Episode 43 - Spiritual Integration in Your Portfolio with Eric Kim
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Today's guest is Eric Kim, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Goodwater Capital. As early investors in Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, and others Eric and his team know a thing or two about the tech startup world.
But that's not the limit of Eric's expertise. He's done some great thinking about what spiritual integration looks like in their firm and how his faith guides him as he's part of stewarding a portfolio of over a billion dollars. We’ll let you hear the rest from him…
Episode Transcript
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Henry Kaestner: Everybody gets the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast. We're glad you're back. Today's guest is Eric Kim, co-founder and managing partner of Goodwater Capital. As early investors and Facebook, Twitter, Spotify and others, Eric and his team know a thing or two about the tech startup world. But that's not the limit of Eric's expertize. He's done some great thinking about what spiritual integration looks like and their firm and how his faith guides him as he's part of stewarding a portfolio of over a billion dollars. I'll let you hear the rest of it from him.
Henry Kaestner: Welcome back to the Faith Driven Investor podcast. Today is super cool for me because we're on with a good friend of mine, a guy that I've been able to be in in a Bible study and community group of sorts over the course of the last couple of years.
A number of us who are serious about our Christian faith and who got his place in the world of investing have gotten together just to encourage and challenge each other in our pursuit of knowing God and honoring him through our vocations. And it's with Eric Kim that we've got today on the call and been looking for this podcast for a while. Eric, thank you very much for joining Henry.
Eric Kim: And Tim, thanks so much for having me. That's a real honor and a blessing to be here with you on your listenership today. Appreciate it.
Henry Kaestner: So we have a love that is the official title for listenership that esteems our audience, which needs to be esteemed. Awesome. People were celebrating the fact that we're now and something like seventy five different countries. But it's been super encouraging to hear people come back in with great feedback and just great affirmation. So thanks for acknowledging that. And one of the things that you probably know and everybody in our listener base knows is that we like to hear the stories, the personal stories of the people that are on an episode with us. We want to get into some really neat things about the mission and the vision and values and how you think about things like a shadow mission. Today, we're going to find out what in the world is a shadow mission. And then we're also going to find out a little bit about the role that consumer technology plays in this post, covid or current covid world. But tell us about who you are, where you come from. And then in the mix of that, I want to know, what is your favorite piece to play on the show?
Eric Kim: Oh, I love it. Thanks for bringing that up. Well, guys, again, it's just an honor. A pleasure to be here with you all.
So my parents immigrated from South Korea to New York City in the early 70s, which is where I was born when I was quite young. I moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where there weren't a lot of Koreans where I grew up. I was there through high school. I grew up as a pretty serious musician and went to Yale for undergrad, actually, initially as a music major. And it was actually at Yale where I experienced the power of consumer technology and faith.
And a really interesting way when I was a senior, 9/11 happened. And I think everyone will remember where they were when they heard about the atrocity that happened. And for me, it was particularly painful. I had interned at a hedge fund that had some brokerages associated with it that were completely wiped out by what happened on 9/11, hit particularly close to home, being on the East Coast at that time and during that experience learned about the power of music and technology and community, because we came together as a group to host these benefit concerts. And I was a cellist on campus and we pulled together other groups in the way we advertised through that was through social media, kind of the version of that back then. What was social media where these kind of chat boards and I see a key messenger kind of environment and we advertise these benefit concerts. We saw the community, the network effects of getting the word out.
What inspired that kind of action at that time was kind of a rediscovery of my faith during college. And I talk about it later.
But a number of really influential kind of forces in my life at that time, everything from Campus Crusade for Christ to grab as a Catholic to St. Thomas Moore Chapel on campus as well. And by that ecumenical dialog and being at the intersection that really forfour. He had a really interesting kind of faith calling to come to service, and I bring up the 9/11 example because that carried with me throughout my career, going to McKinsey, working on a couple of startups, working at a large fund called Maverick, but ultimately feeling call to start with Tiwa, my co-founder in 2014, Goodwater Capital, which we believe is a value space to faith driven, purpose driven venture capital firm, which we'll talk more about. But again, myself in a nutshell, kind of Midwest kid that now is here in Silicon Valley to try to do what we can do through venture investing to have a positive impact on the world.
Henry Kaestner: So if I remember a bit and we didn't talk about this in the conversation leading up to the podcast, but if I remember back to 2014 and I had known to for a while, but it just started to meet you, there's a faith story and how you guys got together. Can you share that?
Yeah, you know, there is a number, but God just kept having us meet each other.
Kind of it was serendipitous kind of flukes of nature at the beginning, but we would literally start running into each other. And we are obviously friends before. And we had gone to business school over fifteen years ago together at Stanford GSB, because when you're ahead of me and then kind of as we were both thinking about starting our own separate firms at that time, God just found ways to bring us together. I remember one day at the Rosewood Hotel, kind of quintessential, you know, Silicon Valley shock.
William Norvell: And you ran into him there. I can't believe I at the Rosewood.
Eric Kim: I know. I know. But it was like kind of in the thick of both of us thinking about an entrepreneurial venture. He was at Kleiner at the time. I was at Mavericks at the time.
And we had just had a conversation before. And like literally within that, I don't know. Twenty four to 72 hour, we met again and then had another serendipitous conversation about, hey, what would it look like to start a firm together? And we kept doing that. And then the number of stories around the investors that we would literally meet at the airport that got delayed because the plane got delayed, you know, and then we happened to sit down at the same pizzeria. They were kind of these countless very serendipitous things that happened and, you know, couldn't help but think that, you know, God's kind of handprints were all over that in many ways. But it was really cool to see how that came together very organically at the beginning.
Henry Kaestner: Yeah, I remember that she was doing something about it, really endeavoring understand how to go proceed. And as he was doing that, all of a sudden out of the blue, you called and it was just really cool, made a real impression on him. And you guys have grown together and grown. Have fun now that I think is past the billion dollars of assets under management. So God has blessed your partnership and it gives you a lot of success. Your fund that focuses on consumer technology taught us a bit about what it is that you guys do in the fund and bring it into today's environment. Why is what you do particularly important today?
Eric Kim: Yeah, so our stated mission when we started in 2014 was to empower exceptional entrepreneurs who are changing the world. And our focus area is just consumer technology. We don't do enterprise, SAS, security, hardware, biotech, all.
We do our digital horizontal platforms that touch the consumer directly.
And so whether that's financial services, health care, education, online grocery marketplaces, video communications. Kiwa was an investor in Facebook and Twitter prior to joining him. I Goodwater I was an investor in Kakao Talk, part of Goodwater, which now has ninety nine percent penetration as a messaging app in South Korea.
And you can go into our company there. There's something very unique about the power of, again, horizontal digital platforms that have network effects that every time a net new user joins in the power of that platform becomes stronger. So whether that's a Netflix, a Spotify, telemedicine companies, financial services, fintech companies, peer peer payments, one more one more user comes into that community or that app. The whole gets stronger and that's all we do. I could water the entire billion dollar plus of the assets we manage is just focusing on empowering exceptional entrepreneurs who are changing the world through consumer technology because consumer technology touches billions of lives on a day to day basis, if not hour to hour basis. Whether we like it or not, we are in front of these digital platforms almost every living minute of the day. And so when we think about our mission, our calling, our purpose, we wanted to focus all our energy into what we think is one of the most powerful forces from a secular perspective in the world, which is consumer tech. So we've been in early investors in a company called Musically, which is now called Tech Talk, which is Superfriends. Enter the news these days. And we've been in other companies as well, you know, all kind of stuff or more questions on this topic and love to explore any area. But I will just leave by saying a lot of those companies end up being fairly controversial also. So what? It's Facebook about privacy, to talk about privacy or, you know, when and how should telemedicine be adopted or what's the privacy or the security around fintech platforms?
We as a value investor, actually want to be in the thick of those conversations. We want to be right where the rubber meets the road with regards to secular innovation and where consumer behavior is changing, because we think that even if we change the trajectory of this company by one degree, we will have tremendous impact, hopefully.
So that's where we're focused as of today.
Henry Kaestner: So I think that that's something a lot of people don't think about. And so many people think of the role when they invest in private equity funds as being a passive player in an overall trend. But the reality is, is that when you come alongside an early investor and get a board seat, you're now a partner. You have a voice at the table. And you're right, consumer technology is a wonderful thing. We all use it to be able to have people who are speaking into the lives of the entrepreneurs to encourage them, but then also appropriately challenge them. Is there an example that you might be able to offer up over the course of the last several years, if necessary? You can leave the name out of it where there is this kind of ethical kind of fork in the road where the CEO of a consumer technology company is trying to say, we see an opportunity here, but your sense of values and faith driven, this tries to encourage them in a different direction.
Eric Kim: Yeah, that there are several points to a couple. I'll start by stating our core values, which today are humility, integrity, transparency, quality, service. And then we've added a six one justice and we could talk more about that. But it's through these lens that first we make it really, really almost painstakingly clear to our entrepreneurs before they sign up to partner with us that those are the values that we're about. So if you want someone in your cap table that has those values, we'll work with you day and night through those lenses. I would say, particularly with regards to consumer technology in this day and age. One of the things we're really passionate about that has come up, frankly, time and time again.
It's come up before I started. Goodwater, it's ever more present today is the production of children on these platforms and whether it's pornography, whether it's addiction, whether it's child pornography itself, it's again, something that is near and dear to a lot of our hearts as parents and as family members, frankly. And we see it. It was something that there was a major platform that we were associated with. I can't name it, but we had to really pound the table with regard to changing our growth trajectory, sacrificing some initial growth to make sure we safeguarded the children that would potentially be in the audience itself. And it comes up time and time again. But I think what is surprising and not trying to toot my own horn, we fall short in so many ways, but is that we are usually the sole voice pounding the table about these issues. And again, these companies netnet may be seen, but actually is very controversial or very, you know, potentially gray in some areas.
But what we often think about is if it's not good or who else should sit in that void to make sure there is a voice of values in some of those situations.
So, yeah, it's come up. It comes up and particularly around the protection of children is something that we're seeing and we're quite sensitive to.
Henry Kaestner: Well, as a dad, thank you for that. And William, your dad of a young child as well. So I know that, you know, was one thing when my children are a little bit older, 14, 16 and 18. And that is something that's absolutely front and center. But you're investing also in the companies. They're going to be the leaders in consumer technology in the future to sit that out. When you do have that conversation with the entrepreneur and you're pounding the table, do they wonder why is you can say, actually, you know, we've got this kind of moral compass that comes from something about who we are? What does that look like about why you're pounding the table or you judge judging or versus that's a unique opportunity to witness. And yet I shouldn't be prescriptive even in the asking the question about how that manifests itself. But tell us more about you being the sole person pounding on the table and being completely different than the rest.
Eric Kim: Yeah, I think it comes down to mission and purpose and really getting at the roots of it. And now you mentioned shadow mission, but often we'll come back to speaking into the hearts and the hearts already there for these entrepreneurs. They want to do intrinsically something really positive for the role. That's why they risked everything to become an entrepreneur to begin with. But speaking into that side of it. Right. And aligning around what is that remember back what was that original mission you started this company for? It was for the purpose of serving X or Y. What was that original purpose? And as opposed to kind of what I would call often is the shadow mission. And this is popularized by John Ortberg. And John, if you're listening, I'm praying for you, buddy, and we've never met. But you bless me immensely as you. But.
Henry Kaestner: The people you have ever met, senior Pastor Amen, the church here in the Bay Area, great man of God.
Eric Kim: Absolutely. But this message around a mission, I think, is actually where there is light and where there's an entrepreneur's kind of intrinsic nature to want to do good. And then on the other side of that is the desire to be on the cover of Forbes is to be a billionaire, is to have growth and to break all these records and to have kind of the accolade associated with it. And if we bring it back, each speaking into it is not from a moralistic perspective like this is wrong or this is right is I actually remember why you started this company to became let's remember that real mission and take everything else aside. Take aside the case study that you want written about you take aside all the accolades that you want to take, aside the pay and think back about that mission. And that is, I think when the heart becomes most vulnerable for them and we can speak into it and whether they know we're our faith and we're not shy about it, we don't necessarily advertising on our sleeves either.
But it invariably does come up in almost every conversation with the entrepreneurs we work with. I think they understand where it comes from and where it becomes real for them. Whether they are faith or not is that they have this underlying mission, which I believe God has blessed them with, and then speaking it to that and tying it to the reality that they're faced with to make sure they're making that choice because they can serve one or two missions in that moment.
William Norvell: Yeah, it's so good. So good. I actually heard that sermon like eight years ago and it has changed my life and ascended to so many people. It's just amazing to think about, you know, go in one direction. And then you have, you know, he talks about how you can just be five degrees off. Right. So a lot of times people think you're 180 degrees off and that's how you you know, you see your way off the path. But in reality, it's usually just a little bit you know, you're probably using the gifts that God's given you. You're probably doing all the things pretty close to it, but you're just doing it for a little different reason. He talks about giving a sermon. He's like, that's what I'm gifted to do. That's what God give me to do, is that in my shadow mission is every day I go to sleep and I wake up and I hope it says amazingly good looking, eloquent man gives incredible sermon once again, right?
Eric Kim: Yeah, it's. Yeah. Just those few degrees off. But in an extreme sense, the articulation a few degrees off. But those few degrees are in the direction of how and how does that manifest itself for you.
William Norvell: What do you feel like you wrestle with as you were thinking through that paradigm?
Eric Kim: Yeah, I thank you for asking that. You know, when we started in twenty fourteen, Tiwa and I looked at each other and said, this is not my firm, this is not a year for this is God's firm and kind of made that sacred vow to begin with and had that really strong misalignment.
And I think that what is the shadow mission for all of us.
I'll speak for myself being as an investor, of being someone that you measure yourself based on the investments you make your track record. Right. The multiple and the IRR that you have created, the wealth you have created for others, take a lot of pride in that.
And I think that the shadow mission is to, as a firm or as an individual investor is to be a billionaire, to raise a certain X amount of funds, to be on a list, to get kind of the accolade associated with that track record that you establish. And when we started, the firm firms like there was never a mission to create a track record. It was to have impact.
And so I think that is the constant battle. And what I love about how Ortberg popularized the notion of a shadow mission is that it's not to say we're going to all just be pure and wash ourselves or this is just to say it's part of us. It is there. We can't just cut it off.
It's really acknowledging because part of my pride and my ego is to be the best in investing is to have the best rapper is to be one of the most successful venture capitalists. I know it.
It's there. But naming it and making sure that that is not what I'm feeding on a day in, day out basis is so important.
But unless I name it up front and understand that that is my kind of natural tendency, I think that is really what has preserved our partnership, which is really important that Goodwater and actually helped it blossom because we're not looking towards our own self fulfillment. We're really looking towards the fulfillment of the mission itself. Now, we fall short all the time. I want to be really clear. It is so hard. Right. And it's just like those magical moments when a brother like Henry with our Christian Accountability Venture Capital Group, you know, can hold you accountable to some of these things and to check your ego. And again, it's just that constant battle that we're in that I would just again, encourage everyone who might be listening to this. Like just what is that shadow mission of yours from the investment or from a secular business perspective?
And name it, don't be afraid of it, but name it in the hopes that you can sometimes check it at just those crucial moments.
Henry Kaestner: I want to dove into that a little bit more because you're on to something there that, of course, plays all of us as Christ, not just us as fund managers. It's riffing on Proverbs 16, two and twenty one to all of a man's ways seem pure to him, but his motives are weighed by the Lord. And every time I read that, I am so incredibly convicted and I have these shadow missions and the danger, if you have some level of success in the world and especially the Christ followers, that you can pretty much justify almost everything you're doing in terms of trying to create value and trying to participate. And much that might be true. But you might have this 80 percent of what you're doing can absolutely be defended as I'm investing for the flourishing of society. But when selfishness or the approval of others kind of seep in, it takes us further away from God. And so you're doing and through the work of John Ortberg. But what you're really showing here is that you have endeavored what you want just to be that much more conscious of it in the humility that comes with that. Let me just say that that's different from what you hear from the typical Sandhill Road venture capitalist.
Eric Kim: I have to just thank you, Henry, in particular, because you've been a great mentor to me. And I go back and remember one of the most impactful things you said to me, which I think applies to anyone, regardless of where you might be on a wealth scale or where you are in life.
But the metaphor holds true.
And you said to me, Eric, never get liquid because you may have seen, I think, in some other folks lives just what happens when folks achieve some success in the notion of equity. Again, doesn't matter where you are a scale, that notion is that you suddenly have like this freedom to just do whatever you want because you've got this kind of accumulated currency of here on Earth. You can just do whatever you want. And certainly it pertains to the wealthy. And I think it pertains to everyone just kind of mentally from a currency of feeling in need and on our knees for Christ and on our knees because we realize how dependent we are on the Lord and then going to being in a quote unquote, liquid situation. Where to your point, I do whatever we want. I got the resources I can hop on this plane. I can maybe get this really nice kind of luxury item here or things like that. And I'm not saying nice things are bad, not by any means. But at the same time, what happens is we're disconnected. We're going from not just being part of this world, but being of this world in that moment. And I just remember back when you told me about that, it's just like a conversation we can all have and be very real about like what does that mean for us? You know, whether I've accumulated that like an extra few bucks through the stock market as a couple bucks a couple of weeks, like, does that suddenly change your mental state somehow and your attitudes towards the Lord and God? And I think particularly it's just something we have to really be mindful in being in the investment world.
Henry Kaestner: I completely agree. That was very encouraging what you said. I need to give credit for that to Jim Bowen, who is the founder and CEO of First Trust Portfolios, a very early investor in Bano.
On the personal side, he just had set on a ministry board with David and came on board and we went out and met with him and he said, guys? And he dressed and looked a lot like Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko character in Wall Street. I'll never forget. He said, never get liquid. I've seen it just destroy families. And on the flip side of that, and there's the cautionary side, the investor that I look to as a mentor, just an incredible class act, really godly man. It's a guy named Tom Darden. And Tom ran and continues to run Cherki Partners, two and a half billion dollars worth of real estate assets and huge land holdings in India and other places like that, really the best in the world. And what he does, which is to renovate what are called Brownfield's real estate that has some sort of oil damage or something like that. And Tom rides a bike to work. He has immense wealth. But one of the things that really grounds him is not just his faith, but the fact that he is never liquid. Every single time he has any type of liquidity, he's investing in the next entrepreneur that comes around. He has hundreds of investments and different technologies that are really making a difference in the world. And he does it every cent whenever they go public, he immediately sells the stock, not immediately. But he'll tell you, you know, he looks for an opportunity, sell stock and then put it in another investor. And as a result, he never has the liquidity around him to think about buying another yacht. And in the process, because he's investing in illiquid assets, either a private equity or venture capital fund like you all have, or an individual angel investments, he's really creating part of the fabric of the enlargement of society. So thanks for having said that as encouragement to me, but I need to give credit to Jim Bowen and then to the guy, his model that out for me, Tom Dart also.
William Norvell: Let's get. I usually steal John shuttle mission statement, but you already knew about it, so I can't take credit for it. You're like the one guy that listen to the deep tracks and, you know, really upsets me. ERG, I want to take one step back. You mentioned a phrase kind of in passing, but I think especially for our audience. Want to go. You said you were faith driven, venture capital firm. You know, and I know we've gone around the world a little bit on what that could mean in certain situations. But I want to give you a chance just to maybe from the highest level say, what does that mean to you? Do you look at investments differently? Do you work with your entrepreneurs differently, 100 different things? Do you work with your team differently? Just what does that mean to you? In the essence? Because I think there's a lot of people listening that either are that or want to be that. And I think you have a really unique lens on what that means.
Eric Kim: Yeah, it's evolving for us. And in 2014, we launched with this mission of empowering entrepreneurs who are changing the world and did everything we could to serve that mission in 2020. Amidst the pandemic of covid-19, amidst the pandemic of racism, which continues to burn across our nation and world, we added a sixth value of justice to our five preexisting values. And the reason I bring this up is that I would say that we launch in 2014 with our mission in 2020. I feel like we reemphasize or rediscover our purpose itself, and that is to bring justice and healing to the world. Again, the notion of justice is that being inspired by Michael six, eight, how do we bring justice to the world? And I think that is again, where the rubber meets the road for us. That is how we try to measure ourselves as being a corporate faith driven venture capital firm or being leaders of faith leading a venture capital firm. I think those are almost synonymous or I would hope they could be. I hope that who I am on Sunday is the same as who I would be on a Wednesday or Friday. And so that, I think is through the lens of are we really bringing justice to the world? We look at investments through that lens in the consumer techland. Is this really going to bring justice of some sort to the world? We recently looked at a company bringing telemedicine to the mental health space and it's frankly heartwarming. Inspirers reinspire us every time we meet an entrepreneur that is so mission oriented and it aligns with his value of justice that we can actually bring some kind of healing to the world itself through our investments. It also makes us think a lot about our Elche base. We've been, as Henry mentioned, really, really fortunate to be at the scale we are in six years and.
Thinking about where do we take capital from, are they values align? Do they also align with our desire to positively impact the world? And it's not just lip service, but something they're willing to, you know, go to battle on our behalf for and then certainly our employees. I think that we're a team of about 30 folks here in Burlingame. And how do we think about who we hire? Are they values aligned? And do they share this maniacal desire to change the world for the better? And I think that is our current manifestation. I think this will probably change and mature. But right now we feel like we're in the thick of the battle right now. And so when we prioritize the various meanings of what a quote unquote, future of an investor could be in our current state, the current chapter in what we're prioritizing is should be on the front line of really trying to push this impact, to bring justice, to bring healing to the world. That is kind of what is driving us right now and what we're prioritizing within the spectrum of what that could mean. And then we're doing it through our investments. We're doing it through the people we hire and to help capital that we take on.
William Norvell: It's amazing. That's an amazing articulation of what that means to you guys and really appreciate that.
And your whole team would think that comes to mind as I try to get a little practical at some level.
As you know, a lot of people here are doing investments and obviously names don't need to be included in this at all. Could you maybe walk us through a few investments that didn't meet that criteria?
You know, companies that you saw that you said, I mean, gosh, if we weren't us to invest in that, that's going to make a lot of money and it's going to be a success. And, you know, we may get a call about that from one of our LPs that ask you better have a good reason for passing on that one.
Eric Kim: You know, if this comes up for us in the financial services space quite a bit. So if you think about fintech companies broadly and Henry and I at William with you as well, we have been co-investors in some wonderful fintech companies that are really bringing kind of the banking to the unbanked, if you will, or bringing the access to the financial services, to the broader community, which is wonderful. I think where we've said no flat out to certain investments is where we feel like it's taking an unfair break from the consumer with regards to lending, with regards to some of the interest rates that are being applied, there are rules of consumer protection out there already around what you can charge. But there are companies that get around it, I would say, through some questionable practices. And so that's something where we have felt like this is a huge business opportunity and it's very subjective. Right. My view of it is going to be very biased. But what's quote unquote fair? What's a fair interest rate to charge someone, for example? That's what it comes down to ultimately. And I think that's where, again, the perspective of the entrepreneurs become really clear about what side they are on in terms of where they would like to take things for the U.S. to maximize kind of short term profits, because it's, again, very easy to justify. Well, if they were going to the black market or to some really suspicious kind of lending sources, it's better than that. But those companies are in a position to both profit, but also to good to provide better services. I think where we've seen this really come in to answer your question directly, is in the lending space, sometimes we've had to say, you know, it's just not worth it because it's going to be very high, profitable company. But these practices just seem unfair. And again, I know it's subjective, but that's just how we feel about those situations.
William Norvell: No, that's true. Yeah, absolutely. That's super helpful. And yeah, unfortunately, God didn't lay venture capital in Romans anywhere right now. There is some things you got to pray about and then you may come to a different conclusion than another investor sometimes.
Yeah. Who's also driven by their faith. But staying close to you and what do you feel called to do is so unique and what inspires everybody, I think to figure out their own story as we unfortunately come to a close. One of the things we love to do is see how God's word can transcend between our guest and our listeners. And we find it amazing to see how we hear from people that, you know, they just needed that verse today from that other person's life and the intertwining of stories. And so what I'd ask you is, if you'd be so generous to share where God has you in his word, whether that is something you read today, something you're in this season. Michael Jackson. I heard it could be that could be something else just to be great.
Eric Kim: Yeah. Thank you. And there were two things that came to mind when I was thinking about joining you today. And I think that the first is it's just the Sermon on the Mount.
So take any part of that. But I think what I am constantly impacted is blessed are the. Or and what does that mean for us? I kind of purposely I'm calling this off because we're in venture capital and kind of in this secular tailwind of investing and things are going up into the right and all these things.
But what does it mean to be blessed are the poor? And I would say that is something that that can mean a lot of different things for different people. For me, it's to be poor in all things. But Christ. And I think that is just something that I hope that people can reflect about today, and obviously we've got a lot going on as a world politically and with the pandemic in among whatever state we're in, we can be both kind of very sexually rich and also secondly, poor, but still not poor in the way that was being talked about in that survey. And how can we keep our hearts to really be rich in Christ and just to be enriched and Christ alone. So hopefully that makes some sense to folks and just kind of something that's really top of mind for me.
Henry Kaestner: That's beautiful. Thank you very much for that. And thank you for your time today. This is why we do this podcast, as you are talking about how you thought through the concept of shared ambition, how you able to listen to a sermon from a pastor and say, what does that mean in terms of my life and what does that mean for my fund, my partnership, my relationship with our peers and new companies to think about the holy ambition that you can have and being a technology investor and how to be able to shape culture and be able to mentor and lead entrepreneurs that are trying to understand what is their value base, what is their north star? Can they pick any North Star or is there actually a one and only one North Star? What does that look like? Your ability to faithfully and wouldn't similarly witness to that in a very secular world is really outstanding, is unparalleled, and it's why we do this podcast.
Thank you for sharing your story and it's been awesome to see your success. And I love you. Also, just as we close out, just the way that you guys got back together at the beginning of the year and said, OK, let's revisit our vision of values, are we missing anything and let's celebrate the success we've had. And to a certain extent, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And you've had a lot of success. But how do we get sharper and how do we pray together about how God would use this fund in our lives? And that's super encouraging. So thank you.
Eric Kim: Thank you so much. Such a blessing to be with you all today. My partner is listening to this. I just want to call my my brother Kiwa sharpens me every day and again with other folks around us has really been just so instrumental, got used to actually in my life. And I just want to say I love you, brother, and thank you.
Thank you so much for joining us on today's show. We're very, very grateful for the opportunity to serve the larger faith driven investor community. Hey, the best way for you to stay connected is to sign up for our monthly newsletter at Faith Driven Investor Dog. And while you're there, we, of course, want to hear from you. We derive great joy from interacting with many of you. And it's been very rewarding to see people join the discussion now from all around the world. But it's also very important to us that you feel like this is your show and that you'll help make it something that best equips you on your journey, one that you're proud of and one that you'll share with others.
This podcast, it wouldn't be possible without the help from many of our friends. Executive producer Justin Formate Program Director Johnny Wil's Music by Karl Carl Chigwell. You can see and hear more of his work that summer, Drugstore.com and Audio and editing by Richard Bahle of Cornerstone Church in San Francisco.