going to talk about paths you choose and paths chosen and what comes from all of that. So Jack, thank you so much for being here with us. JK: Thank you for having me. I've been excited to listen to all of your podcasts and I'm honored to be chosen to do one.
LJR: Yeah. So then you know I ask the same two questions at the beginning and they are these: When we were in college, who were you? And when we were getting ready to leave, who did you think you would become?
JK: Right? Yes. No, and I've listened to people answer those questions. It's been great in terms of just being introspective about myself. I thought a little bit about it. You know, who I was in college was probably somebody more sheltered, innocent than most of our classmates. You know, I grew up in Montreal, Canada. I had the wonderful blessing of having a happy childhood with the supportive family. And, you know, my entire life until college, my love was of learning and, you know, I was good at it. Probably though good at it when there was a specific answer involved, and that carried me a long way without having to think about much else. And so when I got to Dartmouth, I majored in engineering with some economics involved. And, you know, that falls into that category of learning. And so even though it was a lot of work, I didn't really have to worry about much else. I could spend time on that and actually have a lot of time to do other things that interested me.
And I didn't really set specific goals for myself. I remember my roommate, Ryan Green, you know, he always wanted to be a doctor. He had his path set for him. It wasn't really my approach. I, you know, I did things because they were interesting. Could learn something new and because nice people were involved in them. That was pretty much my, the way I chose things. And so my friend Barnaby Olsen would take karate and I'd say, yeah, let me do karate. And then my friend Laura Bennett would do fencing and I'd say, oh, let me, lemme try some fencing. And you know, I went to visit a friend of mine from Montreal who was a little bit older and he was in a fraternity and he said, oh, come, come join this fraternity. And I had no idea about what anything was like that, but I said, oh, nice people. Seems interesting. Let's go do that. So, you know, whether it was that or yearbook or woodworking or ballroom dancing or all these different things, that was how I was thinking about what I was doing. But thinking about that, that really drove two things for me.
The first is that I didn't really take big leaps and bounds in college. You know, I was less successful when I was doing things that did not fit into quote unquote the right answer or specific answer category. So I remember…Iwas thinking about these things…I remember, you know, when we first showed up, we did that intro to English class at our freshman year. I did this English class around Asian history, and my papers would come back with this sea of red ink, just complete sea of red ink. And I couldn't understand. It was like I didn't know how to spell. I couldn't figure out what was, what was going on. And it wasn't until much later I realized that it was my Canadian spelling that was the trouble. Like I was like, how do I not know how to spell the word center? Like, not like a very complicated word, but in Canada you spell center “re” as opposed to “er.” Right. And I didn't realize this and obviously my teacher didn't realize this either at the time. But it was sort of, again, one of those things where I got a little gun shy because again, it was, you know, the number three is the number three in every country you're in. Some of these things with perspectives were difficult. So I didn't take big leaps in college. The strategy I ended up figuring out was that I could actually audit classes that were a little bit more… and get a ton out of them. So I audited, ended up auditing film 101, and I remember going there and what was amazing to me was that I sit in the class and you had this professor who would talk about these important movies in the context of film history, but also the country. Then you watch this classic film, this amazing film, and everybody else in class, all they're doing the whole time: heads down, writing notes with a flashlight about, you know, what's happening in this movie. And I got to sit back and just…it was a Metropolis or Birth of a Nation, which is this movie I would never watch otherwise. But just understanding its context of American history, particularly being Canadian, not having that in high school or any of those was just great. And so I had a chance to really, in certain cases, I had a chance to sort of jump out by auditing, but in the most cases, I didn't take big leaps and bounds.
And the other thing, And again, just in some ways by, you know, staying in my lane and not, you know, I didn't take…jump off and do six months in Japan learning Japanese history. It just wasn't part of the cards for me. But the other thing I realized is that, sort of, I was like a leaf in the stream because of all of that.
I was good at certain things. I sort of didn't have to think so much about that future. And so, you know, I sort of got to different places in the end, but I was really oblivious in many ways. Not just oblivious about what I wanted, but oblivious about even what the options were. And so, you know, when I was thinking about sort of this roads taken, part of my journey really has been going from that sort of obliviousness to really learning how to think about paddling as opposed to being a leaf in the stream, and also thinking about things in a bigger picture.
We were talking sort of about that vineyard before here we started
LJR: Yeah. That you planted wine grapes on a hill behind your house in L.A., right?
JK: Right. Yeah. And that's, that's a project, that's a 10 year plus project. You have to have perspective when you're thinking about that and commitment to it. And I don't think I would've been able to do that in college. And yeah, part of the growth has been being able to think about things in that way. So who was I in college again? And then what I think I would be? I didn't have that question on my radar screen at all. And so again, if you think about my career path and how it evolved, you know, I ended up in a good place.
But when I started, it's sort of funny, but you know, how did I choose? I went to management consulting after school. The way I chose it was, again, I didn't have any clear perspective on what was out there. I had a friend who said, oh, I hate banking. So I was like, oh. They said they hate banking; it can't be good. Another friend who said, I love consulting, I was like, Ooh, sounds interesting. Right? You know, they had recruiting and I went and talked to some folks and there was a company called Corporate Decisions, and they had the most interesting set of frameworks around thinking about businesses, and the people were really nice. And then my friend Tom Caputo was going there and I was like, oh, seems like a pretty good place for me. And that was the decision. And I ended up going to that. I did my B.E. and then said, okay, I'm gonna go do this, this consulting stuff.
And again, sometimes you hit snags when you don't do the planning. So like I go back home to Montreal; I need a visa to go work in the States. And the career center at Dartmouth said, oh, get this NAFTA Visa. So easy to show up with your diploma and your Visa application. They stamp it, you go and you go work and you…So I went home again, not necessarily thinking too hard about it. I go down, I drive down to Boston, I stop at the border and I have my diploma, and I have my offer letter and I have the Visa application and there's a border guard and I say, Hey, I'm here to go work. And a I have a Visa application. Yes, here. He takes a look at it. Squints a little bit, turns to me and says, this diploma is in Latin. And I said, yeah. He said, I don't, I don't read Latin. I said, I don't, I don't read Latin either. And he just took a big stamp and he went stamp, rejected. Right on it. Sent me home. [LJR: No!] Yeah, So I spent the next three months at home reapplying for a different visa to be able to get into the States and work. So not, not an auspicious start to my career.
LJR: No. Do you think you would've had to get a different kind if he hadn't rejected it? If he had just handed it back and said, go back and get this translated, or whatever, and,
JK: You know, it's one of those things where like, now, you know, I would've. Actually probably made a bigger fuss [LJR: Yeah.] about it. But being, you know, 21 and somewhat innocent [LJR: Right, right.] I just was like Ah, he said, no, I'm home. I eventually made it and I spent the first couple years actually we did, you know, the project work, but I ended up attaching myself to the guru of the firm—his name was Adrian Slywotzky—and ended up helping him write a series of business books around business models. How you think about them. What's a good model versus a bad model, how you recognize it. And that was far from the traditional consulting stuff, but in my mind was probably the most valuable thing I got out of my pre-business school days. It's something, stuff I use today. My entire career I've used this sort of recognizing what really makes a good business versus a bad business. It was super terrific. This, it was just really educational, a lot of fun, intellectual interesting.
And then one day this recruiter from a Stanford Business School shows up in our office. And everybody's going to the, to the meeting to meet her. Her name is Marie. I say, okay, I'm gonna go see what this is about. And we're sitting around this big table, I remember very clearly, and she starts talking about school and she's amazing and the school sounds amazing and everything sounds amazing. And I noticed that nobody is saying a word in the entire, you know, 15 people that are there. And I can't, I can't understand why nobody is saying anything. It's just sort of super quiet as she's talking. And so finally I pop up and I started asking a couple questions and we engage in this conversation, me and her, it's sort of interesting conversation. I don't, I don't understand anything super specific, but just talking about the school and what we do and, and nobody else said the whole thing was just me and her talking the whole time, and nobody else said a word. I this people a lot because I'm pretty much sure that is why I got into business school. And I, I don't understand why nobody ever said anything, but it suffice to say I, I got accepted and decided to go and I'm sure people sort of talk a lot about business school. It was two of the best years of my life.
And what was great about it really was at the end of the day was the, the people that were there, it was sort of like going back to. without being as oblivious as the first time. Yeah. And you had folks, like in my class you had Dan Kalafatas—and I just heard Chris McGee's podcast and everyone, Dan's everybody's hero. So he was there. And you had Michael Strahs who was, you know, funny as hell. And you had Geoff Lieberthal who has adventures that would inspire everybody frankly. And then you have all these other people from across the country and around the world who are not just impressive in their talents, but also just fun, kind human beings. So again, as I said, it was like, Hey, not quite as oblivious this time. And there's all these people I can learn from. And you know, when I talked about being sort of leaf in the stream, none of these people were leaves in the stream. They were all paddling. Some were paddling very hard, some were paddling medium hard, but they were all paddling and they all, some were going with the stream, some were going against the stream. But by watching them, I could learn a lot about how to paddle and it would take me a few more years. But it was, it was very educational in that sense.
And so, you know, I had the golden handcuffs of consulting, as they say, that the firm paid for my school. So I ended up going back there for a few more years. And there, you know, I did a lot of work, more traditional consulting work. They were like, Hey, if you go do work on that book stuff, we're gonna fire you. So you gotta go do more traditional consulting stuff. So I ended up helping mostly manufacturing firms. You know, strategy and operations work. Oddly enough, the most interesting lesson I took from those couple years came from a conversation I had with a partner. Great guy. He lived in London actually, but, he did with his family, but he did all his work in the states. And at one time I asked him, I said, is this sort of an interesting setup you have here? You're in London and you do all the stuff on the States. And, and he turned to me with a very serious face and he said, you know, whatever you do in your life as a profession, whether it be consulting or something else, you know, make it, make it work for you. Don't meld yourself to the work, meld the work to you. And it's such great and important advice. I think one of the top pieces of advice I've ever gotten cuz it gives you perspective as you think about what you do and what's important to you and how you can make it all work together. And oddly enough was at that point I also realized that consulting was not, not for me.
LJR: Hmm.
JK: You know, I, I wanted, I was someone who wanted skin in the game and so when you and consulting, you help companies, but you give a bunch of advice and then you tend to. walk away and go sell your time or, or model to the next, to the next. And it just, it just wasn't in me. And I was thinking the best way to describe it. But you know, I'm friends with a former US chess champion and when we were younger, he and I would go to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder, that's Warren Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting. And it was much smaller back then. And when we were trying to figure out how we could like, get a little bit in, more than just show up and attend. And so we got him to write a letter to Warren Buffett offering chess lessons. He said, Hey, we're gonna come to your, we're big fans. We're coming to the shareholder meeting. I'm former chess champion. Let me give you a chess lesson. And Warren Buffett actually wrote back, he said, chess is too hard. I stick with investing.
But you can come do an exposition if you want. That's pretty cool. So we, we did this thing where we'd. You know, he'd have, like at the time he probably had like 15,000 people there and he'd show up and he would do this Blindfold Chess exhibition where he'd play seven people at the same time while blindfolded. It was one of the most amazing things I've actually seen. And so I would be the one that would call out the move while he would have these seven people lined up, you'd have a blindfold on the first would move and I'd say, you know, a pawn to E2 or whatever it is. And he, we would do the whole, and he'd beat all the seven people, keeping all the moves, the boards in his head and you know, you'd have all these chess fans that were there and it would, it was. I was with Tom Cruise at, at these things. And I was like celebrity adjacent . was in the aura. And so people would show up and they want autographs and pictures and all this stuff. And then the next day we would go to this because we were there as in sort of doing this exhibition. We got invited to the Warren Buffett family and friends, CEO brunch and there everyone was like, who are you guys and why are you here? And why? You know, don't sit at our table please. Right?
LJR: No longer celebrity adjacent.
JK: Amazing juxtaposition between the absolute celebrity and the absolute not celebrity. But we loved it also because of all the investing talk that took place. And that was something that I recognized as a passion and, you know, wanted to do more. And so I ended up talking to friends and saying, you know what's out there? What did you know? Do you guys have opportunities? And I had a friend of mine from business school who was in California, and he said, Hey, you know, I just joined this hedge fund. We're looking for people. We don't have anyone here who's ever been inside a company. That perspective that you have, having been inside companies, is probably valuable. Why don't you come out and, and join us? So I ended up picking up all my stuff and moving across the country to Orange County. And it was a big, big change for me. You know, having, you know, I went to college three hours from my house and then had my job six hours driving from where I grew up. Again, I talk about incremental stuff. This was, again, a much bigger leap. New job, new profession, new location.
LJR: And Jack, you hadn't really been in companies, right? Like you had been advising them and thinking strategy and operations, but still not, not in industry. Right? [JK: No.] So what was it about your experience that they felt like you had, that they didn't have?
JK: I think it goes down to the ability to sort of break apart a company, understand what matters and what doesn't, and really talk about if this company has, you know, tell me what I was talking about before in terms of thinking about a business model and whether it's works or not, and being able to ask a framework of questions about what matters to the people that they serve, and are you set up in a way that aligns with that? Or are you not? And is that gonna really propel you to a stronger position of growth or not? And not just the financial angle of the business. And so I think that was when, when we were talking about some of these companies that were really interesting, that they had identified an ability to break out in a logical way, what makes this company special and is that sustainable, I think was a valuable thing, and I think the perspective was you know, we can always run the numbers, but we're looking for something to understand about the companies more than just the, the numbers.
LJR: Yeah. And you had kind of the, the consulting experience of that, the business school acumen and all this like really deep theoretical stuff with the writing of the books and probably they saw some sort of, the fact that you keep talking about people being at the center of these things, like there's, that probably was part of it too.
JK: I, well, so I, you know, actually I think the people thing, as I've learned is, is the most important thing. I don't know if I learned it at that point, and I don't know if they knew it at that point.
LJR: Oh, okay. Okay.
JK: I agree with you now for sure. But the first part I think was what, what sold everybody on it and it was, it was a big learning experience for me cuz I had to sort of pick up all the finance stuff, which I knew conceptually from school, but not in a more practical, accounting way. But it was great. I loved my time there, but have ultimately recognized that there was skin in the game, but there wasn't enough ability for me to have an impact. And so I began thinking about what else sort of was out there beyond sort of the, the, the profession of hedge funds and how, what, based on the things that I love, what, what could I potentially do? And again, you know, if I was started in school, I was again, just sort of took what showed up in front of me. Here I was all of a sudden starting to be a little more strategic about. Thinking about my skills and, and, and what could do.
And in the meantime, I met my wife and I learned that sometimes you gotta be a little lucky in it all. Luck plays a role in everything for everybody. She was in Los Angeles and we had been dating for about a year and I wanted to propose and I wanted to go ask her dad. I'm little more traditional that way. I want to ask her dad to give me permission and her dad was a former Special Army colonel who was living overseas in Tblissi, Georgia—the country, not the state. And so we flew there and, and the first thing he said was, Let's go. Shoot. Oh, and, and I have to tell you that you know, people have different backgrounds, but you know, the Montreal Jewish community is not a very strongly centered around guns, community, right? And so my experience with guns was in the ninth grade, I ended up going to Israel. And you spent a week in the in the Army and they taught you how to shoot a World War I Mauser rifle. And I was good at that. And it turns out that that World War I rifle is the same model rifle replicas they use in shooting galleries in arcades. And I loved arcades when I was a kid. You didn't quite have the same Xbox, Nintendo. And so I go arcade and I would, I would be excellent at that arcade, at a certain sight that was the same, and I would knock it out and win all the prizes. That, that was pretty much my shooting experience . And so I was a little nervous about having to do this shooting guy. So we went in the Jeep and we went to this range and they had all these, you know, Georgian Army officers and camouflage shooting. I think AK 47s at these targets. There's like 25 50 yards, 75 yards out, and they're, you hit, it was like this metal person, you hit the person that sort of went down up again and they were no ear protection, nothing. And I showed up in my consulting gear, which would be the consulting uniform of, you know, I had like a sweater, jeans, a big blue trench coat that you wear like in New York City. And everyone was like, who? You know, they're all wearing their camo. Who, who is this guy? And my future father-in-law said, Hey, you know, this is Jack. This is my daughter, this is Jack, boyfriend. He's gonna shoot. So they were like, they're the major there, said, have you ever shot before? And I was like, ah, you know. So they helped me get set up, you know, no, I'd lost my hearing for the next three days after there's no air protection at all. And I remember I was like, oh, how am am I gonna do here? And I, and I really recognize that sometimes, you know, luck or fade or whatever word you wanna use, meant to be, came into play because the sight on the AK 47 was the same exact sight as in the shooting gallery guns that I had. Oh. Learned with. And so I was like, oh my God, I know how to do this. And I actually went seven for seven on the first, first run. I shot 'em all and everyone was like, who is this guy? And I pulled a very big George Costanza. I was like, I'm out. Thank you very much. I'm done and…
LJR: Probably in smart move.
JK: Yeah. And my father-in-law was like, that guy can shoot, I'll give him permission to marry my daughter. And that was how I got permission to marry my, so, so luck sometimes plays a very important role in things and, and I think it was a little bit of luck that you know, I ended up having a friend of mine who had, who I went talked to and he said, Hey, I'm, I'm starting this small private equity fund. And by that he essentially mean we're gonna buy some companies and we're gonna help them. He said, why don't you help me buy a company and we can grow it? And I said, oh, that sounds super interesting. And so we went out, we identified the company, raised the money, and we bought the company. And again, I think a lot of luck involved in making that happen and a lot of sort of knowing when to seize the opportunity at the right. which was, again, if I think back to college, I probably had no idea at that time, both professionally and socially. And here, you know, there was an opportunity and I went for it and we made it happen. And another piece of advice that came out when we did that was, you know, I called up the, the person, one of the people that sold us the business, and I said, Hey, I just bought your business. I'd love to hear from you, sort of any advice you have. You've run it for a decade now. It was a previous owner. You know, any advice for me. And he, and again, very serious, and he said, you know, actually I do. And my advice for you is that you should never give up. Just keep pushing. It's gonna get hard. And when it does, just don't give up and keep going. And, again, sort of another really good piece of advice, and I needed it for that company because we had like everything bad thrown at us with that company and we didn't give up, and we worked our way through it. And ended up actually with a really great return for investors. Just a great outcome. That's the whole hour in itself to talk about that one, but it, you know, and I, I recognize that what I really liked about was the ability to, again everything's on the line and you're making a big difference. And in those companies with small companies, the thing that matters are the people at the end of the day. And you make not only sort of people have the chance to make you successful or ruin the business, but you make a big difference in the lives of people. If you're successful, you create jobs for people and families and you create opportunities in communities and you can have a really meaningful impact and the ability to be successful in those businesses. You know, the things that I often learned, it's not, you're not doing rocket science stuff, but stuff around the business models that I talked about, stuff around some of the operational stuff that I learned in consulting, understanding the financial angle of the investing, all that stuff comes into play and is interesting and meaningful for, you know, not thousands of people, but hundreds of people at a time that you're, that you're working with. Yeah. And so that was, that was very fulfilling. And about six years ago, a recognition that sort of the long term prospects for me at the firm I was at, were not really what I wanted them to be and with a partner end up leaving and forming our own small private equity firm that we would build and launched that in about 2016.
And so, you know, the firm is called Auxo Investment Partners. Auxo was the Greek goddess of spring or growth. And so farmers would plant their seeds and pray to Auxo to help make their crop successful. And so the idea is that we work with small businesses—mostly founder- or family-owned—that are looking for a successor. And we help, we buy those businesses or invest alongside with them and then help them develop the infrastructure to grow. And so we're a little bit different in that A: you know, we bring this operational playbook, often from all the things that I have been exposed to to really help develop that infrastructure of the company in a way that on their own they would not be able to cuz of their size. And we try and do it in a way that matches with the ethics and values that we think are important. And we're based in the Midwest in Western Michigan, even though I'm, I live here in Los Angeles, but we find a way to make it work. Right. Yeah.
LJR: Your friend in London, right? Right.
JK: And we've been, you know, we haven't been around too long, but we've been successful so far and are hopeful that we'll, we'll continue to do so. And so it's funny, I was thinking about, you know, you said, you know, go back to your question, which is did you know what you would be, again, answer, not, not even any of the faintest idea. ut I, I was thinking that, you know, all the things that I learned ultimately have come into play to sort of develop my professional. It's always personal to person. today based on all those different experiences.
LJR: Yeah, and I keep just thinking about your analogy of the leaf and the paddle and I mean, yes, of course you could be paddling your own, your one person kayak, but you, I think are choosy about who you put in your boat with you, because they have to be nice and they have to have those values. And like finding the right size vessel. You know, you're not out there for the big cruise liner right now. You're making impact at like scales that make sense for you and really center the people. So it sounds like you've had a way to tie those things that really were important to you as a young person to who you are now, even if you didn't know that that was gonna happen.
JK: Honestly, I think that's a point, a good point on a number of angles if we're, you know, talking about me. It…one is, you know, I didn't really have the motivation until there was more than one person in the boat. It really wasn't until I got married. Had to switch my perspective from I'm gonna be okay no matter what, to I gotta, you know, support other people here. That was a big motivating factor for me to kick it in gear. And then to your point, you know, I don't think my values have changed, you know, in school I was the happy guy with the big hair. I don't have the big hair anymore, unfortunately, but I…
LJR: More than some.
JK: I guess it's all relative. But I still try and be the happy guy and the values that brought me that are have not changed and come from sort of my upbringing. But to your point, I do think that you ultimately have to decide what, what matters to you and what sacrifices you're willing to make or, or not make. There's a class that we had in business school called Power and Politics and the whole class, the only point of the class, was that to recognize that you, if you want to get power, in many cases, you have to sacrifice…something. That could be a value, that could be a person, it could be, but you don't get it without the trade offs. And you have to decide. And you know, I, I, I'm personally not willing to make that trade off. And now maybe that has prevented me from, in some ways, accumulating a level of power that would be different. But I'm happy with the trade-offs that I've made in my life on that respect. And I think, you know, one of the things that, that motivated me, as I said to, to be able to create my affirmative is that I get to decide the values that we have. I don't have to subsume myself to people who might have values that I wouldn't support or agree with. And that's been nice. And, and, and in fact in some ways is a selling point for us when we go meet people. Some people decide they'd rather have the extra nickel, which is fine, but other people decide, you know, you guys are the ones we wanna work with. And that's, that's a nice compliment to get.
LJR: Yeah. I would say. And you might not recognize this, but you've used a number of times that you know the decision you made or the reason it became something good is that nice people were involved. And I think if that's a core value that you've stuck with, I think, I think you'll do pretty well. So, thanks Jack so much for kind of sharing your path thus far, and I am sure that you'll accumulate more nice people and other good things will come your way.
JK: Thank you, Leslie. Appreciate the chance to chat.
LJR: That was Jack Kolodny, Managing Partner at Auxo Investment Partners, an operationally-focused private investment firm that specializes in investing in and growing founder- and family-owned industrial, manufacturing and business-services companies. He lives in one of the L.A. area canyons, growing wine grapes on his back slope. He's accompanied on his life's boat by his wife and their three children--one who envisions paddling toward far off oceans, one already blowing up Instagram with his fashion designs, and one who will figure it out in time.
That is the great thing about time, isn't it? And the great thing about this show is how each of our guests have used their time since college in their own unique way. Don't forget you can catch up on any episodes you've missed at RoadsTakenShow.com and catch another story next time with me, Leslie Jennings Rowley, on Roads Taken.