Marcus Hale Building companies that outlast their founder

I started Northfield with two trucks, a borrowed warehouse and a conviction that a company could tell the truth to its customers and still make payroll. The first three years tested that conviction every month. We kept the trucks and we kept the conviction, and eventually the market noticed both.

Everything since has been an attempt to repeat that pattern on purpose. Buy or build a business with a real product. Put a president in it who is better at the work than I am. Set three standards that are never negotiated. Then get out of the building and let them lead.

I am a believer, and that shapes every number on every page we publish. It does not make us soft. It makes us accountable to something higher than a quarterly call, which is a far more demanding owner.

Marcus Hale