Why, you might ask then, do we have such a variety of investors when any one could have funded all our capital needs? This is an interesting question, and I’d like to tell a short rabbinic tale to explain.

One of the great rabbis of nineteenth-century Europe was the Vilna Gaon. When he was newly graduated from rabbinic school with the highest honors, he went to apply for a job as the rabbi of his own small town. There, the selection committee of the synagogue turned him down. Eventually he became world famous as the chief rabbi of a much larger city. One day on a speaking tour he spotted a member of the original selection committee in the audience. “I always wondered why you turned me down for that first job,” he prompted.

The man responded honestly. “Rabbi, today you’re a great man, and when people see you, they see a great scholar. But we, who knew you when you were growing up, could see only a small boy in knickers.”

So too with investors. Those investors who befriend you early when your company is very tiny can never really see you as the company you grow to be. Somehow, it is difficult for them to justify the ever higher evaluation of the worth of your stock. Like elderly folk who still find it hard to believe that it costs more than a dollar to get into the movies, they too are, to some extent, always rooted in the past. Thus, as your company progresses, you sometimes have to be prepared to include new partners who are willing to see you in a completely new light. Oftentimes, their more optimistic and up-to-date appraisal of your value is just what is needed to help older investors see the light, as well.

I should mention here one of my favorite investors and one of my most eccentric. Meyer Berman is perhaps the most famous short seller on Wall Street. In this capacity, it is his talent to pick out those companies everyone else thinks are great, but that in fact are in trouble. When the stock collapses, his clients profit. I suppose it’s obvious why it’s sort of a thrill to have this kind of a skeptic as one of our main backers. Meyer usually only makes money on other people’s failures. With us, he believes in our success. As a professional contrarian, none of Meyer’s views are fixed. He is always ready to accept that the company’s growth validates ever higher valuations, and so he is someone we can do business with on an ongoing basis. He is also a true friend.