LIFE'S BUSINESS, INC.

Robert 'Bob' Kierlin is the principal behind LIFE'S BUSINESS. He co-founded Fastenal in 1967 and was its long-time CEO, building the company into a publicly traded industrial distributor with a market capitalization north of $40 billion (NASDAQ: FAST). The family office's investment decisions are understood to flow through Kierlin personally, supported by an internal team in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The wealth originates from Fastenal, the industrial supply and fasteners company Bob Kierlin co-founded in Winona, Minnesota. Starting with a single store, Kierlin scaled the business through a decentralized branch model, eventually listing it on NASDAQ in 1987. His long-held equity stake in Fastenal is the primary source of the capital LIFE'S BUSINESS manages.

LIFE'S BUSINESS operates as a single-family office, not a venture firm or an external investment manager. It does not raise third-party capital, and there is no evidence it functions as a multi-family office or outsourced CIO platform. Its structure allows for permanent capital deployment without the pressure of fundraising cycles or external LP reporting.

The family office appears to use a blended approach, making commitments to private equity and hedge funds while also holding direct positions in real estate and operating businesses. Tax and property records show direct ownership of significant residential and commercial properties alongside the philanthropic foundations, indicating comfort with direct control when alignment is strong.

The Kierlin family maintains a significant philanthropic footprint through multiple vehicles, most notably the Kierlin Foundation. Bob and Mary Burchert Kierlin have directed major gifts to Winona State University and the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. These philanthropy commitments are structurally separate but thematically aligned with the family's broader capital deployment centered on enduring assets.

The family office does not publicly disclose its co-investment activity. Given its private, low-profile operating style and permanent capital base, it is likely that co-investment access forms a component of the fund relationships it maintains, but the specific posture — whether the family actively exercises co-invest rights or prefers blind pool commitments — remains a closed-door detail.

Bob Kierlin and Mary Burchert Kierlin are major benefactors of both institutions. The Minnesota Marine Art Museum features the Kierlin Gallery, and the couple has provided transformative gifts that anchor the endowments of these cultural organizations. These are philanthropic relationships rather than for-profit portfolio companies, though they reflect the family office's broader ethos of allocating capital to durable, tangible assets.