Note from the founder of CASGro
Welcome - Our goal is to develop an investment community of people who agree on a common mission and strategy to help the economy of under-resourced communities throughout the USA. Our solution is CASGro - an impact investment firm that will re-imagine start-up venture capital as a catalyst for growth and opportunity for people and communities.
The CASGro journey began with a conversation among friends at a summer gathering. One of the discussions centered on the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. This law established Opportunity Zones - a signal from the government to provide incentives for a private capital market solution to help under-resourced communities. The discussion of Opportunity Zones lit a flame within me to work on a potential solution based on my experiences in the financial services industry. I immediately began to think of many problems that are linked to under-resourced communities. After thinking through many problems I felt that a broad solution can be impactful by increasing economic growth and creating opportunities for people. This led me towards designing a strategy for the formation of businesses that will resonate within communities and provide a path towards an opportunity to own a business. I chose to focus on businesses because they are a significant contributor to growth within the economy and are widely viewed as an opportunity by many people to create wealth. Lastly, my strategy led me towards a venture capital business model of a primary fund so that capital can flow into under-resourced communities.
My desire to identify a capital market based solution for under-resourced communities is an outgrowth of many experiences throughout my life and career. During my youth in Brooklyn, New York many opportunities I pursued were in under-resourced communities - from taking piano lessons in Bedford Stuyvesant, to playing the hyper competitive sport of basketball in Crown Heights. My experiences provided many insights to understand that opportunities are aligned with people, their interests and the effort a person applies to their goals. My experiences will enable me to look deeper to identify potential growth opportunities in under-resourced communities. This mindset and rigor will be a part of our proprietary research process at CASGro.
Many experiences throughout my 38 year career in financial services have been instrumental in shaping CASGro. Most of my career I have been in revenue producing roles in large and small firms. I have been involved in several start-up ventures within corporations. One start-up venture allowed me to work and live in London, England for 4 years. I became an entrepreneur and was sponsored to develop an investment bank and pitched ideas to venture capital firms. I also served on the Board of Directors of a major non profit philanthropy for 9 years. I have taken parts of all of these experiences and parts of successful business models to develop CASGro.
CASGro will have a grassroots orientation because I believe that under-resourced communities are highly complex with multiple layers developed over many years. I believe that a diverse group of people and views is best suited for this task. I also believe that the timing is right to try different strategies with the movement towards Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) investing and societal inequities highlighted by the Corona Virus pandemic.
CASGro can make a positive impact by creating high potential business opportunities for growth. I invite you to connect with us and participate in a journey to help transform under-resourced communities while investing to earn a profit.
Kind regards,
Richard Gordon
Richard Gordon earned a BA from Columbia University and an Executive MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University.