Elijah Buford | SpeakerHub

Personal Details

Bio

Hi, I’m Elijah. I am an executive, venture capital investor, and luxury lifestyle consultant. I work closely with ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, celebrities, and top-level government officials to deploy capital by funding startups and arranging high-end lifestyle services - including private jet and yacht charters.

Current position (1)

Executive, Centurion (Black Card) Membership

American Express

Degrees (1)

Business Administration

Morehouse College

2009 to 2011

Presentations

Presentations (2)

VC’s Place in the Family Office Portfolio

In some ways, venture capital marries the key qualities of private equity and values-based investment. Like private equity, VC requires large capital outlay and the potential for high ROI while also requiring patience and a high risk tolerance.

Perhaps to a greater degree than private equity, however, VC also allows family offices the opportunity to make value-driven funding decisions and have a direct impact on the startups in which they invest.

In fact, such investing has become a way for families to gain buy-in from younger generations and to "actualize their giving" through methods other than philanthropy.

Many family offices begin their foray into VC through funds, but when they do graduate to direct investment, most family offices also provide strategic guidance, participate on the board and facilitate connections to other investors.

The Future of Investing in Luxury Assets

This asset class divides opinion. Luxury assets such as aircraft and motor vessels do tend to have very high running costs, even when not in use. This can cause some clients to see them as cost centers rather than assets.

However, I have seen some client families create financial returns from such assets, either through capital gains as a result of timely purchase and sale of the assets through bear and bull cycles, or through charter arrangements. However, it should be noted that in many of these asset classes, there has been a long-term excess of supply over demand since 2008. This has resulted in a prolonged bear cycle for many luxury assets, particularly at the low and medium end of the market.