· 5 min read
Brand Building Is a Holding Period
A brand compounds the same way a building does: bought on a clear thesis, maintained relentlessly, and held long enough for consistency to turn into reputation.
Writing
Travis Hermiz Writing
Notes on building brands, product, and long-horizon ownership.
This is where Travis Hermiz writes about the work: building consumer brands in categories where everything on the shelf looks interchangeable, treating product and packaging as one strategic decision instead of two, and what buy-fix-hold real estate teaches you about patience, underwriting, and compounding.
These are not news posts and there is nothing here that was written to hit a keyword. They are the arguments behind the decisions — why a point of view beats a spec sheet, why the physical object matters more than the campaign around it, and why planning to own something for twenty years changes almost every choice you make in year one. Michigan is the backdrop for all of it, because that is where the buildings and the brands actually are.
· 5 min read
Packaging Is the Product Decision
Most companies decide the product, then decide the packaging. That order is backwards, and it quietly caps everything the brand can charge or claim.
· 6 min read
Detroit Development Is a Long Game, and That Is the Opportunity
Detroit punishes tourists and rewards residents. The development edge goes to whoever knows the block, plans in decades, and fixes causes instead of cosmetics.
· 6 min read
How I Underwrite a Real Estate Deal in Michigan
Underwriting is not a spreadsheet exercise. It is a discipline: name what is broken, price the fix honestly, and only buy deals that survive the bad case.
· 5 min read
What Real Estate Taught Me About Building Companies
Underwriting a building and underwriting a business are the same exercise. Both punish optimism and reward whoever is still there in year ten.
· 5 min read
Leading With a Point of View
Specs do not create preference in a commoditized category. A point of view does. Here is why Detour was built that way from the first day.