About this newsletter

I started writing this because nobody was saying it out loud.

Most founders I sit down with have the same story. They've built something real — a business, a career, a life that took serious work to put together. And somewhere along the way, their financial life got complicated in ways nobody warned them about.

They've got a business lawyer and an estate lawyer. A couple of accountants. A banker. An insurance advisor. An investment person. Everyone is doing their job. Nobody is talking to each other. And the person making sure it all comes together? The founder — on top of everything else they're already carrying.

From the Ridgeline is a short note I send every two weeks. One idea at a time. No jargon, no product pitches, no market panic. Just the observations I keep having in conversations with founders — the patterns I see, the mistakes that keep repeating, and the things that change when someone finally steps back and looks at the whole picture.

The name comes from something I think about a lot in the backcountry. When you're on the skin track, head down, working your way up — you're making reasonable decisions with what's right in front of you. But you can't see the whole terrain from the valley floor. The view only opens up when you get to higher ground.

That's what this newsletter is about. The view from higher ground.