Rookie Season, 25 Years on
Other than being roughly the same age and looking fabulous in green, what do Fernando Alonso and I have in common?
We both had rookie seasons around the turn of the millennium.
Now of course mine wasn't on the Formula 1 grid, but it was somewhere else where high pressure situations and split second decisions make or break you - emergency services.
Inspiration for Centuries
It’s easy to say you’re building for the long term. The harder question is: what does that actually change?
If you’re designing something to last for generations rather than simply survive until the next transaction, you start asking very different questions. Not just: What will this cost to build? But: What will it cost to own? How will it be maintained? Can it be repaired? Can it adapt as technology and the needs of its users change?
And one of my favorites: What is this going to look like in 50 years? 100 years?
Archangel: Predictive Intelligence
The best kind of emergency is the one you see coming.
Of course, that isn’t always possible: accidents happen, equipment fails, conditions change, people make mistakes…
No technology can completely eliminate risk, and any safety system claiming otherwise probably deserves a healthy dose of skepticism. But what if we could recognize more of the warning signs sooner?
That question became the foundation for Archangel, the predictive intelligence component of SERAPH.
Most emergency systems are necessarily reactive - something happens, someone recognizes it, information begins moving through the appropriate channels, a decision is made, and resources respond.
Every one of those steps takes time.
Archangel is being designed to shrink that initial timeline.
Busy, Useful, Relevant
A racetrack shouldn’t sit around waiting for race day.
When most people picture a racetrack, they likely picture the big weekends: grandstands full of tens of thousands of people arriving from around the world, garages busy, cars on track, hospitality packed.
Those weekends matter enormously, but in the 2020s and beyond? They aren’t enough.
One of the principles behind CIC from the very beginning has been that a world-class motorsports destination should be useful far beyond its marquee events. That means designing for what happens on an ordinary Tuesday in February just as deliberately as for what happens on Race Day.
Year-Round Beauty
This is not a subdivision. And it isn’t a resort.
It’s also not a site plan, as site selection for Monteverde is still underway. While we don’t yet know the exact topography, waterways, road connections, views, environmental constraints, or other characteristics of the land that will ultimately shape the community, we do know what it should feel like.
And that matters.
I don’t want to design a town on paper and then force it onto whatever property we acquire. The land should have a voice in what gets built there.
So this image is something different: a conceptual vision of what Monteverde is intended to feel like at full scale.
There is no Case Study
One of the strangest things I’ve noticed about building my company from scratch is how much business advice is written backwards.
We hear the story after the company succeeded, so in hindsight everything acquires this tidy little narrative arc in which the pivotal meeting becomes obvious or rejection becomes this great moment of character development for the hero of the story. A change in direction becomes a strategic realignment. The person who answered the email or picked up the phone becomes “the one who changed everything”.
From Problem to Purpose
Start with the problem, and build with purpose.
Yesterday, Longleaf Global publicly introduced SERAPH, our patent-pending integrated emergency-response platform.
But SERAPH didn’t begin because I decided Longleaf needed a technology company. It definitely didn’t begin because I, as a solo entrepreneur with a foot in the corporate world, a gym habit, two teenagers, and a micro farm, decided I was bored and in need of something else to do.
It began with a problem.
Intro to SERAPH
In an emergency, minutes matter and seconds can make the difference between success and disaster.
Yet in complex, high-risk environments, emergency response can still depend on a sequence of events:
- An incident occurs
- Someone recognizes it
- Details are communicated
- The situation is assessed
- Resources are identified and dispatched
- Multiple people, systems, and agencies begin coordinating a response
And so on, in order, more or less. With time gaps in between.
Every single one of those steps is necessary, but...
What if some of them didn't have to happen sequentially?
Track Design Decisions
From the very beginning, Charlotte International Circuit has been envisioned as more than a racing facility. It has been designed to be a destination. One that you look forward to returning to again and again. One that generations celebrate and enjoy.
Longleaf Global
So what are we really building?
When people ask about Longleaf Global, they usually ask about the projects: the racetrack, the village, and/or the technology.
But those are only part of the story.
The name of the company comes from the longleaf pine, a tree that once soared over millions of acres across the American South. Longleaf forests are remarkable ecosystems, but what has always resonated with me is the tree itself.
Monteverde: Living, Refined
What makes a place feel like home? It’s rarely just the four walls of the house.
It’s the local coffee shop where they know your order when you walk in the door and the bakery where the owner remembers your name.
The square where neighbors gather and the park where children play.
The trees and porches and balconies that change with the seasons.
The architecture that makes you slow down and look up.
But beyond that, I’ve always believed beautiful places matter simply because they matter.
That beauty means something much deeper than aesthetics the eye can appreciate.
Charlotte International Circuit
From the very beginning, Charlotte International Circuit has been envisioned as more than a racing facility. It has been designed to be a destination. One that you look forward to returning to again and again. One that generations celebrate and enjoy.
The Helpers
Today marks 50 years since Niki Lauda's crash at the Nurburgring.
Most people - myself included - probably think first of the accident, but today, Mr. Lauda’s account chose to post a meaningful tribute to something else: the drivers and marshals who ran toward danger instead of away from it.
The helpers. The ones who rushed in when it really mattered.