Kanbrick

Tracy Britt Cool and Brian Humphrey are the co-founders and managing partners. Britt Cool spent ten years at Berkshire Hathaway as the chairman of several portfolio companies and served as an executive on Warren Buffett's team. The two partners share investment committee authority, evaluating each acquisition together.

Kanbrick does not raise blind-pool funds with a 10-year deadline to return capital. Instead, it operates on a permanent-capital basis, acquiring companies with the intention of holding them indefinitely. This removes the pressure to engineer a near-term exit and allows operating decisions that prioritize decades-long value creation over quarterly reporting.

The firm focuses on lower middle market industrial and manufacturing businesses, typically those generating between $5 million and $15 million in EBITDA. Target companies are often founder-led, family-owned, or corporate carve-outs in sectors such as specialty chemicals, industrial components, and niche building products.

Kanbrick makes only direct controlling investments. It does not allocate to outside funds, invest in startups, or participate in syndicated minority rounds. Every transaction results in majority ownership of an operating company.

Kanbrick's capital base is private and not publicly disclosed. The firm does not disclose limited partners or a precise AUM figure. Its structure as a permanent-capital vehicle implies committed capital from principals and a network of aligned long-term investors rather than institutional fund investors with periodic redemption rights.

Kanbrick has not publicized a co-investment program or syndicate that invites outside general partners into its deals. Its operating model centers on direct majority ownership with a lean internal team, suggesting the firm avoids layering co-investor governance on top of its acquisitions.

Tracy Britt Cool joined Berkshire Hathaway in 2009 as a financial assistant to Warren Buffett and later became chairman of several Berkshire subsidiaries, including Benjamin Moore, Johns Manville, Larson-Juhl, and Oriental Trading Company. She left Berkshire in 2020 to co-found Kanbrick, applying the permanent-ownership philosophy she observed there to smaller industrial companies.