The '20% Rule' Behind Giorgos Tsetis' Blueprint for a New Kind of Family Office

 The '20% Rule' Behind Giorgos Tsetis' Blueprint for a New Kind of Family Office

## Introduction: The Restless Philanthropist

Family offices are built to be patient. They're designed to preserve wealth across generations, investing with a time horizon measured in decades, not quarters. But Giorgos Tsetis is not patient.

The 41-year-old co-founder of Nutrafol—the hair-growth supplement brand he sold to Unilever at a $3.5 billion valuation—is in a hurry . Through his family office, Great Things, Tsetis is backing high-flying startups at a rapid pace while committing at least 20% of annual net realized profits to philanthropy .

It's a radical departure from the traditional family office model. And Tsetis hopes it becomes a blueprint for other wealthy families to give back now rather than as an afterthought .

"As innovation is creating this extraordinary amount of wealth, what we're designing is a model to share those windfalls," Tsetis told CNBC. "And there's restlessness with that. It's like we need to do it now" .

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## The 20% Rule: Turning Profit into Purpose

### The Venture Capital Inspiration

The Great Things formula was inspired by the economics of venture capital and private equity, according to Gabriel Cooperman, Tsetis' financial advisor and a managing director at UBS Wealth Management .

"Basically what he's done is just turned the profit-sharing interest into a charitable-sharing interest," Cooperman said. "We know it works. We know it's very sustainable" .

The minimum 20% giving commitment is the centerpiece of this model. It ensures that as Great Things generates returns from its investments, a significant portion flows directly to charitable causes. This isn't philanthropy as an afterthought—it's philanthropy baked into the business model.

### The Financial Engine

The numbers tell the story. Over the past 18 months, Tsetis has invested nearly $40 million and committed about $7 million to nonprofits through gifts and pledges . At his current pace, he expects to deploy another $60 million within the next two years .

The AI boom has been the primary engine of this rapid wealth creation. Through a secondary exit, Great Things realized a seven-times return on its Anthropic investment in just 18 months . These quick profits have allowed Tsetis to fund his philanthropic commitments at an unusually fast pace.

To smooth out the inevitable volatility of investment returns, Tsetis established a donor-advised fund that serves as a buffer if profits in a given year don't cover the firm's charitable commitments . Great Things typically makes three- to five-year pledges to its partner nonprofits .

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## The Portfolio: Where the Money Goes

### The High-Growth Startups

Tsetis' investment strategy is aggressive. The family office backs high-flying startups in sectors like artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and frontier technology. The portfolio includes:

- **Anthropic**: Tsetis realized a 7x return in 18 months 

- **SpaceX**: A long-standing investment 

- **Lila Sciences**: A 3-year-old startup with its own AI model and automated robotic labs that make scientific research faster and cheaper 

- **Polymarket**: The controversial prediction-market startup 

- **NewLimit**: A longevity startup 

- **BreakBio**: A developer of personalized cancer vaccines 

### The Philanthropic Causes

Great Things' charitable giving spans a diverse range of causes. Tsetis has backed organizations including:

- **Every Cure**: A nonprofit using AI to identify existing drugs that can treat rare diseases. Tsetis made a generous $1 million donation to this organization . "Every Cure is practical and deeply humane: it's focused on finding solutions that may already be within reach, and using AI to accelerate discovery in a way that's never been possible before" .

- **An after-school boxing academy in the Bronx** 

- **Ubuntu Pathways**: A provider of education and HIV treatment in South Africa 

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## The Philosophy: Why Now Matters

### The Urgency of Giving

For Tsetis, the urgency is personal. "I've got kids, and obviously I think about the future. But what I think more about is we need to solve problems together as we speak" .

He's part of a growing class of ultra-wealthy millennials who are setting up family offices early in life to promote causes over sheer wealth preservation . Unlike traditional family offices that focus on passing wealth to the next generation, Tsetis has a different view.

"I think the last thing you want to hand over to your children is wealth," he said. "I don't necessarily think that is beneficial, even though we may think that that's true" .

Tsetis wants to make impact now, and he's excited about involving his children in those processes so they can see what's happening in the world .

### The Personal Connection

Tsetis' commitment to philanthropy is rooted in his own experience. After struggling with hair loss in his 20s, he co-founded Nutrafol in 2014 . The company became the leading dermatologist-recommended hair growth supplement brand, attracting over 2 million users .

But success brought a different perspective. "I'm profoundly grateful that Nutrafol succeeded, not just because it created financial upside, but because it created perspective," he said. "It gave me the space to zoom out and ask: Where can I actually help? What suffering can we reduce? What futures can we unlock?" 

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## The Evolution: Getting Wiser About AI

### From Bullish to Cautious

The AI boom that has reaped quick returns for Great Things is bound to wane, according to Roman Kalantari, Tsetis' partner and former chief experience and technology officer at Nutrafol .

"Anyone who tells you there's not going to be a slowdown or a correction of some kind has really bought into the hype machine," Kalantari said. "When I look at these AI companies, I really try to think about who's going to survive that correction" .

As a result, Great Things is moving with more caution. The firm is focusing on late-stage rounds to prioritize liquidity and moving away from pure AI startups . Instead, they're looking for companies that have a durable value proposition and are built on their own technology rather than that of OpenAI or Anthropic .

### The Lila Sciences Example

Lila Sciences, which Great Things recently reinvested in, checks both boxes. The 3-year-old startup has its own AI model and builds automated robotic labs that make scientific research faster and cheaper . It represents the kind of "AI as research infrastructure" rather than "AI as feature" that Kalantari believes will survive a market correction .

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## The Tension: Profit vs. Impact

### The Polymarket Dilemma

Tsetis and Kalantari are still working out how to balance investments in winning technologies with their broader commitment to impact. The firm's portfolio includes Polymarket, the controversial prediction-market startup .

"This was a conscious decision to participate and see if we can generate significant returns and do what we believe is right with those returns," Tsetis said .

It's a revealing statement. Tsetis isn't pretending that all his investments are perfectly aligned with his philanthropic mission. He's making a pragmatic calculation: generate returns from any source, then use those returns for good.

### The Scaling Challenge

Tsetis acknowledges that if he applied a stricter "traditional" impact investing lens, the model might be harder to scale . "We're just doing what works for us, making the model sustainable, and hope it can serve others well" .

The tension is real. Traditional impact investing often requires sacrificing returns for mission alignment. Tsetis' model flips this: maximize returns, then allocate a portion to mission. It's a different approach that may be more scalable, even if it's less ideologically pure.

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## The Blueprint: What Other Families Can Learn

### Speed and Focus

Great Things can move quickly because it has no outside investors. Investment decisions come down to Tsetis and Kalantari . This speed allows them to capitalize on market opportunities that slower-moving family offices might miss.

### The Structural Innovation

The family office model that Cooperman helped structure turns traditional venture capital economics on its head. By converting profit-sharing interests into charitable-sharing interests, Great Things creates a self-sustaining cycle: invest aggressively, capture returns, and commit a significant portion to philanthropy .

### The Personal Touch

Tsetis' approach is highly personal. His wife, Cerelina Proesl, advises on philanthropy . His goal is to give portfolio companies a voice in how investment returns are donated . He wants his children to see philanthropy in action.

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## Frequently Asked Questions

### 1. What is the "20% rule" in Giorgos Tsetis' family office?

The 20% rule requires Great Things to allocate at least 20% of its annual net realized profits to philanthropy . The rule is inspired by the profit-sharing economics of venture capital and private equity, where profits are distributed to partners.

### 2. Who is Giorgos Tsetis?

Giorgos Tsetis is the co-founder and former CEO of Nutrafol, a hair-growth supplement brand that was acquired by Unilever at a $3.5 billion valuation . After selling his stake, he launched a family office called Great Things to invest in startups and fund philanthropic causes .

### 3. How much has Great Things invested and donated?

In the past 18 months, Tsetis has invested nearly $40 million and committed about $7 million to nonprofits through gifts and pledges. He expects to deploy another $60 million over the next two years .

### 4. What investments has Great Things made?

Great Things has backed AI companies including Anthropic (7x return in 18 months), SpaceX, Lila Sciences, and Polymarket, among others . The firm is now becoming more cautious about pure AI startups .

### 5. What philanthropic causes does Great Things support?

Great Things supports organizations including Every Cure (which uses AI to find new uses for existing drugs to treat rare diseases), an after-school boxing academy in the Bronx, and Ubuntu Pathways (which provides education and HIV treatment in South Africa) .

### 6. Why is Great Things becoming more cautious about AI?

Partner Roman Kalantari, who started his career during the dot-com bubble, believes an AI correction is inevitable . The firm is shifting from pure AI startups to companies with durable value propositions and proprietary technology that can survive a market downturn .

### 7. What makes Great Things different from a traditional family office?

Traditional family offices focus on preserving wealth across generations with a patient, long-term approach . Great Things is designed to move quickly, invest aggressively, and channel a significant portion of returns to philanthropy now rather than later . Tsetis has called the traditional approach "the last thing you want to hand over to your children" .

### 8. Can other families replicate this model?

Tsetis hopes so. He has designed Great Things as a blueprint for other wealthy families to give back now rather than as an afterthought . The model combines an aggressive investment strategy with a built-in charitable commitment, using a donor-advised fund to buffer against the volatility of investment returns .

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## Conclusion: A New Model for Wealth in the AI Age

Giorgos Tsetis' Great Things family office represents something genuinely new: a fusion of aggressive venture investing and rapid philanthropy. The 20% rule ensures that as AI creates extraordinary wealth, a significant portion of that wealth flows immediately to charitable causes.

Tsetis is part of a broader shift among younger, ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs who are questioning the traditional family office model. Why wait decades to make an impact? Why hand enormous wealth to children who didn't earn it? Why not use the leverage of capital to address problems now?

The model isn't perfect. The tension between profit and impact is real, as the Polymarket investment demonstrates. The AI boom that has generated such quick returns will eventually cool, requiring the firm to adapt. And the 20% rule, while admirable, depends on consistently generating profits to fund it.

But the ambition is unmistakable. Tsetis wants to show that wealth creation and social impact aren't opposing forces—they can be integrated into a single model that moves faster and gives more than either approach alone.

"At Great Things, we don't back organizations as structures—we back people as forces for change," he said . In an era of extreme wealth concentration, that's a message worth paying attention to.

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## Disclaimer

*This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. The views expressed are based on publicly available information and the author's analysis. Family office structures, investment strategies, and philanthropic commitments are inherently individual and may not be appropriate for all families or investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Before making any financial or philanthropic decisions, please consult with qualified advisors who can evaluate your specific situation. The author may have professional connections to individuals or organizations mentioned in this article and has no obligation to disclose such connections.*