76. Daniel Gluck︱Game, Set, Invest: From Tennis Prodigy to Investment Guru @ GroundForce Capital

Episode Transcript
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Dan Gluck (00:00):
I joined when we were raising our second fund, but
ultimately, for various reasons,it evolved to the point where
two of my partners decided tostep away from the business.
My partner, mark, and I decidedthat we were going to move
forward.
We ultimately decided we wantedto change our strategy, to
broaden our strategy.
We wanted to change our name.
We hired pretty much an entirenew team, and so today we're
operating under GrantForce, andwhen Mark and I were thinking

(00:23):
about the name, we worked with amarketing agency and we
ultimately had two main messagesthat we wanted to convey.
Everything we do as a firm is100% commercially driven from a
financial return perspective,but we also do, as you see, have
this sort of halo around usaround impact, and we genuinely
want to continue to focus onbusinesses that are focused on

(00:44):
promoting human health as wellas sustainability from a climate
and environmental perspective,and so we said we need a name
that is able to convey ourrigorous focus on returns and
our disciplined approach toinvesting, much like a Goldman
Sachs, a Blackstone, a BlackRock.
But we also want to make surethat we convey a message to our

(01:06):
constituents that we do caredeeply about the types of
businesses that we're investingin that there's a greater
purpose behind our investments,that we're really clear on what
our mission and vision is forimproving the world as it
relates to people and planet.
Think of brands like Patagoniaas inspiration, and after a long
process, we landed on the nameGround Force, which ultimately

(01:29):
stands for grounded inexcellence and a force for good,
and so we think it completelymarries the two main goals and
priorities that we have asinvestors, and so we're really
excited.

Klara (01:42):
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the
Grand Slam Journey podcast,where we discuss various things
related to the Grand Slamjourney of our lives Sports,
life after sports.
Lessons we have learned fromour athletic endeavors and how
we apply them in the nextchapter of our lives, growing
our skills and leadership inwhatever we decide to put our

(02:05):
minds into.
My guest today is Dan Gluck.
Dan is co-founder and managingpartner at Grand Force Capital.
Dan plays an integral andactive role in all aspects of
Grand Force Capital's business,including, but not limited to,
the overall management of allfirm operations, deal sourcing

(02:28):
and leading deal diligence.
Driven by his deep passion forphysical fitness, sports and
competitive races.
Prior to joining Ground ForceCapital, dan was co-founder and
board chairman of Health Warrior, a plant-based superfood CPG
company, which was created in2012.

(02:49):
The company's product was a100-calorie chia bar, which
became the number onebest-selling new bar in the
natural channel in 2013.
Today, health Warrior productsare sold in 13,000 stores.
Complemented by a robust DTCplatform, health Warrior was

(03:09):
purchased by PepsiCo in October2018.
In today's conversation, wecover Dan's journey from being a
competitive tennis player tohis experiences in consulting
investment management, hisentrepreneurial journey and now
investing in businesses thathelp promote healthy and
sustainable lifestyle and helpcatalyze the transition to lower

(03:33):
carbon and regenerative foodproduction.
If you enjoyed thisconversation, please share it
with someone you believe mayenjoy it as well.
Consider leaving a review onApple Podcasts or Spotify, and
don't forget to subscribe so youdon't miss the next episode.
This conversation is alsoavailable in video on my YouTube

(03:54):
Grand Slam Journey channel.
This is your host, KlaraYagoshova.
Thank you for tuning in, andnow I bring you Dan Gluck.
Hello, dan, welcome to theGrand Slam Journey podcast.
So great to have you, thank you.

Dan Gluck (04:07):
Claire, it's great to be here.
Good to see you.

Klara (04:10):
I've been looking forward to this conversation for quite
some time.
You have a fantastic background.
You're currently the managingpartner and co-founder of Ground
Force Capital, but before thatyou had your own company for
eight years Health Warrior thatyou actually successfully exited
and sold to PepsiCo.

(04:30):
You spent 15 years ininvestment management industry
and prior to that you've beenpassionate about tennis and have
played tennis competitively forD1 College and I'm so curious
about pretty much your journey,some of the tennis mindset and
all of your career steps andlearnings you have had.

(04:50):
That's my quick intro and whyI'm so excited to have you on,
but I want to hand it over toyou Anything else you want to
bring up or highlight that youwant listeners to know about you
.

Dan Gluck (05:01):
Well, I think you did a great job summarizing my
background and again, thank youfor having me on the podcast.
So wonderful to speak about you.
Well, I think you did a greatjob summarizing my background
and again, thank you for havingme on the podcast.
So wonderful to speak with you,enjoyed our prior conversations
, I would say.
Professionally, as youmentioned, I'm a former hedge
fund manager.
I'm an entrepreneur and founderof a business called Health
Warrior and now I'm a managingpartner and co-founder of a

(05:23):
private equity firm.
I'm also what you didn't mentionis I'm a proud dad of two kids.
I have a six and eight-year-oldand I really pride myself on
the time that I put intoparenting and being present with
my children.
And you talked a little aboutmy tennis career.
But I'm just a fitness junkieis how I would describe myself.
That's my drug.
That's where I get euphoric.

(05:44):
Junkie is how I would describemyself.
That's my drug.
That's where I get euphoric.
I've been an athlete since justa little kid, where I played
every single sport.
Then I narrowly got focused inon tennis and then transitioned
that into endurance sports andtriathlons, marathons, ultra
marathons, anything that I cando to get my adrenaline pumping.
I love doing Anything that Ican do to get my adrenaline
pumping.
I love doing so.

(06:04):
Those are the three areas inparticular where I spend most of
my time these days is business,family and my personal health
and wellness.

Klara (06:12):
Love it and I've certainly noticed that on your
LinkedIn post and actuallysomebody tagged me on one of
yours where you talked about thebook Open, which I've also read
.
I actually discovered it maybewhen, I guess, even launched at
the beginning and I was goingthrough interesting journey in
tennis and you can find so muchwisdom about actually tennis and

(06:33):
life in it.
So it's always great to get toknow these serendipitous
connections through LinkedIn andI look forward to diving into
even your extreme, I would saysports.
Ultra marathon is ultra runningis something I'm definitely not
planning on taking on and Ifeel like it requires just
another level of perseverancefrom people.

Dan Gluck (06:55):
So much of it's mindset right One step in front
of the other is what I would say.
It's probably more of a mentaltest than it is physical.
Once you're obviously at alevel where you've trained and
you have some sort of base, youcan put yourself into that type
of event.
And then it's all up here.
You can will yourself your waythrough probably your last 10-15

(07:17):
miles of a 50 mile race, so tospeak.

Klara (07:19):
Yeah, the most similar thing I would compare to.
We do these longer hikes everynow and then we try to schedule
them every other year.
The last one we did was theMount Everest Base Camp, and so
it's almost similar.
Once you get to the 4,000 or5,000 meter level, you just have
to trust, one step at a time,that you'll eventually get there
and just do a foot in front ofanother, you a foot in front of

(07:47):
another.
I'm sure it's not the same asultra running, but that's the
most I can compare, I guess,from my perspective, to your
mindset.

Dan Gluck (07:51):
What do you share?
It's very similar and I've donesome mountaineering myself.
I've climbed down in Patagonia,down in Argentina and Chile.
I've climbed Mount Bakeroutside of Seattle in the state
of Washington.
This summer I'm going to beclimbing Mont Blanc, actually in
France.
So I've definitely done somemountaineering, and especially
when you start getting towardsaltitude, yes, it literally is

(08:11):
just about persistence andconsistency of one slow step in
front of the other and stayingbalanced.
So there's a lot of analogiesbetween ultra endurance events
and climbing mountains.
For sure, I just love longhikes as well.
Last year my wife and I hiked.
We did the Rim to Rim in theGrand Canyon, which isn't quite
base camp of Everest, orsummiting some of the peaks that

(08:33):
I've done, but still just anepic hike and a great journey.

Klara (08:36):
Wow, how long did it take you the Rim to Rim?

Dan Gluck (08:39):
It was like an eight hour endeavor, and that was with
stopping down at the bottom ofthe canyon and having some lunch
.
So it's a very manageable hikefor anyone who is reasonably fit
Way to just escape.
Not that I was planning onbeing on my phone or whatnot,
but you lose internetconnectivity anyway once you get
into the canyon.
So no phones for nearly eighthours or so and just an

(09:01):
opportunity to be outdoors,connect with my wife.
We love doing things like that.
That's how typically we spendour time together.
For date nights or a dateweekend, it's typically
something outdoorsy, some sortof adventure For our 10-year
wedding anniversary.
Actually, this year we're goingto be hiking in Peru for four
days to go to Machu Picchu.

Klara (09:19):
Oh, that's a beautiful hike and I love the food in Peru
.
It was actually one of thefirst hikes we have done and I
so underestimated the quality offood, because once you do other
hikes after, it's like thisfood is awful, but they just
cook you some of the best foodyou know, in the middle of
nowhere, on a fire, and thereare amazing cooks there, so I'm
sure you will enjoy ittremendously, that's good to

(09:41):
know.

Dan Gluck (09:42):
No one has really alerted me to focus on the food.
In fact, all the feedback I'vereceived has been be careful
drinking the water, because I'vehad many people say that
they've gotten stomach bugs fromdrinking water.
So I'll add that to somethingthat I'm looking forward to.

Klara (09:58):
Peru is known for its cuisine.
Actually, lima, I believe, isconsidered the culinary city of
the world, and so they have somefantastic food in Peru.
I agree with the water, but Ithink that's everywhere At least
.
I have a sensitive stomach, soI just take it as part of the
experience.
Everywhere I go hiking, I justget something.
It's just an added thing.

(10:18):
You've got to manage, but it'spart of the experience, at least
for me.

Dan Gluck (10:31):
Yes, if you're going somewhere off the beaten path,
it certainly comes with theterritory.
In fact, we took our kids toMorocco and three out of four of
us all got really sick, so atthe time it wasn't so fun.
But when I look back on it it'sa little character building, I
guess.

Klara (10:39):
Yes, well, I love how we dove into already hiking,
endurance and outdoorsy thingsbut I do want to go back, even
all the way, to your upbringingand just better understand what
was your upbringing.
Like you mentioned, you did alldifferent sports, but what
attracted you especially totennis, and was there somebody

(11:00):
who influenced you?

Dan Gluck (11:01):
So I grew up on the East Coast in Connecticut and
fortunately grew up in just avery loving household.
I had an older sister and twoparents that I just simply would
say that I think what I mostbenefited from was the fact that
they truly believed inunconditional love, and that was
sort of their parentingstrategy was unconditional love,

(11:23):
and I think that's benefited metremendously, as I felt
supported as a child.
They never pushed me in adirection that I didn't want to
go.
Necessarily they let me be whoI was.
I mean, certainly there wereguardrails, but all of my
initiatives were self-driven.
All the sports that I wanted toplay was just something that I
begged to do, and I wanted toplay soccer and I want to play

(11:45):
baseball and I want to playbasketball.
And as a young kid I hadposters like many kids posters
all over my walls of all theathletes I was inspired by.
I had a poster of MichaelJordan.
I had a poster of Bo Jacksonjust do it.
I had a poster of as I got alittle older, lance Armstrong,
pre him finding out he was acheater or whatever his issues

(12:05):
were.
I still respect him, frankly,for what he's accomplished.
From an athletic perspectiveit's all another story, but now
that I remember it, actually theposter I had was after some of
the controversy, I believe, ormaybe it was right at the time,
I can't remember.
The quote was something to theeffect of it showed him on a
bike and it said something abouteveryone asked me what I'm on
and it said what I'm on is mybike, like seven days a week,

(12:28):
five hours a day, and it waslike a whole quote about,
basically, I'm just training andthat's what I'm doing.
It turned out maybe he wasn't,but anyway I digress and so grew
up an athlete I don't knowultimately what.
It was at an early age that Istarted to play tennis and
really took a love to the game.
My dad did play, so I doremember vividly playing with

(12:49):
him.
He's actually a very goodcompetitive player.
He was probably a 4-5, 5-0 typeplayer, so he was a very solid
tennis player.
I remember growing up playingwith him and then it was around
seventh grade when I made thedecision that I wanted to
specialize and only focus ontennis.
Ultimately, I just said I wantto be great at tennis that was
really how it happened and quitall my other sports and again,

(13:10):
it was all from a place where Iwas the one demanding that I
play for my parents.
They never pushed me into itand I kept saying I want more, I
want more, I want more and thatof all it's really.
I would say.
Seventh grade, which is around13 years old, is when I decided
to focus on tennis.
I would say my parents areinfluential and then I was very
fortunate to have two veryinfluential coaches that have

(13:33):
really changed the trajectory ofmy life, not only in terms of
the tennis skills that theytaught me but, more importantly,
around life, and it's made mesomewhat of the introspective
and somewhat spiritual personthat I am today.
One of my coaches who actuallylived with us.
For a period of time he was aprofessional player.
Then he became the ArgentinianDavis Cup coach and a very

(13:53):
famous teaching instructor.
My dad developed a goodrelationship with him and a
close friendship and for onesummer he actually lived with us
and then, off and on, he spentsome time living with us.
I developed an amazingrelationship with him.
This was back in the 1980s and Igrew up in like a very I'm not
gonna call it blue collar town,but like a middle class town in
Connecticut.
It wasn't Greenwich,connecticut, if you sort of know

(14:14):
the zip code of Greenwich andat the time this coach was a raw
vegan and he also was aScientologist and he exposed me
to just things that I could tellyou that no kid in my town was
being exposed to and it wasreally enlightening.
I didn't go on to become aScientologist, but he took me
through some interestingquestions and processes and

(14:36):
shared his journey of life, andto see someone who was a raw
vegan at the age of 13, 14 or sowas very influential.
And then I had another coach,similarly I mentioned.
I grew up in Connecticut.
She was the head women's tenniscoach at Yale University and I
trained with her privately andshe also just had a very
spiritual approach.
She pushed me really hard onthe court, don't get me wrong,

(14:58):
and she was a masterful coach.
But the mind games helping menavigate the mind game was
probably her greatest strength.
And she also was a veryspiritual teacher.
She introduced me to Buddhism.
She got me a meditation coach.
I learned to meditate when Iwas in junior high school, which
is again contrary to anythingthat anyone was doing at the
even just call it in theeighties, but let alone where I

(15:20):
grew up.
And then the last thing also issometimes if I wasn't playing
well and she could tell I wasn'tfocused, she would literally
make me stop playing.
She would stop feeding me ballsand take me through like a sun
salutation for two minutes or sojust to reorient my mind.
And so two very influentialcoaches in my life and having
parents who were unconditionallysupportive was instrumental.

Klara (15:41):
What stands out to me listening to you I've actually
heard you talk about it on otherpodcasts, but I couldn't grasp,
I think, the full sense of ituntil now.
It's just this wide span ofexperiences for even the coaches
, and whether it's, as youmentioned, the religious beliefs
or meditation type of things,and obviously the physical

(16:02):
activity always goes with it.
But it seems like you've gotsuch a beautiful diversity and
foundation of what peoplenowadays call this health and
fitness and wellness, becausethat's like all of these trends
that are kind of becoming nowmore popular is like meditation
asking some of the deepquestions connecting to your

(16:22):
purpose, knowing your why, andthat seems like that really came
to you in some ways early onthrough the influence of your
coaches.

Dan Gluck (16:30):
Very early on and again, as I said, it's been
fortunate that I think I'msomeone who's been very
intentional in my life, verythoughtful.
Sure, we can always do better,and that's my goal as a human is
to constantly be a betterversion of myself, but I think
it started particularly withthese two coaches in my youth.
So I feel very fortunate andwhat I love is I can't say I

(16:51):
keep in regular contact withthem.
It's been now 30 plus 40 yearsor something 46 years old, but
it was like a year ago.
I reached out to both of themand just shared with them some
of my memories, and every oncein in a while I'll exchange an
email here or there, and so it'snice that they stick with me.
And, frankly, what I've actuallynoticed is there's a
reoccurring theme in that, andwe'll talk about this maybe a

(17:13):
little later, but in the lasttwo years I started working with
an executive coach or a lifecoach, and this one coach in
particular I've been workingwith has been transformational
in my life, in my later years inadult life, and so there's a
theme throughout my life of justfinding mentors and people that
I admire, that I can learn from, be inspired by, and it's

(17:34):
something that I'm going tocontinue to do for myself.
It's also a gift that I'm goingto certainly give my children,
and as a parent, one of my goalsis to just find them extremely
motivating, talented coaches,whatever type of coach it is,
whatever they need and they'relooking for.
But if my son's a soccer player, I'm going to go find him
someone unique, not just on theskill side, but someone who also

(17:57):
can sort of serve as a lifecoach as well.
That's a commitment to myselfand to my kids.

Klara (18:02):
Yeah, but I also want to go back touch base on your
parents and how amazing it wasthat they were sort of this open
and welcoming to allow you tohave these different experiences
, because some people, I think,especially when it comes to
religion, can get really kind ofsteered towards their beliefs
in one way.
So it seems like they've reallybeen, as you mentioned, this

(18:24):
unconditional love Perhaps theywere coming from, just allowed
you to experience and make yourown beliefs and find out what
fits, and they weren't steeringyou one or a different direction
.

Dan Gluck (18:36):
Yeah, 100%.
They didn't tell me what tobelieve and I think they wanted
me to go on my own journey andexplore, and I certainly credit
them to making me someone who'smore open-minded and tolerant of
multiple views out there in theworld.

Klara (18:50):
And so, going back to your tennis experience, I don't
know if you still remember whatreally attracted you to the
sport, and I find, obviously Ihave my own thing in tennis.
But talking to other tennisplayers, I still find that my
guests have their own thing thatthey really enjoy.
Do you remember when you putyourself in the shoes of the
seventh grader?
Was there something specificthat made you say, oh, this

(19:14):
sport is really great, I want tofully focus on it.

Dan Gluck (19:23):
I played team sports my whole life and I think anyone
who knew me or knows me todaywould say I'm a great team
player, but I think I like theautonomy and the independence
you had on a tennis court.
It was me against me out on thetennis court, even though you're
obviously playing someone else,but you have to be 100%
accountable and responsible forhow you show up on the court,
and so I think there wasprobably something that I
ultimately liked about thatlevel of autonomy and the

(19:45):
demands that it required ofputting trust in myself.
You know I rarely play tennistoday which I do want to get
back to it but every time I stepon a court, I have this like
amazing wave of nostalgia and itfeels actually like home to me.
When I do step on a court, Ihave this like amazing wave of
nostalgia and it feels actuallylike home to me.
When I do step on a court, itfeels like home.
So I think I just feltcomfortable being on a tennis

(20:05):
court and I had to beaccountable for myself.
I think that was just,ultimately, what I enjoyed most.

Klara (20:11):
Yeah, I'm actually going to play later this evening, so I
know what you mean about.
When you get on the court, it'salmost like your second nature.
How often do you play now, dan?
You mentioned not very often.

Dan Gluck (20:22):
Literally never.
I've played twice or threetimes in the past three years,
for context, and before thatprobably was one time in five
years.
So sadly I just don't play.
I've prioritized other fitnessendeavors.
As I mentioned, I got reallyinto doing triathlons for a
period of time and so I wascompeting at everything from

(20:42):
short distance triathlons todoing some Ironmans.
In my career I've done severalmarathons.
I do a lot of Spartan races aswell.
So with a demanding job andwith a family I've just
deprioritized tennis.
But it is something that I keepsaying.
There will be a point in mylife where I'll get back to it.
I think I'm getting closer andcloser, but somehow all these

(21:02):
other initiatives and fitnessendeavors just keep taking
precedent, maybe because there'snewness to some of them.
I didn't grow up skiing and Istarted skiing later in my life.
In the last two years I'vediscovered skiing and I'm
obsessed with it, and there's ahistory and sort of a track
record of myself.
When I do things I kind of goall in, I'm pretty intense about
it, and so my winters now arepretty much all focused on

(21:25):
skiing on the weekend, so notime to go play tennis.
We're fortunate to live here inthe San Francisco Bay Area and
drive up to Tahoe on a weekendand ski all weekend.
And then also, most recently,I've gotten back into swimming
again and I'm currently trainingfor a three and a half mile
ocean swim.
So there's only so much time ina day that I just haven't

(21:45):
prioritized tennis.
But it'll come back in my lifethat I know it's gonna all come
full circle.
I'll be 9095 winning clubchampionships.

Klara (21:53):
You have all of these activities that actually take a
lot of time and practicing threeand a mile swim that takes a
lot of hours just itself to getinto the swimming routine.
I mean running definitely,especially the long distance
that you run, and skiing.
You can spend the whole weekend, as you mentioned, on the hill
and always be excited to skimore, at least for me.
So yeah it's tough toprioritize other things.

Dan Gluck (22:16):
It is, and I would say number one is I've gotten
really good about how to beefficient training, you know, in
terms of the actual workouts Ido, as opposed to just going out
when I'm training for amarathon and just slogging out
50, 60 miles a week, working insprints and hills, so you can
compress the time that I'mtraining.
I've also been known for I lovesolitude on runs.

(22:36):
But I've also been known fordoing a lot of work calls on
casual work calls while I'mrunning or putting on a weight
vest and walking for 30, 40minutes, just so I get in some
miles and reps.
And then also, I'm someone whois extremely disciplined how I
spend my time.
I manage my calendar to theminute.
I have an executive assistantthat helps manage my calendar.
She knows exactly when I wantto plan my calls, how I schedule

(23:00):
my workday, when I need thetime to exercise and frankly,
for me there's always thesequotes around while everyone's
sleeping or it's dark, andthat's kind of typically what I
do is I'm up early, five in themorning and my workouts are
before my kids even wake up, inan ideal world.
So headlamps for runs.
My pool opens at six.
I'm home by 645.

(23:21):
If I get in a 3040 minute swimand then see my kids and get to
the office pretty quicklythereafter.
There's definitely a lot ofregimen and strategic planning
on my calendar.

Klara (23:32):
I actually want to connect it back to your
upbringing, because it becomesthe same when you play tennis or
any sport for that matter earlyon in your childhood.
I think a lot of athletesbecome naturally very effective
and very aware of the timeinvestments because you're
always shuffling many thingsschool, then practice, back and
forth.

(23:52):
I actually was listening tosome of the podcasts you were on
.
You were also passionate aboutentrepreneurship and business
early on.
You were also passionate aboutentrepreneurship and business
early on.
Seems like you're starting yourown racket stringing sort of
venture when you were in theteenage years.
So I'm curious tell me aboutthat synergy and how that idea
even came about.

Dan Gluck (24:10):
My father was a doctor and my mom started her
career as a teacher and thensort of scratched her artist
itch and did some art for awhile and then ultimately
translated that into becoming aninterior designer.
And so sure, they werebusiness-minded, but they
weren't running massivecompanies, they weren't in the
corporate world.
But I always had an interest inbusiness at a young age and,

(24:33):
yes, when I was a young teenager, I started a racket stringing
business.
It was called Cross Strings andI had business cards.
I was making promotionalcollateral, putting posters and
advertisements at all thecountry clubs, at all the public
tennis courts, and created,frankly, quite a business.
You probably know from yourtennis days for a good racket

(24:55):
stringer it takes 20 minutes, 15minutes to string a racket, and
back then in the 1980s or 90s,when I was doing this, I was
getting $10 a racket.
That was my profit.
I would charge $10 for thelabor and then for the string
costs, and so I was makingalmost $40 an hour, $30 an hour,
which is well above minimumwage today, even, and certainly

(25:16):
back then, for a kid who was 13,14 years old.
So I was making real good moneyand my dad taught me how to
keep track of all of thecustomers.
I had a customer spreadsheetsort of tracked all the sales
and revenues when people paid meand eventually I became, quote
unquote I don't know if I'vereceived any award for this, but
I was the main or the officialracket stringer for the Yale

(25:36):
women's tennis team.
Any award for this?
But I was the main or theofficial racket stringer for the
Yale women's tennis team Imentioned.
One of my coaches was the headcoach and a team of typically 12
people on a college team or so.
I was getting you know 20rackets a week or so and
hustling down in my basementstringing tennis rackets all
year.
So it was phenomenal.
That was my first I guess youcould say entrepreneurial
endeavor.

Klara (25:55):
Yeah, it takes some skill .
I actually tried stringing myown tennis rackets because, as
you mentioned, it's expensive,even paying somebody else.
So we got a stringing machineand I never could figure out the
tension to a point where Ireally actually believed and
trusted myself like stringing myown tennis rackets.
I probably could have strungfor some amateurs, but I didn't

(26:15):
get to the 15, 20 minutes thatyou got done.
So that takes a lot of volume.
I appreciate just alone toactually get the process down
and be swift with your handsgetting the string through to
get to that 15, 20 minute perracket time.
Well done.

Dan Gluck (26:32):
It was great.
And talk about a lifestylebusiness.
Talk about a lifestyle business.
I remember in the summerbringing my stringer outside in
my backyard and would just standon my parents deck stringing
rackets for two hours or so,making some money in the summers
.
It was wonderful, Good start tomy business career.

Klara (26:47):
So, transitioning to college years, you ended up
accepting a D1 scholarshipplaying tennis.
Tell me a little bit about thattransition and even how did you
pick the college you chose foryourself?

Dan Gluck (26:59):
Unfortunately for my parents it was not a scholarship
but I did get recruited to play.
It was always my dream to playcollege tennis.
I was loving tennis, you know,obviously throughout high school
.
Interesting stat my last highschool tennis match I lost in
the state I think it wassemifinals to James Blake.

(27:20):
Coincidentally, james and Itrained together for years and
we had the same coach, brianBarker.
I grew up playing with James.
Actually he was a couple ofyears younger than me.
I was a senior.
I think he was a sophomore, soI think it was two years younger
than me when he beat me in mylast high school match, but I
knew I wanted to go on to playcollege tennis.
How I chose the school gosh, itwas a long time ago but I don't

(27:44):
even know how I ended up there,other than I visited the school
, as I was visiting a lot ofschools in more predominantly in
the Northeast of the UnitedStates, and my parents took me
on a lot of college tours.
I had some friends who wentthere and also picked a school
based on GPA grades tennis.
So I guess, if I had to thinkabout it how I chose my school,
it started out looking at mygrades and looking at my GPA and

(28:06):
looking at my SAT scores, whatare the schools that I was
capable of getting into andfortunately I was a good student
and so focused mostly on sortof schools really in the top 20,
30 of the United States.
Then it came down to what sizeschool, what type of school and
also could I play tennis.
And so through that process Ihad some of the Ivy Leagues as

(28:26):
quote unquote my reach schools.
So the Ivy, the tennis, waseven more competitive than
Colgate, even though Colgate wasa D1 school and academically
and I was kind of on borderline.
To be really honest, I probablycould have gotten on one of the
Penn or Yale teams, probablycould have gotten on
academically, but it was not asure thing.
And at the time Colgate waskind of a sure thing based on my

(28:46):
academics and sort of the teamand the coaches' assurance that
you're probably getting in basedon your tennis and your
academics.
And so I decided to apply earlyand after visiting the school,
I loved it, met a whole bunch ofthe students, met a bunch of
the players and fell in lovewith the school.

Klara (29:02):
How was your experience?
How would you sum it up,reflecting on your college
tennis years, including againbusiness schedule?
Going back to time managementas an athlete, you're always
shuffling so many things.

Dan Gluck (29:13):
One thing is that I didn't play all four years and
so I did get burnt out after myfirst year even of playing and
so I ended up not playing myfull four years, which, looking
back on, I typically am someonewho doesn't try to have regrets
in my life because I'm justgoing to be happier with where I
am today.
But I would say it wasdefinitely something I look back

(29:34):
on and question whether thatwas the right choice.
It clearly was the right choicebecause, again, I am where I am
and that's the choices you make.
You can't change that.
Certainly you learn a lot as anathlete, you know, around time
management in particular.
That was like as much as I wasmanaging my time in high school.
I think it was like a real wakeup call to manage sort of
particularly layering in thesocial component of college.
The school I went to isdefinitely a very social school

(29:56):
and I wanted to also sort ofimmerse myself in making friends
and having some fun along theway, and so definitely a wake up
call, but felt like I wasrelatively prepared and trained
for all the time managementskills that I needed to apply
Overall between my time as atennis player as well as the
time as I wasn't playing.
I had a phenomenal collegeexperience.
I loved every aspect of mycollege experience and some of

(30:19):
my closest friends that I metduring the college years are
today.
They are my closest friends,which, if nothing else and I can
just look back on the bonds andfriendships that I created to
have a couple of friends thatyou know will be best friends
for life and you've gone throughyears and years of experiences
with then.
I'm thankful, if nothing else,for that.

Klara (30:39):
And so, through college, it seems like you then
transitioned right away to thefinancial and investment
management industry.
You started after college yourfirst role with Thomson Reuters,
which sounds really interesting.
So I'm actually even curiousbased on what you studied, how
did you uncover this first rolein finance and investment

(31:01):
management, how do you reflecton it?
And even anything you havetaken, as you now shared, from
your college and tennisexperience that you see helped
you excel in that first role?
That is, I'm sure, verydemanding.

Dan Gluck (31:14):
So, interestingly enough, I studied both economics
and religion at school.
Colgate was a liberal artsschool, so they didn't even have
a finance degree that if youare engineering, if you wanted
to pursue that, it was a liberalarts education, which the whole
philosophy of liberal artseducation is to ultimately train
you how to think, and so that'sexactly what I did, and it was

(31:34):
interesting that I chosereligion, because I'm actually
not very religious.
But I think ultimately all ofthose influences that we started
talking about earlier in thepodcast around the coaches that
I had introducing me toScientology, to Buddhism, that
ultimately, I think, probablyjust piqued a curiosity in
religion, in philosophy, inpsychology, and so yet I still

(31:57):
had this sort of business sidein me, the entrepreneur who
started CrossStrings, and at avery young age I used to have a
fascination with the stockmarket.
Interestingly enough, in fact,I was home a year or so ago and
my mom had like a scrapbook andI saw a letter or an essay I
wrote as like a young kid, asearly as like fifth grade or so,
talking about my fascination inthe stock market.

(32:19):
It actually was 1987 because itwas about the market crash.
I talked all about it and Iactually said I want to work in
the stock market.
I probably really really fullyappreciate what that was at age
10.
I studied both economics andreligion.
Ultimately, my first job out ofschool was in consulting it.
It really came through aposition, through career

(32:40):
services, that a former alum rana division in this consulting
group at Thompson Writers.
Previously it was a companycalled Carson Group.
It was a small financialconsulting firm.
I went through all of theinterviews for investment
banking, which a lot of peopleyou know the traditional large
banks and the reality was Ireally had an affinity and an
attraction to a smallerorganization and there's a.
I really had an affinity and anattraction to a smaller
organization and there's arecurring theme of that.

(33:01):
In my entire career I reallyhave never gone and worked for a
large you know fortune 500, youknow size of company.
I've always appreciated a moreintimate type of setting and
somewhere where, frankly, that Ifeel like I can have more
responsibility, more autonomyand shine a bit more, which
maybe goes back to what I wassaying, what I appreciate about
tennis and being on the court.

(33:22):
So I spent a year there, reallyenjoyed it and worked with some
amazing people and then justcoincidentally got an
opportunity to go and transitionto the buy side and go over to
the hedge fund industry and atthe end of the day, I realized,
after being in consulting, Ilearned a lot at the time, but I
still had a real interest ininvesting.
That was really as I said.

(33:43):
I was doing a lot of daytrading and just investing on my
own, with my boss actually, whowas my boss of my group.
He was a couple of years olderand he also was very interested
in the markets, and so whilewe're at work on the side, I'm
also managing a portfolio.
And then when I got theopportunity to go to a hedge
fund, I was obviously reallyexcited about that and so I took
that opportunity to go there,and that was only one year after

(34:06):
I'd worked.
And I'll share one story thatI'm always proud of sharing and
I think it tells a lot about whoI am and going back to a little
about the influence I had frommy parents.
But when I started my first job,my dad said I'm going to give
you one piece of advice as youstart your career, and he said
you're the first person thereand the last person to leave,

(34:26):
and I did that every single dayfor a year.
So when I left my consultingfirm and I can't make this story
up when I told the senior bossthat I was leaving, she
literally said wow, she's like,I can't believe that.
She's like.
It seemed like you're so happyhere.
You're always the first guyhere and the last guy to leave
and she goes.

(34:46):
Well, actually it makes sensethat you're leaving now that I
think about that.
But I went home and I told mydad that and he said he just
like nodded his head and he said, yep, that's the type of work
ethic you want to have in life,and so I've always had that
mentality and so that served mevery well.
So it was a great start to mycareer, worked with some great
people and again, thatpersistent attitude working long

(35:07):
hours, putting in effort paidoff and set me up for the next
15 years of my career.

Klara (35:13):
I do want to go a little bit deeper into the consulting,
because you made it sound likestudying religion and economics
naturally led to consulting,which I don't see the connection
there in some ways to extremes.
But how did that lead you, dan,towards that?
I'm curious.

Dan Gluck (35:30):
My mom used to always say.
She said you're either going tobecome a park ranger or someone
working on Wall Street.
Or someone working on WallStreet and for whatever reason.
As I was in my junior andsenior year and started working
with career services anddeveloping a vision for what my
future would look like, it waspretty clear that I wanted to
move in the direction ofbusiness, and so through that I
started doing typically all thebig banks and consulting firms

(35:52):
come and interview on campus,and so I started getting
exposure to investment bankingand consulting and ultimately
chose the consulting route.
There wasn't that much more toit than that.

Klara (36:01):
And my sister is in actually investment banking.
I do know she has a lot offriends in consulting and so
being first person in and lastperson out, that's some really
long hours.
When did you have to be in theoffice and when were you leaving
then?

Dan Gluck (36:16):
Now you're asking me a question from 24 years ago,
but I don't know what the exacthours were.
But I worked long hours and Idid the same thing at my hedge
fund for a long time, to thepoint where I literally kept a
pillow in my office and wouldoften sleep overnight, not just
like a nap, but I did manyovernights just because I'd be
at the office till 10 o'clock atnight, just like a nap.

(36:38):
But I did many overnights justbecause I'd be at the office
till 10 o'clock at night and Ijust say might as well not even
go home, because I need to beback in at seven, literally just
.
You know, in New York you couldjust order food to your office
and have a dinner and I'd justsleep under my desk.

Klara (36:48):
I'm actually curious about your perspective as you
look back and your what seemsreally successful as well 15
years in the investmentmanagement industry.
Again, I'm looking at it from alens of my sister, just kind of
peeking in and seeing whatshe's going through.
To me it looks like a veryhierarchical type of industry
and organization to where you'reliterally almost at the

(37:11):
beginning, go through thisburnout to where it's like the
toughest ones who survive.
It seems like early on theyjust put you through so much and
you work until three and fourthat I know many people actually
can't even handle it physically.
So especially if you're someonewho needs a lot of sleep, it's
not a job for you.
And those people sort of dropout early on within the first

(37:34):
one, two, three years and sortof the ones that survived the
first two, three years.
Then you kind of progress andclimb the hierarchy.
But how do you reflect?
And even anybody who's lookingto maybe enter the industry or
is part of it, what are yourtips?
Looking at it retrospectively?

Dan Gluck (37:52):
You've got to really want it 100% because you are
going to work really long hours,you're going to work hard and
you're going to be pushed, andso you've got to want it.
And for whatever reason, Ithink I'm just someone who's
used to going back to sort of mypersonality, what I learned as
an athlete I like being pushedwhen I get into something.

(38:13):
I just want to do the best Ican.
I want to prove to myself, Iwant to prove to other people,
and so I just took thatmentality.
So at the time it was kind ofan afterthought where I wasn't
sitting there saying this sucks,this was, it was my decision.
We all have a choice in life todecide how we want to spend our
time.
My parents didn't tell me to dothat.
I think they thought like itwas crazy, probably, and so it

(38:34):
was just all self-motivated ofthis is what I want to do.
This is exciting to me.
I love the nature of the dealand also what I would share is I
worked really long, hard hoursat my hedge fund, but again, it
was all self-motivated.
The head of my firm, agentleman by the name of George
Weiss, who just last week, after42 years of running the hedge

(38:54):
fund announced that he wasretiring and shutting down the
firm.
But he was retiring andshutting down the firm, but he
was an amazing individual and anamazing human and an amazing
investor who had been wildlysuccessful, making tons of money
, an incredible philanthropistand someone who really believed
in treating his employees ashumans, whereas a lot of
investment banking firms andhedge funds did not do that.

(39:16):
That's probably if I couldactually give not only myself
credit, but certainly can givehim credit for creating a
culture that was very unique infinance.
A story that I can share is thatduring my first review, I was
two years out of college.
I spent one year there.
There was only about, at thetime when I joined, 19 people at
the firm.
So again, history of and trackrecord of finding small, more

(39:38):
intimate places where you'retreated with respect and you can
be valued and you can get a lotof autonomy and have
independence.
So there was only about 19 or20 people and I reported to
another person.
But at the end of the year,george sat down with me for a
year in review and after myreview I got up to shake his
hand and say thank you and hegrabbed my hand, but he pulled
me in and gave me a hug, andafter my review, I got up to
shake his hand and say thank you, and he grabbed my hand, but he

(39:59):
pulled me in and gave me a hugand he said we don't shake hands
, you're part of the family, andI think it was.
When you have someone like thatworking on Wall Street, who was
worth hundreds of millions ofdollars, treating you though
like a human and a family memberand being compassionate and
empathetic, that's probablycontributed equally to sort of
just my desire to win and workhard, because I worked for just

(40:20):
a really good person and all thepeople at the firm.
I think that they were therefor that reason as well, whereas
there are certainly people whohad gone through our firm and
left to maybe go to bigger firms, or maybe they could have made
more money even but if youreally wanted to sort of have a
different type of relationshipwith your co-workers, then it
made a lot of sense, and so Ithink that that contributed to

(40:41):
my longevity, and that's also.
As we talk a little about mycurrent firm, I'd like to think
we have a very unique culturewithin private equity and how
we're treating our employees andhow I think about employees
because of how I was treated andrespected.

Klara (40:56):
I'm actually wondering.
There's so much talks about badculture.
Now it seems like you arereally I don't want to say lucky
, but in some ways mindful whereyou're going to.
So any other tips of helpingpeople find that leader or that
company that fits them?
Because it seems like whatreally stands out to me as I'm

(41:16):
listening to you.
You were aware quite early onof like the environments that
are a fit for you and were ableto find them and then distill, I
guess, from the job chaos whichones are better fit versus
aren't?

Dan Gluck (41:31):
Yes, it's definitely something that I've been very
intentional about and thinkingabout.
What type of environment do Ithrive in?
What are the feelings that Iwant when I show up to work?
Who are the types of people Iwant to work with?
What is my personal mission?
What is the firm's mission?

Klara (41:46):
What are my?

Dan Gluck (41:47):
values?
What are the firm's values?
How do they work?
What are the expectations?
Is it hierarchical or is thatmore of a meritocracy?
And you talked about thehierarchical nature of a lot of
finance firms.
Fortunately, I worked at a firmfor 15 years that was not
hierarchical.
Typically, in the pecking orderof the hedge fund world, you

(42:08):
have portfolio manager, you haveanalyst and you have trader.
Typically that's kind of likethe pecking order, so to speak.
And what was interesting is, bythe time I was 30, I was a
portfolio manager and I hadanalysts who were actually older
than me.
And so if you did well and youwere someone who proved yourself
as I don't like saying this inthose terms, but a moneymaker,

(42:29):
which is what you needed to bein the hedge fund industry, you
were awarded a lot ofindependence and autonomy.
So I was managing my own teamat a very young age and I said I
had people working for me.
You're older, so there was verylittle hierarchical structure.
The firm that I worked at for 15years, which I thrived in and
again, so, going back to yourquestion, you have to know where

(42:49):
you do well and some peoplelike working within that
regimented pattern and say, ohwell, if I start here and do
this and I jump through thishoop and I get here and I see my
path, I don't think I looked atit as linearly.
So I think there's a lot ofwork to be done.
In fact, we have an operatingadvisor that works with us by
the name of Andre Martin, and hejust published a book called

(43:10):
Wrong Fit, right Fit, and it'sexactly about this.
It's not just necessarilyeveryone talks about culture and
saying, oh, I want to work in afirm that before you just say,
oh well, they've got a greatmission or vision, you need to
understand what resonates withyou and set yourself up for
success in that type ofenvironment.

(43:31):
So I think, yes, I've been verythoughtful and intentional
about that.
That's what I certainly wouldencourage most people to do, and
I'll give a pitch for his book.
He actually takes you throughin his book what he calls
excursions, and it's a wholechapter dedicated to questions
that you can ask yourself andit's almost like a questionnaire
that even has a Mad Libs-likeform to fill out that ultimately

(43:52):
spits out sort of a bit of aframework for you to really
understand what type ofworkplace and what type of job
even is most appropriate for you, and I think there's also for
young kids, students or whatnot.
There's plenty of resources,books or career services that
they at least do tests likethese.
You can do personalityassessments right Enneagrams,

(44:13):
myers-briggs there's a lot ofdifferent assessments you could
do to really just startunderstanding how you work, who
you are, what your goals are.

Klara (44:20):
Yeah, I'll check out the book.
Thanks for the recommendation.

Dan Gluck (44:23):
I'll send you a copy.
We've got a bunch of copieshere at the office.

Klara (44:31):
Thank you.
That'd be fantastic.
I appreciate it, but I do wantto go one more back to your
career on the health warrior andyou deciding to start your own
business, because I totally see,as you're explaining your path,
this entrepreneurship kind ofthe drive towards health fitness
.
It seems like you discoveredchia seeds, going back to even
your upbringing raw vegan, butat the same time, you have had

(44:51):
this what seems like amazingculture, amazing job and career
through your investmentmanagement, industry and
background.
So what was that jump about andwhat made you decide you know
what 15 years in this industryis great?
You decide you know what 15years in this industry is great.

Dan Gluck (45:10):
I'm now going to start and build something on my
own.
The seeds for starting thiscompany, health Warrior that I
co-founded began with a book, abook called Born to Run, which
is all about this tribe thatlives in the Copper Mountains of
Mexico.
They're known as the Tar Humanaand they're known for their
incredible endurance runningfeats.
Their whole society revolvesaround running because they live

(45:33):
in the mountains and the onlyway they can get around places
is by foot.
And then they were discoveredbecause they started entering
sanctioned ultra endurance races.
And there was a writer whostarted covering ultra endurance
marathons and discovered thesemen and women running these 100
mile races, wearing theseflowing robes and running

(45:54):
barefoot most of the time.
So he ended up writing thisbook Born to Run, which most
people ultimately know.
Born to Run for just thisincredible story of the
Tarahumara, but also for thebarefoot runners, because that
was what they were known for.
And then, if you recall, 15years ago or so, the Vibram
five-finger shoes that becamepopular.
So much of that was all becauseof this book that came out and

(46:16):
talking about the natural way torun is barefoot, and if you
look at modern shoes, it putsyou in an unnatural foot
position.
So, anyway, in the book, though, they also talk about the
health benefits of chia seeds,because all of these runners
would consume chia seeds duringtheir run.
Those were their energy gels,so to speak, and so, as at the
time I was training for Ironmansand I was naturally intrigued

(46:36):
by chia seeds, started consumingthem myself, noticing a real
difference in terms of my energylevels, and then I started
telling a lot of people aboutthem.
My sister said I stoppeddrinking coffee because I felt
so good, and it became part ofher daily habit, and at the time
it was just myself and one ofmy business partners at my hedge
fund.
We started.
We're experimenting togetherwith the GSDs.

(46:58):
He was a former D1 footballplayer and he was also noticing
the health benefits, and sotogether we said there's a
business opportunity here.
One of the ways I was inspiredwas I was an early investor in a
beverage brand called ZicoCoconut Water, which we'll come
to because it comes full circle,because now my business partner
at Ground Force was the founderof Zico Coconut Water, which

(47:19):
his name is Mark Rampolla.
What Mark had done with Zicowas take a product that was
indigenous to another part ofthe world coconut water,
extremely healthy and relativelyunknown in the United States,
and he said I'm going to brandit and bring this to the US, and
had tremendous success withthat.
So I saw what Mark had donewith Zico and coconut water, and
my business partner, nick, andI said we can do this with chia

(47:40):
seeds, and so we sought out togo start this company.
What we realized, though, isobviously starting a company
while running a hedge fund isvery demanding.
And in comes my old collegeroommate and best friend at the
time and currently today, whowas in between jobs, and we said
hey, we think we have aninteresting business opportunity
here.
We're really busy working.

(48:01):
You know our day job, so tospeak.
We can't take calls with, youknow, people from Mexico and
Bolivia trying to source chiaseeds in the middle of the
trading hours.
That's not very responsible,and we said why don't you help
us?
From that moment on, shanejoined us, initially just sort
of a consultant, but ultimatelybecame a co-founder with us,
when we all officially saidlet's go launch this business,
and so Shane actually became theCEO, nick and I decided,

(48:25):
actually, we were not going toleave our day jobs Just like
hedge fund traders.
We hedged ourselves and wedecided to keep our day jobs,
which was paying the bills tofund the business.
And we funded the business forat least the first year and put
in a decent amount of capital toget it off the ground to pay
Shane.
Obviously, shane had equity inthe business, with us as an
owner in the business and fromthat moment on we were very
instrumental in the business,but we weren't running it day to

(48:46):
day.
So I kind of got to eat my cakeand with this expression yeah,
have my cake and eat it too.
By still maintaining myinvestment role at a large hedge
fund but also now having thisentrepreneurial endeavor on the
side.
And I was very involved earlyon in the development of the
company.
I was part of interviewingevery single candidate.
I was part of the ideation ofthe brand name, sitting there
with the marketing firm whencandidate.

(49:07):
I was part of the ideation ofthe brand name sitting there
with the marketing firm when wecame up with the name Health
Warrior and looked at 50 othernames and designs.
It was really exciting that wewere building this business on
the side and I got to beinvolved in the ideation and the
startup phase but also stillwas able to maintain my role as
a partner at the hedge fund.

Klara (49:23):
I'm curious how much the hedge fund and obviously
understanding the investmentsand financial world helped you
in taking on, then building yourown company, Health Warrior.
And if you look at that, arethere also some things that, oh,
I haven't anticipated this.
Maybe actually building my owncompany is not as easy, while I
do have all of this financialand probably you had access to

(49:46):
CEO and very influential peoplewho are building successful
businesses what it's like toactually have and live your own
experience.

Dan Gluck (49:54):
Yeah, it's a great question, and what I would say
is the biggest realization forme was the human capital side of
business and managing peopleand personalities, because our
hedge fund, while we were amulti-billion dollar hedge fund
and even when we had 30 or $50million positions in companies,

(50:17):
we were investing predominantlyin mid and large cap companies,
and so I'm not involved inrunning the company.
I'm looking at sort of theirfinancials, I'm looking at
industry trends.
I'm not so close to thecompanies that I understand all
of the underworkings of howtheir team is coming together
and the time and attention itrequires to keep the team happy,

(50:38):
to keep them motivated, to keepprocesses moving forward, and
so I think that was probably thebiggest wake-up call for me was
how to find talent, how tomanage talent and then how to
retain talent as well, and so Ithink that was sort of the
biggest wake-up call to me andI'm going to say something that
might sound a littlecontroversial but I'm going to

(51:00):
share it because it is somethingthat I've seen.
But you talked about sort ofthe demands in finance.
What I also learned is thatwhile people are very committed
in finance and banking and thehedge fund world to work a 60,
70, 80, sometimes 90 hour weeks.
That's not so much in a lot ofother roles and so I think my
expectations of employees westarted hiring were probably

(51:24):
like wait, why aren't youworking around the clock?
Why aren't you answering emailsat midnight when I'm sending an
email?
So it took some adjustment tounderstand that not everyone
wants to dedicate their entirelife to a business.
That said, I think we foundsome really passionate people
that we created work-lifebalance.
But they really were passionateabout what we were doing and I

(51:44):
think we had a company that wasmotivating them to work hard and
created the right incentivesand gave everyone equity in the
company on our team and gavethem certain adventure days
because it was a very healthoriented business, and so
adventure days were days whereyou could just take a random day
off and go skiing if there wasgreat powder and you're on the
West Coast, but then we justasked you team member to come

(52:05):
back and report on it, sharepictures, write a little story
about it.
So I think we created a greatculture where people were
motivated to work hard, but thatwas definitely also a bit of a
surprise for me.

Klara (52:14):
I want to touch on what you mentioned of market trends.
So I'm curious, because you'vebeen doing this financial
analysis and investments whenyou were investing your own
money to Health Warrior and youfeel like, oh, this really
should work, were you actuallydoing some of the analysis as
well on the market?
Or was it all just intuition?

(52:35):
Because you've had thatbackground, you've maybe seen
what's happening in the worldand you so believed in it.

Dan Gluck (52:41):
And certainly in the investment management industry,
whether it's today and or at myfund, intuition is not the way
you invest.
They always talk aboutemotionless investing.
Everything we did was rooted ina lot of financial analysis, a
lot of trend analysis, a lot ofdata analysis.
When I really think about howwe started Healthware, there was

(53:03):
definitely a lot more probablyintuition and gut as it relates
to sort of the business, and itwas something that I think I had
a pretty good pulse on themarket.
I knew where trends were movingin terms of people were looking
for better for you product.
As I said, I had this intimateknowledge of my current business
partner, mark's business, zico.
There are a few otherbusinesses that I was watching

(53:25):
emerge in brands, and vitaminwater was like a huge success.
That was a better for youGatorade, so to speak, and a
better for you hydration product.
At the end of the day, it'sstill not better for you at all
really, but at the time it was,and so I think I saw a lot of
data points, but I wouldn't saythis was such a quantitative,
top-down driven decision where Isaid, okay, here are all the

(53:47):
trends and here's the nextsuperfood that's going to emerge
.
We found chia seeds, we knewthe trends were moving in the
favor of people, moving towardsbetter for you and healthy
snacking and nutrition.
And we said let's do this.

Klara (53:59):
And so in 2018, you have been able to build impressive
company it seems like afantastic culture and you decide
to sell it to PepsiCo and exit.
And now you started andco-founded Grand First Capital.
But I'm actually curious aboutthe reasons for the exit.
How did it feel?

(54:19):
Because one thing is, once youexit, obviously hopefully you
got amazing amount of money forit.
But that exit of buildingsomething from scratch and then
leaving it, what was thatfeeling like?

Dan Gluck (54:32):
While we were self-funding for the first year
or two, we then raised friendsand family capital and then we
did raise money from a privateequity firm.
And so the reality is and I cansay this as someone who
understood this, going in tohaving taking private equity
money as well as now being onthat side of private equity when
you take private equity money,there is a gun to head at some

(54:54):
point, typically where theirmodel relies around selling
businesses and returning capitalto their investors.
And so I knew that at somepoint we were going to be
selling this company and I,frankly, was okay with it from
the perspective.
I knew what their businessmodel was and I knew what the
return expectations they had fortheir business and also,
frankly, I also was looking atthis as an entrepreneurial

(55:16):
endeavor that I was looking I'mnot embarrassed to say to make
money.
And so if I could sell thebusiness and make a certain
amount of money for myself, formy investors, for my friends and
family, then I thought thatwould be a wonderful success.
And then you'd like to thinkand we could talk a little about
this that when you do sell to alarge company like Pepsi, they
have even farther reach to bringwhat we believe was a genuinely

(55:38):
much healthier product on themarket to the masses.
It didn't work out that well,ultimately because Pepsi didn't
do much with the brand, and sothere was some remorse around
that in seeing that the brandkind of died under Pepsi's
ownership.
But at the end of the day, I wasvery comfortable with saying
this is a business and we haveinvestors and that's what their

(55:58):
goals are, and so when the timecame to selling, there was some
controversy.
You know at the time that wesold the business because,
candidly, we had inboundinterest from Pepsi and Nestle
and a few other companies, justbecause our brand was growing
really quickly.
We were, at the time, thenumber one bestselling bar in
the natural channel.
Chia was like, if you look backto sort of 2017, 18, it was

(56:22):
always being called like thehottest food trend, like always
like the top five for those twoyears.
So we got you want to call itlucky, you want to call it
forward-looking but we justhappened to have a company that
was in the right place at theright time and so we had a lot
of interest.
Myself and my partners wantedto hold onto it for another two
years, but at the end of the day, private equity firm had more

(56:43):
consent rights with respect towhat the ultimate outcome was
for this company, and so theysaid this is the time to sell
when you have bidders knockingon your door, you hit the bid
and, frankly, they were right Atthe time.
As I said, there was sometension and looking back on it
as a founder, as well as nowsitting in my seat today, I
think it was the right choiceand again, everything works out

(57:05):
for a reason because itultimately was a great
springboard for me to then gostart a new career in doing what
I'm doing today investing inemerging food and beverage and
food service and food techcompanies.
So maybe we sold and left somemoney on the table, but it all
works out because I wouldn't bewhere I am today.

Klara (57:22):
Yeah, let's dive into that experience, because even
looking at your career onLinkedIn and obviously listening
to you, it literally seems likethe quote from Steve Jobs you
can't connect the dots lookingforward, but you can always
connect them looking backwards.
So you have to trust insomething like karma, and it
just seems so beautiful howeverything you've described from

(57:42):
back your beginning andupbringing seems like really
converging now, including yourexperience through investment
industry and building your ownbusiness to now being the
co-founder and managing partnerof GrandForce, which I've looked
at your website and I love whatyou guys do and the principles,
obviously, how you invest.
So tell listeners a little bitmore about that and even maybe

(58:05):
what the name stands for.

Dan Gluck (58:06):
Yeah, happy to do that, but I'll interject real
quickly.
When you just talked aboutSteve Jobs quote, that's great
and it reminds me of someone whoI am very inspired by.
So I have in front of me in myoffice I have what I call an
inspiration wall and it's allpictures of people, or I have
some book covers on there.
I have a letter that my sonwrote me that inspired me, and

(58:30):
one of the photos that I'mlooking at now is it's a
triptych of ArnoldSchwarzenegger as a bodybuilder,
as the Terminator and as thegovernor.
And I'm so inspired by what he'sdone because, first off, I'm
sure when he was a bodybuilderhe never thought he was going to
be an actor, and when he was anactor he probably never thought
he was going to be the governorof California.

(58:52):
And it turns out that he justexcelled in all of these
different areas in three verydistinct careers.
But if you look back now, beenable to connect the dots forward
to what he's achieved over hislast 70 years or so, that's been

(59:14):
very inspiring to me.
I actually never heard thatquote, but I love that.
I'm going to go find if he gavethat in a speech.
That certainly resonates withme.

Klara (59:21):
I'll share this speech with you and have it saved.

Dan Gluck (59:23):
Please To answer your question.
You asked about ground force.
What does it stand for?
So, first off, the history ofour firm is that it's evolved
quite a bit, and I joined acouple of years ago as the
fourth partner in a firm thatwas previously known as Power
Plant Ventures, where we wereinvesting predominantly in
businesses focused aroundplant-based nutrition.
The thesis was, ultimately,that plant-based nutrition was

(59:45):
better for human health as wellas for planetary health, and so
I had some partners who starteda first fund focusing exactly on
that.
I joined when we were raisingour second fund, but ultimately,
for various reasons, it evolvedto the point where two of my
partners decided to step awayfrom the business.
My partner, mark, and I decidedthat we were going to move
forward, and we ultimatelydecided we wanted to change our

(01:00:07):
strategy, to broaden ourstrategy, we wanted to change
our name.
We hired pretty much an entirenew team, and so today we're
operating under Ground Force,and when Mark and I were
thinking about sort of the name,we worked with a marketing
agency, and we ultimately hadtwo main messages that we wanted
to convey.
Everything we do as a firm,everything is 100% commercially

(01:00:29):
driven from a financial returnperspective, but we also do, as
you see, have this sort of haloaround us, around impact, and we
genuinely want to continue tofocus on businesses that are
focused on promoting humanhealth as well as sustainability
from a climate andenvironmental perspective.
And so we said we need a namethat is able to convey our

(01:00:50):
rigorous focus on returns andour disciplined approach to
investing, much like a GoldmanSachs, a Blackstone, a BlackRock
.
But we also want to make surethat we convey a message to our
constituents that we do caredeeply about the types of
businesses that we're investingin, that there's a greater
purpose behind our investments,that we're really clear on what

(01:01:11):
our mission and vision is forimproving the world as it
relates to people and planet.
And we said think of brandslike Patagonia as inspiration,
and so that was sort of what weshared with the marketing agency
, and, after a long process, welanded on the name Ground Force,
which ultimately stands for anda tagline we came up is

(01:01:33):
grounded in excellence and aforce for good, and so we think
it completely marries the twomain goals and priorities that
we have as investors.
And so we're really excitedabout the name, the name change
and the brand, and as are theteam, and it's been just a
wonderful rallying cry for us aswe plant sort of a flag in the

(01:01:55):
earth here with this new fundand this new team and this new
strategy.

Klara (01:01:59):
And it sounds amazing.
Actually, as you say, you did agreat job, and so can you share
a little bit more about whatyou're actually investing in and
what are you most optimisticabout?
I know, again, this is an areathat you're deeply passionate.
Any of the trends, even perhaps, as we think of generative AI
now LLMs everybody talks aboutthat right, your investment and

(01:02:24):
sustainability specifically, orhealth and fitness, and just a
few contradictions perhaps thisozempic drugs and obesity rising
.
I just read an article, anemail came.
There's more than 1 billionpeople, or one in eight people,
worldwide that are now estimatedto have obesity, which is based
on a new study.
So some of these numbers arejust astounding.

(01:02:47):
Right, so there's a lot ofthings we can do about it
personally, but yeah, how areyou thinking about it from
investment perspective?

Dan Gluck (01:02:54):
Yeah, and, by the way , your statistics even more
alarming if you add not onlyobesity but just overweight.
Overweight and obese issomething like 70% of the US
population today.
It's atrocious, it's a majorproblem.
It is complex.
I can't say I have all theanswers, but certainly what I do
believe in is the food systemis one area that can be and
needs to be fixed.

(01:03:15):
There is scientific evidencethat food certainly contributes
to all of the chronic diseasesthat we're currently plagued
with, from diabetes tocardiovascular disease to
obesity can all be prevented andactually reversed through
nutrition.
Of course, there are outliers.
I'm not going to argue thatevery single person could be

(01:03:37):
with diabetes or cardiovasculardisease can cure it through
nutrition, but I'm going to goon the record probably saying
90% of these ailments can betreated with food and proper
nutrition.
And so some of the biggesttrends that have to take place
forget even that are takingplace but it's the movement away
from ultra processed foods.

(01:03:57):
I mean that is, you know, Ithink one of the number one
killers in our society today ispeople eating packaged food that
is just laden with seed oilsand other unnutritious
ingredients that don't serveanyone well.
And so I think that one of thebiggest trends, as I said, is

(01:04:18):
just this movement away fromultra processed foods.
I think an area as it relates tothat, as you get away from that
and you move to food, ismedicine, this whole concept,
and I think there are someinteresting companies out there
that are creating solutionswhere they're creating meals and
platforms that will ultimatelybecome medically reimbursed by

(01:04:39):
health insurers.
I think that's a great start andI think that's a huge area of
development in an area we'respending a lot of time on.
It's still early and nascent,but there are companies that are
emerging and drug companies arebeginning to wake up to
understand that this is asolution and probably is even a
more cost-effective solutionthan a lot of the other

(01:04:59):
treatments that they havevis-a-vis drugs, particularly
GLP-1s, which obviously, onZempik, we've seen sort of a lot
of talk in the marketplace.
I think GLPs are being abusedand they're not the solution for
diabetes or weight loss.
As I said, I strongly believethat most chronic diseases can
be prevented and or reversedwith proper nutrition and
exercise.

(01:05:20):
Taking a pill is not thelong-term solution.
In fact, I've seen some studieseven that have proven that you
lose up to 60% of your lean bodymass on GLPs, and 90% of those
patients actually end up justregaining the weight back, and
so I think that isn't thesolution in my mind and, as I

(01:05:41):
said, I think with the rightnutrition people can solve a lot
of these problems.

Klara (01:05:45):
Yeah, so thinking about where we go from this next 2024
is here.
There's lots that's happening,including election year.
People are struggling withweight.
There's the Gen AI technologypeople are worried that it will
replace us.
What are some of the thingsthat you think people should be

(01:06:07):
doing more of or less of and youcan take this from any angle,
whether even you want to look atit for your investment lens
where do you think are some ofthe opportunities that each of
us can take action and get justa bit better?

Dan Gluck (01:06:19):
My simple answer, but I know it's always not so
simple for people to execute on,but it's more exercise, more
sleep, more healthy eating, moreintrospective thinking, more
healthy reading and less socialmedia.
That would be my sort of mythoughts around that.
Yeah, you've got to be reallydisciplined and I think, with

(01:06:41):
the right discipline around,taking care of your physical and
mental health is so beneficialand yet it's so hard for so many
people.
I'd actually say for myself, Idon't know what it is, whether
I'm just call it lucky, but forwhatever it is, I've always had
some sort of ease with findingdiscipline in my life.

(01:07:03):
And it's interesting.
Someone recently asked me who'soverweight and suffering from
type two diabetes and came to mesaying like you know, just I'm
really struggling with itbecause I'm really having a
tough time eating healthy andstaying motivated to exercise.
He's like how do you do it?

(01:07:23):
And I actually didn't say thisto him, but the reality is and I
was embarrassed to say this is,I have the opposite problem.
I have a really tough time notexercising and eating unhealthy.
Because I eat unhealthy, I feelterrible, I feel guilty and if
I don't exercise I'm grumpy andI also don't feel well.
So it's almost like a hard forme to even comprehend how

(01:07:43):
someone wouldn't find it easy,because I feel so much better
and maybe it's just that somepeople never get the chance to
know how good you can feel whenyou are eating well and when
you're taking care of your mindand you're reading quality books
and quality research orwhatever it might be, versus
wasting time scrolling onInstagram and TikTok and
watching mindless TV shows.

(01:08:05):
But for me, the feeling iseuphoric, so I would just
encourage people to go and spendsome time create those habits,
because once you start it's hardto stop, as you know.

Klara (01:08:14):
Yeah.

Dan Gluck (01:08:15):
Those healthy habits.
Frankly, I just can't imaginenot being able to do that.

Klara (01:08:19):
We've talked about it with some of my guests on some
other podcasts and I alwaysponder about that too and I also
wonder, just because theexperience you have so early in
the childhood of understandingthe benefits of the activity and
how you felt, if you actuallydo it early on, it just allows
you to tap into understandingyour potential and how different
that feeling is?

Dan Gluck (01:08:40):
I would think so.
I mean there's certainly a lotof studies from an academic
perspective about the benefitsof the earlier you start in
school, the more benefits youhave throughout, depending on
certain indicators and markersin the educational system.
So I would assume thattranslates to mental health, to
physical health as well.

Klara (01:09:01):
Yeah, speaking of I think there's a lot of just talks
about the younger generation andsome of the mental challenges
they're struggling.
I personally really believe ifthey just work out more and add
more activity, they willactually be better off and they
will have less time for exactlywhat you mentioned social media
and you thinking about some ofthe mental problems, because

(01:09:22):
running on the court, I think,especially in tennis, going back
to where we started I just wasso exhausted all the time
because you spent all yourenergy chasing the yellow tennis
ball that you don't have muchtime to think about some other
problems.
But, dan, it's been such afantastic conversation.
I could talk to you for hoursand I know you have a busy
schedule back to back and verydisciplined and organized.

(01:09:44):
So maybe any last things youwant to share with the world and
how can people find you orwhat's the best way to follow
you?
Anybody who wants to get intouch?

Dan Gluck (01:09:53):
Great, I really appreciate it Also could
likewise keep this conversationgoing for a lot longer.
I look forward to following upwith you and getting on the
tennis court too.
As far as people following me,I've become a bit more active on
LinkedIn lately, so you canfind me on LinkedIn and I've
been sharing some of my thoughtsaround leadership and business
and you can follow me there.

Klara (01:10:13):
Excellent.
I'll add it to the episodenotes and I conquer.
I enjoy reading your posts, soplease continue.
They're fun and insightful.

Dan Gluck (01:10:21):
Great, thank you.

Klara (01:10:22):
Thank you.
Have a great day.
If you enjoyed this episode, Iwant to ask you to please do two
things that would help megreatly.
One, please consider leaving areview on Apple Podcasts,
spotify or any other podcastingplatform that you use to listen
to this episode.
Two, please share this podcastwith a friend who you believe
might enjoy it as well.

(01:10:43):
It is a great way to remindsomeone you care about them by
sharing a conversation theymight be interested in.
Thank you for listening.

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Klara Jagosova

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}76. Daniel Gluck︱Game, Set, Invest: From Tennis Prodigy to Investment Guru @ GroundForce Capital