Historical

Performance

Past performance is not indicative of future results.

All returns shown represent historical outcomes from prior investments and may not reflect actual results of Third Salt Venture Fund or any current or future investment.

Performance figures may be unaudited and subject to adjustment. Individual investment results vary based on timing, structure, and market conditions.

No assurance can be given that Third Salt Venture Fund will achieve comparable results, or that any investment will achieve its objectives or avoid losses.

Qualified investors may proceed to the secure Investor Portal to begin onboarding.

thirdsalt.com

Hydro Flask

Bend, OR

CPG Brand Launch & Sale

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100% of Common Equity funded

Investment Status

Sold

Project Type

Contract Launch

IRR

440%

Equity Multiple

271 x

Holding Period

7 years

Project Value Gain

1,808%

Sample Completed Projects

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100% of Common Equity funded

Suncadia

Cle Elum, WA

Real Estate Resort Development and Financing

Investment Status

Financed

Project Type

Contract Launch

IRR

24%

Equity Multiple

2.33 x

Holding Period

4 years

Project Value Gain

333%

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100% of Common Equity funded

G5

Bend, OR

Investment Status

Sold

Project Type

Contract Launch

IRR

46%

Equity Multiple

5.35 x

Holding Period

4 years

Project Value Gain

1,500%

SaaS Marketing Platform

Case Study: Hydro Flask

Category: Consumer / Outdoor / Durable Goods

Hydro Flask

Bend, OR

Initial Condition: A raw concept: double-walled insulated container technology without identity, packaging, positioning, or launch architecture. Strong product mechanics, no path to market.

Intervention: Defined naming, brand spine, product promise, and early adoption strategy. Reframed the product from “a better bottle” into a lifestyle object with emotional utility. Built the first revenue pathways: stores, ambassadors, and retail behavior that treated the bottle as personal gear, not kitchenware.

Execution Levers:
  • Brand creation: name, identity, and core visual language
  • Manufacturing & Fulfillment: forged price/COGS alignment that made the bottle aspirational but attainable
  • Distribution strategy focused on early adoption communities (outdoor, surf, lifestyle)
  • Story and use-case clarity: the bottle wasn’t a container, it was a companion
Measured Outcome: Brand evolved into a category standard, scaling from a niche concept to a global consumer staple. The company’s later growth and sale validated the launch logic: simple product, strong narrative, behavioral alignment.

Identity, not innovation alone, determines margin and exit potential.

Case Study: D.R. Horton

Category: Residential / Land Development / National Homebuilding Platform

D.R. Horton

Bend, OR

Initial Condition:  D.R. Horton had national scale but inconsistent land practices across the Western states. Acquisition decisions varied by division, entitlement paths lacked uniformity, and long-term land value was difficult to measure. Expansion risked outpacing systems capable of governing it.

Intervention:  Pete co-founded the Western Region Land Division and replaced fragmented, personality-driven land decisions with a disciplined regional framework. He introduced proprietary IRR models for long-range planning, standardized entitlement and disposition procedures, and aligned divisional presidents to a single operating doctrine.

Execution Levers:
  • Built repeatable acquisition and entitlement systems across seven states.
  • Installed underwriting discipline using IRR-based go/no-go criteria.
  • Created land portfolios that scaled into future community pipelines rather than isolated parcels.
  • Anticipated the 2007 cycle shift and guided a controlled regional repositioning to prevent exposure.
Measured Outcome: The Western Region became a coordinated land engine that fed predictable growth. Inventory turned into strategy, risk was governed instead of absorbed, and the division exited the cycle with systems resilient enough to endure beyond leadership changes.

Durable homebuilding margins start upstream—by engineering the land machine before a single house is built.

Case Study: Suncadia

Category: Real Estate / Hospitality / Master-Planned Resort

Suncadia

Cle Elum, WA

Initial Condition: The Lodge at Suncadia entered the pre-recession cycle with an imbalanced sales mix. All premium, view-oriented units had been committed early, leaving the remaining interior-facing residences, still conceptual, carrying high HOA structures, and requiring more nuanced positioning, unsold.

This front-loaded sales pattern stalled momentum at the exact moment the national market began to deteriorate.

Across the country, condo-hotel projects were failing outright. Credit availability collapsed. Washington's 5% deposit environment made cancellations easy and placed substantial risk on any development still working to achieve the subscription threshold required to build.

Most peer resort projects were suspended, abandoned, or never capitalized.

Intervention: A new, disciplined strategy restructured the project's trajectory:

  • Pricing on the unsold interior residences was raised, not discounted, re-establishing value integrity and signaling confidence in a collapsing market.
  • The project narrative was rebuilt around ownership identity and access to Pacific Northwest wilderness, not a hotel under construction.
  • Cross-disciplinary teams, (architecture, design, sales, hospitality, and ownership,) were realigned to operate under one coherent storyline.
  • Buyer sequencing and on-site experience were redesigned to create urgency, emotional clarity, and a premium arc for a product still on paper.
  • This reset allowed a complete re-launch, at a time when re-launches nationwide were failing.
Execution Levers:
  • Defined the operating story, price logic, and value stack that validated premium positioning despite a distressed macrocycle
  • Operational Alignment: unified cross-disciplinary teams under one coordinated approach, removing friction points and tightening decision-making.
  • Crafted the on-site experience narrative: every employee became a brand carrier, from concierge to cart staff
  • Introduced "arrival ritual" behaviors that translated the place into a feeling worth paying for
  • Corrected early sales misalignment by restructuring incentives and redirecting broker channels after an outside firm failed to sell a single interior, village-facing unit - rebuilding the path that ultimately met the project's subscription requirement.
Measured Outcome: Suncadia delivered the only completed destination-resort launch of its class during the Great Recession. The Lodge became the economic ignition point for the broader development and a reference project for executing complex real estate in hostile cycles. Internal stakeholders attribute the launch to disciplined narrative control rather than macro luck.

Clear narrative, disciplined pricing, and unified execution, not favorable macro conditions, determine outcome.

Case Study: CCAM

CascadeCapitalAsset Mgt

Category: Real Estate / Entitlements / Master-Planned Development

Western States, USA

Initial Condition: Projects arrived half-formed, politically stuck, or structurally broken—expired approvals, fractured consultant teams, distressed ownership groups, and unclear development paths. Most lacked the leadership, entitlement discipline, or capital-ready frameworks required to advance.

Intervention: Pete imposed an operating regime that turned chaos into execution: rebuilt the development roadmap, aligned stakeholders, and replaced ad-hoc decisions with entitlement sequencing and milestone governance. The work spanned residential, commercial, hospitality, and mixed-use assets—often stepping in where others had already failed.

Execution Levers:
  • Reorganized legal, civil, architectural, and financial teams into a single reporting architecture.
  • Reconstructed entitlement and permitting pathways across multiple Western jurisdictions.
  • Installed operating systems that enforced visibility, budget control, and decision-ready briefing standards.
  • Recovered distressed assets through note purchases, negotiated takeovers, and structured exits.
  • Managed and systematized major land portfolios, including 9,000+ acres acquired during prior leadership roles.
Measured Outcome: Stalled and at-risk assets became financeable, entitled, and market-ready. Projects that had lingered for years advanced, entitlements were secured, and dispositions closed profitably across multiple markets. The through-line: discipline turned fragmentation into predictable performance.

Transforms distressed or directionless real estate into structured, entitlement-ready assets that institutions can underwrite.

Case Study: G5

Category: Frontier SaaS / Real Estate Services / Digital Demand Generation

G5

Bend, OR

Initial Condition: A niche SEO/SEM platform attempting to expand from self-storage into senior housing. The company had product competence but no credible market rationale, no advocacy, and a failed first push into the new vertical. Momentum was collapsing at the precise moment the company needed to demonstrate scale for its SEED capital raise.

Intervention: Redefined the narrative and market entry strategy. Shifted G5 from a tactical marketing vendor into a category authority on digital demand for regulated, operations-heavy industries. Created the positioning, messaging, and political permission required for the sector to adopt an outsider. Turned a stalled segment play into a national stage player.

Execution Levers:
  • Negotiated first non-operator invitation to Congressional lobbying sessions, legitimizing the firm as an industry voice.
  • Secured multi-community operators and introduced annual payment structures that doubled valuation logic.
  • Advanced institutional pricing mechanics that improved cash flow while reducing perceived risk for operators with thin finance departments.
Measured Outcome: G5 reversed its failed expansion, established legitimacy in senior housing, and accelerated growth into multifamily. The founders doubled their private equity value, validating the thesis: market authority drives valuation faster than features. The pricing model became a template for scaling into complex verticals.

Narrative, not new features, determines valuation velocity.

Independent operators and founders describing how Local Salsa Chief Envisioneer, Stu Hicks works in real launches across real estate, consumer brands, and software.

Bob Weekley, Executive Board Member

Lowe Enterprises, National Resort Developer

“Stu brought structure to an unusually complex resort launch. He aligned architects, sales, and operations in a volatile market and held the plan steady. His discipline was central to delivering a flagship lodge on time and with investor confidence intact.”

Travis Rosbach, Co-Founder

Hydro Flask, Global Outdoor Drinkware Brand

“When our insulated bottle brand was still an idea, Stu's team helped shape the name, launch plan, and early operational decisions. They gave us clear direction on manufacturing, contracts, and distribution we didn’t yet understand, and the calm approach kept us focused at critical moments.”

Greg Meier, Co-Founder

G5, Enterprise Marketing Platform

“We entered a new vertical with a failed first attempt. Stu brought a launch framework that reset the narrative, rebuilt market trust, and positioned us as a credible provider. During our first raise, his structure helped us refine the story, increase the target, and close the round efficiently.”

GP Reflections

Why Invest Now

The combination of discounted pricing, inflation resilience, and cash flow potential across essential Real Estate, CPG, Tech and other frontier sectors makes this an extraordinary entry point.

Third Salt Venture Fund gives investors immediate diversification into a carefully constructed portfolio designed to perform across market cycles.

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