Why Founder-Led Companies Deserve Your Patience: Two Stock Stories That Changed My Investing Approach

The Most Expensive Lesson I Never Took

There’s a quote I love: learning from your mistakes is good, but learning from other people’s mistakes is better. I got the chance to do both when I owned Amazon years ago.

Back in 2014, I was riding high on some serious gains. My Amazon position had nearly tripled in just a few years, and I felt invincible — like I was playing with house money. When the company announced its Fire Phone, I hated the product immediately. The logic seemed obvious: sell now, avoid the inevitable disappointment.

Here’s the thing — I was right about the Fire Phone being a disaster. The product bombed spectacularly. But I was catastrophically wrong about Amazon.

While that phone flopped, Amazon kept swinging for the fences. Jeff Bezos and his team didn’t let one bad product stop them from trying new things: AWS, Whole Foods, Amazon Prime, their advertising business. Today, my early sale of that stock looks foolish. Amazon became a 14-bagger for those who stuck around.

The real lesson wasn’t about phones or products. It was about founder-led companies and how they operate differently. These leaders think in decades, not quarters. They see failed experiments as necessary steps toward breakthrough innovations. They ask “what could we build?” instead of “what’s the safest move?”

When Management Made the Move I Questioned

Fast forward to 2023. I bought into TransMedics Group — a company that manufactures organ care systems keeping donated livers, hearts, and lungs viable during transport. The technology is genuinely superior to traditional ice storage methods.

The stock rallied immediately. My gains piled up. Then management dropped news that made me nervous: they were acquiring Summit Aviation.

My first instinct? “They’re destroying margins by adding a capital-heavy aviation business to their portfolio.” The market agreed, dumping the stock and cutting its value in half over the following months.

But I didn’t sell.

This time, I remembered Amazon. I gave founder and CEO Waleed Hassanein room to execute his vision. Instead of bailing on an idea I didn’t understand, I sat tight.

By year-end, the strategy became clearer. That aviation unit wasn’t just overhead — it was building a nationwide logistical network to maximize organ utilization across the country. Two years later, the numbers tell the story:

• Transplant revenue jumped 32% in the most recent quarter
• Logistics revenue grew 35%
• Net profit margin expanded to 17%
• The company’s own aircraft now handles 78% of all transplants under its National OCS Program
• Stock price has tripled from 2023 lows

Yes, gross margins took a hit from the aviation acquisition. But free-cash-flow margins exploded. That’s the difference between short-term thinking and building infrastructure for long-term dominance.

What Comes Next

TransMedics now targets 10,000 transplants annually (more than doubling current capacity). They’re eyeing kidney donations and international expansion — markets potentially multiples larger than what they do today.

Will new systems work? Will international operations succeed? People are already raising doubts. But I’ve learned this before. When founder-led companies with proven track records take calculated risks, I give them the space and time to prove themselves.

The Amazon Fire Phone taught me what happens when you exit a founder-led company too early. The TransMedics aviation acquisition taught me what happens when you trust the vision instead of panicking at the first sign of complexity.

That’s a lesson worth paying for.