Featuring purpose-driven leaders who are making a meaningful impact in their communities, industries, and around the world.
Alexander Holt is the founding partner of Limitless Ventures headquartered in New York. Follow them on LinkedIn and learn more at limitlessventures.us.
TELL US, WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?
I’m Alex Holt and I’m the founder and managing partner of Limitless Ventures. We raise capital from people to deploy in meaningful ways to improve the mental and behavioral health epidemic commonly known as addiction.
HOW DID YOU GET HERE?
For me, it’s personal. I got sober; I went into recovery in 2011. I like to say God came to me in the form of the police and it was suggested that I go to rehab. I went to 12-step meetings and realized that a lot of people were sharing the message of recovery in those meetings but there were not a lot of people sharing the message more globally to the people who were really suffering that didn’t know that they were suffering. That was who I was from 2008-2010; I didn’t know that I was sick. I decided I wanted to be that person and to share the message with those who needed it most.
So I went out to the desert to do a little bit of a vision quest and was asking a bunch of life purpose questions. I was working as an engineer at the time and someone called me, and I don’t normally get phone calls in the desert, but this time it went through. I answered the phone and a couple of months later, we finished a deal. That was the seed to create a team of people who could do more deals and invest capital in the space and truly help people heal people, which is our mantra.
WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR? WHY IS THIS WORK IMPORTANT TO YOU?
I guess we should rebrand ourselves as Limitless Adventures because each of these opportunities to raise capital or deploy capital is truly an adventure. I think ultimately what we stand for is impact capital or a group of people who are purpose-driven and focused on improving the customer or patients’ experience and the continuum of care as it reflects the continuum of pain. That’s from prevention to longterm recovery and every stage in between.
WHAT IMPACT ARE YOU MAKING?
We try to help doctors. We try to help patients uncover, discover, and discard that which no longer serves them. And we help and support teams with capital resources which will either help them create a new product like a medical device or new biotechnology solution, or help them expand their treatment centers and consolidate the fractionated treatment industry, or build housing for people in recovery, and we support reentry and job locations. That is something that resonates with me – I lost a job because I was an addict and I had a “scarlet letter” and someone in recovery helped me. They gave me a job and they gave me a house and they wrote me a letter, and when I went to court the court said, “Keep doing what you’re doing.” Every day, it gets a little better.
WHAT (OR WHO) INSPIRES YOU TO DO THIS WORK?
The universe in its myriad forms. I like to say my higher power is all of the seen and the unseen forces acting in this universe. Sometimes that comes through people, and sometimes it comes through nature, and sometimes it comes as a dream or an inspiration. But every day, I’m reminded in some way, that the universe is conspiring for me. And when I choose to believe that, magic happens.
WHAT’S YOUR VISION, YOUR BIG DREAM FOR THE IMPACT YOU WANT TO MAKE?
My big audacious goal is to help 500,000 people get sober and stay sober over the next 10 years.
I tried to pick a realistic number, and thought how would I get to that number? How many treatment beds might I need to own and how many outpatient centers and how much would all of that cost? What we realized in our analysis is that $4 billion of capital would be needed to be deployed over the next six to 10 years in order to have 5,000 beds – 2,500 inpatient and 2,500 outpatient – to cycle through every 15 days with an 80% recovery rate, which is the bar for doctors, lawyers, and pilots. Currently, the industry standard is about 9%. Three percent is my personal experience – I went to rehab with 300 people over 90 days, and only one is sober. We determined that that was a smart goal – something that was specific, measurable, realistic, actionable, and time-bound.
WHAT CHALLENGES ARE YOU FACING?
My biggest challenge, as a first-time fund manager with a team of people who have not done deals before in an investment community, is to articulate the blended needs of personal stigma, which is the recovery industry’s challenge in general, and then of the financial stigma, which is that we can manage capital and deploy capital and return an investment on that capital in a meaningful way that will also create an outsized return. That we don’t have to sacrifice mission for returns. That’s something which the financial investment community, I think, has been misguided about for decades, and to combat that takes time. Just like recovery, it takes time and we have to be patient and trust the process.
WHAT’S ONE THING YOU WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT THE WORK YOU’RE DOING?
You can help, too.
Limitless is in the business of hiring talent and then supporting that talent with capital. But it’s also in the business of adding value to those entrepreneurs’ dreams in interesting and unforeseen ways. So, in the interest of someone thinking, “Gosh, I wish I could help,” I would say, just call me or call someone else in recovery or call your friend who you know needs help and ask them how they’re doing. There will be magic that happens that you didn’t expect.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE QUOTE OR WORDS OF INSPIRATION TO SHARE?
My grandpa always said, “Do your best.” I think that changes on a day-to-day basis for me, but every day if I try to do my best in all things, I will be able to do something which is meaningful both for myself and for my community.
HOW CAN OTHERS SUPPORT YOU OR YOUR CAUSE?
If you’re interested in doing innovative, challenging work, then we’ve got a job for you. If you’ve got an idea and you’d like us to support you, we’re happy to chat. If you’re interested in investing and deploying capital in interesting and meaningful ways, then we have a deal for you.
Orapin Marketing + Public Relations helps purpose-driven businesses increase visibility, expand the reach of their message, and become sought-after industry leaders to drive growth, influence, and impact. We believe those who are working to make a difference in the world deserve to be known, supported, and celebrated. If you would like to be featured in INSPIRED IMPACT™, reach out to hello@orapinmarketing.com.