250 Hampton Newsletter

Friends of 250 Hampton,

It’s December. The holiday season is in full swing and my search enters month 6 (almost at the half way point of my allotted search time). The Olson family wrapped up November in style in NYC. One of my best friends in the world had a stepdaughter performing in the Macy’s parade with her marching band and we weren’t going to miss it. Camryn and the Flower Mound Marching Band did an excellent job despite the cold and rainy conditions. If you have a minute, you can check out their performance in front of Macy’s. Let’s go Flo Mo!

My search progressed nicely in November with one deal now officially under LOI. Now that is something to be thankful for!

The Search

Deal Flow

In November I was able to review 24 new businesses that fit my criteria. I had deeper dives with four of them and one is still active as of the writing of this newsletter. That said, my main focus in November was on moving at least one of my two active opportunities to an executed LOI. As noted above, one business is now officially under LOI and in due diligence.

Active Opportunities

As long time readers will recall, I have been engaged in pre-LOI due diligence with two businesses at this stage of the search.

1. D2C manufacturing/product business

2. Medical device and products distribution business focused on cardiology

The medical products distribution business is officially under LOI as of November. I am working on this business with a partner and we believe there are both organic and inorganic opportunities that will allow us to grow this business significantly over the next 3 - 5 years. In December we are focused on clearing the critical due diligence items, refining our growth plan for the business and solidifying our financing plan. More to come as this deal shapes up. I am very excited about this one and have been for quite some time having first been introduced to the company back in February of 2024. The founder/owner has built an amazing business and my partner and I are ready to leverage her solid foundation to continue the growth journey.

I am continuing to work on the D2C business and source new opportunities while conducting final diligence on the medical distribution business. While I feel very good about the medical distribution business, the deal isn’t done until it’s done, so I am keeping my foot on the gas. As always, if you have opportunities or introductions that you believe would help with sourcing opportunities, please make an introduction. I sincerely appreciate your support.

Value Add

Ears

Long time readers will notice that I swapped the order of the eyes and ears segments this month. Why the change? The ears influenced the eyes piece this month. I was able to pick up a copy of D’Angelo’s Voodoo on vinyl this month. To be more accurate, I pre-ordered this new pressing from VMP earlier in the year and it finally arrived. It was worth the wait (it is a top notch pressing).

Voodoo was heavily influenced by the work of J Dilla though Dilla’s work with the Soulquarians, though Dilla is not credited anywhere on the album. Dilla’s innovation, dubbed Dilla Time, is distinct and present on the Voodoo tracks. Playa Playa, the opening track on Voodoo, is a good example of Dilla Time. The bass line’s notes feel like they fall in the wrong places. Like the beat is tripping over itself. The effect is very destabilizing… and interesting. The bassist on Playa Playa (and many of the other tracks on Voodoo), Pino Palladino, referred to the rhythm as “wobbly” and “messed up.”

Dilla Time essentially took the jazz technique of backphrasing, where singers “create musical tension by delaying the delivery of the expected melody/lyrics,” and turned it up to 11 while pairing it with other tracks, the drums for example, that were right on the beat. Quenstlove is behind the kit on Playa Playa and he had to work hard to stick to the grid while Palladino went off into Dilla Time. The result is something truly interesting and unique and something that has been widely imitated over the years since Dilla’s initial work with the Soulquarians.

Eyes

Now that you have read a short primer on Dilla Time and (hopefully) have given Playa Playa a listen, I bet you want to go deeper down the Dilla rabbit hole. I have just the thing for you. “Dilla Time” by Dan Charnas. Charnas’s 2023 book is excellent. I found myself reading it in the early hours of the morning tapping out rhythms and pulling up the songs referenced in the book on Spotify. It is a truly interactive book and Charnas does a masterful job finding ways to represent difficult musical concepts through words and illustrations. I have given out approximately a dozen copies of this book over the last couple of years and everyone I have given the book to has come back with positive reviews and noted that it has either opened a new musical avenue to them or brought new life to the many Dilla-influenced songs they already knew well. If you are looking for a great read for your upcoming holiday break, look no further.

Pairs well with the Dilla Time listening guide available on Spotify.

Thought of the Month

In the above passage Seneca reminds us that we have limited time on this planet and we should aim to use the time we have to the fullest. Seneca would remind us that using our time to accumulate achievements, money and status is not using our time to the fullest. Rather we should use the time we have to gain wisdom, insight and make progress on the critical and timeless things that humans struggle against. This holiday season is a good time to reflect on what using your limited time to the fullest looks like and then use that clarity to use your remaining time wisely.

That's it for the December newsletter. Look for the next one at the beginning of January. Until then, happy holidays and thank you all for your support. It means a lot.

Best,
Eric