By Scott Ronalds

As a start-up, we have the luxury of starting with a fresh piece of paper and blazing our own path. We’re not confined by legacy issues, dated technology platforms, archaic policies and procedures, etc. We’ve set up a business that isn’t for everyone, but we think makes a lot of sense for a select group of investors.

In the early planning days (last summer), we spent a fair bit of time defining the key principles and objectives of our business. At the top of our list was conviction. This meant designing fund mandates that made the most sense for our target clients, selecting managers who concentrate only on their best ideas, and not settling for industry “norms.” We’re not in this to please everyone, and we certainly didn’t want to take the middle road and try to be all things to all people. We’ve seen companies and organizations do this before, and the outcome is often disappointing.

Case in point, the Vancouver Canucks’ new jerseys (you weren’t expecting that one, were you?). The organization did a good job of creating hype around the unveiling of the club’s new jerseys yesterday. They sold out the lower bowl of GM Place and broadcast the event live on their website and the local news. For a late August day, there was a fair bit of hockey excitement around the city. Would they make a bold move and go back to the original crest with the blue and green colors? Or would they unveil a fresh, new logo?

Neither. They took the middle road. They went back to the blue and green colors that the fans seem to adore, but they stuck with the whale logo, and added the word VANCOUVER above it (in case other teams forget who they’re playing?). They tried to please everyone by trying to merge the old with the new. Based on fan forums and radio talk shows following the release, they failed. Fans don’t like it. It’s a compromise.

We hope that we don’t make a similar mistake with our fans. So if you see us taking the middle road and trying to please everyone by introducing products that chase trends, adding principal protection features to our funds, or sliding toward the index, call us on it.