My very best Austin day with Peter Huff
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Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Blue Sage Capital
Peter Huff, the founder and managing partner of Austin-based private equity firm Blue Sage Capital, has been on a roll.
Driving the news: Blue Sage last month closed a fund with $618 million in investments — bringing the firm's total investments since 2002 to $1.2 billion.
Context: The firm specializes in investing in small- to medium-sized companies. Huff tells Axios that Blue Sage likes to invest in companies in low-to-moderate-income areas, with a goal of increasing employment.
- He points to a recycling firm in Corpus Christi that had only one employee when Blue Sage invested in it — and it grew to 500 employees. Blue Sage designed the company's logo and effectively acted as its chief financial officer.
Background: Huff grew up in Iowa and accepted a full scholarship to run track for SMU.
- He began visiting Austin for track meets — and after working at McKinsey and graduating from Stanford business school, moved to Austin full-time in 1999.
- "Austin felt like the right location, with a business-friendly climate and good people," he says.
He and his wife — they have three kids — live in Westlake. We asked him about his very best day in Austin.
What day of the week is your ideal Austin day?
PH: "I think it'd be a Sunday, and I'd head to Town Lake with my kids and run the trail."
Are you still smoking your kids?
"Those days are long gone. My kids are pretty fast — two of them made varsity at Westlake as freshmen, one as a sophomore. But I can stay with them."
What are you eating after your run?
"We like the dim sum brunch at Wu Chow — it's close to the trail."
What do you do for afternoon fun?
"I'll play golf with some close friends at Lions."
And for dinner?
"I make dinner Sunday nights. I like grilling out beef tenderloin, putting a salad together and making popovers."
Any sort of nightcap?
"I'm getting ready for work on Monday. Our investment memos come out on Fridays, so we read them over the weekend and meet as a group Monday morning to talk about potential investments that week."