We’re highly focused on investing and growing companies and brands in the consumer sector, with a strong emphasis on consumer packaged goods. Many of our investments are consumer staples sold through food, drug, mass, wholesale club and other so-called “big box” retailers. We also look at consumer discretionary businesses where we believe we can add value to the existing management teams through our experience. In other words, we do one thing and do it superbly.

We add value by bringing operating experience and deep involvement in the diligence process and then in the eventual partnership with companies. This focus is evident in the composition of the Yellow Wood team, a mixture of operating executives and investment professionals who both play key roles within our firm. We believe the real value is more often created by building businesses and operating them more efficiently.

Yellow Wood was created with the goal of reestablishing the alignment of interests among all the stakeholders of our firm. This alignment is evident in the basic economics of our firm, where we are true partners with our operating management teams and with our highly regarded endowment, foundation, and investment fund limited partners. This structure is heavily weighted to an equity orientation where we do well only if all our stakeholders do well. As we believe real value is created through operations, we do not charge our portfolio companies transaction fees or monitoring/management fees, but share in the success as equity value is created.