Episode 23: $1.1B RIA / Venture Capital Co-Founder Spencer Kelly of Regatta Capital on Organic Growth | Lessons Learned from Door-to-Door Sales

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Meet Spencer Kelly, co-founder of Regatta Capital. He knows the grind; his early days in door-to-door sales taught him the value of grit, genuine connections, and patience.

For Spencer, it's all about relationships in business. That’s why he made crafting a top-notch brand experience the focus for Regatta Capital right from the start. 

And it paid off. He and his team built a billion-dollar RIA, and today, he’s cracking open their playbook. 

Listen in as he and Stacy discuss: 

• His backstory – From door-to-door sales to co-founding a $1.1B RIA 

• The growing pains that came with crossing the $500 million mark 

• Spencer's strategy for keeping client care and relationships the priority during seasons of rapid growth 

• The magic of growing a team organically 

About Spencer Kelly:

Spencer spent his first years as an advisor door-knocking in Westchester, CA. He met amazing people, gained long-term clients, and is proud to have built his business from scratch.

As Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Head of Advisory Services at Regatta Capital Group, Spencer is focused on running the business, researching investment opportunities and ensuring that every client of Regatta receives the same exceptional, above-and-beyond service that he has provided his clients for so many years.

Spencer married his wife Meghan in 2020. They live a full, active life raising Meghan’s two girls, Leah & Liv, and their son, River. They live in Valley Village and love to spend their time surrounded by friends, traveling, hiking, biking or grabbing dinner at their favorite local restaurants. They share a love for the Dodgers, the LAFC, Palm Springs, ski trips and tennis.

TRANSCRIPT

Below is an AI-generated transcript and therefore it may contain errors.

[00:00:00] To be able to reach out to clients and folks in the community and say, Hey, we're growing, we're hiring. If you know somebody who would fit in with our team, send them our way. And that's made a huge difference. And that is incredibly important. And we're at a point in our business where, you know, we've crossed that billion dollar mark.

We've haven't taken on a penny of debt, not a penny of outside equity. Just about every advisor has started with zero or near it. And we've helped them build their businesses from scratch just as we did. So we haven't bought a. book. We haven't done any of that. And again, that could change. But at this point in time, every client's been organic.

The growth has been organic. And of all the things that I'm proud of, that is definitely at the top of the list. Hey, my name is Stacey Havener. I'm obsessed with startups, stories, and sales. Storytelling has fueled my success as a female founder in the toughest boys club, wall street. I've raised over 8 billion that has led to 30 billion in follow on.

Assets for investment [00:01:00] boutiques, you could say against the odds. Yeah, understatement. I share stories of the people behind the portfolios while teaching you how to use story to shape outcomes. It's real talk here. Money, authenticity, growth, setbacks, sales, and marketing are all topics we discuss. Think of this as the capital raising class you wish you had in college mixed with happy hour.

Pull up a seat, grab your notebook and get ready to be inspired and challenged while you learn. This is the billion dollar backstory podcast.

Whenever someone tells me that part of their career journey involved door to door sales, I literally want to stand and clap. I've never done it, but the idea of it fascinates me. I imagine it takes incredible courage, intentional planning, and a crazy commitment to [00:02:00] nailing your storytelling. Like next level on all of that.

Today's guest is Spencer Kelly, co founder of Regatta Capital, a billion dollar RIA and new venture capital firm. Who's career was heavily influenced by door knocking and sidewalk pulls. Yeah. The lessons he learned and shares with us today are inspiring and insightful. Spencer believes that people do business with people.

Hello, kindred spirit. And Regatta's incredible organic growth is proof positive. Sometimes the difficult things we do when we're young, those first jobs, they influence us for years to come. This is a story about immersing yourself in a community and showing up every day at the door of authenticity. I know I say it and I want to crack up.

See what I did there? Come for the billions. [00:03:00] Stay for the puns and the stories. Let's dive in. Meet my friend, Spencer Kelly. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Billion Dollar Backstory Podcast. I am so thrilled to have my friend, Spencer Kelly, with us in the studio today. And I have to tell a little teeny weeny story before we get started, Spencer, because Spencer and I connected randomly.

And, and in like, I don't know, maybe earlier this year and when we chatted, we realized that we were both in this in San Diego at the same time in the same area, hanging out at the same condo complex that had this really cool pool. So I feel like we've met and have known each other for years, even though we've just only recently reconnected.

So it's really fun to have you here. I know. Crazy. That we were both there at the same time and great to be here. I'm excited to spend some time with you. Well, we always start with my [00:04:00] favorite part and that's your backstory. So I mentioned the San Diego piece, but I want to encourage you, you know, here you are, co founder, you and your team have built a billion dollar RIA, which is no small feat.

And we're going to unpack a lot of that journey, but how did it start? And Did you know that this was always going to be your end destination to be a financial advisor? Like take us through, you know, that backstory. Sure. Absolutely. I am from upstate New York up in the Adirondacks and in school, I always loved numbers, loved math, loved helping people.

So I had that. As the core of who I am. And then I went to Boston college, majored in finance and, but my first job after school, I didn't want to go that corporate finance route. So many friends, so many of other students there went into corporate finance. It just didn't pull me. I didn't want to go do that.

And I took a trip out to San Diego senior [00:05:00] year and it in the winter. January, and it was 75 degrees and beautiful for five days straight. And I said, this is incredible. I got to get the San Diego moved there. And, but my first job was not in finance. I actually worked at an educational. Company called score, which is not around anymore, but similar to like a Kaplan and Sylvan.

And it was such an incredible experience. I learned in the end, run my own business. We got the opportunity to open our own educational centers and get out there into the community and frankly, hustle and a lot of grassroots marketing. And we had such an incredible time. There was there for three years and then I knew I was ready to make a transition.

And, but I didn't know, I had interned at Merrill Lynch in college, I had this love for helping people, I was always someone who was organized, made my list, loved numbers, but I didn't know exactly what I wanted the next step to be, I took a big step back [00:06:00] and read it. What color is my parachute, which is a classic.

I like read that word for word, did every exercise. And for about a month, I just kind of studied red. And I remember one day I was at the library, 25, reading about different careers. And I circled financial planner and I said, this is what I want to do. And then I didn't do it. I wanted to go live in New York City and I took a different job, not in finance, lived in New York for six months and realized that I missed California, wanted to come back to the West Coast.

And it took me a moment. I still didn't make that. I started to interview with Ameriprise Financial, look back at Merrill Lynch again. And then I met an advisor who was working at Edward Jones and I had this great interaction, this great conversation with him, and he was such a nice guy, loved what he was doing.

And I hadn't heard of Edward Jones. I reached [00:07:00] out, had an interview, and long story short, that was the path. I said, this is it. This is what I want to do. This is where I want to work. And honestly, that, that, that year prior to me. Making the decision to start with Edward Jones was easily one of the hardest years of my life.

Yeah. 'cause I, I truly did not know the exact path I wanted to take. And then when I started with Edward Jones, that was December, 2003. Oh my God, that's 20 years ago. 20 years ago. Yep. This December I'll Wow. Be 20 years as a financial advisor. And it was, it was incredible. But there's a funny story that I'll add to that.

So, oh yeah. What is it? Six months in? Mm-Hmm. . So at Edward Jones, you have to train past the seven, I think 63, 65, and then you get to start, you're actually getting clients. And then through happenstance, I had the opportunity to go on the amazing race. Are you serious? Yeah. What? Yeah. [00:08:00] I should technically, I got kind of put into the very last bucket of people and they really wanted us.

And I. I don't know. I mean, maybe I could have done it. I don't know. But I said no, because I was so clear. On what I wanted my career and life to look like at that point and the prior year leading up to it was so challenging for me that I said no and started my business. I mean, that's a great story.

That's crazy. In so many ways, you'd kind of been living your own amazing race, like going to New York and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. Like, I've kind of already done that. I don't need to relive it. That's wild. Yeah. So. The person that you met at Edward Jones, can I pull that thread?

Is that the same person that you ended up co founding Regatta with? No, he was an advisor. He was in San Diego [00:09:00] at the time. And but then I moved to Los Angeles and started with Edward Jones, which is an incredible firm. Absolutely loved it. There and I can go into a little bit of what those first years were like.

Yeah, I want to talk about that because, you know, I'm slightly obsessed with door to door. Okay, so we're going to get there. So, I mean, welcome to for a lot of folks, early 20s. It's not uncommon. I knew my interest. I was very clear in the things that I was good at, but I didn't know exactly what path it was going to bring me down.

Certainly had an interest in finance and loved working with people. And it, and it finally led to that perfect job. Yeah. Okay. So. Let's go into Edward Jones a little bit in terms of what that all looks like, but I have a question because I remember some of these businesses in San Diego and I was there.

Did you also do door to door at score? No, but you know what we did and they called it. The name of it at the company was a sidewalk pole. So what was that? If I'm remembering that correctly, I believe that what it was called. We had these educational centers on the ground floor of retail shopping centers.

Okay. [00:10:00] Okay. So when it was quiet or before students were there in the afternoon, they wanted us to, when people were walking by the business to go out, chase them down and introduce ourselves, introduce the business. Hi, I'm Spencer and I see you're walking, walking by and have you ever looked into additional educational opportunities for your kids?

There's this great business right here called score and we do incredible things. So. It was like real grassroots. It wasn't door knocking, but it was pretty equivalent, but very similar. Okay. So, and, and I've shared this with you every time we talk, I'm like, I'm really fascinated by door to door sales and it's, it makes no sense.

I mean, here I am here. I sit 46 years old. Like, I, I'm probably not ever going to get a chance to do door to door sales, but I just think it's so cool. Thank you. Difficult. It just looks so hard. And I'm like, how do you do it? I mean, the sidewalk pole, baby step towards [00:11:00] it. But I mean, this, so Edward Jones, tell me, are you literally like, how did this go down?

Like, did you pick a neighborhood and like, how does this work? Yeah, exactly. When you start there, they want you to pick a neighborhood and they help you pick a neighborhood. And then they want you to quite literally meet everybody. in that neighborhood. So I ended up picking Westchester, uh, just north of LAX and in Los Angeles.

And you just start from scratch and you get a map out of the neighborhood and you go door to door. And I kid you not probably two to three years. I

probably knocked on every door. Three to five times and probably 500 businesses and businesses to go into businesses. Hi. I run a business here in town. My name is Spencer. I'm a financial advisor. I just wanted to come by and introduce myself. What experience do you have working with a financial advisor or, Hey, I just wanted to drop off a good investment idea for you.

[00:12:00] And in case you're interested, and it was conversations like that, but to your point, it's incredibly inefficient, but when you make a connection, that relationship can accelerate very quickly into a wonderful client where it might take. If you're trying to cold call somebody, it's hard to make that connection over the phone.

But if you're there face to face and looking somebody in the eye, I mean, when you connect, when there's interest, the sales process can move much quicker. But overall, it's inefficient stuff. But, you know, it's not even the inefficient. I mean, it is when you say that I'm like, you know, I wasn't even thinking about the inefficiency of literally going door to door.

But the confidence. that you have to have and the storytelling that you need to practice. I mean, talk about needing to be good at your quote pitch. Like if you're going to go door to door, you got to get that down because I would imagine you don't have much time. Every [00:13:00] detail, every little detail from exactly where I stood and the angle that I stood at.

I wanted to make sure that I was stepped back from the door and at an angle. And then I, yeah, you're just starting out very softly and slowly because I mean, you're knocking on someone's house, you're knocking at their door and you have to be respectful of that. And I get asked often, what were the numbers like?

And so my answer has always been it for every 50 doors that I knocked on, maybe 25 were home. Out of those 25, maybe two or three were just appalled that I was at their doorstep trying to talk about finances. Maybe two or three were like, wow, we were just talking about how we need to fund our IRA or we need to roll over an old 401k.

Tell me more. And most were probably that like you and me were like, okay, great. Nice to meet you. Good luck out there. You know, go get them pretty nice, but [00:14:00] just keeping the conversation short, but then I would. Stop by again in a month or two, like, Oh, here he is again. And, uh, but it would just continue to be positive, be nice, be respectful.

And if someone didn't really want me there at all, of course I would never go back. Cause you're building a brand in that community. So it was not just door knocking, residential homes and businesses, but it was, I YMCA.

So I was hustling in every way imaginable going to every single chamber event, and I had another quick story that I just am so I love retelling is that when I, when I first started there in Westchester, I met this older gentleman. I was probably, like I said, 26, 27. He was maybe 85. and still practicing as an estate planner is such a nice guy.

And I ended up meeting these four gentlemen. One was huge into real estate. One was insurance. [00:15:00] One was sort of a financial advisor and one was just a state planning attorney, all in their eighties, all practicing, all incredibly positive people. And they took me under their wing and said, you got to meet this person.

Come over here to this meeting, join me at Rotary, get involved. And it. Made such a difference in my early career to have these mentors believing in me and as I was getting involved in that community, it was really special.

That's such a wonderful story. It makes me think about like, if I put myself in your shoes and now knowing a little bit about where you sit here, the co founder of this billion dollar R. I. A. Gosh, it feels like there's so many lessons that you could have pulled from this experience. I mean, so talk about that.

Like when you look back, what things did you carry forward with you? You mentioned face to face. Did that end up becoming? Because I agree with you like, That is different when you meet. So the difference between [00:16:00] a cold call and a cold like door knocking kind of situation is your face to face. Yeah, that's got real power, real power and face to face at their door face to face at the business face to face at at the community event.

And you start start to really build a brand. And I learned that very quickly. And I've I've always been a huge believer and Advocate for really thinking consciously about your brand. And especially for me early there in my career, it meant everything. And one of my definitions of what your brand is, is what do people say behind your back?

I agree with that. I say that too. When Stacy leaves the room, what does someone say when I hop off? This podcast and I go talk to my team about how it went. What do I say? What do I say about the podcast? What do I say about Stacey? That is your brand. And I've always consciously thought about that with every interaction that I've had is that when they go home and talk to their neighbor about the new financial advisor that they're working with, what are the [00:17:00] first words out of their mouth?

That's your brand. Yeah, I love that. I want to stay with that, actually, because Our clients are typically on the other side, right? Fund managers, but they're still in this business that is so esoteric and so intellectual. And this whole idea of like your personal brand and authenticity is really uncomfortable for them as it is for a lot of people on our business.

And you've just like given a masterclass in one statement about what your personal brand is and how powerful it can be. So have you found now as a founder, Of a company that that's still you mentioned. It's still the thing. Like, how is that journey for you? And do you feel like when your clients meet you, that's still happening like that?

That's a big reason of why they choose you. 100%. I strongly believe that. And it's the brand is now regatta capital group. And what do people say about the firm? And maybe we could spend more time on this later, but built a team where I want every [00:18:00] single person to reflect the brand. Obviously, on a day in day out basis where no matter who a client interacts with, they walk away from that interaction with a really positive feeling that, gosh, that person is nice.

They care about me. They're smart. They're working hard. They're responsive. You know, those sorts of answers are the things that I want. Every client, every single person who interacts with. Each team member individually and the firm as a whole to think and feel after they've had that interaction and it's been crucial to building the culture that we have at the firm and I mean, one of the I hand new folks at the firm a bunch of books when they first start, but one of them is the culture code, which is an incredible book and it reiterates, you know, this sort of point where just the importance of your brand of your culture to what you're building So definitely door knocking, being face to face organically, just immersing myself in that Westchester community initially in my career taught me a lot about brand building [00:19:00] and the importance of just consistent interactions with folks in every aspect of my day.

So it was, it's an incredible way to start my career and I absolutely loved being there. I think, you know, frankly, I probably. There's a scenario where I could have stayed at Edward jones, but at the time they did not allow us to work in a team. So you have to, and I don't, that might still be the case. I'm not positive, but you had to be an individual advisor and build your team around the individual advisor.

And I met and you're assigned a mentor there initially. And the mentor that I was assigned to is now my business partner, Russell Moberg. He was a few years ahead of me in his career as an advisor and at jones and just an incredibly smart, thoughtful guy. Thank you. And he brought me under his wing initially, and then we just built a really wonderful relationship in our early years of Jones.

I mean, I ended up only being there for four and a half years, which is not really a long time. And it was hard for me to wrap my head around the idea of moving [00:20:00] and leaving. But I did have strong conviction that I wanted to build this team with Russell. We wanted to be completely independent. We wanted to be fiduciaries.

And Edward jones has evolved on this front as well. But at the time it was a commission environment and there were products we could use and could not use. And I wanted to work in a completely open architecture where we could truly look at any and all investment opportunities and we could really build portfolios with full discretion and And we started to brainstorm what it would look like to leave and set up our own business, set up an R.

A. A. And it was daunting. I was still young and new and had significant concerns around what it would look like to. Ask clients to move and come with me and to also change their billing structure was a significant part of that. And so a lot of apprehension, but we shared those common values and what we wanted the future to look like for our businesses.

And it motivated us to go down the path of setting up regatta capital [00:21:00] group and making that change. And we haven't looked back. Yeah. So let's transition to that a little bit. Because now, I mean, in many ways, in all your career endeavors, you had a bit of an entrepreneurial bent going on even that very first job.

Yeah, even that very first job. But now this is like real deal. Like now you're a co founder, like you're basically hanging a shingle your own thing. And so now how do you build right? And did you go door to door again? Or like, what was your plan of how you were going to get clients? Exactly. And you're, you're spot on in terms of where our head was at.

First, it was letting each client know where we had ended up in the firm that we had set up. We weren't allowed to solicit, but we were allowed to inform clients where we were and we had a list of the clients that we wanted to come with us. And not all did, but a good majority did. And it gave us the footing to start the firm.

But We, and we staggered the start, so Russell left first in late 2007, and then I left a few months later in [00:22:00] early 2008. And as you know, the following year is when the financial world literally fell apart and a year into the business, we had 35 million. In assets that we were managing, and we were making less than the one employee that we had, and it was a really challenging start, truly.

But to answer your question specifically about how we went about building our business is, there was no way I was going to doorknock again. I was good at it. I enjoyed it, but that ship had sailed. It helped me start my career and I, and I am so proud that I built my business that way. And we host a lot of, uh, client events.

And oftentimes at these client events, I'll, I'll give a little toast and, and I'll say, who did I meet in this room door knock and a bunch of clients will raise their hand and they're so proud. That they met me door knocking and it's funny how that's come around [00:23:00] and I am just equally as proud that I met them while door knocking and but I knew I was like, I can't do that again, but I did something.

I don't know, maybe somewhat similar. I, in a sense, I, I took a map out and basically drew a four mile, I don't know, five mile radius around the new office that we had moved to pretty close to Westchester, just on the south side of L. A. X. And I said, I'm gonna go meet. Yeah. Every CPA that I pulled out Google Maps punched in CPAs and then made a list of, I don't know, 40 CPA practices because we were now in the El Segundo Manhattan Beach community right near Westchester, but technically a new community and in terms of where our office was located.

And I picked up the phone, started calling. Each CPA practice. Hi, I'm Spencer Kelly. We have a firm here in town. We've got a capital group. I'd love to come by, learn about your practice, introduce ourselves and I would email. And if I was in the mood, I would door knock and just kind of, Hey, stop by the CPA's office.

And I'm in the neighborhood and we have a financial advisory practice down the [00:24:00] street would love to say hello or and so in a sense that there was some similarity there in terms of, you know, we had our core clients are these wonderful clients that followed us and believed in us and setting up our own firm.

But we still had to build our practice. So it was got involved in the chamber again. And met some key business leaders in the community. We organically started our own little, uh, networking business leaders group, which was incredible. And, and then the business grew from client referrals, CPAs, and other key folks in the community who, who got to know us and started to refer us business.

And we've grown organically since then.

So that's fascinating. I love how the playbook came back with some twists. One of the things I love about having, I mean, I love the stories. I just think they're so fabulous because everyone has a story. It's so great to hear yours. And then I also want people to walk away with ideas. And so you're giving like, you're giving me a [00:25:00] lot of ideas.

If I put myself in the shoes of either a fund manager or a wealth advisor, I'm just. Like what maybe I could do talk to me about, you said you started your own little business networking group. Like, what was that talk about that? That sounds super interesting. It was, you've probably heard of provisors. I believe it is.

And again, maybe this is a little bit of the entrepreneurial side of me. I didn't want to be put into a group where I didn't know everybody. And that can be an incredible way to network. Don't get me wrong. I took that concept of provisors and said, I want to build my own group of 10 incredible people in the community, call it and get to know them really well.

So we had one of a gentleman who, who runs an incredible nonprofit, a banker, estate planner, person who focused on insurance, et cetera. We built this, this wonderful community and team, and we would meet. Monthly have breakfast support each other's businesses, learn about each other's businesses. And that was fun.

It was worthwhile [00:26:00] and an incredible little business building practice. It's a great idea. It's a collaboration. And I think that. Concept of collaborating is also something that's really difficult for people in our business to embrace because it's so cutthroat and it seems like everybody is a competitor is like the opposite of like innocent until proven guilty.

It's like, it should be like collaborator until proven not to be a collaborator. And instead you just go, the mindset is like, you go in and everyone is a competitor. And that feels so broken to me because if you do it right, you're all doing something different. Not who's better or worse. Who's what's different.

Yeah. In terms of those professionals and that team that we had there. And you have, again, there needs to be trust built early in who the character of each individual and the work they do professionally. And once that trust is built, it's an incredible way to network. And it was great. So we We're down to 35 million, [00:27:00] but we had our head down.

We were caring deeply for our clients. We were getting them through the financial crisis with a lot of time, a lot of planning, good investment management. And we rounded the corner and started to grow, and it has been a nice steady growth since then, which has been wonderful. What are the milestones? Just so somebody could say, okay, if I think about Spencer's journey, so you started in, let's call it 08 at 35.

Started Regatta Capital Group. Yep. Yep. Okay. So 35 million. And then how did it go? Like, what were the big milestones if you know them? Because here you are. So 2023, you crossed a billion, right? So there's I should know the exact dates of when we crossed ballpark at 100 million and that sort of thing. But I view the turning points in the milestones a little bit.

I'm certainly I can get those numbers to you and when we cross them, but A massive turning point, for example, for me was we were growing the business, getting new clients, and then at some point I looked at Russell and I said, I can't do this anymore. What? Whoa. I can't grow the business anymore. I could [00:28:00] be okay.

I mean, okay. To be clear, I can't take on another client. Oh, you were tapping out on your client? I was tapping out because I was exhausted. I was, was drained, and I looked at him. I said, what do we do? I either. You know, there's these, all the books out there tell you to get rid of the bottom 20 percent of your book.

But if you, and this is where the backstory matters, I met a lot of these clients door knocking and truly authentic ways. And I had these really have these really close relationships with my clients. I just, I'm not the type of person who's going to go nice knowing you. I'm not going to work with you anymore.

And every consultant tells you to do that, but I, it's just not who I am. And I said, okay, we're going to have to put in, you know, some big minimum or. Just not take clients for a while, or you build a team. And that was a huge transition point to embrace what that would look like. And I think we were four people at the time and.

And I said, and Russell and I said, all right, let's do this. Let's build a team. Let's build something with a little [00:29:00] bit more scale and let's see where it takes us. So in the very beginning, you were asking, did I have this vision of a billion dollar advisory practice? The answer is absolutely not. I had a vision of, I don't know, maybe 200 million, a hundred million for each of us and in just a great business.

But I was maybe early thirties, 35 and I was like, what am I supposed to do here? Never take another client for my career. I don't know. It just didn't resonate with me. And I, I said, if we can build something here special and help other advisors, other folks have incredible careers and find the right people, which is challenging, let's see what can happen.

And the billion dollar mark. It kind of almost snuck up on us and that, honestly, I mean, all of a sudden we're crossing 500 million and this is also just how numbers work, but I, the 500 million to a billion was relatively speaking, felt quick. It was still probably four years, but we were growing at 25 percent per year in a um, and that was a combination [00:30:00] of growing our clients accounts, you know, managing money.

Well, and bringing in new business and it helped us accelerate and hit that billion dollar mark, but it was a lot of work. And now we're an 18 person firm with eight advisors, and we have an incredible team, but it's been, you know, there's a lot there in the middle that we can unpack, but it's a messy middle.

The messy middle. I mean, so I think that you kind of got there without doing the milestones, the way that I was envisioning them. And I love that because what you hit on, the 500 million mark for many advisors is really tough to cross. Because in order to cross it, it's not just that you need a different infrastructure and systems and a team.

It's also a mindset thing. It's a mindset shift because when you got to the point where you were like, I'm tapped out, like I can't take any more clients. You're still thinking of yourself as the doer. You're the founder, you're the owner of the business and you're the doer as well. And you had to shift to be like, well, [00:31:00] do I have to be the only.

Doer. Like, is it just the two of us? And that's it. In order to grow, you have to change that mindset completely. Definitely. Are you familiar with the book? Uh, rich dad, poor dad. Yes. Great book. He also wrote a book. I think it was called the four quadrants and it's exactly what you're speaking about, which is you're an employee.

And then you're self employed and basically I was self employed yourself. Employed if you step away from the business, the business stops functioning, and then the transition from being self employed to being a business owner is a big one to take a lot of time. But you build a team where you can, a business owner can, in a sense, step away from the business, you know, for some amount of time and the business will continue to operate.

Not forever, obviously. But. Yeah. Absolutely. That was a good visual for me as we made that transition into building a team. Yeah. I love that. So now that we've unpacked your journey, if I was a founder trying to build a business, whether it be a financial advisory practice or, you know, [00:32:00] so many of the lessons translate over to the fund business, what advice would you give them?

And I told, in full disclosure, so everyone knows when we were prepping in the green room, I was like, you can't give me the chicken soup for the soul. I mean, I'm all about the chicken soup for the soul vibes, but I want like, you've lived a very interesting path. And I really want the advice that if you were like, if I was going to give somebody advice on how to do it, here it is.

There's a quote that I love. I think it's Warren Buffett, but people tend to greatly overestimate what they can accomplish in two years and greatly underestimate what they can accomplish in 10. And I live by that. And I love that because it keeps me focused on the vision. It's the combination of having a clear vision of what you're building and what you want the future to look like.

And combining that with. very tangible. You've heard of the Ackerman smart goals, and that is key. I've always been a big believer in setting very specific [00:33:00] goals and working towards accomplishing those goals. And that's been a huge part of the successes. All right. How many folks are we gonna reach out to?

How many CPA meetings are we going to have? How many seminars are we going to host? How many networking events are we going to go to? And that's been a huge part in terms of the goals that we each have in front of us on a monthly annual basis. That's been hugely important to me, combining that with staying focused on that, that big picture and what we can accomplish in the longterm.

I love that. And it's so you. Based on this conversation, because going door to door and getting the map and plotting it out and how many doors am I knocking on and doing the math and all that stuff, you reverse engineered that success and that's crucial. Yeah, starting with the vision, though, it has to start with what you want your future to look like and then backing into what do you do today?

Yeah, what's the action around that? And what are the measurables [00:34:00] that tell you that increase your likelihood of achieving the success that you're working towards? Yeah, that's great advice. He nailed that. That's so good. Absolutely. And I think also, you know, it's interesting as we've built our practice and the folks on the team now we have this wonderful team.

I mean, it's everybody's smart, they're kind, they work hard, they're committed to this career. And I think almost everybody on the team we have just about connected with organically. And yeah, I don't think we've used recruiters here and there, but not to a lot of success. And it's been important to be involved and be open to meeting new people.

And it's led us to the team that we've built. The first advisor we brought on, Nick, I met through his parents, who are dentists locally. And I was getting my teeth cleaned and talking to the hygienist about that exact moment in my career, right, where I said, We need to grow, we need help. And she said, as a matter of fact, you know, my boss's son is [00:35:00] in the business.

And I said, I'd love to meet him. And we met Nick and connected and asked him to join the team, which has been a huge decision in terms of the future success of our firm. And just about everybody on the team has come to us through our network connections, and it's really led to that incredible culture.

So I think that as you build a business, it's and that, listen, that can't be, you know, if we try to double the size of our firm from this point forward, that will be challenging. But in terms of getting to this mark that we're at now, to be able to reach out to clients and folks in the community and say, hey, we're growing, we're hiring.

If you know somebody who would fit in with our team, send them our way, and that's made a huge difference. And. That is incredibly important. And we're at a point in our business where, you know, we've crossed that billion dollar mark. We haven't taken on a penny of debt, not a penny of outside equity. Just about every advisor has started with zero or near it.

And we've helped them build their businesses from scratch just as we did. So we haven't bought a Book. We haven't [00:36:00] done any of that. And again, that could change. But at this point in time, every client's been organic. The growth has been organic. And of all the things that I'm proud of, that is definitely at the top of the list.

Oh my gosh. I love that. That is such a perfect place to transition to my next part because that was everything about people doing business with people. Whether that's your clients or your colleagues, it's so true, and clearly you live that mantra. So that is amazing, Spencer. The last part of the episode, I like to do something.

The Proust questionnaire is an age old thing that's designed to let people get to know you through certain questions. This is my version of it. So we're going to start. With an easy one. They're not rapid fire, but they're just kind of like I'm just gonna throw it throw out some questions to you Okay, the first one is What book inspires you?

That's not fair. I have about 20. [00:37:00] I know Sorry today what book is inspiring you today? Yeah It's funny. I recently I found myself loving to hear firsthand stories. Yeah, I love that too. Obviously it wasn't always the case in my twenties. It was all about self help books and how to win friends and influence people.

The power of positive thinking. I mean, I devoured those books and every book like it. And then I found myself in my as my business grew and in my thirties focusing on maybe business building books like good to great, which is an incredible book. And recently it's been autobiographies in hearing on it.

You know, a bit of what you're doing here with the conversations that you're having. I just love it. Like some recent ones. I loved it. I have a long commute. So I'm usually on audible listening to my books, but Matthew McConaughey's autobiography, I found fascinating Bob Iger's story of his time at Disney prior to now he's back.

But those books I just found fascinating to listen to. So I'm definitely in a [00:38:00] stretch of my, of my listening and reading that is focused a little bit more on autobiographies and hearing people's stories. Love that. So we're here for all the recommendations from our listeners about autobiographies or biographies that you love because I'm in that camp too.

So we'll take it off. Okay. So transitioning from that, what place inspires you? What's your happy place? Nature is certainly the top of the list. I grew up in the Adirondacks outside hiking. So bring me to the mountains. Let me go skiing. Let me go for a hike. And I'm happy. I also love travel and the idea of being.

Kind of landing in a new city and just finding out what it's all about is an absolute happy place for me. And then, of course, doing those things and spending time with family and friends and for everybody, of course, is immensely important. I love that, especially having been to the Adirondacks. I can only imagine that if you grew up there, it's like in your DNA that you have to be in the.

Mountains outside. That's beautiful. [00:39:00] Okay, loud. This is a little bit different one. So now you're totally a rock star as is, but let's pretend that you're going to a stadium of all these adoring fans. All people. Maybe you've knocked on. They're all people. You've met door knocking and then some and they're all here celebrating you.

What song Cheers. Very good. Are they going to play as you take the stage? What's your walkout anthem? Well, I love Tom Petty. There are a few Tom Petty songs that stick out running down a dream. Ooh, what a great choice. I won't back down. Yes. I don't know. Maybe, maybe one of those. Perfect. So, so good. Okay.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? I think if there had been another profession. I'll start there. Being a teacher. It was very close to what I was doing in that first job. I get so excited about teaching and helping folks and coaching. So [00:40:00] that could have been a path that I would have went down.

An answer that is actually unfolding in real life is a venture capitalist. So we have started a second firm called regatta ventures, and we've started very small with a 10 million fund. But we Are now in the venture capital business and absolutely loving it. And it's been an incredible path and a new challenge for us, but it's brought on some incredible investment opportunities and a ton of education.

So, you know, as I think about the next 10, 20 years of my career, I will always be an advisor and dedicated to my clients. But right next to that, I see us really building an incredible venture capital business. I love how fun is that? We'll have to have you on the podcast again. So you can talk more about that.

That's so cool. Okay. Flip side. What profession would you not like to do? I don't think I have a great answer would have to be a profession where I'm silent in a little room and can't interact with anybody. And I get my energy from other folks. So a coder, maybe [00:41:00] just like headphones, no interaction, just banging keys.

Yeah, no, that's not going to be incredibly important to everything right now. But I don't it's not for me. Yeah. Great answer. Okay. So now, last one, what do you want people to say about you after you've retired or left the industry? He cared. He cared. He cared about his clients. He cared about the people around him, his team, and it showed in every interaction.

And that basically sums it up. I might just, you know, every interaction I, I try my best. I'm not perfect to be there, to be authentic, to care. To look people in the eye and to listen and, uh, it would be wonderful if people said that about me after I retired, which I don't see happening. By the way, there's no plan ever.

Oh, to retire. I was like, you don't think they're going to say you cared. I'm going to say right now. Oh, sorry. No, to retire. I don't think that'll happen. I'll be 1 of those 85 year old mentors that I mentioned. I'll be working hopefully into my 80s as long as [00:42:00] this brain Functioning. I love that. And you know what's great about caring?

It doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, it's better when it's not. And I love everything you've shared with us today. It's been so inspiring from the beginnings and the door knocking to building this billion dollar program business to launching a venture capital arm. I mean, you're really doing cool things and it's super clear to me and I'm sure everyone who's listening that you care.

So thank you for being here. If people want to follow along on the journey, how do they do that? Like, how do they keep up with Spencer and the team at regatta? Well, we have our incredible websites regatta capital group and regatta ventures and and a Early path and social media on Instagram, but we need to improve that a little bit, but certainly right on the website on Instagram and, uh, or just reach out, give us a call, say hello.

I love to interact with folks who are motivated and excited about what they're accomplishing and [00:43:00] focused on. And, and so we're here, you know, very accessible. Awesome. Thank you, Stacey. Very enjoyable. I appreciate it.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. The information is not an offer, solicitation or recommendation of any of the funds, services or products or to adopt any investment strategy. Investment values may fluctuate and past performance is not a guide to future performance.

All opinions expressed by guests on the show are solely their own opinion and do not necessarily reflect those at their firm. Manager's appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement by Stacey Havener or Havener Capital Partners.

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