redacted Last week, The Wall Street Journal published an article titled, “This Shortcut to Private-Equity Riches Is Minting Young Millionaires." The article summarized opportunity in the ETA space as: “Go-getters get backing to buy up HVAC outfits and specialized manufacturers; ‘If they make it back alive, there’s a lot of money to be made.’” The Journal's framing isn't particularly surprising given the general tenor of conversation currently underway in the ETA space. What we find fascinating is how far the narrative has drifted since we acquired our first company inredactedTo us the origins of ETA were always about the opportunity to be a CEO and to actually build something. The path apealled to people who, in the words of long time HBS ETA professor Royce Yudkoff, “want to be their own boss, help build an organization and be part of a community.” For those paying attention, this is not the same thing as looking for a fast path a million dollars. It all begs the question, why are we doing this? It all reminds us of a concept we have been discussing a lot internally called surrogation, a pycological bias where people mistake a metric for the actual goal. The idea features prominently in a new book by Eric Ries called Incorruptible, where he highlights that financial pressure can push companies away from what makes them great in the first place. The problem for ETA is that agency, organization building and community development are all difficult things to measure, especially in the short term. As a proxy, industry participants often subsitute financial outcomes instead. And they are not wrong. The truth is that, yes, buying businesses can create extraordinary wealth. But that's not the point. Buying a business is an obligation to employees, customers, and vendors. It's an opportunity to have a direct impact on other people's lives. It's an opportunity to be a leader in the community. It's about celebrating weddings and babies, and supporting people when things get hard. It's about showing up every day and setting the standard for what right looks like. It's about treating people well even when they least deserve it. It's about building real relationships with customers. It’s about constant challenge and improvement. It's about creating something that matters with people who give a damn. Our view is that people who view ETA as a shortcut to so-called private equity riches are likely to miss the most rewarding parts of the job. Building a great business, and the responsibility that comes with it, can be one of the deepest sources of personal fulfillment, but only if you want to actually do the work. At the end of the day, money is the scoreboard, not the game. Have a great week, Your Chenmark Team Subscribe to Weekly Thoughts Also, we're hiring. redacted