How We Accidentally Became Good at This (Eventually)
Back in 2001, Ofinex was essentially one person with delusions of grandeur and a dangerous amount of optimism. The “family investment company” was really just me, running various businesses from a cramped office that smelled perpetually of instant coffee and regret.
The plan was simple: start businesses, run them brilliantly, sell them for enormous profits, retire early. What actually happened was more like: start businesses, discover running them is harder than expected, sell some for modest profits, use those modest profits to start more businesses, repeat until dizzy.
After years of this entrepreneurial pinball machine approach, it finally occurred to me that maybe—just maybe—consolidating all these scattered adventures under one proper umbrella might be sensible. Thus, Ofinex evolved from “man with too many business ideas” to “actual investment holding company.”
The Spectacular Failures Department
Let’s be honest: we’ve made some genuinely terrible decisions. The 2008 financial crisis found us spectacularly overextended in exactly the wrong places at precisely the wrong time. It turns out “diversification” doesn’t work when all your investments are in sectors that collapse simultaneously. Who knew?
We’ve backed companies that seemed brilliant until they actually had to make money. We’ve bought properties that looked like bargains until we discovered why they were bargains (hint: it usually involves structural problems that require actual structural engineers). We’ve launched ventures that failed so comprehensively they should probably be studied in business schools as cautionary tales.
The silver lining? Spectacular failures are excellent teachers, provided you survive them. Every disaster taught us something valuable about due diligence, risk management, or the importance of actually understanding the businesses we invest in.
The Ofinex Philosophy: Common Sense, Uncommon Results
We don’t chase unicorns or cryptocurrency trends. We look for solid businesses run by people who answer their phones, rental properties in neighborhoods we’d actually visit, and development projects that solve real problems.
It’s worked out surprisingly well. Our startup portfolio includes companies that are still operating (a minor miracle), our rental properties maintain positive cash flow (revolutionary concept), and our padel courts are booked solid six months out (apparently, people enjoy hitting balls with oversized ping-pong paddles).
