Conversation

Oct 30, 2020

Indeed, even Ana had commented on the subject the week prior. In an October 16, podcast she and another member of the Durable team highlighted their work on compounders, even going so far as to talk about the "good to great" pattern. (It's a great podcast for the record)

Ana didn't respond that afternoon. When I followed up the next day, she accused the article of being "largely plagiarized." If we didn't stop the "project" she said she would escalate the matter to Durable's general counsel.

I voiced my disagreement in the strongest possible terms, but I felt helpless. The partner of a $6B fund had twice threatened legal action against me. I am a solo-newsletter writer with $0 in revenue.

Even though I knew we were in the right, that we had not plagiarized or used "proprietary" information, I felt trapped. On Wednesday afternoon, I shut myself in my bedroom, covered my head with a pillow, on the verge of tears.

I owe a debt of gratitude to

@bradwolverton

. In sharing my circumstances with a few writer friends, he mentioned he'd been in similar situations. When we spoke on the phone, he said something about this story that stuck with me. "This is important."

He introduced me to a media lawyer. This Wednesday, I wrote back to Ana and told her I planned to put the revised article back up on The Generalist website. Again, I asked to better understand Durable's position beyond a generic objection.

Two days later, and I still don't know. Rather than responding directly, they first pressured Frank to pressure me to rewrite the article without using the word "compounders." Would we consider "high-quality growth businesses" instead? There were other, unspecified changes.

This morning, Durable's general counsel responded. They requested I delay putting the article up and send them all my resources. I had done both more than a week earlier. I put the article back up. In time, I will write the rest of the series.

thegeneralist.substack.com

C.R.E.A.M., Part I

Compounders rule everything around me

165

I am not in the clear. If they want to, Durable could still sue me. Even without merit to their claim, they could bleed me of time, energy, and money. But I keep thinking of the same few words: This is important.