DUBBS CAPITAL
Much of the economy still runs on phone calls, spreadsheets and one person's memory. We buy established businesses, run them for the long term, and ask what they could do with the tools that exist today.
The long view
Turn sound on to hear a short spoken line in each chapter. Everything also reads silently.
Shells for money
More than 3,000 years ago in China, people used cowrie shells, and later bronze copies of them, as a shared unit of value. A tiny, tough shell that was hard to fake let people trade without swapping goods.
NarrationMoney did not begin as numbers. More than three thousand years ago in China, it was a shell. Small, tough and hard to fake. It let people trade without swapping goods.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Trust in a stamp
Historians date the first coins to about 650 to 575 BCE in Lydia, in western Anatolia. Rulers stamped lumps of a natural gold and silver blend to promise weight and purity. Buyers stopped weighing the metal and trusted the mark.
NarrationThen someone added a stamp. In Lydia, rulers marked lumps of a gold and silver blend to promise weight and purity. Buyers stopped weighing every coin. They trusted the mark instead.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Money becomes a promise
During the 11th century in Chengdu, China, merchants wrote promissory notes, which are written promises to pay, instead of hauling heavy iron coins. In the 1020s the government took over issuing them. Money became a claim on an issuer.
NarrationBy the eleventh century in Chengdu, merchants swapped heavy iron coins for paper promises. Then the government took over the issuing. Money was no longer a metal object. It was a claim on whoever issued it.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The gold anchor
In 1900 the US tied the dollar to a weight of gold. In 1971 it stopped swapping dollars for gold with foreign governments. Since 1913, consumer prices are up about 34 times, so a 1913 dollar buys under three cents of what it did.
NarrationOnce, a dollar meant a fixed weight of gold. In nineteen seventy-one, the last link to gold was cut. Since nineteen thirteen, prices are up about thirty-four times. A nineteen thirteen dollar now buys under three cents' worth.
Source: en.wikipedia.org federalreservehistory.org fred.stlouisfed.org fred.stlouisfed.org
Money leaves the wallet
In 1950, Diners Club became the first independent payment card company, so people could pay later, with a company in the middle. In 2007, Kenya's M-Pesa let people hold and send money from a basic mobile phone.
NarrationIn nineteen fifty, a card let you pay later. In two thousand seven, in Kenya, a basic phone could hold money and send it. Each step moved money further from anything you could touch.
Source: en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
A new kind of tool
In 2012, a program called AlexNet won the ImageNet image contest. It learned from examples, training for five to six days on two consumer graphics cards, which are chips built for fast math. That hardware could be bought off the shelf.
NarrationIn twenty twelve, a program called AlexNet won an image contest after training for five to six days on two consumer graphics cards. Each of these tools favored the people who learned it early. This one is the newest.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The quiet businesses
Many good companies still run on phone calls, paper and one person's memory. More than half of US business owners were 55 or older, said the 2019 Annual Business Survey. By early May 2026, 37% of firms with 250 or more staff used AI.
NarrationPicture a business that has served its town for decades. Quotes live in one person's head. Follow-ups happen by phone. In the twenty nineteen survey, over half of US business owners were fifty-five or older.
Source: census.gov census.gov
Buy, operate, automate
Dubbs buys an established business whose owner wants a new operator, then runs it for the long term. We learn the work first. Then we add AI automations, software that handles routine tasks like quotes, scheduling, invoices and follow-ups.
NarrationDubbs buys an established business from an owner who wants a new operator, and stays to run it. We learn the work first. Then we add automation for quoting, scheduling, invoicing and follow-up.
Source: stlouisfed.org
What stays, what changes
Customers should see the same service, with faster answers. Our plan is to keep the team and take repetitive work off their plates. The owner talks directly with the decision maker and can hand over gradually. We think long term.
NarrationCustomers should get the same service, with faster answers. Our plan is to keep the team and lift the repetitive work. Owners talk to the person who decides, and can hand over slowly. We think long term.
Source: fedsmallbusiness.org
If you own a business and are thinking about handing it to a new operator, write or call. Tell us what you do and what you hope happens next. We keep what you share private.
Start a conversation ↗If you want to learn how we look at a business and show us how you think, apply to become an analyst. Applying does not promise a role.
Apply to be an analyst ↗What we do
We look for good, established companies whose owner is ready for a new operator. Many of these owners built something over decades and want it to carry on in careful hands.
We stay. We become the operator, learn the work from the people who do it, and make decisions with a long view instead of a quarterly one.
Dubbs Capital is an Anthropic partner. We bring AI automation into traditional industries. The aim is to take repetitive work off people's plates so they can spend their time on customers and craft.
Wilson Wu: Certified by Anthropic.
Value creation services
Much of the economy still runs on phone calls, spreadsheets and one person's memory.
Turn a customer request into an accurate quote the same day, using the business's own past jobs and prices.
Match jobs to crews, trucks and time slots, and adjust when the day changes.
Send invoices when work is finished and follow up politely on the ones that are late.
Sort transactions, flag what looks off, and get the month-end books ready sooner for a person to review.
Check in after a job, answer common questions, and make sure no inquiry sits unanswered.
Draft job posts, screen applications, and turn the way your best people work into training material.
Workers who used generative AI reported saving 5.4% of their work hours. Self-reported, November 2024 survey. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
For business owners
A buyer who plans to run the business, not resell it. You get a direct conversation with the person who would make the decisions, a plain explanation of how we think about price and structure, and room to talk through timing, including a gradual handover.
We buy businesses because of the people and relationships in them. Our plan is to keep the team that makes the work good and to keep serving customers the way you do today. Changes come one at a time, with the people who do the work in the room. Specifics depend on the business, and we will say so plainly when you ask.
Send us a short email or call. Tell us what the business does and what you hope happens next. We will ask questions, keep what you share private, and tell you honestly whether we are a fit.
Our values
We think long term and do not give up long-term value for a short-term result.
We are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them.
We try to get more done with less.
We deliver the right quality, on time.
When we commit, we commit fully.
Explore
From shells to ledgers to code, a short walk through how money changed and what that tells us about what comes next.
A small game about running a business, where every choice costs something.
A hands-on way to learn how we look at a business, and to show us how you think.