The Book — Forthcoming
Reflections and lessons from a decade in emerging markets private equity.
Why would you start a business in an industry you think is dying?
It's the right question.
With hindsight, I wouldn't recommend it.
But, in 2016, I did exactly that, and spent the next seven years writing about it as it happened.
Building in the Wrong Market collects roughly forty of those newsletters, annotated with context and commentary after the fact. They track what real-time thinking under uncertainty actually looks like: the calls I got right and early—the death of EM private equity, Abraaj, China—and the slower, harder lesson that being right about the problem is not the same as having a sustainable or scalable business model.
It's also a book about the parts nobody puts in the pitch deck: the psychology of the solo founder, and the question of whether and when to quit.
The companion site is in the works—a password-gated home for readers with the full newsletter archive, transcripts of every Portico Podcast episode, video responses to reader questions, and extras that didn't make the book.
Four Things—a monthly letter on what I'm reading, building, listening to, and one thought-provoking data point. Plus word when the book and companion site are ready.
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