Measure with your heart

Prime Future 316: Strategy, capital, and innovation in animal protein

I’m no chef, but can I follow a recipe? Sure — with the exception of a few ingredients that I refuse to let see the inside of a measuring cup. Examples include but are not limited to: garlic, vanilla, chili powder, and chocolate chips.

Those simply must be measured with the heart.

Measure-with-your-heart is an imprecise calculation that’s different for every person. “Enough” garlic might vary by one or twelve cloves from one person to the next. Measuring with your heart means that finding the ‘optimal’ amount of some ingredients is an inherently imprecise, subjective, and individualized analysis.

I have a hypothesis that determining the capital structure and the optimal leverage for a business is also a measure-with-your-heart analysis…at least, way more so than anyone wants to admit out loud. Let me explain.