This episode reveals the origin story of the Serious Land Capital name, inspired by Succession’s patriarch Logan Roy and his constant demand to “only deal with serious people”—a branding decision made in days, not weeks, emphasizing action over perfection in business naming.
Key Takeaways:
- Brand naming deserves days, not weeks Sleep on it, check instincts, ensure underlying values align, then execute—overthinking naming delays actual business building.
- Fictional archetypes drive real positioning The “serious people” standard from Succession created immediate brand clarity around trustworthiness and execution capability.
- Branding humor sustains founder motivation Maintaining personal connection to brand origin stories (even comedic ones) provides long-term emotional fuel for the business journey.
Listen to the full episode for the complete backstory and philosophy on rapid branding decisions that stick.
(Podcast transcript below)
Hi, Chris Duff over at Serious Land Capital, vacant land funding partner. So I was relaying this over to my business partner when we were meeting about a month ago. And I don’t think I’ve shared this story publicly on what spurred the origin of the name Sirius Land Capital.
So it really came from Succession. And as soon as I mentioned that anybody who’s watched the show is like instantly it’s clicking for them. But yeah, especially since it’s been just about two years since Succession final season aired and a bit over two years since we converted over our business to the funding business, as I’ll see, this felt like it’s pretty.
pretty opportune time to share this story. And I know show runner for Succession, Jesse Armstrong, has a new movie coming out this weekend here. So it’s just kind of a reminder and the fact that I haven’t shared this before. And for those of you who have never watched Succession or maybe watched it a while ago.
Again, hasn’t been on for a couple of years. Everybody’s attention span is short so I can get you up to speed here. So is largely considered to be a satire about the, you know, the Rupert Murdoch family, just media tycoon business, you know, very powerful billionaire Logan Roy who had built up this media empire and he has all his kids.
kind of vying for control of the media company, you know, expecting their father Logan to be exiting as he gets older. And there’s just a bunch of shenanigans that ensue over the various seasons. mean, one of my favorite shows was very highly regarded, really snappy and punchy humor and
commentary, depending on what you might prefer. My wife always thought it was far too vulgar for her taste anyway, but I found it extremely funny. And one of the core phrases that the patriarch, Logan Roy, would often use is just, he only wanted to deal with serious people.
And, you know, he came from, you know, no, no, you know, trust funds or any birthright money. So he pulled himself up by his bootstraps, built this multi-billion dollar business and how his rich kids are, just not nearly as, as talented or focused as he was. And so it’s like, Hey, you guys are just, you’re, you’re not serious. that’s just like a constant.
line of the entire show is how much the kids just, you know, mess things up through this period of possible succession and the backstabbing that happens therein. so this phrasing just happens, you know, constantly throughout the show with just Logan admonishing either his kids or, you know, other people around him. Like, you guys, you’re just, you’re not…
serious figures, you’re not serious people, you only want to deal with serious people. And even though there was a lot of like humor and clarity behind this, and ultimately, again, it was like a satire about the evils and dark side of capitalism and, you know, just too much focus on money.
which can all be understood certainly, but I still felt like some of those undertones were just really powerful from a business owner perspective. And obviously it’s a fictional universe. But when I was kind of spinning up this idea for the funding business and kept thinking, just loving the phrasing of those, the serious people, serious figures.
I just really wanted to build a business where it’s like, okay, we are those serious people in the room. Like we’re not the jokes that don’t understand how to actually succeed and under ideals. And we have the wherewithal to stick through the hard times. And people know that we are serious figures that can be trusted.
I really love that sentiment overall and wanted to build a brand around it. even though the fictional character, Logan Roy, is such a curmudgeon in kind of the best of terms, a huge jerk and largely terrible person, including to his own kids. If I was in that universe, I would still…
want to be considered a serious person by Logan Roy. Like I think any business person worth their salt would kind of feel that inkling as well. If you’ve watched the show, probably understand that a bit more. you know, I wouldn’t want to be admonished by him, that’s for sure. Just by not being serious.
And so like, really wanted to take that to heart and okay, how can we build a brand around that? And hence the, the name was born. You know, the land capital side, that’s more of just like marketing and SEO. You know, I come from the venture capital industry prior to this, where like every VC firm or private equity firm either has, you know, capital or partners.
next to the name, just because it’s like part of the industry. So, uh, you know, the land capital was just more of a call out. Okay. Yeah. We’re a funding firm, but, you know, serious is the, um, actual, uh, key part of the branding. And then, you know, the rest is just, um, a little bit more for identification of what industry that we’re in. Um, but not necessarily like a
distinguishing brand. So that is how I created the name there and just felt like it’d be kind of fun to share that story again, especially like two years out, roughly a little bit more than that, since the idea started spinning around. And even though it is like, you know, serious business on the flip side, I think.
It’s also ironic that the show was, you know, partially a comedy at least in that you don’t actually have to consider your brand to be like, or, you know, spend crazy amounts of time thinking about, you know, what your branding might be or take it, you know, quote unquote too seriously. like you can have fun with it. like myself, I was just kind of, you know, it was giving me a grin thinking about, all right, yeah, this is actually.
a good setup here and I didn’t like agonize for days over it. You know, I thought about it for a few days. I slept on it, shared with my partners at the time and like, okay, yeah, it’s all, it’s all makes sense. though I didn’t share this story behind it. It just like the name made sense regardless for what the branding we were trying to do. and then just, you know, went from there. So, you know, branding can become really, really important and your naming.
Yeah. If you’re like a multi-billion dollar firm, but for the most part, like how you went over your customers and clients and all that is going to matter far more. And if you need to change your brand name, fine. but yeah, the power behind actual names is probably less than, you might think. And so that’s why, like I just, as long as it, seems good to me instinctually and, you know, the underlying values that I’m attributing to it.
Yeah, this is solid. can grow this. Like I’m just not, I’m not going to spend crazy amounts of time because like that’s not, that’s not the hairy work that gets done. That’s just okay. We got a name for something. Let’s, let’s move on. Start actually doing the work here. And same with all like the various spin-offs. And it’s like, okay, we started the podcast, get serious. Like how can I throw in the main brand there? I didn’t think about it for crazy long. Yeah, maybe a day, something like that. It’s a newsletter.
serious news, now it’s like easier to just throw serious into various different mediums for that. And you kind of still want like a punchy undertone. But that’s just to give you an example of like how I might think about naming things that have been involved in other businesses too, where it’s like, you know, let your intuition guide you. So long as there’s at least some sense behind it. You know, something that really like
feels right and you can be proud of, know, on apparel, for instance, but you know, something that can also just bring a smile to your face. you’re seeing, if you’re watching the video version of this, you can hear it in my tone. Like it’s still, I still get like the underlying humor on why I picked the name in the first place. So I can always smile from that. And it allows like a call back to one of my favorite shows and some of those scenes with Logan Roy.
And also a reminder for me, like, okay, yeah, I need to live up to being a serious person. overall have fun with your branding. Life is not that serious. Again, ironically here. And just thought it would be fun to share this story. So with all that in mind.
Seriousland.capital for any of your funding needs. Land Daily Diligence Facebook group, Zero Costs for Fever Land Deals, and landpricer.ai. Again, pretty simple branding right there. Spent a day or two thinking about it, gets the point across, move on, get the actual work done. Simple and accurate way to price land. Subscribe and share.
if you have not already, and talk to you next time. Take care. Bye.
