Launching a fund to acquire ranches, lease them back to their owners, and implement conservation practices
Founders: Jack Beuttell and David Nicola
Venture: Working Lands Impact Fund
What happened: Jack and Dave were ultimately unable to secure funding for the plan.
Dan Heath: “Jack and Dave were a great inaugural duo for the Launch Pad. They met at a party early in the first year at Fuqua and discovered they had an unlikely common interest: ranching! After they won the prize, they were relentless in refining the plan. They sought feedback everywhere they could get it. What they were trying to do was complex, and coupled with the fact that they would have been first-time fund managers, it was ultimately just too hard to sell. But I was so proud of how hard they worked on it. I wish there had been an enlightened moneybags who would have taken a chance on them.”