Eucatastrophe! The "sudden happy turn" of starting HIGHTOWER

“I coined the word 'eucatastrophe': the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears” ~ JRR Tolkien

When I consider the path that led to starting HIGHTOWER, the word Eucatastrophe is what comes to mind.

A “sudden happy turn” towards work that feels like play to me. Building something that is confoundedly in line with my true self.

I can not think of anything I’d want more for you in your work.

Spoiler alert, I am pretty sure it only comes after pain and surrender!

Tolkien says as much in further explaining Eucatastrophe, in that it: “Does not deny the existence of …sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance.”

And oh, has there been a healthy dose of that sorrow and failure stuff. Just ask the gracious and long suffering beauty that is Tyler Hightower .

Still, it is beyond clear that it has been the existence of sorrow and failure and the possibility of both going forward that causes the deliverance of HIGHTOWER to pierce me with a joy that brings tears.

I hope this story of its founding is an encouragement to you and ultimately a reminder that eucatastrophe is real and could just as suddenly be around your corner.

What is HIGHTOWER?

HIGHTOWER is an advocate for Founders and Investors.?

We raise aligned capital for select “Founder” clients who include general partners, fund managers, entrepreneurs, and non-profit leaders.?

We source aligned deals for select “Investor” clients who include fund managers, family offices, foundations, and high net worth individuals.

Our clients are ridiculously reputable and have a desire to work out of their true identity.

Put another way, our clients are clear on who they are.

As a result, they are clear on why they are uniquely the one to build what they are building or invest the way they are investing.

To be sure, this is an odd distinction among firms who may do similar work.

It’s a distinction that is a result of HIGHTOWER being downstream of my true identity and an excellent filter for who we are uniquely met to serve.

Without Vision, We Perish

“Trevor, how clear is your vision?” Jeremie asked me.

It was a question that hit hard. Luckily for me, I gave an honest answer.

Telling the truth is a prerequisite to getting the help that we need.

“I don’t have a vision right now. It’s hard for me to even see two feet in front of me", I replied.

Jeremie smiled. His question was of the rhetorical kind. The kind intended to help me see what he already knew. He kindly followed by saying:

“You are asking potential employers what their vision is for your life. You need to first become clear on your vision and then bring that to any job opportunity you’re considering.”

Ouch. That hurt so good. So began an inconsistent and imperfect prayer for vision that would seem unanswered for months.

I was in a “career transition”. That’s the LinkedIn approved way of saying I was in constant existential dread.

Dreading what exactly? Well, about everything you can imagine. The bigger the idol you have, the more painful it is to surrender.

I dreaded what my friends would think. I was fearful about my perception in the marketplace. I was terrified that no clear job path would destroy my aforementioned sweet (but strong!) wife whose top emotional need is security. I saw my kids future counseling sessions where they would talk about the time their Dad had a “career transition”.

In this season, I was a happy warrior by day. At night I would catastrophize with the best of them. Usually ending at the only logical outcome of me living in a van down by the river.

I had two maybe three job opportunities that were real. I had convinced myself that any one of them would be my rescue. Literally all of my problems solved with one simple offer letter.

You see, when there is no vision, you tend to perish.

Then something funny happened, but let me be clear… I did not initially see or make any connection to what was really going on.

An incredibly talented and visionary founder asked for my help.

He needed help to clarify his story, build an investor deck that was in line with product market fit, and define a bespoke strategy to raise aligned capital. Ultimately he needed help executing on that strategy.

He was beyond visionary and that didn’t scare me for a second. I saw his vision, affirmed it, help him clarify his story as well as the story of what he was building, and then helped him see how he could get there in a phased approach that could be conservatively underwritten.

I loved every minute of this work, but placed it in the bucket of “consulting” that would help me extend my runway until I landed a “real job.”

Then a second and then a third founder came to me. Different products. Same attributes and request. I did the same kind of work for them.

I helped them gain clarity. I believed in them and for them. I advocated for each. It was very natural and easy for me to connect each to my trusted network of investors. It was work that felt like play to me.

Still, I had no inclination that it could or would ever become what I would do full time. In spite of Jeremie’s admonition, my hope was still set on someone else’s vision for me.

The Sudden Turn

I received an email from one of the real jobs I was pursuing. You would’ve read it as a very pleasant email. Complimentary, positive, and upbeat.

I read it, and it was death. Amongst the positive elements, there was a line that indicated it was going to be a longer process. My heart sank. For some reason this triggered the bottom of the abyss for me.

In this dark night of the soul, I was convinced the end of my downward spiral thinking was going to be my ultimate outcome. Van down by the river, here I come.

And that’s when eucatastrophe came.

A fourth founder called me the next day. Guess what he wanted me to help with? He and his brilliant team were starting a fund and needed help to tell its story and help raise capital from aligned investors. He needed a unique advocation and called out why he wanted it to be me. It was then (finally!) I was struck with the vision I had been praying for.

It only took four lightning bolts to strike the same place to finally see it.

I was like Jiro looking for a job at an investment bank or consulting firm and people kept coming to him asking him to make sushi.

Jiro was made to make sushi. I was made to encourage and advocate for founders and investors who know who they are.

I called Brent Beshore to share my vision. Brent is a close advisor and?closer friend. It took him all of 15 minutes (no exaggeration) to hear my vision and then pull his Yoda-like magic. He improved my business model, better aligned its incentives, and expanded my vision in about as much time as it takes mere mortals to brush their teeth. Brent ended our call by pulling a Justin Timberlake (as Sean Parker) in the movie Social Network by giving me the name of the firm. "Just call it HIGHTOWER” he said. "It's who you are and it's a picture of what you do".

Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about having friends like Brent. Friends who see and tell you the truth you won’t believe for yourself. Dietrich says we need this type of friend again and again when we become “uncertain and discouraged” …for by ourselves we cannot help ourselves “without belying the truth.”

Brent and Austin Adams have been that kind of friend to me. I pray you have or find a friend like that for you.

Working from True Identity

At this year’s Capital Camp, Trevor Brock spoke about his two friends who are surgeons. Trevor described that while each were excellent at their vocation, they each worked out of a different identity. One of his friends is a Problem Solver. Bedside manner is not his top priority. He fixes things. Makes things better. For his staff, for his fellow surgeons, and for the patients he helps. His other friend is an Encouraging Healer. He encourages the staff he works with, the other surgeons he operates with, and of course the patients he helps heal. Both beyond competent at their jobs. Both their best version of a surgeon because they are working out of their true (and different) identities. Their vocation downstream from their identity.

I knew the pain of building and working out of a false identity. I was experiencing the real rescue of working out of my true identity. I had real insight about how to go from the former to the latter.

While I never explicitly mentioned it to my initial clients...I was helping them do the same.

I am an Encouraging Leader, a Passionate Communicator, and?an Authentic Connector.

When I look back through my story, the best parts of my work at school, on any football team, in the military, or in my real estate career flowed from this identity.

With vision and clarity of my true identity, the distinctiveness of HIGHTOWER became clear.

• Build into and help founders and investors know their true identity. Help them see and clarify their true vision. Help them bring this vision in line with product/market fit. Encourage so reality meets vision (Encouraging Leader).
• Help founders and investors clarify and communicate their story in the most authentic and powerful way that attracts the right people and detracts the wrong people. Tell this story to my growing trusted network (Passionate Communicator).
• Help founders and investors connect to aligned stakeholders that can make their vision a reality. Do this in a way that “listens out” as a prerequisite so that both sides feel understood and valued in the connection. Authentically connect investors and founders in way that compounds trust (Authentic Connector).

This naturally leads to a distinct approach in how we source aligned deals for Investor clients and source aligned capital for Founder clients.

In this particular narrow array of work, I literally have no competition and it’s clear who HIGHTOWER is meant for and who is meant for HIGHTOWER.

This has miraculously led to an array of initial clients.

Who We’re Advocating For

Part of the miracle of HIGHTOWER is starting with the quality and quantity of clients that we have. As we launch, we have six clients.

My truth-telling friend Brent is quick to remind me that this is not how one normally starts a business.

I, of course agree, with him.

This reality only creates more gratitude as we moved uniquely advocate for each. To give some more color of the miracle, I thought it appropriate to share a little about a few of them here.

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Michael Kennedy // Giovanni Bonelli Group

What sets Michael apart is an unusual care for others. This has been the generative force behind his incredible success as a sommelier, in hospitality, and in winemaking. As a beautiful (and logical) agglomeration of his passion and competencies Michael’s life’s work is to convert under stewarded vineyard estates into world class destinations of wine production and unreasonable hospitality. First in Tuscany, then in Bordeaux, then around the world. The model is exciting and repeatable. Buy value add vineyard estates in wine country next to rural villages. Renovate historical property to hotels and land to top tier wine production. Enhance and bring to life through bespoke personalized hospitality. He and his team have had experience and success in projects in Tuscany to date and Giovanni Bonelli Group was created to execute the model at scale through a fund structure. It’s an investment with the tailwind of experiential hospitality and arbitrage value in the European wine country combined with an unwavering commitment to guest experience by a visionary leader and excellent team I believe in. Not to mention the due diligence trips are hard to beat. Michael is an Unreasonable Hospitality Giver and a Transformative Experience Creator. It’s why he is uniquely made to be the founder of Giovanni Bonnelli Group and why he and his team have the best possibility of creating a differentiated experience for his guests and excellent risk adjusted returns for his investors.

Zachary Levi // Wyldwood

I get street cred from my daughters because Zachary was Flynn Rider in Disney's Tangled. He’s known for his role in Chuck the TV series and a major breakthrough of his was being the lead in the blockbuster Shazam. This said, being an actor is just one of Zachary‘s vocations that flow from his true identity. Zachary has always been a Visionary Problem Solver. Given his context and experience, he has long held a vision to solve the problems he saw in the film industry and in the hollowing out of community. The conviction of the problems he saw was strengthened from the pain of being uprooted from healthy community every time he would go and shoot a movie. Artists and crew in the film industry are constantly disconnected from community six months at a time during film shooting. It was this type of disconnection which led to a breakdown which Zachary beautifully and honestly writes about in his best selling book, Radical Love. Fueled by how clearly he saw the problem and his passion to create a solution, Zachary bought 75 acres north of Austin just 15 miles from the Austin Airport in Bastrop. The property fronts the Colorado River and has the type of topography that would make any Hill Country landowner blush. Most importantly Zachary has a vision that makes Walt Disney seem like a peer. A vision for a studio surrounded by mixed use community where the real estate is part of the back lots of the studios. He calls his studio and community Wyldwood. He needed an advocate and partner to help bring the vision to life in a phased way that was conservatively investable but in line with the bigger vision. Act I of the larger Wyldwood story is a 50+ bed experiential landscape resort surrounded by an operating studio, soundstage, and amphitheater on his 75 acres. Act I investment is not only feasible, but its upside is capped only by Zachary's imagination for Wyldwood which he envisions will be masterplanned communities that surround world class studio facilities around the country. As mentioned, Zachary is a Visionary Problem Solver which is why he is uniquely made to bring about a better vision of an artist run studio and masterplanned mix use developments that are a haven for human made content and holistic community. ?

Josh Womack // WCP Fund

If simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication Josh Womack is one of the most sophisticated people I know. He simplifies everything around him, creating greater flourishing as a result. Josh is uniquely humble while being one of the clearest thinkers I've met—a killer combo. Josh has always loved investing, absorbing every Buffett shareholder letter and value investing book he could find. He started his career in audit at Deloitte, where his exceptional performance led to rapid promotions ...and increased travel—an exchange he wasn't willing to tolerate for long due to family commitments. So in 2015, Josh founded a registered investment advisory firm that now manages over $120 million. As a lifelong investor, Josh started to get the means where he began to seriously contemplate the right investment approach for his family's capital. It may not surprise you that Josh's investment strategy was...well simple. Given a long-term horizon, he was drawn to the asset category with the best long-term returns: public small-cap companies, which have historically outperformed larger equities. Josh saw advantages unique to small caps that a curated portfolio could leverage over a small-cap index. His family's investment strategy was born, and it's how they've been investing for more than a decade. After several years, clients in his advisory practice began asking if they could invest with him, leading to the launch of the WCP Fund in 2016. Its been a remarkable success. Outperforming the Russell 2000 Small Cap index by a healthy margin. As a result Josh's WCP Fund has grown...only by word of mouth and referral. You see, part of Josh's character is he is allergic to even the appearance of "selling". He must underpromise and overdeliver. You can see why is truly one my favorite people. That said, does believe it is the right time to proactively grow the impact his fund can have. There aren’t many options for public small-cap allocations outside of the index – fewer options that select specific small-cap companies based on easy-to-understand criteria.? Josh is a Wise Steward and Dedicated Craftsman, dedicated to his craft and the clients he serve. It is why he has created so much flourishing for his family/friends and why the WCP Fund will extend the scale of the flourishing he creates to others.

My Hope For You

If you made it this far, then I then you deserve a little encouragement.

I can think of no better place to end this story then sharing my hope for you.

I hope that you would be encouraged no matter where you are on your heroes journey and no matter what sorrow or failure you may be currently going through.

I hope that you grow in your capacity and character to know and tell the truth.

I hope that come to know your true identity and you increasingly work out of it.

I hope for key eucatastrophes in your life that bring you tears and joy.

That would be very good, indeed!

If I can encourage you any way, please never hestiate to contact me.

Gratefully,

Trevor Hightower

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This note is meant as an encouragement and, practically, as an update with my new contact information below. Again, if you want to connect or I can help you, don't hesitate to reach out.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 832-312-6715

LinkedIn: Trevor Hightower

Website: www.hightower.guide