At a glance
- DW1, founded by Shane Foye's father nearly three decades ago, is an Atlanta-based logistics company that provides construction services nationwide and remains an operating company, according to the report.
- FO Pro describes a family already under strain: communication across the generations was never on much of a foundation and thinned as each household's circumstances shifted, according to the report.
- Most families wait for a liquidity event to build a family office, FO Pro notes.
The family that owns DW1 started a family office before any sale or windfall created assets to manage, FO Pro reported on Oct. 20.
DW1, founded by Shane Foye's father nearly three decades ago, is an Atlanta-based logistics company that provides construction services nationwide and remains an operating company, according to the report. Foye, now DW1's president, started the family office during a stretch when several things moved at once: he had his first child and set up his own household, his parents were adjusting to family life with their son less present at home and in the business, and his sister was entering her next chapter after college.
FO Pro describes a family already under strain: communication across the generations was never on much of a foundation and thinned as each household's circumstances shifted, according to the report. Foye says he and his father could have ended up estranged, and that the turmoil could have forced the family toward selling the company.
No sale required
Most families wait for a liquidity event to build a family office, FO Pro notes. The company's cash flow is strong, per the report, but the family had not divested from anything, and Foye says plenty of advisors would have told them they did not need a family office yet.
His argument for starting early does not turn on company size. "I don't think that structure and governance is determined on a need of how big the company is," Foye said, according to FO Pro. "Structure and governance and planning and being intentional and thoughtful starts at any venture. I think the earlier you start it, the easier it can be."
Foye's stated payoff from starting early is generational: time to work through challenges in front of the third generation. He believes that generation will hold on to what it watches the family do far longer than anything it is simply told. It also buys time for the questions he treats as the point of the exercise: "What is this all for? What is the purpose? What legacy do we want to be remembered by?"
The report does not specify when the office was established, how it is staffed, or what it oversees.
"Structure and governance and planning and being intentional and thoughtful starts at any venture. I think the earlier you start it, the easier it can be."
Reported by the Family Office News desk from FO Pro — The Family Office Professional. Published . Corrections