Nobody ever went broke buying dinner for their friends
Brian David
Crane
An aspiring polymath who happens to own and operate a portfolio of digital brands. Father, reader, reluctant executive. Interested in the enduring ideas behind purpose, liberty, and the science of human flourishing.
The portfolio
Six brands, one thesis
Through my venture studio, both capital and sweat equity are poured into digital brands across e-commerce, SaaS, and software development which I believe in.
6
Brands
20+
Team members
4
Continents
$20M+
Annual revenue
Individual portfolio companies are not publicly disclosed because our work operates under NDA. Those who need to know, know.
The path here
Built, sold, kept going
Early days
Co-founded a recycling company at 16 - tired of applying aloe to sunburns from the lawn care business that came before it. Grew it through college, sold it after a year studying abroad in Argentina - one of the best years of my life. Then canceled an around-the-world trip three countries in, co-founded a private equity fund, and nearly went bankrupt when it was shut down following the Bear Stearns collapse in ’08.
Silicon Valley
A friend from university got me a shot at a startup in the Bay Area, and my dad and I drove cross-country to get there. The founders were brilliant, and I had a series of incredible mentors who taught me how to build and profitably scale web properties. That business spun out two acquisitions - Archives.com by Ancestry.com for $100M, and the parent company by Checkr for ~$400M. Started Spread Great Ideas as a side hustle to invest in digital brands and causes close to my heart i.e. liberty, civil rights, philosophy, and personal sovereignty.
Going independent
Sold most of my possessions - except for my Piaggio scooter - and did the rounds of every digital nomad hotspot you can imagine, eventually “settling” in Bali where I built a villa. Built an award-winning iOS app that BuzzFeed dubbed “turnt up caller ID.” Wrote for Inc. and Forbes about distributed teams and the hidden downsides of being a digital nomad.
Now
Fell in love with and married an amazing Dutch woman after meeting her at an ecstatic dance. Two daughters later, still haven’t looked back. One venture studio, six brands, a team spread across four continents. Still figuring out how to balance all of that with being the father and husband I want to be. Writing more, managing less, staying healthy, and learning Dutch slower than my daughters.
P.S. Why “BDC”?
Because if you put the “a” before the “i” in Brian, you get “Brain” - which rhymes with Crane. It happened in school. All. The. Time. So I started going by my full name as a sort of mental speed bump - only to then have that get shortened.