About PBI
A broad mandate, held to a narrow standard.
Phat Balls Inc. is a privately held investment group focused on ambitious opportunities across mobility, strategic assets and emerging technology.
Overview
Company overview
PBI identifies companies, systems, assets and ideas with the potential to shape how value is created, moved and sustained. The group participates as an investor, strategic partner and holding company.
The investment mandate is intentionally flexible. This allows the group to grow organically as compelling opportunities emerge, rather than according to a plan drafted before the opportunities existed.
Our mandate is intentionally broad. Our standards are selectively high.
Philosophy
Investment philosophy
The group prefers to own things for a long time. Holding periods are extended by default and shortened only where the original case no longer holds.
Quantitative work establishes whether an opportunity is viable. It does not establish whether the group should pursue it. Executive conviction remains an important qualitative input.
Where the group cannot be a useful partner, it prefers not to participate, regardless of how attractive the arithmetic appears.
“Periods of inactivity are not a failure of process. They are usually the process working.”
Operating Model
How the group works
01
Origination
Opportunities are sourced by the Chief Business Development Officer, frequently through conversations that begin informally.
02
Assessment
Technical assessment sits with the Chief Technology Officer; financial review with the Chief Financial Officer. The AI contributes written observations in advance.
03
Decision
All deployments are approved by the Executive Committee. Final approval is reserved to the Chief Executive Officer.
04
Stewardship
Positions are reviewed annually by the Chief Operating Officer, who also maintains the corporate record.
Values
Four things the group holds to
Capital
Deployed selectively, held patiently, and never for the sake of appearing active.
Mobility
The movement of goods, people and value is where the group's interest is most consistent.
Technology
Technical distinctiveness is preferred over novelty. Difficult to explain is not the same as unpromising.
Executive Conviction
A qualitative input, formally recognised, occasionally decisive, and reviewed after the fact.
Governance
Governance approach
Executive governance was formalised on 14 December 2022, when six executive positions were assigned. Responsibilities are written down, the review cycle is annual, and corrective actions are issued in writing where required.
The corporate record is held by the Chief Operating Officer. Historical records regarding certain early initiatives remain incomplete, and the group has elected not to reconstruct them.
The Executive Committee reviews its own conduct annually at the year-end function, most recently in Korçë in December 2025.
Corporate Timeline
How the group reached its current form
The full record, as maintained by the Chief Operating Officer, from the establishment of the group’s shared infrastructure in 2016 to the present.
- 8 November 2016Formation
Phat Balls Inc. established
The group’s shared Discord infrastructure is established, marking the inception of Phat Balls Inc. and the beginning of its persistent digital operations. Four of the six future executives already shared longstanding ties from school, while the wider Executive Committee developed through subsequent cross-border engagement. Formal governance, assigned responsibilities and commercial intent were not yet present.
- 14 December 2022Governance
Executive Committee constituted
Six executive positions are formally assigned across strategy, finance, operations, technology, business development and company culture in preparation for PBI’s first year-end function. The governance structure establishes the CEO, CFO, COO, CTO, CBDO and CHRO roles that remain in place today.
- 16 December 2022Culture & Performance
First PBI year-end function held
PBI holds its first formal year-end function in an online-hybrid format, introducing the company’s first structured executive performance review and annual Pub Quiz. The performance review establishes self-assessment, peer evaluation and corrective measures as recurring elements of executive governance. The Pub Quiz, compiled by the company historian, introduces an annual competitive tradition with a trophy awarded to the winning executive.
- 30 December 2023Technology
The AI adopted by PBI
The AI is formally adopted during the 2023 year-end function as an internal capability supporting analysis, communications and selected governance processes. Its remit subsequently expands through repeated use, with oversight developing in parallel.
- 5 January 2025Culture
2024 year-end function formalises the Three Pillars
Owing to conflicting family and holiday schedules, PBI’s 2024 year-end function is held on 5 January 2025 in an online-hybrid format. During the proceedings, Money, Boats and Planes are formally recognised as the Three Pillars of PBI, providing a durable framework for future strategic discussion and cultural alignment.
- 15 July 2025Orb Technology
Potential Orb Technology breach reviewed
Following the public release of Discord Orbs, the Executive Committee initiates an internal review into the possibility that PBI’s earlier Orb discussions had been externally compromised. The review finds no evidence of corporate espionage and concludes that the similarity was most likely coincidental. Orb Technology is subsequently elevated from an informal concept to a serious strategic area of interest.
- 16 December 2025Corporate Identity
Executive business cards issued
During the opening phase of PBI’s first in-person executive offsite, formal business cards are issued to all six members of the Executive Committee. The cards establish the group’s first tangible public-facing corporate identity and expand its capacity for external engagement, investor relations and unsolicited networking.
- 16 – 21 December 2025Executive Offsite
First in-person executive offsite held in Albania
The full Executive Committee convenes in person for the first time across Tirana and Korçë, Albania. The offsite includes formal business dinners, a Secret Santa exchange, a pub crawl, a visit to the Korçë brewery, a visit to Bunk’Art 2 and the annual year-end conference.
Related news → - 20 December 2025Governance & Culture
First in-person year-end conference held in Korçë
PBI conducts its first in-person year-end conference in Korçë, combining divisional reporting, executive performance review and the annual Pub Quiz. The event establishes the operating model for future in-person year-end functions and confirms that traditional PBI governance processes remain fully transferable to physical environments.
- 2026Public Presence
PBI website development begins
PBI begins development of its first public corporate website, formalising the group’s investment philosophy, leadership structure, strategic initiatives and historical record for potential partners, investors and other sufficiently curious parties.
A broad mandate is only useful with someone to apply it to.
Enquiries regarding partnerships, opportunities and the group's areas of interest are welcome.