2025 End of Year Letter
Two months ago, in New York City, we hosted our 2nd Annual Principled Business Summit with more than 400 investors, executives, and entrepreneurs. They came from every corner of the economy, from space and aerospace to entertainment, advanced manufacturing, hospitality and restaurants, technology, finance, and more, representing both fast growing startups and established global enterprises. What united them was a simple conviction and common purpose:
Capitalism is the greatest force for human flourishing in history, and business leaders must understand the principles that underlie this system to defend and preserve it for future generations. You know the record. Capitalism has lifted 85 percent of the world’s population out of extreme poverty. It has increased average per capita GDP by over 1,200 percent. Life expectancy has more than doubled. Global literacy has risen from 12 percent to nearly 90 percent. The story of free enterprise is nothing less than the story of human liberation and the expansion of human capacity, and we have only begun to tap its true power.
For three days we saw that conviction in action. Founders, executives, and entrepreneurs shared concrete stories of capitalism as a force for good, showing how their companies extend the lives of family pets, empower blue collar trades, and make healthcare faster and more affordable. Investors described how they deploy capital to expand human freedom and opportunity, and executives shared practical ways to build companies that serve employees, delight customers, and strengthen the communities they call home, all while defending capitalism as an engine of human progress.
At the Principled Business Summit we saw the future of free enterprise in microcosm: principled capitalists who live its values, stand up for them, and relentlessly innovate, break down barriers, and challenge conventional limits to push humanity forward.
At the same time, outside that room, the story of capitalism is being distorted. Across media, education, and elite institutions, free enterprise is framed as exploitative rather than liberating, zero sum rather than positive sum. The moral legitimacy of capitalism is evaporating in the eyes of the rising generation. Economic success is treated less as evidence of value created and opportunity expanded and more as proof of a moral defect that must be confessed. This is not only a political or economic error. It is a cultural and spiritual sickness that feeds envy and resentment, attacks human excellence, and forgets that every experiment in collectivism has ended in repression, poverty, and despair. It is a lesson humanity cannot afford to relearn.
If capitalists do not stand for capitalism, who will?
That is why we built Principled Business. Our mission is to engage capitalists in communicating, educating, and activating the principles of capitalism, so that the system that lifted billions from poverty is understood, defended, renewed and preserved for future generations.
Even at this early, bootstrapped stage, here is what we have already put in motion:
Built a network of more than 20,000 investors, executives, and entrepreneurs who see capitalism as a force for human flourishing, and reached more than 50,000 people through our events, content, and communications.
Hosted more than 20 events for over 1,000 attendees, including summits on Necker Island and in New York City with leaders such as John Mackey, Steve Forbes, Joe Lonsdale, Tim Draper, and Brock Pierce, and our 2nd Annual Principled Business Summit with over 400 participants.
Run accelerator cohorts for 50 founders worldwide and expanded our education work to train 250 entrepreneurs, 500 employees, and 200 business leaders in the principles and practice of capitalism as a force for human flourishing.
Launched the Capitalists for Capitalism magazine and podcast and piloted trainings that help executives understand the principles of capitalism and become better public advocates and operators.
Civilizational renewal starts small: one leader, one company, one principled act. The great movements of history were built by networks of people united in purpose. Today more than 20,000 business leaders stand with Principled Business and the conviction that capitalism, rooted in integrity and driven by entrepreneurship and innovation, is the greatest force for human flourishing.
Free enterprise needs builders and it needs benefactors. To turn this early momentum into lasting institutions, we need serious partners. That is why I am writing to you.
Before December 31, will you make a leadership gift to strengthen the moral and cultural foundations of free enterprise?
Your gift will have direct and concrete effects:
$10,000 equips a quarter of our executive trainings and places principled business leaders in front of thousands of students.
$5,000 underwrites a media package that turns one role model company into a widely shared story of capitalism as a force for good.
$1,000 sponsors a principled founder through our accelerator.
$100 fuels the magazine and podcast that carry these ideas to hearts and minds that are drifting toward anti-capitalist narratives.
Please make your tax deductible year end gift today at PrincipledBusiness.org/donate.
Principled Leaders understand that capitalism is more than an economic mechanism. It is a human relation grounded in value creation, individual agency, collaboration, responsible experimentation, and voluntary exchange. They see people as free, creative, purpose seeking partners and build institutions that reflect this nature so that individuals and communities can thrive.
Our vision is one million capitalists advancing capitalism through both their actions and their advocacy. With your support we will:
Communicate principled business stories to at least one million people through speaking, media, and digital campaigns.
Deliver at least 50 speaking engagements that put principled leaders in front of students and the public.
Educate 10,000 students, employees, and business leaders through seminars, workshops, and our first online course.
Expand our accelerator and launch an online track to reach founders everywhere.
Grow our ambassador program to more than 100 leaders who organize local events and recruit peers.
Capitalism is not an abstraction. It is brought to life by the men and women who build, invest, hire, and serve every day. When those leaders understand and embody its principles, capitalism becomes the greatest engine we have discovered for human flourishing.
If capitalists do not stand for capitalism, the system that has lifted billions from poverty and expanded human freedom will be left undefended and eroded.
That is why your gift matters.
Give now at PrincipledBusiness.org/donate and help us equip an army of principled capitalists to preserve and renew the system that makes prosperity and human dignity possible.
Thank you!. I would be honored to welcome you as a founding supporter of this next stage.