Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Conversations with the best investors and business leaders in the world. We explore their ideas, methods, and stories to help you better invest your time and money. Hear stock market and boardroom insights you can't find anywhere else. If you're a professional investor, CEO, entrepreneur, or business strategist, this is for you. Explore all our episodes and learn more at https://www.joincolossus.com
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My guest today is my friend Wolfgang Hammer. Wolfgang is a successful film producer and executive who helped create House of Cards and ran several major studios, including Lionsgate, CBS Films and Miramax. He’s now building a new kind of film studio with support from Mitch Lasky and Marc Andreessen. Wolfgang also helps founders and CEOs use storytelling to better understand what they do, and why it matters. In many ways, this conversation is a manual for how to find that story and communicate it in a way that resonates. Wolfgang shares the questions and tools he gives leaders to help them do the same. Our conversation explores how stories work, what great ones have in common, and why understanding your own story can be transformative. We talk about the three layers every story must have — the external, the emotional, and the philosophical — and how they apply to building companies and leading people. So many CEOs — at both startups and massive Fortune 100 companies — have Wolfgang to thank for changing how they think and talk about their business, and I hope this episode gives you the tools to do the same. Please enjoy my conversation with the great Wolfgang Hammer. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. –- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:22) Meet Wolfgang Hammer (00:05:25) How to Tell Your Story (00:07:10) The Three Layers of Every Story (00:10:02) What a Good Story Unlocks (00:12:39) Applying Storytelling Principles to Business (00:17:24) Lessons From Filmmaking for CEOs (00:22:46) Everything is a Death Project (00:25:03) What Makes a Great Story (00:30:54) The Role of Status (00:31:48) Building a New Kind of Film Studio (00:35:20) The Version of Your Story so Big it Terrifies You (00:39:34) Grand Unified Theory (00:42:03) The Kindest Thing
My guest today is Luca Ferrari. Luca is the co-founder and CEO of Bending Spoons, which he describes as 25 percent private equity and 75 percent technology company. Founded in 2013, Bending Spoons fully acquires and operates digital companies like Evernote, Meetup, Vimeo, and most recently AOL. Our conversation explores the unique model behind Bending Spoons, and the culture required to scale it. Luca shares exactly how their acquisition playbook works – from identifying promising businesses to rebuilding every part of them across product, design, monetization, and marketing. We discuss their approach to financing long-term ownership through both debt and equity, Luca’s obsession with finding and developing exceptional talent, and his decision to build the company in Europe. I found Luca’s description of himself as perennially unhappy to be the clearest window into how he builds. It’s a mindset that fuels his pursuit of excellence and defines the culture at Bending Spoons. Please enjoy my conversation with Luca Ferrari. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. –- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:12) The Vision and Ambition (00:07:56) Challenges and Early Days (00:11:01) The Turning Point: Evertale to Bending Spoons (00:13:12) Acquisition Strategy and Growth (00:24:22) Case Study: Evernote Acquisition (00:33:34) Pricing and Valuation Insights (00:40:02) Making Competitive Offers (00:40:37) Walkaway Rate and Offer Success (00:41:14) Financing the Business (00:43:21) Lessons from Acquisitions (00:46:32) The AOL Acquisition (00:48:21) Simplifying Business Operations (00:56:10) Incentives and Motivation (00:58:31) Balancing Discontent and Growth (01:03:21) Raising Debt Capital (01:06:37) Impact of AI on Business (01:11:00) Company Culture and Traditions (01:16:00) The Kindest Thing
Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years, published once a month. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. Kevin Kelly co-founded Wired magazine and has published a number of seminal books and essays on technology over the past three decades. I have devoured everything Kevin has put out into the world and many of his ideas shape the way I live today. Our conversation explores media, family, money, his concept of the Technium, AI, and more but the central theme of this episode is that we should be as generous and unique as possible. You will hear us refer to his latest book, Excellent Advice for Living, throughout and I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t already. Please enjoy this great conversation with Kevin Kelly. Colossus Profile on Kevin Kelly: Flounder Mode For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. With a single API, developers can implement essential enterprise capabilities that typically require months of engineering work. By handling the complex infrastructure of enterprise features, WorkOS allows developers to focus on their core product while meeting the security and compliance requirements of Fortune 500 companies. Visit WorkOS. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:05) Excellent Advice for Living - a journey towards authenticity (00:05:05) Uncovering the essence of oneself is a lifelong journey of self-reflection (00:06:47) What he would have done differently at 30 had he internalized this concept earlier (00:08:51) The highest form of self-expression is being authentically unique and redefining success (00:11:05) Conforming to others' definition of success and societal biases hinders progress (00:13:07) Surrender and collaboration are both essential in becoming your authentic self (00:14:38) Prototype your life to embrace imperfections and make ideas tangible (00:17:34) Mastering cultural photography in Asia and developing a keen ability to spot trends (00:19:59) Energy signatures reveal depth, breadth, discovery, and momentum in events (00:22:02) The reward for good work is more work (00:23:42) Money is a tool for doing things, but beware its imprisoning burden (00:28:35) Imagination can be cultivated and improved, often by challenging expectations (00:31:38) Imaginative individuals include lateral thinkers who challenge norms (00:34:41) Rites of passage and rituals provide stability and identity for children (00:38:15) Mealtime without screens, family traditions, and cultivating a family identity (00:41:44) An overview of “The three gates” (00:43:02) Humans are naturally kind (00:47:23) The Technium: an evolving ecosystem of interdependent tech and their tendencies (00:52:01) Thoughts on AI (00:55:55) Overestimating the existential threat of AI (00:57:38) Idiosyncratic expression of creators (00:59:48) Lessons learned about media (01:01:34) Be the only, not the best. (01:05:09) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Kevin
Today I am replaying my conversation with Ken Langone. Ken is a legendary American businessman best known for his co-founding of Home Depot. He is also a former director of the New York Stock Exchange and a passionate philanthropist. He shares with us a lifetime worth of wisdom, building Home Depot into a powerhouse and prioritizing his employees above all else. He says he still “bleeds orange” to this day. You’ll hear as he recounts his business endeavors, his strict belief in keeping your word and his true pride in his country, what he knows to be the land of opportunity. We discuss his work with Ross Perot, the idea of an upside down hierarchy, and the power of loyalty. For anyone who may find it easier to follow along, we have a transcript of the episode on joincolossus.com. Please enjoy this conversation with Ken Langone. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:004:00) The Unforgettable Pitch to Ross Perot (00:08:37) Winning Over Perot with Honesty and Insight (00:16:08) The Art of Negotiation and Trust (00:19:31) Loyalty, Integrity, and the Power of Keeping Your Word (00:23:51) Home Depot's Culture of Service and Empowerment (00:29:16) Frank's Authentic Leadership and Its Impact (00:31:00) Transforming NYU Medical Center (00:33:45) Ken’s Investment Philosophy: Long Hold Only (00:39:56) The Power of Resilience in Business (00:45:37) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Ken
My guest today is Karim Atiyeh. Karim is the co-founder and CTO of Ramp, the fastest-growing finance automation platform in history, reaching over $1 billion in revenue in just over five years. Ramp is, of course, also our presenting sponsor, so I’m obviously very biased in how highly I think about Ramp and about Karim. But, this interview was not part of that sponsorship, I simply view Karim as one of the best operators active today. Ramp is building what Karim calls "self-driving finance"—using AI agents to automate everything from expense policy enforcement to invoice processing, eliminating the bureaucratic waste that plagues modern businesses. Karim shares his framework for moving from using AI as a productivity tool to programming AI as your actual product, with policy agents that understand context better than humans and improve continuously. Our discussion captures the relentless iteration speed and technical depth required to build generational companies in the age of AI. We explore his systematic approach to building consumer-grade experiences for business software, the psychology behind his "divinely discontent" management style, and why he believes technical founders will dominate this era because they can see possibilities others miss. Please enjoy my conversation with Karim Atiyeh. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:09) The Competitive Landscape and AI Advancements (00:07:27) Building Self-Driving Finance with AI (00:08:28) Policy Agents and Automation (00:12:14) Ramp's User Experience and Design Philosophy (00:23:10) Kareem's Background and Entrepreneurial Journey (00:28:06) Founding Paribus and Lessons Learned (00:41:57) The Birth of Ramp and Early Challenges (00:54:30) Nurturing Investor Relationships (00:57:10) Challenges in Fundraising (00:58:23) Customer Adoption and Product Evolution (01:01:55) Transition to SaaS Revenue Model (01:06:37) Marketing Innovations and Experiments (01:24:16) Recruiting for Spikiness and Speed (01:31:29) Future of Payments and Business Models (01:39:06) The Kindest Thing
My guest today is Dan Wang. Dan is a technology analyst and author who spent six years living in China studying its manufacturing ecosystem and tech development, best known for his new book Breakneck. Dan offers the most nuanced framework I've encountered for understanding US-China competition. We explore a critical asymmetry: it's far harder for the US to rebuild manufacturing capacity than for China to improve scientific research, with profound implications for AI, national security, and investment returns. For investors, Dan explains the "ByteDance problem"—why exceptional Chinese companies trade at massive discounts due to Communist Party unpredictability and geopolitical risks. He argues China is a "high agency" society that executes relentlessly while America deliberates endlessly, yet also reveals the societal cost. We discuss innovation, state capacity, and investing across both superpowers. Please enjoy my conversation with Dan Wang. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:55) China's Engineering State and Social Engineering (00:12:15) US-China Competition: Innovation and Manufacturing (00:19:41) The Future of US and China: Technological and Economic Perspectives (00:25:22) Cultural and Work Ethic Comparisons (00:39:09) Investing in China: Opportunities and Risks (00:44:43) Future Equilibrium States Between US and China (00:48:32) China's High Agency and Infrastructure (00:49:58) Lawyerly Tendencies in US Society (00:53:41) Comparing US and Chinese Societal Structures (00:57:59) China's Historical Lessons and Future Prospects (01:10:39) AI and Technological Competition (01:15:30) Vertical Integration in Chinese Companies (01:26:39) The Kindest Thing
My guest today is Jesse Zhang. Jesse is the co-founder and CEO of Decagon, one of the fastest-growing AI customer service companies. Decagon provides a centralized AI engine to auto-resolve issues at any time, in every language, and across every channel. Jesse shares his systematic approach to finding product-market fit by asking potential customers exactly how much they'd pay for solutions. We explore why customer service and coding have emerged as the two clearest AI use cases for enterprises, and the key business and technical factors behind Decagon's momentum. We discuss the intense competitive dynamics of building in AI today, strategic decisions around building proprietary models, and deploying AI agents at enterprise scale. Please enjoy my conversation with Jesse Zhang. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:49) Building a Company in a Competitive Market (00:07:26) Personal Background and Competitive Upbringing (00:10:32) Challenges and Lessons from Previous Ventures (00:12:21) Ideation and Customer Discovery Process (00:19:31) Developing and Refining AI Customer Service Agents (00:32:26) Voice AI and Future Prospects (00:38:20) Utilizing Customer Interaction Data (00:39:59) Frameworks for Implementing AI in Business (00:41:48) Evaluating the ROI of Coding Agents (00:42:53) The Future of Company Agents (00:45:15) Brand Personality in AI Agents (00:47:48) Investor Interest in AI Companies (00:54:32) The Competitive Landscape of AI Talent (00:57:21) Building Proprietary AI Models (01:10:36) Customer Qualification and Engagement (01:17:27) The Kindest Thing
My guest today is Dylan Patel. Dylan is the founder and CEO of SemiAnalysis. At SemiAnalysis Dylan tracks the semiconductor supply chain and AI infrastructure buildout with unmatched granularity—literally watching data centers get built through satellite imagery and mapping hundreds of billions in capital flows. Our conversation explores the massive industrial buildout powering AI, from the strategic chess game between OpenAI, Nvidia, and Oracle to why we're still in the first innings of post-training and reinforcement learning. Dylan explains infrastructure realities like electrician wages doubling and companies using diesel truck engines for emergency power, while making a sobering case about US-China competition and why America needs AI to succeed. We discuss his framework for where value will accrue in the stack, why traditional SaaS economics are breaking down under AI's high cost of goods sold, and which hardware bottlenecks matter most. This is one of the most comprehensive views of the physical reality underlying the AI revolution you'll hear anywhere. Please enjoy my conversation with Dylan Patel. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:12) The AI Infrastructure Buildout (00:08:25) Scaling AI Models and Compute Needs (00:11:44) Reinforcement Learning and AI Training (00:14:07) The Future of AI and Compute (00:17:47) AI in Practical Applications (00:22:29) The Importance of Data and Environments in AI Training (00:29:45) Human Analogies in AI Development (00:40:34) The Challenge of Infinite Context in AI Models (00:44:08) The Bullish and Bearish Perspectives on AI (00:48:25) The Talent Wars in AI Research (00:56:54) The Power Dynamics in AI and Tech (01:13:29) The Future of AI and Its Economic Impact (01:18:55) The Gigawatt Data Center Boom (01:21:12) Supply Chain and Workforce Dynamics (01:24:23) US vs. China: AI and Power Dynamics (01:37:16) AI Startups and Innovations (01:52:44) The Changing Economics of Software (01:58:12) The Kindest Thing
Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years, published once a month. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This Business Breakdowns on Rolex is a long-time stand out. The founder and executive chairman of Hodinkee, Ben Clymer, was the perfect person to take us through the ins and outs of this legendary brand. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. With a single API, developers can implement essential enterprise capabilities that typically require months of engineering work. By handling the complex infrastructure of enterprise features, WorkOS allows developers to focus on their core product while meeting the security and compliance requirements of Fortune 500 companies. Visit WorkOS. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Business Breakdowns (00:03:01) His favorite Rolex watch ever (00:04:24) What makes the Rolex Daytona such a special watch (00:07:19) The job-to-be-done for high-end watches beyond just telling them the time (00:12:18) The strategy behind marketing luxury products: The Luxury Strategy (00:14:34) An overview of the Rolex business (00:19:38) The history of Rolex (00:38:45) Their genius in marketing and distribution (00:41:55) How they make decisions and what others can learn from them (00:47:14) The financials of Rolex and other luxury watch brands (00:49:02) Most important business lessons others can learn from Rolex (00:52:54) Other luxury brands worth studying (00:57:26) Negative lessons gleaned from Rolex
My guest today is Barry Diller. Barry is the former CEO of Paramount Pictures, Fox Broadcasting, and the founder of IAC. He has been at the center of every major media transformation over the past five decades, from creating the Movie of the Week format to building the fourth broadcast network to executing 150 internet-era deals. Barry reveals his "creative conflict" philosophy - pushing smart, opinionated people past their endurance point to generate breakthrough ideas. He also shares stories of working alongside media titans like Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates. We discuss his current portfolio strategy, innovation in media, and how personal struggles can become professional superpowers. Please enjoy my conversation with Barry Diller. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:02) Early Career in Entertainment (00:06:33) Defining Moments and Fearlessness (00:09:18) Personal Reflections and Family Impact (00:12:37) The Magic of Interactivity (00:14:44) Creative Conflict and Instinct (00:19:24) Breaking Down Complexities (00:21:35) Innovations in Television (00:23:37) The Fox Network and Murdoch's Gamble (00:29:37) The Value of Money and Motivation (00:30:17) The Leap to Independence (00:32:28) QVC and the Internet Revolution (00:33:37) The AI Opportunist Approach (00:36:55) The Rise of Match.com and Tinder (00:38:57) The MGM Investment and Future of Entertainment (00:41:21) Negotiation Lessons from Lou Wasserman (00:43:47) The Simpsons: From Doubt to Success (00:44:25) The Changing Landscape of Media (00:51:53) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Barry
My guest today is Jeff Horing. Jeff cofounded Insight Partners and has been the Managing Director since 1995. This is one of Jeff’s first public conversations about building one of the world’s most successful technology investment firms with over $100 billion in AUM. Jeff reveals the mechanics behind Insight's legendary sourcing machine—60-80 people systematically calling companies worldwide. He explains their contrarian "one fund" strategy that deploys $12 billion across everything from $10M growth deals to billion-dollar buyouts, and why he thinks this creates unmatched competitive advantages. We discuss remarkable talent diaspora, AI representing a "TAM accelerator," and Insight’s five-ingredient framework for perfect investments. Please enjoy this great conversation with Jeff Horing. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:08:35) Insight Partners' Investment Strategies (00:13:06) Evaluating Software Businesses (00:22:51) The One Fund Strategy (00:29:32) The Evolution of Insight's Sourcing Strategy (00:35:09) Operationalizing the Sourcing Process (00:44:43) Adapting to Market Changes and Strategies (00:49:45) Navigating Market Corrections and Investment Strategies (00:51:40) Challenges and Opportunities in Venture Buyouts (00:54:12) Talent Development and Retention at Insight (00:56:03) The Importance of Sourcing and Pattern Recognition (01:02:08) Scaling and Operationalizing Investment Strategies (01:20:24) Impact of AI on Investment and Software Markets (01:27:40) Reflections on Winning and Selling Strategies (01:30:34) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Jeff
Today, we are replaying one of my favorite conversations with Sam Hinkie. Sam worked for more than a decade in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and then as the President and GM of the Philadelphia 76ers. And now, after years of personal investing, he has launched his own venture capital firm, 87 Capital. Every conversation I have with Sam is alive with insight, and this one is no different. We explore the idea of studying the "breadcrumbs" that someone leaves behind as a way to track their progress and trajectory, finding and attracting the right people into one’s orbit, and the lessons from the NBA that most shape his investing career. Sam has taught me the most about the topic of building trust, which we cover here as well. I am excited to share my conversation with Sam with all of you. Please enjoy! For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (0:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (3:48) Conducting a good interview (5:58) Drilling into topics to learn more about people (10:36) Interest in digital breadcrumbs and how to follow them (14:02) Building context around founders vs analyzing their pitch decks (17:20) A real world example of the bread crumb strategy, Houston Rockets GM (23:07) Shifting to a people-first focus (28:24) Most amazing thing someone did in early days of working with Sam (30:18) Lessons from sports that he carries with him (32:31) Exceptions to relationships being a key to success (36:07) Avoiding transactional type people (37:04) Most effective lessons he brought to sports from the investing world (40:01) Ideas from the sports world he is bringing to the investing world (50:33) Lessons learned from watching them build trust (52:26) Market areas that have his attention (54:13) Fascination into API’s (1:01:26) Playing the long game (1:04:29) Calling it 87 Capital (1:06:52) What can Caro teach us about the long game (1:12:58) The power of breadcrumbs and how people can start to lay them out
Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years, published once a month. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. Sean Feeney makes you want to be a better person, friend, and leader. Sean is the co-founder of Grove House Hospitality Group and the owner of Lilia and Misi, two of New York City’s most sought-after restaurants. He left his job in Trading to chase down a dream with Michelin star chef Missy Robbins. Sean leveraged his finance background to write his own rulebook for the restaurant industry, crafting several establishments that now boast several thousand people on the waitlist any given night. His story is as entertaining as it is inspiring. As we go step by step through his business endeavors, he points out all of the times he was told “it’s just always been done this way” and how that revealed to him where he could innovate. Sean’s restaurants are the perfect example of building a business into the fabric of a community, collaborating with other brands in authentic ways, and staying true to yourself along the way. Please enjoy this awesome conversation with Sean Feeney. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. With a single API, developers can implement essential enterprise capabilities that typically require months of engineering work. By handling the complex infrastructure of enterprise features, WorkOS allows developers to focus on their core product while meeting the security and compliance requirements of Fortune 500 companies. Visit WorkOS.com to Transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:58) A Chance Encounter with a Michelin-Starred Chef (00:08:52) The Birth of a Culinary Partnership (00:12:49 Embracing the Genius Within (00:16:41) Innovative Approaches to the Restaurant Business (00:24:53) Creating Demand: The Art of Exclusivity (00:28:49) Learning from the Best: Insights from Kith's Success (00:34:21) Defining Exceptional Hospitality (00:44:20) The Power of Customer Relationships in Hospitality (00:52:31) Unlocking Team Potential (00:53:33) The Philosophy of the Perfect Turn (00:54:05) Balancing Art, Commerce, and Satisfaction (00:56:13) The Impact of Authentic Experiences and Brands (01:03:24) The Evolution of a Hospitality Brand (01:06:38) Community Engagement and the Power of Simplicity (01:24:40) Creative Responses and Business Lessons Learned (01:36:05) Lessons From Working In The Restaurant Industry (01:43:01) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Sean
Today we are replaying my conversation with Justin Ishbia. Justin is the Founding Partner of Shore Capital. Shore is a private equity firm that invests in microcap businesses within industry niches. With $7 billion in capital deployed but an average transaction size of just $12 million, Justin has worked to build a system to drive success for hundreds of businesses through replicable operating procedures and championing young professionals. The firm has created a moat around volume with nearly 600 acquisitions over the last three years, some of the highest numbers in the world. We discuss identifying growth prospects, constructing a meaningful board, and the business mentality behind main street, not wall street, as Justin puts it. Please enjoy my conversation with Justin Ishbia. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:07) The Role of Early Career Energy in the System (00:07:47) The Importance of Being Thematic and Process-Driven (00:08:25) The Journey of Building a Business (00:09:50) The Perfect Shore Capital Deal (00:15:44) Building Competitive Advantage through Volume (00:19:02) The Role of Board Members in Investment Success (00:25:10) Choosing Industrial Subsectors Over Software (00:29:37) Identifying Industry Leaders (00:34:15) The Process of Identifying Potential Investments (00:37:35) The Impact of Business Consolidation on Reputation (00:46:33) Exploring the Concept of Unfair Advantages (00:51:03) Building Platforms, Not Buying Them (00:52:16) The Power of Operations and Knowledge Sharing (00:57:36) The Excitement of Sports Franchise Ownership (01:09:48) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Justin
My guest today is Joe Liemandt. Joe is the Principal at Alpha School and the founder of Triliogy Software and ESW Capital. He became the youngest member of the Forbes 400 in the 1990s before vanishing from public view for two decades—only to emerge with a $1 billion bet that he can make kids learn 10x faster using AI. Joe has built an AI tutoring system so effective that students at his Alpha School literally beg not to take summer breaks, achieving 2x learning outcomes in just 2 hours with standardized test results that compete with the best of them. We dive deep into why this could be the most valuable product he's ever built, his contrarian thesis that traditional SaaS is facing AI-driven obsolescence, and how his experience buying 100+ software companies prepared him for this moonshot in a trillion-dollar market that hasn't innovated in 200 years. For investors, this is a masterclass in deploying patient capital to rebuild broken systems from first principles, with insights on everything from regulatory moats to the intersection of AI and human psychology. As your excited skeptic, I push hard on the technology readiness, parental adoption hurdles, and whether this audacious vision can actually scale to a billion kids. Additionally, in a Colossus Profile released last week, our editor-in-chief Jeremy Stern reported, for the first time, Joe as the product guy behind Alpha School in a can’t miss piece of writing. And now please enjoy my conversation with Joe Liemandt. Joe Liemandt’s Colossus Profile by Jeremy Stern. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best(00:06:08) How Alpha School Is Revolutionizing Learning(00:12:47) Personalized Tutoring with AI(00:19:59) Measuring the Impossible: 2x Learning Outcomes(00:25:39) All Educational Content Is Obsolete(00:35:51) Motivating Students: The Key to Success(00:42:06) Life Skills Workshops: Real-World Lessons(00:47:47) The Key to Happiness: High Standards(00:52:33) The Role of Guides and Coaches(00:58:22) Feedback Loops and AI in Education(01:04:20) The AI-Powered Classroom Experience(01:18:06) From Self-Doubt to Limitless Learning(01:28:20) Challenges in Public School Systems(01:41:56) Gamified Learning and Technology(01:49:46) From Trilogy to Trillion-Dollar Markets(01:55:05) Why Software Companies Fail(02:01:21) Trilogy University(02:10:39) Lessons from Mentors(02:17:25) Pushing Limits and Finding Passion(02:27:12) Joe's Kindest Thing
My guest today is Mark Bertolini. Mark is the former CEO of Aetna and the current CEO of Oscar Health. He shares one of the most extraordinary leadership stories I've encountered—surviving a catastrophic skiing accident that left him in chronic pain for 18 years while simultaneously leading one of healthcare's most successful corporate turnarounds. His personal experience navigating his son's life-threatening cancer battle and his own medical challenges fundamentally changed his approach to healthcare, leading to innovations in employee welfare that Wall Street initially questioned but ultimately celebrated. During his tenure at Aetna, Mark generated 652% total shareholder return by implementing revolutionary employee policies and is now applying these lessons at Oscar Health to disrupt the $4 trillion healthcare industry with a technology-first approach. We discuss the power of servant leadership, employer-sponsored insurance vs individual choice-based plans, and the horizons of healthcare. Please enjoy this incredible conversation with Mark Bertolini. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:52) Mark's Ski Accident and Recovery (00:07:54) Early Life and Career Beginnings (00:12:51) Leadership Philosophy and Career Highlights (00:19:03) Healthcare System Insights and Innovations (00:25:31) Oscar Health: Current State and Future Vision (00:42:06) Personal Stories and Eastern Belief System (00:51:57) Discovering the Healing Power of Yoga (00:57:21) Transforming Employee Benefits and Wages (01:02:41) Personal Journey Through Chronic Pain (01:08:10) Reflections on Business Success and Leadership (01:15:54) Joining Bridgewater and Transitioning Leadership (01:22:47) Leading Oscar Health and Future Goals (01:34:12) Enduring Hardships and Finding Purpose (01:32:34) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Mark
My guest today is Peter Lacaillade. Peter is the Chief Investment Officer for Private Investments at SCS Financial and has built a notable private equity allocation platform within the wealth management industry. He shares his insights on how SCS's pooled vehicle structure has enabled them to compete with institutional giants, avoiding the adverse selection that plagues most wealth platforms. Peter shares his investment philosophy across lower middle market buyouts, emerging independent sponsors, and investing with what he believes to be category-defining managers. We discuss what separates high-quality private equity managers, the evolution of the industry toward AI-powered strategies, and private markets going mainstream. Please enjoy this conversation with Peter Lacaillade. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). -- The views expressed reflect personal views of participants at the time of recording and not necessarily any third party and are subject to change. The information provided is for informational and illustrative purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Assets under management is an estimate that reflects total assets managed and advised on. This recording contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the participants’ current views. These statements are subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors which may cause future events to be materially different from these statements. Statements that reference past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will necessarily continue in the future. The investment strategies and any performance discussed are strictly intended to be for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to be representative of any entire investment program. Investments risk loss of capital and there is no guarantee that an investment will achieve its investment objective. Private investments in particular involve significant risks and are intended for experienced and sophisticated investors. -- Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:31) Advantages of Private Equity Over Public Markets (00:08:59) Talent Acquisition and Growth at SCS (00:10:28) SCS's Wealth Management Strategy (00:12:42) Trends in Private Equity (00:20:14) Challenges and Risks in Private Equity (00:26:06) The State of the Wealth Management Industry (00:35:07) Lower Middle Market Buyouts and Independent Sponsors (00:49:38) Introduction to Long Lake and Its Innovative Approach (00:54:26) The Rise of Holding Companies (00:57:03) Emerging Trends in Venture Capital 01:05:44) The Role of Endowments and Liquidity Solutions (01:10:40) Jake and Frank's Partnership (01:13:57) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Peter
My guest today is Andrew Milgram. Andrew is the founder of Marblegate Asset Management, an alternative investment firm that invests in credit opportunities and special situations. He joins me to discuss his unique approach to distressed investing in the middle market, revealing how middle market EBITDA has declined 20-25% since 2019, creating what he calls the "K-shaped economy." His investment stories are legendary, particularly his $600+ million bet on NYC taxi medallions, which we go into in great detail. We discuss Marblegate’s approach to negotiation, sourcing deals directly from hundreds of regional banks, and understanding the human element in distressed situations. Please enjoy this conversation with Andrew Milgram. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:58) Understanding the K-Shaped Economy (00:07:08) Middle Market Challenges and Data Insights (00:16:56) Distressed Investing Explained (00:25:06) The Taxi Medallion Investment Story (00:46:46) Navigating New York's Taxi Medallion System (00:47:17) Building Relationships with Regulators and Unions (00:50:22) Taking the Taxi Operation Public (00:51:26) The Future of Autonomous Vehicles and Medallions (00:54:30) Investment Strategies and Risk Management (00:58:41) Negotiation Principles and Human Drama (01:11:55) Personal Reflections and Formative Experiences (01:17:22) The State of the American Economy (01:23:29) Insights on Private Credit and Equity Markets (01:30:39) Future of Asset Management (01:33:16) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Andrew
My guest today is Ramtin Naimi. Ramtin is the founder of Abstract Ventures, one of the most talked-about seed funds in Silicon Valley. What makes Ramtin's story so compelling isn't just his firm's remarkable track record—including early investments in Rippling, Solana, and dozens of unicorns—but also the unconventional path he took to get there. From running a hedge fund straight out of high school to filing for bankruptcy at 24, then bootstrapping his way to building a $2 billion AUM venture firm using AngelList and relentless hustle. Our conversation begins in an unexpected place—the art world—where Ramtin has become a sophisticated collector, learning from mentors like Michael Ovitz about market dynamics that surprisingly mirror venture capital. We dive deep into how the art world actually works, and Ramtin explains how these lessons about "masterpieces" apply directly to identifying power-law companies in venture. We go deep on his approach to early-stage investing and how he built Abstract as a co-investment vehicle alongside firms like Sequoia, Benchmark, and Andreessen Horowitz. We explore his portfolio construction model, his philosophy on dilution-sensitive founders, and why he takes upwards of 30 pitch meetings per week to build his "frame of reference." We discuss why Abstract has the highest graduation rate from seed to Series A among all seed funds, and how this competitive advantage compounds over time. This is his first time telling his story, and we discuss the power of pattern recognition, relentless work ethic, and the unique opportunities available to those willing to start from scratch in Silicon Valley. Please enjoy this great conversation with Ramtin Naimi. Colossus Review Profile: Ramtin Naimi For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:40) Learning from Mentors and Starting to Collect (00:08:50) Parallels Between Art and Venture Capital (00:12:57) Challenges in Art Collecting (00:20:45) The Role of Status in the Art World (00:25:00) Who Makes the Most Money in the Art World? (00:28:19) Abstract Ventures: Early Stage Investing (00:42:34) Starting a Venture Capital Firm from Scratch (00:43:12) Overcoming Bankruptcy and Early Struggles (00:50:34) Evaluating Technical Capabilities and Momentum (01:02:53) Competing for Deals and Building Relationships (01:15:25) The Role of Brand in Venture Capital (01:22:39) Early Life and Entrepreneurial Beginnings (01:28:40) Starting a Hedge Fund and Learning Hard Lessons (01:31:26) Transition to Venture Capital (01:37:19) Building Abstract and Family Life (01:52:03) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Ramtin
Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years, published once a month. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. Brad Jacob's simple principle of "think big, move fast" is one I think about often. Brad’s resumé is remarkable. He has founded seven companies, all of which are billion-dollar or multibillion-dollar businesses. He has done 500 M&A transactions and raised $30 billion of debt and equity capital. Currently, he is the Executive Chairman of XPO, a commercial trucking company that he started in 2011 and has grown into one of the largest logistics businesses in the world. He is a true force of nature, and I hope you enjoy his episode. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. With a single API, developers can implement essential enterprise capabilities that typically require months of engineering work. By handling the complex infrastructure of enterprise features, WorkOS allows developers to focus on their core product while meeting the security and compliance requirements of Fortune 500 companies. Visit WorkOS.com to Transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:02:11) Identifying key factors in a market before investing (00:05:07) Gleaning insights from early acquisition experiences (00:08:43) Delving into the seller's mindset during a business sale (00:12:51) Weighing pre-built against organic growth strategies in acquisitions (00:17:20) Defining the elements of an ideal business (00:22:49) Engaging constructively with Wall Street (00:24:36) Discussing the substantial buyback of XPO shares (00:28:16) Ambition as a recurring theme in entrepreneurial success (00:30:17) Emphasizing the need to facilitate team agility (00:32:35) Highlighting the joys of post-acquisition integration (00:36:09) Drawing lessons from Ludwig Jesselson's principles (00:40:34) Comparing the risks and rewards of early versus late adoption (00:44:09) Reflecting on errors made in trend analysis (00:48:59) Strategies for implementing new technologies in enterprises (00:51:59) The significance of thought experiments in strategic decision-making (00:56:00) Recalling transformative events from his early years (00: 57:22) Outlining what makes a meeting 'electric' (01: 01:53) Sharing experiences with exemplary leadership (01:05:02) Strategies for maximizing team potential (01:07:37) Deciding the right time to step away from a business (01:08:58) Unveiling unexpected challenges in entrepreneurship (01:18:45) Philosophies for leading a fulfilling life (01:21:04) Finishing How To Make A Few Billion Dollars (01:22:53) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Brad
My guest today is Zach Dell. Zach is the co-founder and CEO of Base Power Company. Base is a modern power company building a reliable and affordable home energy service powered by distributed batteries. We explore one of the most underappreciated machines in our world: the electrical grid. Zach walks us through the complex world of electricity infrastructure and explains why the 100-year-old grid is woefully unprepared for the explosion in demand coming from AI, electric vehicles, and industrial electrification. Base's approach involves creating a distributed network of home batteries that provide backup power to customers while serving as grid resources, elegantly solving infrastructure bottlenecks that plague traditional utility-scale projects. We discuss energy as the fundamental enabler of human progress, scaling distributed energy assets, and the vertical integration strategy driving Base's unit economics. Please enjoy my conversation with Zach Dell. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by Arcana. Arcana is the world’s most advanced portfolio intelligence platform, trusted by institutional investors managing trillions in AUM — including market neutral, long-short, long-only, and capital allocators. Arcana enables portfolio managers, risk teams, analysts, and CIOs to drill into exposures and idio, construct optimal portfolios, and decompose performance at incredible granularity. Visit arcana.io to request a demo and learn more. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Introduction and Show Overview (00:05:06) Understanding the Electrical Grid (00:09:10) The History and Evolution of the Grid (00:09:51) Regulation and Deregulation in the Energy Sector (00:18:25) The Importance of Energy in Human Progress (00:28:41) Base's Innovative Energy Solutions (00:38:25) Economic and Operational Insights of Base (00:44:31) Understanding Electricity Market Variability (00:45:01) The Boom and Bust of Battery Economics (00:48:43) Battery Technology and Chemistry (00:50:56) Global Battery Manufacturing Landscape (00:54:06) Capital Markets and Financing Strategies (00:59:56) Vision for the Future of Energy Technology (01:02:30) Personal Journey and Entrepreneurial Insights (01:09:48) Lessons from Influential Leaders (01:16:52) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Zach
My guest today is Alan Waxman. Alan is the co-founder and CEO of Sixth Street, one of the most unique investment firms with a "go anywhere, do anything" mandate across asset classes, geographies, and time horizons, and over $110 billion in AUM. He describes his journey from CIO of Goldman Sachs’ Special Situations Group and the frameworks he brought with him to lay the foundation for Sixth Street. Alan details their famous investments like Spotify and Airbnb during challenging periods, their innovative sports partnerships with Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, and their $30 billion "TAO" vehicle that allows them to write billion-dollar checks while keeping individual fund sizes matched to opportunities. We discuss hiring people without egos, enabling a truly multi-strategy approach, and Sixth Street’s "face the tiger" philosophy. Please enjoy this great conversation with Alan Waxman. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:57) Introducing Alan Waxman and Sixth Street (00:05:58) The Formative Goldman Sachs Years (00:10:21) Unitizing Risk and Return (00:14:23) Facing the Tiger: Sixth Street's Culture and Values (00:34:51) Spotify and Airbnb: Case Studies in Investment (00:39:20) Ambitious Investment Strategies (00:40:40) Strategic Partnerships in Sports (00:41:23) Navigating COVID with Airbnb (00:43:36) Risk and Return Analysis (00:46:56) Investing in Sports and Live Entertainment (00:52:23) Developing Investment Themes (00:55:29) Balancing Leadership and Investment (00:57:30) The Importance of Culture (01:10:33) Future Self and Long-Term Vision (01:15:09) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Alan
My guest today is Caryn Seidman-Becker. Caryn is the Chairman and CEO of Clear. She bought the company out of bankruptcy for $6 million in 2010 and built it into the identity platform millions use in airports and stadiums today. Her Wall Street background investing in Apple, Amazon, and Priceline taught her to recognize when products become platforms, which shaped her vision for Clear as the "definitive secure identity platform" far beyond travel. Caryn shares the gritty early days of literally hunting down hardware in airport storage facilities and rebuilding the entire business from scratch. She embodies an incredible "bias for action." We discuss turning around a business, scaling a platform, and why she believes your face will soon be your key to everything. Please enjoy my conversation with Caryn Seidman-Becker. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Arcana. Arcana is the world’s most advanced portfolio intelligence platform, trusted by institutional investors managing trillions in AUM — including market neutral, long-short, long-only, and capital allocators. Arcana enables portfolio managers, risk teams, analysts, and CIOs to drill into exposures and idio, construct optimal portfolios, and decompose performance at incredible granularity. Visit arcana.io to request a demo and learn more. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:43) The Vision for CLEAR (00:09:08) From Wall Street to CLEAR (00:13:42) The Origins of CLEAR (00:14:23) The Bankruptcy and Rebirth of Clear (00:34:41) Building the Business Model (00:47:46) The Future of Airport Innovation (00:48:33) Investing Insights and Strategies (00:52:17) The Importance of Free Cash Flow (00:55:26) Biometrics and Privacy Concerns (00:59:40) Expanding Clear's Vision (01:04:13) Personal Mission and Genetic Screening (01:12:28) Leadership and Company Culture (01:14:23) Future of Technology and Identity (01:25:38) The Kindest Thing Anyone’s Ever Done For Caryn
My guest today is Jens Grede. Jens is the co-founder and CEO of Skims, the shapewear and clothing brand he co-founded with his wife Emma Grede and Kim Kardashian. Our conversation left my head spinning. Jens has this remarkable ability to be both creative and commercial. He puts brilliant frameworks into plain terms and knows consumer like the back of his hand. Jens explains how pop culture is the only remaining hack to the consumer economy in our fragmented media landscape and describes today’s cultural shift as "clamoring for comfort" in uncertain times. We discuss individual voices trumping institutions, moving at the speed of culture rather than corporate planning cycles, and why big brands will increasingly win. Please enjoy this fascinating discussion with Jens Grede. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:18) The Power of Pop Culture in Business (00:09:28) The Role of Individuals vs. Institutions (00:11:27) Cultural Shifts: From Hip Hop to Country (00:18:36) The Resurgence of Fallen Brands (00:24:33) The SKIMS Origin Story (00:33:42) Building a Strong Product and Brand (00:36:14) The Partnership with Kim Kardashian (00:49:18) Effective Content Creation in Popular Culture (00:50:55) Decision Making in Real-Time (00:51:35) Leveraging Popular Culture for Brand Success (00:57:28) The Role of Networks and Individual Voices (01:14:38) The Future of Status and Digital Influence (01:16:20) Investing Insights and Long-Term Views (01:20:39) Scaling SKIMS and Future Plans (01:23:52) Reflections on Entrepreneurship and Personal Growth (01:29:49) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Jens
Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years, published once a month. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. Charlie Songhurst is a brilliant strategist, accomplished executive, and prolific angel investor. This episode is one of my all-time favorite conversations, not just on the podcast, but period. Please enjoy this timeless discussion with Charlie Songhurst. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. With a single API, developers can implement essential enterprise capabilities that typically require months of engineering work. By handling the complex infrastructure of enterprise features, WorkOS allows developers to focus on their core product while meeting the security and compliance requirements of Fortune 500 companies. Visit WorkOS.com to Transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:01:25) Stack ranking the vices of power, money, and fame (00:02:41) Memorable response to the stack ranking question (00:03:13) Best scenario to explore this stack ranking concept (00:03:55) Other ways to rank founders (00:04:44) Quick look at this career (00:05:16) Time at Microsoft (00:06:03) Features he looks for in startups (00:10:55) Managing the declining curve of productivity (00:14:55) Why founders are often unique people (00:14:57) Jeff Gramm Podcast Episode (00:15:04) Aliens, Jedi & Cults (00:09:43) How early entrepreneurs need to make recruitment a serious part of their work (00:23:06) How successful founders win the best candidates (00:25:27) The East Coast vs. West Coast investment strategies (00:30:40) When it’s time to bring in quantitative factors into early stage investing (00:34:36) The markers that pop up in companies that hit (00:37:22) Boring but successful investments (00:39:28) Investor aesthetics (00:41:29) Characteristics of investors that he believes are important to success (00:42:57) Impacts of Covid and some of the permanent changes that have happened as a result (00:47:49) Investing opportunities in the local community (00:49:13) His take on cryptocurrencies (00:53:47) Most misvalued asset in the world (00:55:16) Investing opportunities in Europe (00:57:34) Make up of his 483 investments (00:57:58) Matt Clifford Podcast Episode (00:59:17) Curation as a skill (01:01:54) Timing and startup success (01:05:11) Kindest thing anyone has done for him
My guests today are Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, who you might know as The Chainsmokers. We explore their fascinating evolution from scrappy DJs to global superstars to serious venture capitalists with their fund Mantis. Drew and Alex share how the same high-touch, relationship-driven approach that built their music empire now defines their investment philosophy. Their framework for backing founders mirrors their artistic process: they invest in obsessive individuals who will pursue their vision regardless of external validation, much like how they've remained authentic to their sound despite industry pressures. We discuss parallels between creative iteration in music and venture investing, particularly around managing failure, maintaining intentionality in an age of abundance, and the importance of taste as a differentiating factor. Please enjoy this fascinating discussion with The Chainsmokers, Alex Pall and Drew Taggart. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by Arcana. Arcana is the world’s most advanced portfolio intelligence platform, trusted by institutional investors managing trillions in AUM — including market neutral, long-short, long-only, and capital allocators. Arcana enables portfolio managers, risk teams, analysts, and CIOs to drill into exposures and idio, construct optimal portfolios, and decompose performance at incredible granularity. Visit arcana.io to request a demo and learn more. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:16) The Creative Process Behind Songwriting (00:07:33) Exploring the Emotional Depths of Music (00:11:50) Navigating the Music Industry and AI (00:17:45) The Importance of World Building in Music (00:21:27) Finding Your Creative Itch (00:35:04) The Chainsmokers' Journey and Work Ethic (00:40:37) The Business Side of the Chainsmokers (00:45:43) Venturing into Tech and Investments (00:51:39) The Evolution of Mantis (00:53:11) Overcoming Celebrity Investor Stereotypes (00:55:20) Supporting Founders Like Record Labels (00:57:26) The Art of Collaboration (01:04:02) The Grind to Success (01:13:49) Investing Insights and Evolution (01:26:39) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Drew and Alex
My guest today is Jay Hoag. Jay is the co-founder of Technology Crossover Ventures, known as TCV, which pioneered the growth investing category and has backed legendary companies like Netflix, Spotify, and Expedia over three decades. Jay explains how macro factors like regulation have become unexpectedly central to technology investing. He offers his contrarian take on today's market, arguing that consumer internet represents significant opportunity while most investors chase SaaS and AI deals. We discuss investing in new technology versus commercialization, TCV’s evolution from cold-calling to AI-powered sourcing of 11 million companies, and their three-person unanimous investment committee structure. Please enjoy my conversation with Jay Hoag. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:18) Market Conditions and Investment Opportunities (00:06:57) Consumer Internet Businesses and AI (00:09:04) Technology Commercialization Challenges (00:11:30) Public vs. Private Market Dynamics (00:15:32) Growth Investing and Competitive Dynamics (00:22:34) History and Resilience of TCV (00:26:32) Understanding the Firm's Investment Lifecycle (00:27:06) Evolution of Sourcing Strategies (00:28:33) The Role of Data Intelligence in Sourcing (00:29:41) Internal Investment Process at TCV (00:34:31) Challenges and Strategies in Long-term Investments (00:41:15) Reflections on the Investment World (00:43:48) Personal Insights and Final Thoughts
My guest today is Dinakar Singh. Dinakar is the founder and CEO of Axon, the family office successor to TPG-Axon, which was a successful global long-short hedge fund. We wanted to share his story on Father’s Day to honor the person and the dad that Dinakar is. He shares one of the most extraordinary stories at the intersection of finance and medicine I've ever encountered. This conversation explores the highest-stakes investment themes—timing, concentrated conviction, exceptional team building, and deploying resources toward outcomes that matter most. I will let him tell you his story. Please enjoy my conversation with Dinakar Singh. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:17) The Diagnosis and Initial Reactions (00:07:29) Understanding SMA and the Scientific Challenge (00:09:15) The Drive to Fund Research and Find a Cure (00:14:10) Building a Virtual Company for Drug Development (00:19:02) Breakthroughs and the First Approved Drugs (00:24:16) Personal Reflections and the Impact of the Journey (00:40:25) Challenges in the Biotech Industry and Future Hopes (00:46:43) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Dinakar
My guest today is Bill Gurley. Bill was the general partner at Benchmark Capital. He joins me for his sixth time on Invest Like the Best with his most comprehensive market analysis yet, examining the realities reshaping venture capital. Bill tackles the uncomfortable math underlying today's venture returns, with companies staying private for far longer. He also walks through why no one—from GPs to LPs to founders—has proper incentives to mark assets accurately, creating a system-wide coordination problem. And, we dig into the investment implications of AI as a platform shift, ranging from evaluating AI revenue quality to international competitive dynamics. Bill offers crucial perspective on playing the game both as it exists today and as it may evolve. Please enjoy my conversation with Bill Gurley. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by Arcana. Arcana is the world’s most advanced portfolio intelligence platform, trusted by institutional investors managing trillions in AUM — including market neutral, long-short, long-only, and capital allocators. Arcana enables portfolio managers, risk teams, analysts, and CIOs to drill into exposures and idio, construct optimal portfolios, and decompose performance at incredible granularity. Visit arcana.io to request a demo and learn more. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:23) State of the Union: Venture Capital Edition (00:07:58) The Rise of Mega VC Funds (00:09:38) Zombie Unicorns: The Overvalued Giants (00:17:29) The IPO and M&A Market Stalemate (00:24:08) The AI Wave and Its Impact (00:26:03) Private Markets and LP Liquidity Issues (00:29:57) The Future of Capital Markets (00:37:49) Advice for Founders in a Changing Landscape (00:39:27) The High-Stakes Game of Capital Battles (00:41:35) AI: The New General Purpose Technology (00:42:57) Challenges and Opportunities in AI Revenue Models (00:44:37) The Role of Founders in the AI Revolution (00:46:44) The Impact of Time and Liquidity on Venture Capital (00:50:35) Navigating the Future of Venture Capital (00:58:45) International Dynamics in the AI Race (01:13:58) Advice for Founders in the AI Era
Today, we are dropping a special episode in the Invest Like the Best Feed. 50X is back, a fan favorite series from Will Thorndike and the team at Compounding Labs. Will's book, "The Outsiders," is one of the best business and investing books that you'll find. You'll hear him continuing his work in the hosting chair as he looks in detail at investments that have appreciated at least 50-fold.Season two features Asurion. Colossus is excited to partner with Will as he sits down with the management and investors behind this legendary investment. We kick off this special drop with a short interview that I did with Will on everything he learned studying this business, followed by the full three-part series. Learn more and dive into our research at 50xpodcast.com —- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Oberle. Oberle is a specialty insurance brokerage providing insurance services to search funds, independent sponsors, family offices, and private equity firms. Oberle supports its clients with a comprehensive insurance due diligence covering a wide range of items, including commercial insurance, Employee Benefits, key person life insurance, and reps and warranty coverage. Additionally, Oberle has a thriving personal lines practice, designed for entrepreneurs seeking a higher-level service and expertise when it comes to insuring one’s home, vehicles, and valuables. If you’re interested in connecting with the Oberle team: https://oberle-risk.com/50x — This episode is brought to you by System Six, a searcher-owned outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services firm that has been a great partner to us at Compounding Labs. With the right modern tools and a strong team, System Six will eliminate headache for you and give you time back so you can focus on growing your business. Whether you're a CEO or CFO stuck in the weeds, or an investor trying to support your CEOs and portfolio companies, reach out to hello@systemsix.comand mention the podcast for your first month of ongoing bookkeeping free. —- 50X is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of 50X, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Follow us on Twitter: @50Xpodcast | @joincolossus Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to 50X (00:04:52) Patrick interviews Will Thorndike (00:18:16) The Early Days (‘95-‘01) with Kevin Taweel (01:24:44) The Flywheel Era (‘01-‘07) with Kevin Taweel (02:24:32) Retracing the Path to 100 times 50x with Irv Grousbeck
My guest today is John Zito. John is the Co-President of Apollo Global Management. He shares how they've quietly built one of the most important financial institutions of our time, originating over $250 billion annually. John's thesis on the convergence of private and public markets - and Apollo's positioning to capture 100% of client portfolios rather than just alternatives allocations - offers a fascinating glimpse into where institutional investing is heading. We discuss the cultural and strategic elements that drive John, Apollo’s merger with Athene, the idea of artistry at scale, and the evolution of capital markets. Please enjoy my conversation with John Zito. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:55) The Rise of Apollo and Credit Markets (00:08:05) Innovations in Asset Management (00:11:42) The Role of the US in Global Capital Markets (00:15:26) The Future of Asset Management and Investment Strategies (00:21:03) The Impact of Interest Rates on Investment (00:25:27) Apollo's Business Model and Growth (00:25:17) The Changing Landscape of Private Markets (00:46:03) Apollo's Culture and Vision (00:47:54) The Importance of Company Culture (00:52:52) The Future of Private and Public Markets (00:57:50) Building a Great Origination Platform (01:02:03) Exciting Deals and Personal Stories (01:14:47) The Role of AI and Future Opportunities (01:22:16) Maintaining Company Culture Amidst Change (01:24:06) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For John
Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years, published once a month. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. In the midst of her transition to OpenAI, we are spotlighting the force that is Fidji Simo. She is the former CEO of Instacart and grew up in a small town in the South of France and was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. Since then, she has had a dazzling career with stops at France’s leading university, eBay, and Facebook. Fidji spent the better part of a decade at Facebook where she led the Facebook App before joining the online grocery platform, Instacart, in mid 2021. We talk about Fidji’s consumer product experiences, Instacart’s role within the grocery ecosystem, and delve into her personal philosophy on leadership. Please enjoy this wide-ranging discussion with Fidji Simo. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. With a single API, developers can implement essential enterprise capabilities that typically require months of engineering work. By handling the complex infrastructure of enterprise features, WorkOS allows developers to focus on their core product while meeting the security and compliance requirements of Fortune 500 companies. Visit WorkOS.com to Transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:51) Comparing her experiences with Facebook and Instacart (00:06:22) The dimensionality of creating great consumer products online (00:07:50) How Instacart uses AI now and her advice to other companies who are ready to incorporate AI into their business (00:15:41) What being a pragmatic technologist means to her (00:18:02) Influences in younger years that led to her career path in technology (00:21:00) The landscape Instacart seeks to build and how major key players within the industry are involved (00:27:09) Data algorithms and their role in helping consumers (00:29:24) Scale around the original core business (00:32:12) The functional difference between Instacart shoppers and delivery drivers (00:34:59) Issues with fully automated grocery store facilities (00:37:32) Insight into working with brands and consumer brand loyalty (00:43:16) Her vision for the future of Instacart (00:46:58) The possibility of becoming the major software platform for most retailers (00:49:34) Her principles for capital allocation (00:52:34) Common misperceptions about Instacart from prospective investors (00:54:21) Her philosophy of seeing the magic in team members (00:56:46) Expanding knowledge while managing a complex business environment (01:01:01) When she felt the most helpless in her career (01:03:46) Insight into generative AI and how it could shape the online grocery experience (01:08:00) The role of content and its importance for businesses like Instacart (01:11:10) The future of AI personalities and customizing your shopping experience (01:12:35) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her
My guest today is Graham Weaver. My guest today is Graham Weaver. Graham is the founder of Alpine Investors, a large private equity firm targeting an interesting market inefficiency. Alpine focuses on the thousands of $20 million revenue businesses whose baby boomer owners want to retire, but lack succession plans. Alpine buys companies and installs 28-year-old military veterans and top MBA graduates as CEOs, leveraging 25 years of intellectual property on how young executives can successfully run established businesses. Alpine's CEO-in-training program is now the most applied-to job at Harvard, Stanford, and Kellogg business schools. We discuss the past, present and future of their unique approach. Please enjoy my conversation with Graham Weaver. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:13) The Journey to Private Equity (00:06:59) Early Influences and Personal Growth (00:09:54) The Power of Wrestling and Rowing (00:11:45) Choosing Your Path and Making Decisions (00:14:48) College Goals and Rowing Success (00:18:05) Lessons from Early Business Ventures (00:26:24) Founding Alpine and Early Challenges (00:34:46) Core Beliefs and Talent Development (00:39:07) Fun Board Meetings and Team Dynamics (00:40:42) Platform Building 101 (00:44:08) Talent and Training Programs (00:49:12) Employee and Customer Engagement (00:52:27) Financial Outcomes and Asymmetric Returns (00:55:52) Incentivizing Young CEOs (01:00:26) The Role of Emotional Intelligence (01:02:45) The Alpine CEO in Training Program (01:03:40) Teaching at Stanford and Influential Mentors (01:07:58) Helping Students Find Their Passion (01:10:22) Visualizing Your Future Self (01:11:19) Scalability of Coaching (01:12:15) Personal Growth Through Teaching (01:16:16) The Role of Executive Coaching (01:24:45) Lessons from a Bad Deal (01:31:50) Daily Routines and Success (01:36:13) The Future of Private Equity (01:35:24) Unleashing Heroes at Alpine (01:38:09) The Journey of Building Alpine (01:41:31) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Graham
My guest today is Gustav Söderström. Gustav is the Co-President, Chief Product Officer & Chief Technology Officer at Spotify. Gustav lets us behind the scenes on how Spotify thinks about the future of audio and video, and what leadership lessons he's learned from making mistakes and taking risks in a rapidly changing technological landscape. He shares fascinating insights on their synchronized team structure and how they have positioned themselves as "the R&D department" for the entire music industry. We discuss their integration of AI, their unique "bets board" process for allocating resources, and how they've evolved from a music service into a multimedia platform with over 650 million users. Please enjoy my conversation with Gustav Söderström. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:27) Spotify's Journey Through Technological Shifts (00:06:28) The Impact of Generative AI on Consumer Products (00:09:36) AI in Coding and Productivity (00:11:11) Consumer Engagement and AI Playlisting (00:14:43) Strategic Frameworks and Decision-Making at Spotify (00:19:39) The Bets Process: Structured Innovation (00:31:11) The Future of AI and Business Models (00:44:31) The Future of AI and Inference Costs (00:46:21) The Concept of Computronium and Infinite Computing (00:47:02) David Deutsch and the Beginning of Infinity (00:48:55) The Power of Explanations and Human Understanding (00:54:03) Spotify's Free Tier and Consumer Needs (00:56:45) Spotify's Relationship with the Music Industry (01:03:03) The Rise of Podcasting and Audiobooks (01:15:45) Personal Interests and Continuous Learning (01:20:32) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Gustav
My guests today are Rick Ruback and Royce Yudkoff. Rick and Royce are Harvard Business School professors who teach their students how to search for, acquire, and run small business directly after graduation. It has been almost a decade since our first conversation, and unlike many past interviews that have become outdated due to technology or market changes, the core principles they shared about entrepreneurship through acquisition remain remarkably relevant today. They explore fascinating developments in the search-fund ecosystem, including the bifurcation between funded searchers targeting larger companies and self-funded entrepreneurs finding success with smaller businesses. Rick and Royce share their accumulated wisdom on what makes a company worth buying, why the "magic is in the multiples," and how their students consistently achieve impressive returns through patient, value-oriented business acquisition. Please enjoy my conversation with Rick Ruback and Royce Yudkoff. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:23) Changes in the Small Firm Acquisition Space (00:06:52) The Impact of SBA Loans on Acquisition Entrepreneurship (00:08:55) The Evolution of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (00:10:09) Risk and Return in the Search Fund Model (00:13:38) The Role of Investors in Funded and Unfunded Searches (00:19:33) Criteria for a Good Acquisition Target (00:28:36) The Growing Popularity of Self-Funded Searches (00:43:21) Challenges and Red Flags in Small Firm Acquisitions (00:49:47) Exploring Margin Expansion and Growth (00:51:02) The Impact of Practical Teaching in Business Education (00:52:12) Keys to a Successful Business Class (00:53:30) The Role of Theory in Practical Business Education (00:55:29) Challenges and Rewards of Teaching Business (00:57:46) Capital Allocation in Small Businesses (01:00:50) Advice for Aspiring Business Searchers (01:03:45) Value Creation and Business Lifecycle (01:08:20) Deciding to Leave Private Equity (01:11:20) The Future of Higher Education in Business (01:16:06) Ongoing Relationships with Former Students (01:18:45) Favorite Business Cases to Teach (01:24:46) Encouraging More People to Pursue Business Ownership
My guest today is David Senra. David is the host of Founders podcast and a dear friend. This is our third time doing Invest Like the Best together and we have conversations like this one all the time. In today’s episode, David distills wisdom from 400 entrepreneur biographies into a single word: focus. He reveals why exceptional builders like Todd Graves and James Dyson create billion-dollar empires through obsessive dedication to simple ideas—whether perfecting chicken fingers or designing vacuum cleaners—while rejecting conventional growth timelines and investor pressure. David challenges us all to find the one thing we’d pursue even without recognition or reward, or what I like to call your life’s work. We discuss the concept of “anti-business,” raising capital as a founder, and decades-long commitment. Please enjoy this discussion with David Senra. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:43) The Essence of Focus in Entrepreneurship (00:09:20) The Value of Long-Term Commitment (00:17:41) The Importance of Simplicity and Mastery (00:37:11) The Miracle of Entrepreneurship (00:44:56) James Dyson's Journey to Success (00:47:03) The Importance of Passion in Business (00:49:12) Critique of Modern Consumerism (00:52:18) The Value of Craftsmanship (00:56:36) The Drive for Excellence (01:04:06) The Importance of Hiring Top Talent (01:09:54) Creative Financing Strategies (01:19:35) Defining a Founder
My guest today is Cliff Sosin. Cliff is the founder of CAS Investment Partners, a fund he started with $5 million in 2012 and has grown to $1.7 billion as of the last reported numbers at the end of 2024. At the time, CAS had only four positions. This conversation is different to our typical episodes. We start by talking about Cliff's investing philosophy but the bulk of this long discussion is a case study into his remarkable investment in Carvana. Cliff is one of the biggest investors in the business, which had a market cap over $60 billion in 2021, then fell 99%, survived, and now has a market cap approaching $50 billion again. While I hosted Carvana's CEO, Ernie Garcia, last year to get the inside perspective on managing through such turbulence, today we hear the investor's side of this extraordinary story. It is a singular episode and there are so many lessons in this rare opportunity to hear a major investor describe his decision-making process at every stage of the journey. Please enjoy my great conversation with Cliff Sosin. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:32) Early Career and Discovering Investing (00:06:49) Starting the Firm and Initial Challenges (00:08:41) Investment Philosophy and Market Realities (00:11:07) Building the Firm and Investor Relations (00:12:23) Defining a Good Business (00:17:31) Contained vs. Uncontained Businesses (00:20:30) Mental Models and Market Insights (00:35:13) The Role of ESG in Investing (00:39:26) The Carvana Investment Story (00:46:43) Carvana's Real Estate and Logistics Network (00:49:12) Reconditioning and Selling Cars (00:50:16) Carvana's Financing and Customer Service (00:51:43) Economies of Scale and Trust (00:54:40) Challenges and Management Insights (01:04:07) Operational Issues and Market Challenges (01:23:56) Questioning Carvana's Sales Strategy (01:24:17) The Role of Word of Mouth in Carvana's Growth (01:25:28) Identifying Early Adopters (01:26:00) The Impact of Market Conditions on Carvana (01:27:10) Carvana's Operational Challenges (01:28:10) Cutting Costs and Organizational Efficiency (01:32:19) The Apollo Deal and Debt Restructuring (01:39:21) The Psychological Toll of Investment (01:50:16) Future Investment Strategies and AI (01:54:48)The US Market and Investment Opportunities (01:59:51) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Cliff
Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years, published once a month. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. There aren't many people like Cyan Banister. Her life story is remarkable. She was homeless at a young age, dropped out of high school, and five years ago she suffered an extremely rare stroke. Yet, in spite of everything, she is one of the most optimistic and curious people you can hope to meet. Cyan is also one of the great angel investors of this era, having invested early in SpaceX, Uber, Postmates, and Deepmind to name a few winners. She became the first female investing partner at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and now invests at Long Journey Ventures. Our conversation is as much about investing as it is about the essence of life and how connecting with that will help us in our professional pursuits. It is also full of awesome stories about people and companies like SpaceX and Bill Murray. Please enjoy this great conversation with Cyan Banister. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. With a single API, developers can implement essential enterprise capabilities that typically require months of engineering work. By handling the complex infrastructure of enterprise features, WorkOS allows developers to focus on their core product while meeting the security and compliance requirements of Fortune 500 companies. Visit WorkOS.com to Transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: [00:00:00] Welcome to Invest Like the Best [00:04:06] Contrarian Thinking in Investing [00:05:30] Joining Founders Fund and Learning from Peter Thiel [00:11:15] Investing in Companies that Change Lives [00:14:00] The Importance of Overcoming Adversity for Founders [00:16:02] Personal Journey and Choosing Hope [00:20:56] Embracing Curiosity and Wonder in the Face of Adversity [00:21:20] Reconnecting with Our Inner Child [00:24:46] The Interruption and Resumption of the Conversation [00:27:20] The Power of Intuition in Business Decisions [00:32:28] The Story Behind the Investment in Uber [00:38:46] Conclusion: Following the White Rabbit of Curiosity [00:39:08] Investing in Uber: The Beginning [00:41:50] The Impact of Success: Personal Wealth and Privacy [00:50:22] The Intersection of Spirituality and Investing [00:59:34] The Bill Murray Experience: A Lesson in Presence [01:09:54] The Violin Kid: A Tale of Curiosity and Generosity [01:12:43] The Evolution of Investing: A Personal Journey [01:16:34] The Philosophy of Giving: The Universe's Return [01:17:36] The Spirit of a Venture Firm: Founders Fund [01:23:09] The Power of Integral Family Systems [01:28:41] The Trillion Dollar Question: Disrupting Hollywood [01:36:05] The Future of Artistry: AI and Creativity [01:41:39] The Power of Kindness
My guest today is Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm, a leading crypto investment firm with over $12 billion in assets under management. Before launching Paradigm in 2018 with Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, Matt was a partner at Sequoia Capital, where he led many of the firm's crypto investments. It’s widely reported that Michael Moritz called Matt “the only regrettable loss in Sequoia’s history.” In our conversation, Matt shares his framework for navigating the often illegible frontier of crypto, how his early investment in ByteDance (now worth 10,000x his initial capital) shaped his approach to identifying exceptional founders, and why he believes so deeply in crypto’s long-term potential. His firm, Paradigm, not only invests in many of the leading companies in the industry, it also builds open-source tools used by most of crypto. Matt has a rare blend of IQ and EQ that allows him to understand technical complexity, bring together unique talents, and ride out crypto’s notorious volatility. Whether you're crypto-curious or crypto-skeptical, I think you'll find his perspective valuable. Please enjoy my great conversation with Matt Huang. Matt Huang's Profile in Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:15) Matt Huang's College Years and Early Career (00:12:27) The Failed Startup and Lessons Learned (00:16:51) Matt's Pivotal Trip to China and ByteDance Investment (00:25:58) Sequoia's Culture of High Standards (00:32:51) Discovering Bitcoin and Crypto (00:39:33) Founding Paradigm (00:45:40) Building a Unique Investment Team (00:48:03) Challenges and Volatility in Crypto (00:53:10) The Relationship Between Legibility and Investing (00:58:40) Crypto as a New Financial System (01:05:19) The Importance of Stablecoins (01:09:54) AI and Crypto: The Next Frontier (01:16:19) Personal Motivations and Important Crypto Use Cases (01:29:23) The State of Regulation in Crypto (01:32:27) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Matt
Today's guest is Neil Mehta, founder of Greenoaks Capital. In 2012, aged 27, Neil left D.E. Shaw to start Greenoaks with his friend Benny Peretz. One of their first investments was in Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce company led by founder Bom Kim. Neil was so convinced of Coupang's potential that he invested 40% of their initial $50 million fund into the company—a bet that eventually returned about $8 billion. Over its first 13 years, Greenoaks has backed legendary companies like Figma, Wiz, Carvana, Stripe, Discord, Rippling, and Toast—generating over $13 billion in gross profits with a 33% net IRR. Henry Kravis, one of Neil's early investors, describes him as "extremely disciplined" with "exceptional timing" who has "gone against the tide many times." Greenoaks operates with remarkable concentration: just 55 core companies across nearly $15 billion in assets, managed by only nine investment professionals. Their approach reflects their singular pursuit: finding companies that will become a meaningful part of the S&P 500. In our wide-ranging conversation, Neil shares this mission along with his framework for identifying exceptional founders, his concept of "jaw-dropping customer experiences," and how his grandfather's gun shop in India shaped his appreciation for builders of all kinds. Please enjoy my excellent conversation with Neil Mehta. Neil Mehta's Profile in Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:32) Connecting Craftsmanship to Career (00:07:45) The Concept of Jaw Dropping Customer Experience (JDCE) (00:09:48) Building a Successful Business: The Coupang Case Study (00:17:26) The Importance of Founders & Business Models (00:30:05) Greenoaks' Unique Approach to Venture Capital (00:37:54) A Memorable Encounter with Henry Kravis (00:40:52) Early Career and Lessons from Hong Kong (00:44:53) The Partnership with Benny (00:50:28) Navigating the Competitive Landscape (00:59:14) High Conviction Investments: TripActions, Rippling, and Carvana (01:07:00) Investment Strategy and Company Evaluation (01:13:23) Adventures in Emerging Markets (01:17:09) Challenges and Lessons Learned (01:26:16) Personal Values and Community Impact (01:32:16) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Neil
My guest today is Michael Ovitz. Michael is the legendary talent agent and Co-Founder of CAA or Creative Artists Agency and he is joining me on Invest Like the Best for a second time. Michael started CAA in 1975 and over the next 20 years, he built it into the world's most formidable talent agency, changing Hollywood forever. He shares insights into how he identifies exceptional people across diverse fields - from Hollywood directors like Steven Spielberg to tech founders like Alex Karp of Palantir and venture capitalists like Marc Andreessen. Michael is a force whose expertise extends beyond just people, as he has also become a master in creating institutional momentum, which you’ll hear in his involvement with the MoMA, Gulfstream, and more. We discuss his "pilot's checklist" for evaluating talent, the importance of time as his most valuable resource, and why he believes maintaining excellence is critical in any field. Please enjoy my conversation with Michael Ovitz. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:56) Spotting Talent and Building Institutions (00:08:01) The MoMA Story: Transforming an Art Institution (00:19:35) The Importance of Relationships and Time (00:24:32) Building Successful Boards and Teams (00:34:02) Insights on Leadership and Momentum (00:44:49) Building Blackstone and CAA (00:56:32) The Power of Momentum (00:57:25) Overcoming Fear of Failure (01:01:52) Strategic Partnerships and Global Influence (01:17:32) The Importance of Excellence (01:18:22) Mentorship and Legacy (01:34:00) The Future of Media and Technology (01:41:36) Pursuit of Happiness and Lifelong Learning
My guest today is Darren Farber. Darren is a Managing Partner of Albion River, a private direct investment firm focused on acquiring companies that produce highly technical Defense Products & Services. He is a Former special advisor to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, a Former member of U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, and the list goes on and on. Darren is a wealth of knowledge in this space and someone I am grateful to have in the US corner. He shares his perspective on the changing role of the U.S. in global defense and how recent conflicts have shaped military technology and strategy. Darren explains his investment approach at Albion, focused on finding "one-of-one" suppliers and getting as close to the fundamental "molecules" as possible in defense technology. We discuss insights on evaluating the Taiwan situation, the lessons from Ukraine, how the defense budget is allocated, what investors can learn from defense primes, and why technological superiority remains America's greatest advantage. Please enjoy this discussion with Darren Farber. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Introduction and Show Overview (00:06:23) The Changing Role of the US in Global Defense (00:09:23) Evaluating Defense Budgets and Spending (00:11:41) Commercial Technology in Defense (00:15:37) Challenges and Innovations in Defense Procurement (00:22:36) US Defense Strategy and Global Order (00:37:34) The Future of Warfare (00:42:13) Lessons from the Gaza Contingency (00:44:44) Challenges in Defense Venture Capital (00:47:36) The Importance of Responsible Parties in Defense (00:51:06) Industrial Capacity and Defense Investments (00:53:49) Lessons from US Defense Primes (00:59:48) Supply and Demand in Defense Markets (01:07:34) The Role of Net-Centric Warfare (01:10:33) Hopes and Fears for the Future of Kinetic Warfare (01:14:42) The Kindest Thing Anyone Ever Did For Darren
Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years published once a month. These are N of one conversations with N of one people. This is a rare opportunity to hear from one of the best investors of the past decade—Josh Kushner, founder and managing partner of venture firm, Thrive Capital. Josh started Thrive in 2010 and launched its first institutional fund in 2011. That first institutional fund was $40 million and, in it, Thrive led Warby Parker’s Series A, invested in Instagram, and incubated a business, which Josh co-founded, called Oscar. Their portfolio is stage agnostic and their track record includes many of the best known businesses from the past decade, including Spotify, Unity, Stripe, and Twitch among many more. Please enjoy my great conversation with Josh Kushner. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. With a single API, developers can implement essential enterprise capabilities that typically require months of engineering work. By handling the complex infrastructure of enterprise features, WorkOS allows developers to focus on their core product while meeting the security and compliance requirements of Fortune 500 companies. Visit WorkOS.com to Transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- This episode is brought to you by Passthrough. Passthrough streamlines subscription documents, KYC, and AML compliance, so you can focus on running your fund, not managing paperwork. New SEC Update 31 CFR hits investment firms in under a year, and managers are getting ready for it now. If you think basic OFAC screening is enough, think again. You'll need continuous monitoring of your investors and all their beneficial owners across multiple watchlists, plus a comprehensive anti money laundering program. Passthrough has already processed 50,000 LPs and built the complete solution. Don't risk SEC deficiency letters, fines, or regulatory enforcement. Visit passthrough.com to get compliant now. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:14) Why do this podcast (00:08:14) The development of taste and quality (00:12:20) CS Lewis tweet; The Inner Ring (00:18:14) Overview the founding story of Oscar Health (00:25:18) Learning to identify good problems and creating a business to solve it (00:27:43) The birth story of Thrive Capital (00:32:14) Lessons learned from creating the first three Thrive funds (00:39:44) Talent, recruiting and seeing potential in younger generations of people (00:47:40) Investments he made during the early foundation of Thrive that had significant impact (00:51:12) His analogy for investing in early versus late stage and styles of real estate investing (00:56:22) The current macro environment (01:00:57) Why he sold small stakes of Thrive (01:05:10) His philosophy on what makes a good product (01:10:10) His absence from crypto and why he refrained during the boom in 2021 (01:12:33) Thoughts about the opportunity set in FinTech today writ large (01:15:39) Lessons learned from his time spent with Marc Andreessen (01:17:43) Lessons learned from Stan Druckenmiller, Henry Kravis, and David Geffen (01:22:09) Firm values he thinks are very important (01:31:15) Vision as a key ingredient for founders (01:34:19) His view of the investment industry in the world today writ large (01:44:48) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Gili Raanan. Gili is the founder of Cyberstarts, a VC firm focused on cybersecurity and the world’s first VC that is majorly backed by cyber entrepreneurs. Cyberstarts’ $50 million dollar first fund exploded to close to $2 billion in just three years. Gili describes cybersecurity today as "the perfect storm" where global conflicts and AI advancements are creating unprecedented threats. He talks about Cyberstarts' "Sunrise" methodology, which uniquely identifies customer pain points before building solutions. We discuss a focus on finding resilient talent, overcoming personal adversity, the evolution of the cybersecurity landscape, and Google's recent acquisition of Wiz, as Cyberstarts was one of Wiz's earliest investors. Please enjoy my discussion with Gili Raanan. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:52) AI's Impact on Cybersecurity (00:07:51) Offensive and Defensive Tactics (00:09:32) The Future of Cybersecurity (00:15:42) The First Fund: A Legendary Success (00:17:36) Building a Successful Cybersecurity Company (00:28:24) The Sunrise Methodology (00:31:58) Reversing the Startup Process (00:32:53) The Sunrise Methodology (00:33:17) Identifying Market Pain Points (00:34:57) The Importance of Customer Actions (00:36:58) From Conversations to Software Development (00:38:57) The Role of Simulations in Startup Success (00:40:12) Fundraising and Valuation Strategies (00:42:08) Pricing and Market Dynamics (00:46:16) The Value of Superpowers in Founders (00:50:10) Google’s Acquisition of Wiz (01:07:24) Personal Resilience and Tragedy (01:10:30) Future of Cybersecurity and AI (01:12:25) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Gili
My guest today is Alex Wiltschko. Alex is the founder and CEO of Osmo, a science and technology company giving computers a sense of smell. He set out on a mission to digitize our sense of smell and he describes how Osmo is teaching computers to both read and write scent. Alex was kind enough to walk me through the laboratory which you can watch in the video version of this interview on Youtube and Spotify, where he demonstrates their method to the madness. We discuss their first commercial application, Generation, which is revolutionizing the fragrance industry by dramatically accelerating the typically years-long process of custom scent creation. We discuss all of the potential business implications this technology unlocks, applications ranging from counterfeit detection to health monitoring, and creating a cutting-edge proprietary platform in a historically routine industry. Please enjoy my conversation with Alex Wiltschko. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:25) Introduction to Plum 1.0 (00:06:20) Synthetic Chemistry & OI (00:07:09) Perfumer's Organ & Fragrance Creation (00:08:03) Launching Generation Fragrance House (00:09:15) The Fragrance Design Process (00:12:04) AI and Olfactory Intelligence (00:14:59) The GCMS Machine (00:22:08) The Scent Printer (00:26:47) The Journey of a Fragrance Enthusiast (00:30:47) The Unsolved Problem of Scent (00:32:45) Applying AI to the World of Scent (00:33:17) Validating AI Predictions with Double-Blind Trials (00:39:42) The Emotional Power of Scent (00:49:01) Challenges & Future Prospects (00:59:08) The Defining Moment: Digitizing Smell (01:00:41) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Alex
My guest today is Kelly Granat. Kelly is the Co-Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director at Lone Pine Capital, one of the most storied and successful hedge fund and investment firms of the last several decades. We explore how investing has evolved since Kelly joined the industry and she shares insights into Lone Pine maintaining its edge through deep fundamental research and a collaborative culture. We discuss what makes great businesses and great investments, how leadership can transform companies, and Kelly’s perspective on evaluating management teams and identifying opportunities around corporate change that the market often misprices. Please enjoy my conversation with Kelly Granat. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn About Ramp, Alphasense, & Ridgeline (00:06:09) Market Structure Evolution (00:08:39)The Impact of Passive Investing (00:10:21) Collaboration & Team Dynamics (00:13:48) Excitement in Periods of Extreme Change (00:14:21) The Role of Competition & Curiosity (00:22:00) Fundamental Research & Data Integration (00:27:34) Investment Philosophy (00:35:31) People-Centric Investing (00:42:24) Succession Planning (00:49:32) Facing the Pressure of Early Success (00:50:31) Burnout & Rediscovery (00:57:08) Learning from Industry Leaders (00:58:04) Evaluating Talent and Competition (01:11:29) Lessons in Investment (01:27:27) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Kelly
Devon Zuegel: How To Create A New Town - [Invest Like the Best, EP.413] My guest today is Devon Zuegel. Devon is the founder and president of the Esmerelda Institute, and she is creating a new town called Esmerelda in California wine country. Learning of Devon and her plan, I couldn’t help but wonder why there aren’t more people building new towns. She shares the origin story of her project Esmeralda, a modern reinvention of the Chautauqua community she cherished growing up, and we explore her fascinating work building communities and reimaging how we live together. We discuss how environments fundamentally shape human behavior, how cost of space impacts creativity, the financial challenges of town-building despite their potential for strong returns, and the plans in place for Esmerelda. Please enjoy this fascinating conversation with Devon Zuegel. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn About Ramp, Ridgeline, & Alphasense (00:06:00) The Origin of Devon's Obsession with Places (00:08:07) Proximity and Cost of Space (00:10:02) The Chautauqua Inspiration (00:11:31) Building a New Town: Esmeralda (00:13:23) Urban Design and Street Importance (00:15:44) Community Values and Peer-to-Peer Learning (00:18:15) Edge Esmeralda: A Prototype Community (00:21:38) Challenges and Trust Building in Development (00:26:45) The Role of Cars in Urban Planning (00:31:10) Mortgages and Taxes: Shaping Communities (00:42:11) Devon's Journey: From Stanford Review to Esmeralda (00:43:41) Tools for Thought and Feedback Loops (00:46:33) Urban Design and Pop-Up Villages (00:50:06) Exploring Las Catalinas and Car-Free Living (00:52:31) Placemaking and Organic City Development (00:56:25) Frontier Camp and Creating Collaborative Spaces (01:02:39) Building New Towns: Financial and Infrastructure Challenges (01:12:05) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Devon
Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years published once a month. These are N of one conversations with N of one people. There's nobody I've met quite like Doug Leone. Doug led one of the world’s most successful venture firms, Sequoia, for over 25 years after he was given responsibility for the firm by its founder, Don Valentine, in 1996. Alongside Mike Moritz, the pair managed its expansion from a single $150m early-stage fund into an $85 billion global powerhouse. It was a privilege to sit down with Doug and learn from him. We talk about his tough start at Sequoia, get into the technicalities of great go-to-market motions, and survey his advice for other investors in the industry. A key theme that will stick with me from this conversation is Doug’s insistence on keeping things simple and clear. I listen to this at least once a year. I hope you enjoy it. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Passthrough. Passthrough streamlines subscription documents, KYC, and AML compliance, so you can focus on running your fund, not managing paperwork. New SEC Update 31 CFR hits investment firms in under a year, and managers are getting ready for it now. If you think basic OFAC screening is enough, think again. You'll need continuous monitoring of your investors and all their beneficial owners across multiple watchlists, plus a comprehensive anti money laundering program. Passthrough has already processed 50,000 LPs and built the complete solution. Don't risk SEC deficiency letters, fines, or regulatory enforcement. Visit passthrough.com to get compliant now. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:00:00] Welcome to Invest Like the Best [00:05:21] What Don Valentine’s heart was like [00:08:30] The most productive and unproductive parts of Don’s toughness [00:12:55] Why it’s so important to understand someone’s core motivations [00:18:44] The most formative experiences he had prior to becoming an investor that impacted his investing the most [00:22:37] What venture looks like to him today relative to his prior career [00:28:37] Whether or not he’d go into venture today if he was in his late 20s [00:34:10] Helping companies circumnavigate mediocre positioning [00:39:15] How interacting with companies early on has changed over the ears [00:43:12] Whether or not new entrants into venture should build firms with enterprise value [00:48:14] Sussing out the killer gene in somebody [00:51:04] How successful people can instill the lessons learned from hardship into their children [00:54:30] Whether or not competitive advantage can be architected ahead of time when building a company [00:57:21] The early 2000s clawback at Sequoia and what navigating that period was like [01:01:06] What he’s learned about picking the right LPs and partnering with them [01:04:18] Making sure that performance is on everyone’s minds all the time [01:09:59] The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Chris Pedregal. Chris is the founder and CEO of Granola, an AI-powered notepad that transcribes your meetings and enhances your meeting notes. Chris shares fascinating insights on how humans have historically developed tools to extend our cognitive capabilities - from writing and mathematical notation to data visualization - and how AI represents the next frontier in this evolution. We explore competitive dynamics between model providers and application builders, and Chris shares his vision for AI tools that make us "more human and better humans" rather than replacing human altogether. Our conversation covers the product philosophy behind Granola, the challenges of building in the fast-moving AI space, and how small teams are creating outsized impact in this new paradigm. Please enjoy my conversation with Chris Pedregal. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn About Ramp, Ridgeline, & AlphaSense (00:05:41) Historical Examples of Tools for Thought (00:06:55) The Impact of AI on Tools for Thought (00:09:08) Introducing Granola: AI-Powered Notetaking (00:10:10) Granola's Unique Approach to AI Notetaking (00:13:33) User Experiences and Future Vision (00:15:40) Privacy and Social Norms in AI Recording (00:20:47) Building Granola: Challenges and Innovations (00:34:55) AI Startups and Granola's Early Adoption (00:35:40) Unexpected Feedback from High-Profile CEOs (00:39:53) Building Better and Faster in a Competitive Space (00:42:09) The Future of AI-Powered Workspaces (00:54:00) Challenges and Opportunities in AI and Education (00:56:03) The Evolution of App Development (00:58:01) The Potential of Small Teams in Big Businesses
My guest today is Ravi Gupta. Ravi is a Partner at Sequoia Capital and a host on Glue Guys, a podcast on the Colossus network that intersects business and sports. I wanted to have him back on Invest Like the Best to discuss his recent most recent blog post titled “AI or Die.” As both an investor and former Instacart operator and CFO, Ravi believes we're entering an era where the constraints that historically limited small teams are dissolving, creating unprecedented opportunities for those willing to embrace change aggressively. We discuss why traditional metrics of corporate success like headcount and process adherence may become liabilities, what it means to be a world-class reactor vs predictor, and how "magic per employee" and organizational agility will emerge as crucial measures of value creation. Please enjoy my conversation with Ravi Gupta. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn About Ramp, Ridgeline, & Alphasense (00:06:00) Introduction to 'AI or Die' Essay (00:06:29) Initial Reactions to AI Advancements (00:08:24) The Concept of 'AI or Die' (00:10:40) Adapting to Rapid Technological Change (00:12:02) Using AI for Real Work (00:13:58) Evaluating Company Agility and AI Integration (00:18:58) The Cost of Employees in the AI Era (00:25:36) AI's Impact on Business Strategy (00:36:55) Changing Perspectives on AI Models (00:37:50) The Importance of Context in AI (00:39:09) Optimism in the Age of AI (00:40:22) Predictors vs. Reactors (00:42:54) AI Tools in Business Operations (00:46:07) The Future of Small Teams and Efficiency (00:49:01) Investing in the AI Era (00:55:11) The Role of Board Members in AI Adoption (00:57:22) Embracing Change with Humility (00:59:17) The Ghost of Competition (01:05:04) Seizing the AI Opportunity
My guest today is Marc Andreessen. Marc is a co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most influential figures. He combines deep technical knowledge from his engineering background with broad historical understanding and strategic thinking about societal patterns. He last joined me on Invest Like the Best in 2021, and the playing field looks a lot different today. Marc goes deep on the seismic shifts reshaping technology and geopolitics. We discuss DeepSeek's open-source AI and what it means for the technological rivalry between America and China, his perspective on the evolution of power structures, and the transformation of the venture capital industry as a whole. Please enjoy my conversation with Marc Andreessen. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn about Ramp, Ridgeline, & Alphasense (00:06:00) Introduction to DeepSeek's R1 (00:07:24) DeepSeek's Global Impact (00:09:25) AI's Ubiquity and Future (00:10:36) Winners and Losers in the AI Race (00:14:22) The New AI Cold War (00:16:34) China's Technological Ambitions (00:21:31) Open Source and Intellectual Property (00:27:48) The Role of Open Source in AI Development (00:30:02) National Interests vs. Global Competition (00:37:25) The Future of Capital Allocation (00:45:41) Challenges of Sustaining Private Partnerships (00:46:34) Building a Franchise Business (00:48:27) The Role of Political Operations (00:50:51) The Dynamics of Power and Elites (01:01:44) Technological Change and Its Implications (01:13:37) The Future of Robotics and Supply Chains (01:21:09) American Dynamism and Defense Technology
My guest today is Graham Duncan. This conversation will make you think about your life in new ways. This is a two-hour segment of a 4.5-hour interview I did with Graham last year. It stands alone as remarkable, but those who subscribe to Colossus Review will gain access to the full conversation. This will be true in future issues, too. In 2006, in his early 30s, Graham convinced Stuart Miller, CEO of home construction company Lennar, to let him manage $50 million of his family's wealth. A year later, Miller gave him the rest of his capital outside of Lennar. That investment turned into East Rock, where Graham built an incredible investing track record managing billions for a select group of families by focusing on people. Our conversation explores a wide range of topics—from what makes a great investment partnership to the power of positive feedback loops to starting a restaurant. I’m thankful to Graham for showing me the way so many times and for being willing to be so incredibly open in this conversation. Please enjoy this discussion with Graham Duncan. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn about Ramp, Ridgeline, & Alphasense (00:05:12) Intro to Graham (00:05:54) Launching Colossus Review (00:08:05) The Principal-Agent Dynamic (00:10:47) Navigating Financial Crises (00:13:22) The Right Grip in Investing (00:17:32) Seeding and Investment Strategies (00:21:37) Defining 'Commercial' and Its Implications (00:26:31) The Role of Laziness and Prolific Output (00:28:20) Finding the Right People and Positive Feedback Loops (00:37:21) Navigating Career Transitions and Motivations (00:43:05) Understanding Source Dynamics (00:50:07) Key Criteria for a Great CIO (00:59:43) Structuring Relationships with CIOs (01:03:40) Managing Ambiguity and Protecting Mental Clarity (01:15:09) The Importance of Source in Business (01:17:49) Designing Physical Spaces for Success (01:22:46) Launching a Restaurant: A Casting Exercise (01:30:17) Taking Over and Transforming Existing Ventures (01:33:08) Macro Investing and Adaptability (01:36:06) Hierarchy of Investment Mastery (01:44:10) The Art of Referencing (01:52:08) Formative Experiences and Personal Growth (02:00:12) Building a Business and Taking Risks (02:07:46) The Origin of East Rock
My guest today is Blake Hall. Blake is the co-founder and CEO of ID.me, a secure digital identity network with over 100 million members. He was an officer in the United States Army and served our country for four years as a a rifle platoon leader, the battalion reconnaissance platoon leader, and as the battalion logistics officer. We explore his formative years in the military and transition into entrepreneurship. Blake shares powerful stories from his time leading scout sniper missions in Iraq, including how his unit achieved a 90% success rate in high-stakes operations through relentless preparation and learning. He shares the origin and evolution of ID.me, a company dedicated to verifying digital identities to combat fraud and simplify login experiences. We also discuss the role of identity in the modern economy, frameworks for building company culture, and evaluation of executive talent. I am ridiculously inspired by Blake, and I am so grateful for him and all of the Americans who serve our country. Please enjoy this discussion with the brave and courageous Blake Hall. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn about Ramp, Alphasense, and Ridgeline (00:07:48) First Combat Experiences (00:09:30) Leadership and Responsibility in Combat (00:13:28) Lessons in Leadership and Grit (00:18:32) The Importance of Credibility and Skill (00:22:05) A Defining Moment of Leadership (00:28:52) Transition to Civilian Life and Founding ID.me (00:50:27) Understanding Identity Through Time (00:51:08) Telecom Networks and Bad Actors (00:52:38) Moving Away from Passwords (00:54:13) The Trust Graph and Source of Truth (00:57:25) Digital Wallets and Government IDs (01:07:11) Challenges and Security in Digital Identity (01:21:36) Leadership and Company Culture (01:33:53) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Blake
My guest today is Dylan Field. Dylan is the co-founder and CEO of Figma and last joined me on Invest Like the Best in 2020. A lot has changed since then and we explore the evolving landscape of design and how Figma has been navigating AI while staying true to its founding vision of eliminating the gap between imagination and reality. Despite Figma's incredible success in becoming the default design platform, Dylan remains deeply motivated by helping users achieve their goals. He shares fascinating insights about the underhyped aspects of AI reasoning capabilities, the future of design literacy, and why he believes truly great design will always require human craft and creativity. Please enjoy my discussion with Dylan Field. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn about Ramp, AlphaSense, and Ridgeline (00:07:11) Current State of Technology and Optimism (00:09:21) Entrepreneurial Mindset and Long-term Thinking (00:10:23) Challenges of Building in Stealth Mode (00:12:44) AI and the Future of Design (00:14:07) Navigating AI Opportunities and Risks (00:17:05) Design Principles and User Experience (00:29:55) Future of Interfaces and Interaction (00:31:45) Dark Patterns and Ethical Concerns (00:33:42) Personal Motivations and Company Vision (00:40:04) Balancing Responsibilities as a CEO (00:41:54) The Future of Design and AI Integration (00:44:48) Speculating on AI's Impact on Design (00:46:26) Encouragement to Experiment and Innovate
My guest today is Tal Zaks. Tal is a physician-scientist turned biotech executive and investor who served as Moderna's Chief Medical Officer during their COVID-19 vaccine development, giving him an extraordinary perspective on one of modern medicine's pivotal moments. His combination of medical expertise, platform innovation experience, and investing acumen allows us to explore the interconnected challenges of turning scientific breakthroughs into viable medicines while generating venture-scale returns. We dive deep into lessons from Moderna's mRNA platform, examine how emerging technologies might reshape drug development, and the fundamental question of what it means to make people healthier. For investors, entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in the future of medicine, this discussion provides a window into both the immense potential and profound challenges of advancing human health. Please enjoy my conversation with Tal Zaks. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:08:37) State of Medicine Today (00:09:44) Investment and Innovation in Medicine (00:13:14) Challenges in Biotech Investment (00:17:18) Personalized Cancer Vaccines (00:22:58) Investing in Biotech: Process and Considerations (00:28:38) Multidisciplinary Approach in Pharma (00:41:35) COVID-19 Vaccine Development (00:46:27) Funding and Manufacturing Challenges (00:48:01) Unprecedented Vaccine Safety Measures (00:50:38) Public Perception and Trust Issues (00:53:54) Future of mRNA and Nucleic Acid Medicines (00:58:04) Personalized Medicine and Data Collection (01:04:48) AI's Role in Healthcare (01:08:34) Investment Strategies in Therapeutics (01:14:57) The Human Element in Medical Innovation (01:21:58) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Tal
My guests today are Dwight Churchill and Gaurav Misra, co-founders of Captions, which uses AI to generate and edit talking videos and has grown to significant scale at remarkable speed. We explore a key distinction in AI: tackling bounded problems like video generation versus unbounded problems like general intelligence and what this means for building sustainable businesses. We also explore their unique data flywheel, why video generation could reach Hollywood quality within 18 months, and why building advanced AI products doesn't require huge teams. Please enjoy this discussion with Dwight and Gaurav. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:07:49) The Evolution and Impact of AI (00:09:14) Challenges in Video Data and AI (00:10:36) AI in Media Generation (00:12:07) Building a Sustainable AI Business (00:14:56) The Journey of a Video AI Company (00:25:41) AI Video Editing and Creation Tools (00:29:58) Future of AI in Video and Business (00:37:51) The Future of Likeness in Video (00:39:25) Training Models on Human Data (00:41:15) Competitive Landscape and Copycats (00:44:01) The Role of Research Talent (00:46:25) Pricing AI Software (00:51:51) Investor Perspectives on AI (01:02:44) Lessons from Snap (01:07:04) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done for Dwight & Gaurav
My guest today is Jack Kokko. Jack is the CEO and Founder of AlphaSense, an AI-powered search engine for market intelligence. He shares how AlphaSense began by aggregating fragmented financial data sources and evolved with the advent of large language models to change the research experience completely. He speaks to their recent acquisition of Tegus earlier this year, reshaping the business and further supporting their expansion to serve all types of companies instead of exclusively investment firms. Jack has been navigating the AI revolution from its earliest days and you can feel his excitement when he talks about the future. We discuss building an agile platform, the importance of managing cultural integration, balancing AI capabilities with user trust, and the frontier for this technology. Please enjoy my conversation with Jack Kokko. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:08:32) The Evolution of AlphaSense and AI Integration (00:10:24) Impact of Large Language Models (00:19:24) User Behavior and Trust in AI (00:26:24) Future of AI in Investment Research (00:28:41) The Value of Proprietary Data (00:31:24) M&A Insights and Lessons Learned (00:32:59) The Tegus Opportunity and Investor Insights (00:34:41) Building Trust and Cultural Compatibility in M&A (00:37:33) Selling to Investors vs. Corporations (00:40:46) Personal Motivation and Entrepreneurial Journey (00:47:24) Breaking into the Corporate Market (00:49:28) Future of AI and Foundational Models (00:52:04) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Jack
My guest today is Jared Kushner. Jared has lived more lives than just about anyone I know his age. He ran Kushner companies for years, investing in real estate in and around New York City. He owned the New York Observer. He was a senior advisor to President Trump in his first term. He now runs Affinity Partners, which we discuss in detail, a private equity firm built to find and execute unique investments around the world that stem from Jared's unique set of experiences in business and government. This is one of our longest episodes ever because there was so much to discuss. We cover real estate, negotiation, geopolitics, his work in prison reform, Operation Warp Speed, and the Abraham Accords in the Middle East, business, investing, his family, and everything in between. Jared told me I could ask him about anything--and I really enjoyed doing so. Please enjoy my conversation with Jared Kushner. My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. –- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. –- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:08:45) Jared's Philosophy on Challenges and Success (00:13:38) Real Estate Ventures: The 666 Fifth Avenue Story (00:20:31) Lessons from New York Real Estate (00:30:04) Diplomacy and the Middle East (00:37:03) Leadership and Change (00:41:14) Geopolitical Landscape and Future Prospects (00:47:53) Affinity Partners: Vision and Strategy (00:52:42) Navigating Market Shifts (00:54:39) Case Study: Mexico Investment (00:58:34) Global Investment Strategies (01:02:42) Investment Philosophy and Principles (01:07:04) Challenges and Problem-Solving (01:23:14) Government Efficiency and Bureaucracy (01:34:57) Stepping into the Spotlight (01:37:19) Manifesting Success with Partners (01:38:05) Learning from Brad Jacobs (01:42:09) Middle East Economic Development (01:46:08) The Qatar-Saudi Reconciliation (01:52:25) Perceptions of Key Middle Eastern Countries (02:07:34) Preparing for Trump's Return (02:14:36) Early Days of Thrive Capital (02:16:56) Helping Entrepreneurs and Building Thrive (02:24:51) Lessons from My Father (02:37:47) Future Vision and AI (02:48:45) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Jared
My guest today is Scott Wu. Scott is the co-founder and CEO of Cognition, which is an applied AI lab that has created the first AI software engineer, which they call Devin. In just a year since founding Cognition, Devin functions at the level of a junior software engineer, capable of handling complete engineering workflows from bug fixing to submitting pull requests. He is a former competitive programming champion and describes the field as simply “the art of telling the computer what you want it to do." Scott predicts AI will surpass the world's best competitive programmer within 1-2 years and sees this technology not as replacing programmers, but as democratizing software creation. We discuss the bottleneck in software development, the future of AI in various industries, and the challenges of leveling up Devin. Towards the end, you’ll also hear Scott do an insane card trick on me. You can find the video on our X and YouTube to grasp the madness fully. Please enjoy my conversation with Scott Wu. Watch Scott play the card game. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. — This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:07:00) Discussion of Devin's current capabilities as a junior engineer (00:09:00) Early use cases and customer adoption (00:11:00) Comparison between IDE assistants and Devin's autonomous approach (00:14:00) History of computer programming and its evolution (00:17:00) Scott's background in competitive programming (00:20:00) Future predictions for AI in software engineering (00:26:00) Explanation of AI agents and their significance (00:29:00) Technical details of how Devin is built (00:40:00) Impact on software engineering jobs and industry (00:47:00) Discussion of business model and pricing (00:52:00) Thoughts on AGI and its practical implications (00:59:00) Commentary on the competitive landscape (01:24:00) Future of AI adoption across industries (01:25:00) Card trick demonstration (01:29:00) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Scott
My guest today is Micky Malka. Micky is the founder of Ribbit Capital, a global venture capital firm that focuses exclusively on financial technology investments. He is a renowned investor for his adaptability and visionary approach and a believer in killing the thing that got you to where you are in pursuit of what’s next. We discuss his perspective on fintech’s evolution and why his firm boldly declares that “fintech is dead.” We dive into his theory of the "grid," which examines how knowledge, wealth, and power are being transformed by technological changes, particularly through the rise of AI, cryptocurrency, and network states. And we also explore Micky’s deep interest in digital art and NFTs, which he sees as early indicators of broader cultural and technological shifts. You’ll soon hear how he is truly taking a generative approach on all fronts. Please enjoy this in-depth conversation with Micky Malka. My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. — This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:37) The Rebel Spirit of Ribbit (00:07:36) Ribbit's Unique Structure and Philosophy (00:08:07) The First Fund and Institutional Partners (00:09:03) Founding Principles and No Labels Approach (00:13:44) Early Investments and the Crypto Angle (00:16:42) The FinTech Evolution and Market Dynamics (00:22:30) Navigating Challenges: The Robinhood Story (00:28:57) The Global Digital Grid Concept (00:36:09) The Future of Digital Identity and Tokenization (00:41:00) The Role of Stablecoins in the Modern Economy (00:50:16) The Challenge of Adaptability (00:53:05) The Role of Heart in Business (00:55:19) The Walmart Partnership Story (01:00:07) Lessons from NuBank (01:02:49) Building a Strong Team (01:09:28) The Importance of Brand (01:11:52) Art and Its Future (01:17:20) The Impact of Better Money (01:19:27) Reflections and Future Plans (01:28:03) Handling Crises and Embracing Movement (01:31:40) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Micky
My guests today are Chetan Puttagunta and Modest Proposal. Chetan is a General Partner at venture firm Benchmark, while Modest Proposal is an anonymous guest who manages a large pool of capital in the public markets. Both are good friends and frequent guests on the show, but this is the first time they have appeared together. And the timing couldn’t be better - we might be witnessing a pivotal shift in AI development as leading labs hit scaling limits and transition from pre-training to test-time compute. Together, we explore how this change could democratize AI development while reshaping the investment landscape across both public and private markets. Please enjoy this discussion with Chetan Puttagunta and Modest Proposal. My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:30) Introduction to LLM Scaling Challenges (00:07:25) Synthetic Data and Test Time Compute (00:08:53) Implications of Test Time Compute (00:11:19) Public Tech Companies and AI Investments (00:16:58) Small Teams and Open Source Models (00:29:02) Strategic Positioning of Major AI Players (00:35:49) AGI and Future Prospects (00:46:50) AI Application Layer and Investment Opportunities (00:54:18) The Paradigm Shift in AI Reasoning (00:55:34) Investing in AI-Powered Solutions (00:58:46) Economic Impacts of AI Advancements (01:00:19) The Future of AI and Model Stability (01:02:52) Private Market Valuations and Compute Costs (01:05:05) Infrastructure and Utilization in AI (01:12:50) The Role of Hyperscalers and GPUs (01:18:02) The Evolution of AI Applications (01:27:56) Philosophical Questions on AGI and ASI (01:34:31) The Importance of Innovation Hubs
My guest today is Ronnie Fieg, founder and CEO of Kith. At age 13, Ronnie started working at David Z., an iconic New York shoe store, where he sold Timberland boots to Jay-Z and Wallabies to Wu-Tang Clan. He worked his way up from the stockroom and earned his first collaboration in 2007, when he worked with ASICS on new Gel-Lyte 3s. That collection sold out in a day after being featured in The Wall Street Journal, catching the attention of Adidas's president and launching his reputation as a cultural icon. In 2011, he founded Kith, which has become one of the most influential brands in footwear, fashion, and culture. The business sells a unique curation of products that includes exclusive Nike sneakers, Armani suits, Versace robes, watches, cars, and even $10 ice creams. Our conversation is one of the best examples of life's work I've ever recorded - it explores how Ronnie's pure love of product has shaped everything from a campaign with Jerry Seinfeld to his creative direction for the New York Knicks. Please enjoy this excellent conversation with Ronnie Fieg. Sign up for the Alphasense panel discussion hosted by Patrick. My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:10) The Journey to Shoot Jerry Seinfeld (00:09:44) Understanding Consumer Desires (00:12:04) The Queens College Project (00:15:51) The Evolution of Kith Stores (00:18:03) Ronnie's Early Passion for Collecting (00:21:56) From David Z to Kith: The Retail Journey (00:41:36) The Birth of Kith: Friends and Family (00:46:40) Origins of Kith: From Concept to Brand (00:47:18) Building Community and Relationships (00:47:51) The Birth of Kith Stores (00:48:43) Footwear Passion and Store Design (00:49:59) The Evolution of Kith Products (00:50:52) Storytelling Through Film (00:57:01) Collaborations and Iconic Partnerships (01:03:38) The Influence of Travel on Design (01:09:15) Balancing Business and Creativity (01:16:06) Reflections and Future Aspirations
My guest today is Gabe Whaley, the founder and CEO of MSCHF. What began with viral internet pranks in 2014 has evolved into one of the most singular creative companies in modern culture. MSCHF’s work ranges from microscopic handbags—the size of a grain of salt—to tax software that helps you file your returns by going on virtual dates with anime characters. Every two weeks, they release something new that challenges our assumptions about art, commerce, and culture. MSCHF is hard to define but Gabe says their goal is to “monopolize a feeling” and subversion is the rare constant. Their most viral creation, the Big Red Boot, took over the internet in 2023. Our conversation explores how a West Point dropout built a company that thrives on breaking rules, but it's also about something bigger - the power of unbridled creative expression and what happens when you build a business around it. I hope it inspires you to think about what your version of mischief could be. Please enjoy this fascinating discussion with Gabe Whaley. Sign up for the Alphasense panel discussion hosted by Patrick. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:50) Defining Mischief's Unique Creativity (00:11:09) The Origin Story of Mischief (00:12:53) Early Digital Projects and Virality (00:20:33) Transition to Physical Products (00:33:07) Navigating the Art World with Mischief (00:39:52) Entering the Fashion World (00:42:37) Mischief's Creative Process (00:44:51) Structured Brainstorming and Idea Vetting Process (00:46:38) The Role of Rules and Boundaries in Creativity (00:48:39) Interacting with Venture Investors (00:51:07) The Big Red Boots Phenomenon (00:54:48) Supply and Demand in Creative Projects (00:58:08) Protecting Creativity and Overcoming Challenges (01:00:11) Lessons from West Point (01:05:25) Fashion as Utility and Fantasy (01:09:47) Recruiting and Team Dynamics (01:11:56) Navigating Crossroads and Future Goals
Today, we are replaying my conversation with Brad Jacobs. Brad’s resumé is remarkable. He has founded seven companies, all of which are billion-dollar or multibillion-dollar businesses. He has done 500 M&A transactions and raised $30 billion dollars of debt and equity capital. Currently, he is the Executive Chairman of XPO, a commercial trucking company that he started in 2011 and has grown into one of the largest logistics businesses in the world. He has also written a book that will be out in January, titled “How to Make a Few Billion Dollars”. Brad’s energy is infectious and our conversation unpacks his strategies for M&A, his propensity for speed, and methods for earning team buy-in. Please enjoy my great conversation with Brad Jacobs. Sign up for the Alphasense panel discussion hosted by Patrick. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:07:11) Identifying key factors in a market before investing (00:10:07) Gleaning insights from early acquisition experiences (00:13:43) Delving into the seller's mindset during a business sale (00:17:51) Weighing pre-built against organic growth strategies in acquisitions (00:27:49) Engaging constructively with Wall Street (00:29:36) Discussing the substantial buyback of XPO shares (00:33:16) Ambition as a recurring theme in entrepreneurial success (00:35:17) Emphasizing the need to facilitate team agility (00:37:35) Highlighting the joys of post-acquisition integration (00:41:09) Drawing lessons from Ludwig Jesselson's principles (00:45:34) Comparing the risks and rewards of early versus late adoption (00:49:09) Reflecting on errors made in trend analysis (00:53:59) Strategies for implementing new technologies in enterprises (00:56:59) The significance of thought experiments in strategic decision-making (01:01:00) Recalling transformative events from his early years (01: 02:22) Outlining what makes a meeting 'electric' (01: 06:53) Sharing experiences with exemplary leadership (01:12:37) Deciding the right time to step away from a business (01:23:45) Philosophies for leading a fulfilling life (01:27:53) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Brad
My guest today is Ernie Garcia. Ernie is the co-founder and CEO of Carvana. Ernie joined me on Founder’s Field Guide in 2021 and despite all that the business has gone through since that conversation, you’ll hear how he has the exact same demeanor and crystal clear vision for the business and its operations today. Carvana is one of the most remarkable business turnaround stories in recent history, and Ernie gives us a raw and candid explanation of navigating through a 99% stock price decline and ultimately emerging stronger on the other side. I don’t know many leaders who could survive this. He credits his team of A players again and again for successfully weathering the storm and maintaining morale. We discuss leading through crisis, building for the long term, and a focus on ruthless prioritization and efficiency gains. Please enjoy my conversation with Ernie Garcia. Check out our new print publication Colossus Review. My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:00) Carvana's Journey (00:07:38) Facing the COVID-19 Challenge (00:08:12) The Rise and Fall: Carvana's Rollercoaster (00:10:05) Leadership and Resilience in Tough Times (00:14:32) Handling Drawdowns and Communication (00:16:58) Maintaining Calm and Leadership (00:18:19) The True Story of Carvana's Journey (00:20:36) Navigating Market Challenges (00:23:40) Learning to Say No (00:30:35) Project Management and Accountability (00:34:22) The Importance of Player-Coach Leadership (00:35:53) The Importance of Vertical Integration (00:40:43) Customer Experience and Vertical Integration (00:41:41) Navigating Economic Variables (00:43:52) Building Resilience in Business (00:45:27) Balancing Personal and Professional Life (00:48:57) Efficiency and Growth in Carvana (00:59:02) Insights on Investors and Entrepreneurship (01:02:42) Lessons from Family and Origins of Carvana (01:11:22) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Ernie
My guests today are Andrew Homan and Chris Miller. Andrew has spent two decades at Maverick Capital and is a managing partner at Maverick Silicon, where he leads the firm’s technology investments. Chris is a professor at Tufts and the author of the New York Times best-selling book “Chip War,” which details the geopolitical battle to control the semiconductor industry. Together we get into a comprehensive discussion on the semiconductor ecosystem and the silicon backbone of our digital age. Andrew and Chris share insights on how venture capital is navigating this complex industry and what it means for the future of computing. We discuss the AI-driven revolution in chip demand, the geopolitics of semi-manufacturing, and the next wave of innovation beyond NVIDIA. Please enjoy my conversation with Andrew Homan and Chris Miller. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:28) Intel's Historical Success and Current Challenges (00:08:22) The Paradigm Shift in Technology (00:11:44) AI and the Future of Semiconductors (00:19:02) Political and Economic Considerations in Chip Manufacturing (00:29:28) Investment Perspectives and Market Dynamics (00:45:46) The Mobile Paradigm Shift: Apple vs. AT&T (00:46:49) Corporate Strategies in the AI Transition (00:48:02) NVIDIA's Dominance and Potential Vulnerabilities (00:51:27) The Future of Edge AI (00:57:02) Powering the Data Centers of Tomorrow (00:59:42) The Semiconductor Startup Ecosystem (01:05:08) The Role of Government and Global Dynamics (01:07:28) Investment Strategies and Market Dynamics (01:10:57) The Future of the Semiconductor Industry (01:25:52) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Chris And Andrew
My guest today is Boyd Varty. Boyd is a lion tracker, life coach, and storyteller who grew up in the South African wilderness, living amongst and tracking wild leopards. This is his fourth time on Invest Like the Best but the first in six years. Boyd is a perfect follow-up to my episode with Lulu Meservey unpacking the intricacies of storytelling and why it's such an essential for founders. Boyd walks us through different mechanisms of cultivating storytelling and becoming a meaning-maker. He encourages everyone to become somebody who stories happen around and be a character who finds characters. We discuss his concept of “story hunting,” leveraging stories in business, and continuously finding new meaning in life. Please enjoy my discussion with Boyd Varty. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:27) The Power of Storytelling (00:06:08) Lessons from Safari Stories (00:08:37) Finding Meaning and Purpose (00:09:18) Becoming a Story Hunter (00:13:27) The Role of Fear in Storytelling (00:15:31) Crafting and Sharing Your Narrative (00:17:04) Building a Strong Culture Through Stories (00:23:42) The Importance of Storytelling in Business (00:32:41) Meeting Chris Bacchus (00:34:14) Living Authentically: Following Your Internal Pulls (00:35:34) The Tension of Reinvention: Beyond Your Greatest Hits (00:36:46) The Art of Self Reinvention (00:39:49) Crafting a Great Story: Key Components (00:41:45) Solitude and Self-Knowledge: The Path to Originality (00:45:00) The Role of High Stakes in Finding Meaning (00:47:49) The Endurance Hunt: A Journey with the Kalahari Bushmen (00:52:56) Simplicity and Abundance: Lessons from the Bushmen (00:54:37) Becoming a Character: Traits of Remarkable People (00:59:35) Life's Work: Expressing Yourself in Service of Others
My guest today is Tobi Lutke, the co-founder and CEO of Shopify. I have spoken to Tobi on this podcast twice before, first in 2020 and then again in 2022. Needless to say, a lot has changed since we last spoke, and we start by talking about the biggest change of all: AI. But I’ll remember this conversation for the next set of ideas we discuss: Founder mode, raising the temperature of an organization, and the importance of building on an island that’s distinct from the mainstream. Tobi embodies the concept of Life’s Work that I believe so much in, and this episode is a shining example of it. He, along with nine other leaders we believe are doing their life’s work, will also be featured in the first issue of an upcoming print publication we’ve been working on. If you’re interested in hearing first when pre-orders go on sale, head to joincolossus.com/print. For now, please enjoy this great conversation with Tobi Lutke. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:38) Technological Innovations and AI (00:07:13) Experimenting with AI in Real-World Scenarios (00:15:04) The Role of Founders and Company Culture (00:24:24) Navigating Business Changes and Strategic Decisions (00:31:15) The Concept of Islands in Innovation (00:36:38) The Essence of Open Source Marketplaces (00:37:10) Building Shopify: From Personal Project to Public Company (00:38:42) Philosophy of Product Development (00:42:38) Marketing and Mainstream vs. Island Approach (00:46:52) The Glory of Entrepreneurship (00:54:17) AI and the Future of Human-Computer Interaction (01:00:30) Trust and Principles in Organizational Culture (01:04:31) Investor Insights and Long-Term Vision
My guests today are Matt Perelman and Alex Sloane, Co-founders and Managing Partners of Garnett Station Partners. GSP invests in the trillion-dollar franchise and consumer services industries. Matt and Alex started the firm in 2014 as MBA students when they bought 23 Burger King restaurants. Since then, they've invested in 26 other multi-unit businesses, from gyms to car washes to funeral homes. GSP is now a leader in its field. This discussion is a masterclass in franchise investing. We explore GSP's playbook for creating value, the power of Matt and Alex's partnership, and their approach to scaling businesses for successful exits. This conversation is special for another reason. For the last year, we've been working on a print publication that will share the very best of what we've encountered and learned every quarter. GSP, along with many others, are profiled in our first issue to be revealed next month. We are going to print a limited edition of them to start, so if you are interested in hearing first when pre-sale launches, go to joincolossus.com/print. Please enjoy this excellent and incredibly fun discussion with Matt Perelman and Alex Sloane. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:07:02) The KFC Rejection and Burger King Opportunity (00:08:36) Living with Ray Meeks and Business Growth (00:12:08) Understanding Franchise Economics (00:16:12) Challenges and Lessons Learned (00:38:37) Navigating COVID-19 (00:54:37) Challenges of Rollups and Integration (00:56:01) The Importance of Culture in Business Consolidations (00:58:01) Strategies for Successful Exits (01:01:49) The Fun and Challenges of Partnership (01:09:53) Innovation in Business Operations (01:13:44) Real Estate and Financial Engineering (01:16:34) Managing Labor and Turnover (01:19:36) Investment Themes and Criteria (01:23:36) Selling to Larger Private Equity Firms (01:27:11) Maintaining Culture and Sourcing Deals (01:33:41) The Importance of Cycles and Capital Structure (01:37:18) Partnership Dynamics and LP Relationships (01:40:26) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Matt & Alex
My guest today is Kareem Zaki. Kareem is a General Partner at Thrive Capital and has been at the firm for a decade. In an episode last year, Thrive's founder, Josh Kushner, told me he is the best healthcare investor in the world. Kareem has co-founded three healthcare businesses worth over one billion dollars. He also has expertise in financial services, where he's led the firm's investments in companies like Ramp and Robinhood. It's a timely moment to have this discussion, with Thrive announcing a new $5 billion fund in August. We talk about how Thrive identifies category-defining companies, what concentration means to them, and how startups should approach the healthcare industry. Please enjoy this great discussion with Kareem Zaki. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:02) Early Days and Consistent Strategy (00:07:10) Personal Journey and Reconnecting with Josh (00:08:36) Investing Philosophy and Strategy (00:11:04) Building a Supportive Structure (00:12:10) Generalist Approach and Market Trends (00:13:45) Life Cycle Investing and Concentration (00:16:16) The Builders Mentality (00:17:52) Raising a Huge Fund and Its Implications (00:20:40) Understanding Category Defining Companies (00:37:48) The Changing Nature of Investment Categories (00:49:03) Evaluating Business Durability and Market Quality (00:51:30) Understanding Healthcare Challenges (00:53:46) Approaching Healthcare Innovation (00:59:18) The Role of Competition in Healthcare (01:04:17) AI's Transformative Potential (01:07:35) Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs (01:09:46) Thrive's Investment Philosophy (01:22:55) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Kareem
My guest today is Ray Ozzie, one of the great technologists, software developers, and entrepreneurs of our time. Ray is perhaps best known as the creator of Lotus Notes, a collaboration tool that revolutionized business communication in the 1990s. He later succeeded Bill Gates as Chief Software Architect at Microsoft, where he played a key part in the development of Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform. Ray's work has earned him numerous accolades, including induction into the Computer History Museum Hall of Fellows and the National Academy of Engineering. Throughout his career, Ray has been at the forefront of technology innovation and paradigm shifts, founding multiple companies, including Iris Associates, Groove Networks, and most recently, Blues Wireless, which focuses on connectivity in the physical world. His insights on cloud computing, collaboration tools, and the future of technology have shaped the industry for decades. In our conversation, we explore Ray's journey through the evolving landscape of software development, his perspectives on the current state of technology, and his vision for the future of connectivity and collaboration. Please enjoy this fascinating discussion with Ray Ozzie. Subscribe to Glue Guys! For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Introduction to Ray's Story (00:06:44) The Role of Technology in Modern Warfare (00:10:26) The RadNote Device Explained (00:15:32) The Origin of SafeCast (00:22:26) Challenges in Building Intelligent Machines (00:32:23) The Evolution of IoT and Blues (00:39:01) The Future of Connected Machines (00:46:03) Technology Paradigm Shifts and Azure (00:50:56) The Birth of Azure (00:52:08) The Unique Dynamics of Bill and Steve (00:56:54) AI and the Future of Use Cases (00:59:00) Real-world Applications of IoT (01:05:31) The Evolution of AI and IoT (01:20:03) The Importance of Systems Thinking (01:28:52) Advice for Young Entrepreneurs (01:32:55) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Ray
My guest today is Ted Seides. Ted is the host of the Capital Allocators podcast and an investment industry expert. It’d been seven years since Ted and I last talked on the record, as he was one of my very first guests on Invest Like the Best. Now that Ted has a full-time focus on all things Capital Allocators and has stepped away from traditional investing roles, he shares with us the wisdom he has gained from being a neutral third party with in conversations with countless industry experts. We discuss the evolution of the LP and GP relationship, the scale of institutional investing, and the nuance of asset allocation, and much more. Please enjoy my conversation with Ted Seides. I’m excited to announce that we are hiring an Editor in Chief at Colossus. This will be a critical and central role in our growing media platform and in our quest to find and showcase the best people, businesses, and ideas in the world. This person will work on existing shows like Invest Like the Best and Founders, our soon-to-be-announced print publication, and more. We aim to be the dominant media company exploring business and investing frontiers, so this person needs to be obsessed with these topics and bring serious operational chops. I firmly believe this role can help define someone’s career. Go to joincolossus.com/eic to apply. Subscribe to Glue Guys! For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. — This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:08:21) Innovative Approaches in Portfolio Management (00:10:29) Challenges in the LP-GP Relationship (00:16:58) Categorizing and Understanding LPs (00:21:12) Pros and Cons of Different Capital Pools (00:28:44) Trends and Future of Asset Management (00:35:14) The Sensational Economy (00:37:37) Competitive Frontiers in Private Equity (00:39:44) The Yellowstone Club Deal (00:42:19) The Burger King Success Story (00:46:49) Collaborative Deals in Private Equity (00:51:27) The Importance of Communication (00:56:14) Capital Allocator Summits (01:00:31) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Ted
My guest today is Lulu Meservey. Lulu is the Founder and CEO of Rostra, a company that partners with founders to level up their communications around all strategic initiatives, from hiring to fundraising. She is also on the board at Shopify. I have been recently fascinated by the challenge of founders telling their story and Lulu is an expert in comms and a believer in creative problem-solving through effective communication and compelling storytelling. We discuss the evolution of media and its pitfalls, innovative methods for managing crises, and the power of going direct with your communication. Please enjoy my conversation with Lulu Meservey. I’m excited to announce that we are hiring an Editor in Chief at Colossus. This will be a critical and central role in our growing media platform and in our quest to find and showcase the best people, businesses, and ideas in the world. This person will work on existing shows like Invest Like the Best and Founders, our soon-to-be-announced print publication, and more. We aim to be the dominant media company exploring business and investing frontiers, so this person needs to be obsessed with these topics and bring serious operational chops. I firmly believe this role can help define someone’s career. Go to joincolossus.com/eic to apply. Subscribe to Glue Guys! For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. — This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:48) The Evolution of Media and Communication (00:11:25) The Importance of Direct Communication for Founders (00:20:20) Choosing the Right Partners and Clients (00:25:20) The Art of Launching a Product (00:34:01) Fundraising Tips for Entrepreneurs and Investors (00:35:32) The Pitfalls of Inauthentic Fundraising (00:36:05) Crafting a Compelling Macro Narrative (00:37:54) Crisis Management Strategies for Founders (00:42:41) Lessons from Counterinsurgency (00:44:24) The Rugby Analogy for Founders (00:49:34) The Power of K-Pop Marketing (00:56:30) Vision and Future of Rostra (01:01:17) The Importance of Direct Communication (01:10:36) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Lulu
My guest today is Ric Elias. Ric is the CEO and co-founder of Red Ventures, which has a portfolio of fast-growing digital businesses like Lonely Planet, The Points Guy, Bankrate, and large investments in a variety of other businesses across industries. He began the business in 2000 and has grown it to now a global company with thousands of employees. Ric walks us through the early struggles that have led to what is now a flourishing investing platform, but mostly this episode is a masterclass on cultural values and philosophies that transcend mere financial gain. We discuss the difference between living good and well, the power of forgiveness, and compounding more than just your capital. Ric’s story is one of resilience, humility, and grace. His story about being in the front row of the plane that Captain Sully landed in the Hudson is singular and very moving. Please enjoy my conversation with Ric Elias. Subscribe to Glue Guys! For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. — This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:29) Understanding Red Ventures: Origin and Evolution (00:06:44) Early Challenges and Turning Points (00:10:15) Operational Success and Company Culture (00:16:10) Insights on Motivation and Growth (00:25:35) Reflections on Money and Personal Well-being (00:32:39) The Hudson River Plane Crash Experience (00:42:25) Reconnecting with Puerto Rico and New Ventures (00:47:10) Underdogs to Champions (00:49:56) Building Trust and Team Dynamics (00:52:19) Balancing Speed and Sustainability (00:56:05) The Role of Confidence and Courage (01:00:49) The Pursuit of Purpose Over Profit (01:06:39) Recruitment and Company Culture (01:11:20) Future of Business and AI (01:23:20) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Ric
This week's episode is special because it marks the launch of a new Colossus show: Glue Guys. My guests this week are the hosts of the new show, Shane Battier, Alex Smith, and Ravi Gupta. Shane, Ravi, and Alex’s stories are remarkable. Each has been at the very top of their profession. Shane as an NCAA and NBA champion. Alex as the first pick in the NFL draft, 3 time-pro bowler, and 16-year NFL veteran. Ravi as a leader at KKR, and then as a critical leader turning around & building Instacart, and now as a partner at Sequoia. But those parts of their stories pale in comparison to the stories you’ll hear on Glue Guys. Glue Guys is an unfolding manual for HOW to be a professional, a teammate, a leader, and even a friend and family member. In this episode of ILtB, we explore the general concept of glue guys—the people who are obsessed with helping the team win, whether they are the leader or newest member of the team. Please enjoy this conversation with Shane, Alex, and Ravi. Subscribe to Glue Guys! For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:06) Talent vs. Teamwork: A Business Perspective (00:06:56) Talent vs. Teamwork: A Sports Perspective (00:09:40) Personal Stories of Overcoming Adversity (00:12:50) The Importance of Trust and Mission Focus (00:21:09) Facing Rock Bottom and Rising Again (00:34:59) The Hardest Moments and Lessons Learned (00:42:39) Unsung Heroes of Special Teams (00:45:01) Mentorship and Team Dynamics (00:46:49) Lessons from Duke Basketball (00:49:25) Instacart and the All-In Mentality (00:51:52) Building Successful Teams (00:55:42) Family Legacy and Personal Sacrifice (01:05:02) Strength and Vulnerability in Leadership (01:10:36) The Urge to Dominate and Winning (01:14:41) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Alex
My guest today is Bret Taylor. His resume is absurd. He built google maps--famously rewriting the whole thing in a weekend. He was the CTO of Facebook in critical years. He founded Quip. He was the chair of the board at Twitter. He was the co-CEO of Salesforce...the incredible list goes on. Now, Bret is the co-founder of Sierra, a conversational AI platform for businesses, and he is the chairman of the board at OpenAI. We discuss the past, present, and future of AI agents: new programs that will begin doing incredible amounts of work for us humans in astonishing ways that are a thrill to talk about. Bret believes agents will become a meaningful part of the future and transform the ways in which we interact with technology. We discuss a strategic approach to AI integration, the different categories of agents and their scopes, and the essentials of craftsmanship. Please enjoy this discussion with Bret Taylor. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:27) The Dynamics of Small Teams in Software Development (00:05:46) Challenges of Large Teams and Bureaucracy (00:06:27) The Google Maps Legendary Rewrite Story (00:13:59) Introduction to AI Agents (00:16:48) Types of AI Agents and Their Applications (00:22:15) Building Robust AI Agents for Customer Experience (00:33:28) The Future of AI Agents and Customer Interaction (00:45:12) Impact of AI on Productivity and Inequality (00:51:05) Technological Evolution and Societal Changes (00:56:25) The Role of Multimodal Models in AI (00:57:19) The Future of Human-Computer Interaction (01:00:15) Building Companies in the AI Era (01:05:36) OpenAI's Unique Structure and Mission (01:11:22) Insights on Sales and Customer Success (01:20:06) Balancing Ambition and Personal Life (01:21:35) Preparing for the Agent Era (01:26:20) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Bret
My guest this week is Gavin Baker. Gavin is the managing partner and CIO of Atreides Management, and he has been on the show many times before. He is one of my favorite investors to talk to and this may be my favorite conversation with him. Gavin first started covering Nvidia as an investor at the turn of the millennium, making him the perfect guest to discuss all things AI and investing. There is so much detail in this discussion and I’m incredibly grateful to Gavin for sharing his wisdom with us again. Please enjoy this fantastic conversation with Gavin Baker. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:42) The Magnificent Seven and Tech Competition (00:06:29) Generative AI and Scaling Laws (00:08:36) Challenges in AI Infrastructure (00:15:02) The Future of AI and Data Centers (00:17:51) Efficiency in AI Models (00:35:14) Synthetic Data and AI Training (00:42:37) Inference and the Role of Smartphones (00:48:35) Investment Implications in AI (00:49:09) Opportunities for New Companies (00:51:20) Challenges at the Application Layer (00:52:25) AI's Impact on Advertising (00:53:40) AI ROI Debate (00:54:39) SaaS Metrics and AI Disruption (00:55:59) AI-First Application Companies (01:00:50) The Future of Robotics (01:14:01) Leadership in Tech Giants (01:24:05) The Evolution of Investing
Today, we’re replaying a conversation between John Collison and Charlie Munger that we first aired on 5 December 2023. Charlie said, “The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.” He does just that in this interview. Please enjoy, and may Charlie Rest in Peace. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. — This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:52) The fixation on evaluating business quality (00:05:58) Learning the big ideas across various disciplines (00:10:03) The issue of adverse selection in legal services (00:11:42) Societal solutions for the opioid crisis (00:17:34) Reasons for not investing in Amazon (00:20:38) Explaining Costco's model (00:29:08) Discussing the increasing challenges in investing (00:32:08) Ingredients for long-term success in business (00:33:18) Debating cryptocurrency (00:37:37) Offering guidance for navigating a potential recession (00:38:56) Reflecting on the state of American society (00:45:20) Sharing a passion for architecture (00:54:13) “Win-win” business (00:57:53) Countering arguments against capitalism (00:60:42) The origins of Poor Charlie's Almanack (01:05:14) Building a productive partnership (01:08:55) Opining on the SEC (01:12:22) Highlighting investment concerns (01:16:31) Reasons for optimism about China (01:32:14) The unique aspects of Berkshire Hathaway
My guest today is Vlad Tenev. Vlad is the CEO and co-founder of Robinhood. It was such a treat to sit down with him and discuss the behind-the-scenes of a revolutionary business we all know well. He details Robinhood’s journey to zero-cost trading and what it means to build a consumer-centric financial product. Vlad believes in finding the harmonies across mathematics and art and applies this lens to everything he builds. We discuss Robinhood’s new credit card and more products on the horizon, the company’s toughest moments, including the Gamestop episode, and the compelling future of AI in financial services. Please enjoy this conversation with Vlad Tenev. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:56) The Next Frontier in AI: Reasoning and Logical Deductions (00:06:19) Challenges and Approaches in AI Development (00:09:08) Formal Mathematics and AI Integration (00:11:23) Practical Applications of Mathematical Superintelligence (00:17:30) Robinhood's Journey to Zero-Cost Trading (00:24:38) Building a Consumer-Friendly Trading Platform (00:28:52) Robinhood Gold and the Future of Financial Services (00:35:51) Understanding Robinhood's Business Model (00:42:34) Navigating the GameStop Crisis (00:49:17) Improving Customer Satisfaction (00:52:43) Reputation Repair (00:54:52) The Future of Financial Services (00:59:06) Crypto and AI in Finance (01:08:09) Building a High-Performance Culture (01:11:42) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Vlad
My guest today is Sarah Guo. Sarah is the founder and CEO of Conviction, an early-stage venture capital firm built to serve AI companies. She started Conviction in 2022 after 9 years at Greylock because she believes AI is the most important technological advancement of our lifetime. In our conversation, Sarah discusses the challenges and rewards of leaving an established investing firm to start her own venture. She shares her unique perspective on the AI landscape and reveals her predictions for what we should expect on the AI frontier. Please enjoy this great conversation with the very impressive Sarah Guo. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Our Partners: Ridgeline and Tegus (00:03:30) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:30) Introduction & Recruiting in Venture Capital (00:05:06) Key Traits for Early-Stage Venture Capitalists (00:06:57) Lessons from Early Investments (00:07:47) The Journey of Building a Company (00:09:01) The Decision to Start Conviction (00:11:36) Launching Conviction and Initial Steps (00:13:43) First Investment at Conviction (00:14:00) Evaluating AI Application Companies (00:16:29) Challenges and Opportunities in AI Applications (00:23:57) Minimum Viable Quality in AI Products (00:33:19) Future of AI and Frontier Models (00:38:56) The Unpredictable Future of AI (00:40:16) The Importance of Efficiency in AI Models (00:44:28) The Business of AI: Costs and Margins (00:45:47) Infrastructure and Hardware Challenges (00:48:54) The Competitive Landscape of AI Chips (00:54:24) The Future of AI and Society (00:56:34) Opportunities and Innovations in AI (01:02:09) Concerns and Ethical Considerations (01:03:36) Debates and Research in AI (01:09:01) Personal Reflections and Closing Thoughts
My guest today is Hemant Taneja. Hemant is the CEO and Managing Director of General Catalyst, the global venture capital firm you’ll hear us refer to as GC. GC has set out to build resiliency across critical industries worldwide. The firm leverages technology to retool sectors such as healthcare, energy, defense, and manufacturing and explores innovative capital structures to support founders and businesses. Hemant discusses how the firm is positioned to respond to the aftermath of crises, including the pandemic, wars, energy issues, and beyond. We also discuss the building of a category-defining healthcare company, Livongo and much more. Please enjoy this conversation with Hemant Taneja. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it’s backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I’m aware of. It’s also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Our Partners: Ramp and Tegus (00:03:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:57) Introducing Hemant Taneja and General Catalyst (00:04:17) Global Resilience and Innovation Post-Pandemic (00:05:56) Re-Globalization and Manufacturing (00:07:03) Building Livongo: A 20-Year Overnight Success (00:13:23) Aligning Incentives in Healthcare (00:15:40) Re-imagining the Investment Business (00:20:54) Evolution of General Catalyst (00:27:04) Succession and Trust in Asset Management (00:35:00) Founder-Centric Capital Goals (00:36:32) Balancing Growth and Liquidity (00:41:39) AI and Onshoring Productivity (00:47:10) Defense Investments and Ethics (00:50:11) Geopolitics and Regulation (00:53:16) Reflections on Leadership and Strategy (01:01:14) Hemant's Future Plans (01:02:55) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Him
Today we are replaying one of our most popular episodes from last year with Jeremy Giffon. I spend all my time trying to find people who have some “singularity” to them. People who seem like they can do an N of 1 something. Having spent many days with Jeremy, he strikes me as one of those people. He was the first employee and general partner at private equity firm/holding company Tiny, which buys and holds internet and technology-focused businesses. Prior to that, he was on the founding team of MediaCore, which was acquired by Workday. The focus of our discussion is on esoteric opportunities that exist in private markets and how misaligned incentives and coordination problems create special situations for people like Jeremy to invest in. The rest of the conversation is wide-ranging and covers everything from compensation advice to meeting your heroes. Please enjoy my discussion with Jeremy Giffon. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:15) What defines the nature of a perfect business in his mind (00:05:21) Key characteristics he’d look for in a perfect investment (00:09:58) Coordination problems that excite him (00:14:02) Raising funds and ghostship companies (00:16:17) Examples of a special situations transaction in private markets (00:18:55) Building up a sourcing mechanism (00:22:18) The biggest mistakes he’s seen in buying and selling companies (00:25:42) Refining the underwriting process (00:28:57) Thoughts about minimum rates of return and multiples on capital for the investments he makes (00:30:44) Being lazy enough to wait for good deals on enduring businesses (00:33:32) Why people do things they don’t like (00:35:47) Whether or not he feels like he knows what he wants in life (00:42:58) Hiring CEOs (00:44:54) Really good respective returns in low risk companies and why those opportunities continue to persist (00:47:05) Tactics for negotiating with and sourcing CEOs (00:50:37) Binaries - pre and post fall (00:55:58) Being hard to kill (00:59:15) His favorite interview question (01:06:07) Having an audience is incredibly underpriced (01:10:13) What else is significantly underpriced (01:12:14) Things he feels are overpriced today writ large (01:15:54) Criticisms of the cult of learning (01:20:21) The one call that everyone needs to make (01:27:18) Meeting your heroes and having mentors (01:30:48) Notable differences between the business environments of Canada and the US (01:33:13) Lessons learned from people he admires and models for seeing the world (01:35:35) Views he holds that would make people scratch their heads (01:40:02) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Jeremy
Today, we are replaying what we call a forever episode, which are the few episodes of our show that we think will be as popular a decade from now as they are today. Every time I re-listen to this episode with David Senra, I leave wildly energized and wanting to share that feeling. So we are re-releasing it today for anyone who missed it the first time or hadn't yet discovered Invest Like the Best. David Senra has studied history’s great founders and entrepreneurs in more depth than anyone I’ve ever met, and I’d wager more than anyone else alive. In this conversation, we cover many of the most common themes he’s discovered studying hundreds of entrepreneurs like Estée Lauder, John Rockefeller, Enzo Ferrari, and Edwin Land. Please enjoy this great conversation with David Senra. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes [00:00:00] Welcome to Invest Like the Best [00:03:01] First question - When he first fell in love with reading [00:07:01] What’s rooted in his own history that’s made him obsessive about studying history’s great entrepreneurs and founders - Founders Podcast [00:10:34] The first time he connected with someone as a positive role model that he was reading about [00:13:45] How often obsession is apparent in the founders he’s studied across hundreds of biographies [00:18:08] What is often behind obsession and how people listening can apply the lessons to their own lives [00:22:45] The dynamic and relationship between inspiration and perspiration [00:27:11] Commonalities between the layers of leadership and support underneath founders [00:31:52] Where else he’s seen ego rear its head in good and bad ways [00:38:34] How often do great founders break the law or enter gray areas of it [00:41:22] The role constant learning and listening plays in success [00:45:12] Talking about how anything worth doing is worth doing to excess [00:52:18] Describing the soul of founders and businesses [00:58:39] What he’s learned about all of these founders as it relates to marketing [01:04:38] A common story that process is often art [01:08:10] Who David's idols are in podcasting [01:14:55] Major aspects of people he’s studied that haven’t been discussed yet [01:19:55] The kindest thing anyone has ever done for David
My guest today is Martin Casado. Martin is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz and first joined me on Invest Like the Best in 2022. So much has changed since then, and it was awesome to have Martin back to discuss all of the different implications of this AI revolution. Before joining a16z, Martin pioneered software-defined networking and co-founded Nicira, which was bought by VMware for $1.3 billion in 2012. He has studied, built, and invested in digital infrastructure his whole career which has primed him to go in-depth in this interview on the immense opportunities and challenges AI presents among creativity, policy-making, agentic systems, real-world data structures, and beyond. Please enjoy this conversation with Martin Casado. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:01:48) The Future of AI and Creativity (00:03:11) Economic Implications of AI (00:04:33) AI's Impact on Content Creation (00:08:21) Challenges in AI and Robotics (00:12:16) Human Data and AI Training (00:20:30) Investing in AI and Robotics (00:26:00) Defensibility and Competition in AI (00:33:22) Regulatory Considerations (00:35:26) Internet Era Parallels and Security Concerns (00:40:25) Open Source vs. Closed Source in Tech (00:43:45) Market Annealing and Category Creation (00:46:13) Data and Hardware Innovations in AI (00:55:55) Agents and the Future of AI
My guest today is Modest Proposal, joining me for our third conversation and the first in a few years. Modest is anonymous online, but one of the more thoughtful investors I know, overseeing a large pool of capital in public and private markets. He offers insight into many different corners of today’s landscape, covering AI’s frontier models versus open-source models, overcapacity issues in transportation in our post-COVID world, the potential economic impact of GLP-1 drugs, and more. Please enjoy my conversation with Modest Proposal. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:00) Comparison to Mid-2000s Commodity Markets (00:07:18) The Role of AI and Power Consumption (00:09:29) NVIDIA and the Future of AI Investment (00:13:10) Commercialization of AI and Market Dynamics (00:23:14) Public vs. Private Market Performance (00:28:03) Post-COVID Capital Cycles (00:30:32) Capital Expenditures and Post-COVID Market Distortions (00:31:47) Amazon's Capacity Expansion and Market Inflections (00:33:45) Challenges in Displacing Market Leaders (00:37:50) Behavioral Barriers in GLP-1 Adherence (00:39:58) Public vs. Private Market Allocations (00:45:08) International Equities and Japanese Market Potential (00:47:35) Market Structure and Trading Dynamics (00:53:22) AI Models and Future Market Implications
My guest today is Robert Greene, author of many books but perhaps most famous for his books "48 Laws of Power" and "Mastery." He has spent his life studying why people behave like they do and why some go on to build great things. I love his idea of finding your life's purpose, which we explore in detail. Please enjoy my conversation with Robert Greene. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:17) First Question - Exploring Reality and Human Behavior (00:07:41) The Concept of Masks and Social Roles (00:10:47) The Sublime and Social Conventions (00:13:48) Writing 'The 48 Laws of Power' (00:16:38) Defining and Understanding Power (00:18:01) Historical Figures and Adaptation (00:23:59) Modern Applications of Power Laws (00:31:57) The Boldness of Deception (00:32:54) Exploring Good and Evil (00:35:56) The Art of Seduction and AI (00:38:31) Defining Mastery (00:42:44) Discovering Your Life's Task (00:51:53) The Power of Observation (00:59:56) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Robert
My guest today is Pat Grady, a longtime growth investor at Sequoia and one of the firms senior leaders. Pat has been a part of a long list of legendary investments, ranging from Snowflake, Zoom, ServiceNow, Qualtrics, Okta, Hubspot, Notion, and OpenAI, among many others. There aren't many investors who reference as well at Pat, both inside and outside of his firm. We talk about investing, building an investing firm, and building enduring companies. Please enjoy this great conversation with Pat Grady. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:48) Doug Leone's Leadership and Changes (00:06:54) Creating Internal Pressure and Structure (00:10:46) Sequoia's Team Values and Family Influence (00:13:40) Assessing Founders and Investments (00:20:28) Winning Competitive Investments (00:24:45) Pat’s Early Career at Sequoia (00:29:38) Memo Writing and Investment Criteria (00:35:20) Evaluating Companies Through Three Business Criteria (00:40:15) Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage (00:47:48) Turning Bad Numbers into Good Investments (00:51:20) The AI Frontier: Market and People (01:01:13) Harvey: The AI Legal Assistant (01:05:33) Sequoia's Platform Strategy (01:17:16) The Importance of Teamwork and Performance (01:26:07) Legendary Potential: Relentless Application of Force (01:28:37) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Pat
My guest today is Frank Blake. Frank is the former chairman and CEO of Home Depot. I recently interviewed Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone and became fascinated by the business’s impressive lineup of leaders through the decades. Frank led the company from 2007 to 2014 and shares how he carried on the legacy of Ken and the others, upholding their culture of an inverted hierarchy and producing seven consecutive years of growth for the largest home improvement retailer in America. We discuss his hyper focus on solving their customer’s problems before their own, investing time into the employee experience, and his intentionality with how he is perceived as a leader. Please enjoy this discussion with Frank Blake. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:37) The Inverted Pyramid Leadership Model (00:08:38) Communication and Listening in Leadership (00:15:19) Lessons from Legacies of Great Home Depot Leaders (00:27:02) Frank’s Personal Leadership Journey (00:33:32) Reagan's Leadership Style and Influence (00:37:26) Key Responsibilities of a CEO (00:40:27) Delta's Leadership During COVID-19 (00:46:45) Financial Strategies in Asset-Intensive Industries (00:47:27) Home Depot's Strategic Shift (00:53:33) Competitive Dynamics with Lowe's (00:55:36) Building an Effective Board (00:58:16) The Impact of Home Depot on Employees' Lives (01:01:52) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Frank
My guest today is Adam Sandow. Adam is the chairman and CEO of SANDOW Companies and the executive chairman and founder of Material Bank. He has built an entire ecosystem of businesses and brands that have brought him into the game of media, materials, and beyond. From creating the beauty product subscription model to getting magazines in the hands of billionaires to transforming the design industry with overnight access to samples, when Adam starts a business he writes his own rulebook. We discuss the founding stories of his most interesting companies, his obsession with targeting pain points, and his philosophies for when to go all in and betting on himself. Please enjoy this great discussion with Adam Sandow. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:12) Building a Media Empire (00:06:01) The Birth of the Beauty Subscription Model (00:09:56) Revolutionizing Magazine Circulation (00:14:46) The Contrarian Approach to Media (00:16:08) The Origin of MediaJet (00:18:35) The Future of Print and Digital Media (00:27:25) The Genesis of Material Bank (00:35:23) Building a Compelling Model for Manufacturers (00:37:26) Innovative Logistics and Partnership with FedEx (00:40:32) The Importance of High-Quality Content (00:43:49) Building and Buying Media Properties (00:46:01) Creating Unique Value Propositions (00:54:22) The Role of Print in the Digital Age (00:58:41) Nurturing an Ecosystem of Businesses (01:03:37) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Adam
My guest today is Howie Liu. Howie is the co-founder and CEO of Airtable, a no-code app platform that allows teams to build on top of their shared data and create productive workflows. The business began in 2013 and now has use cases built out for over 300,000 organizations. As Airtable begins to integrate AI and the latest LLMs into its product, Howie has maintained a focus on an intuitive building experience, allowing anyone to build out their workflow within minutes or hours. We discuss the future of the platform in the era of AI, his perspective on horizontal versus vertical software solutions, and his crucial moments as a leader in building a critical component to the advancement of productivity. Please enjoy this discussion with Howie Liu. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:49) Exploring Horizontal vs. Vertical Software in the AI Era (00:11:00) The Future of Customized Applications (00:15:28) Perspectives on AI's Future and Enterprise Adoption (00:18:13) The Evolution of LLMs and Their Impact on Software Development (00:23:33) Harnessing AI for Business Transformation and Innovation (00:27:28) Reflecting on Airtable's Founding and Evolution (00:33:23) Airtable's Approach to Customer Engagement and Innovation (00:39:59) The Impact of AI on Platform Versatility and Market Penetration (00:46:00) Achieving Product-Market Fit and Initial Monetization (00:50:23) Scaling Up and Securing the First Unicorn Round (00:51:52) Rapid Growth and Organizational Scaling Challenges (00:55:00) Reflecting on Tough Decisions in the Business (01:02:55) The Role of Capital Allocation in Expanding Airtable (01:06:55) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Howie
My guest today is Mark Groden. Mark is the Founder and CEO of Skyryse, a company on a mission to make general aviation as safe as commercial aviation and change the future of flying. As you may know, helicopter accidents are far more likely than airplane accidents, and Skyryse is revolutionizing helicopter flight through a safer and simpler universal flying system. Mark is the quintessential example of somebody doing their life’s work and I have no doubt you will come to that conclusion for yourself after listening to his story. He’s determined, through Skyryse, to drive aviation deaths down to zero, and we discuss all of the details, big and small, that have laid the groundwork for realizing this dream. Please enjoy this conversation with Mark Groden. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:53) From Childhood Fascination to Professional Pursuit (00:05:47) Understanding General Aviation vs. Commercial Aviation (00:07:05) The Safety Gap in General Aviation (00:10:27) The Evolution of Aircraft Technology and Safety (00:16:20) The Mechanic of Flying a Helicopter (00:21:40) Justifying the Existing Dangers of Helicopter Flight (00:24:45) The Future of Flying Cars and Urban Air Mobility (00:27:23) Economies of Scale in Aviation and the Path Forward (00:35:26) The Evolution of Autonomous Flight (00:37:58) The Promise of SkyOS: Revolutionizing Flight with AI (00:42:04) Piloting the Future: How Automation Empowers Pilots (00:45:43) Exploring the Business of Flight and Future Innovations (00:51:08) What Is Holding Back The Future of Flying (00:57:08) Mission-Driven Innovation: A Personal Journey (01:00:46) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Mark
My guest today is Dev Ittycheria. Dev is the CEO of MongoDB, the developer data platform with tens of thousands of customers in 100 different countries. He joined the company as CEO in 2014, taking it public in 2017, and is now approaching a decade of leading MongoDB to become a go-to choice for the most sophisticated organizations around the world. We discuss Dev’s philosophy for constructing an exceptional enterprise sales organization, why he feels a leader must be incredibly judgemental to drive excellence, and how he plans to guide MongoDB through another technological transition. Please enjoy this conversation with Dev Ittycheria. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for the investor. With traditional research vendors, the diligence process is slow, fragmented, and expensive. That leaves investors competing on how well they can aggregate data — not on their unique ability to analyze insights and make great investment decisions. Tegus offers an end-to-end platform with all the data you need to get up to speed on a company or market: up-to-the-minute financials, customizable models, management and culture checks, and, of course, our vast and growing library of expert call transcripts. Tegus is changing the world of expert research. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:39) A CEO's Perspective Of The AI Revolution (00:05:50) The Evolution of Apps From Trivial to Transformative (00:08:12) MongoDB's Journey From Startup to AI Era (00:10:03) Building a Modern Database Company: MongoDB's Story (00:13:19) The Long-Term Vision for MongoDB (00:15:51) Dev’s Formative Experiences as a Tech CEO (00:19:18) The Art of Enterprise Sales (00:25:28) The Development of Dev as a Leader (00:29:01) Getting the Most Out of Your Talent (00:33:17) Managing a Multi-Product, Multi-Channel Enterprise (00:37:29) Dev’s Recruiting Philosophy (00:43:12) The Role of Leadership and Mentorship in Career Growth (00:46:08) Dev’s Deepest Worry With MongoDB (00:49:35) Personal Investment Philosophy and Identifying Potential (00:53:52) The Art of Leadership: Accountability and Development (00:57:50) Learning from Legends: Andy Grove's Management Insights (01:02:54) The Power in MongoDB’s Business (01:06:13) Up Next for Dev and MongoDB (01:08:34) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Dev
My guest today is Nico Wittenborn. Nico is the founder of Adjacent, a venture firm that looks for what he describes as the “adjacent possible” for their next investment. Nico has zoned in on the consumer subscription market as his ideal candidate, making early investments in Calm App, Photoroom, and Oura Ring. Nico does virtually all steps of the investing process on his own as he believes this allows him to be as close to finding the truth as possible. We discuss sharpening your intuition, evaluating the subscription business model, and exploring the adjacent possible. Please enjoy this conversation with Nico Wittenborn. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for the investor. With traditional research vendors, the diligence process is slow, fragmented, and expensive. That leaves investors competing on how well they can aggregate data — not on their unique ability to analyze insights and make great investment decisions. Tegus offers an end-to-end platform with all the data you need to get up to speed on a company or market: up-to-the-minute financials, customizable models, management and culture checks, and, of course, our vast and growing library of expert call transcripts. Tegus is changing the world of expert research. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:30) Intuition in Investment Decisions (00:05:08) The Philosophy of Adjacency in Venture Capital (00:12:51) Exploring Consumer Subscription Models (00:18:16) Common Mistakes In Subscription Pricing (00:22:41) Errors in Product Roll-Out Strategy (00:28:50) The Sucess of BirdBuddy (00:33:45) What It Means To Be a Great Product (00:38:21) Solo Investing vs. Being Part of a Big Firm (00:43:12) Building On Your Own Experience As a Founder (00:44:49) The Rise of Individual Investors and Their Impact (00:50:52) The Strategic Advantage of Staying Small in Venture Capital (00:52:02) Deep Dive into Founder Questions and Consumer Subscription Insights (00:54:09) Leveraging AI and Technological Advances for Growth (00:59:13) Exploring Future Investments and Market Opportunities (01:05:13) Areas to Explore On The Value Curve For Consumer Subscription (01:12:32) Advice For Those Interest In Nico’s Path (01:20:10) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Nico
We are excited to share a great conversation with Mitch Rales, the co-founder of Danaher and one of the living legends in the world of business and investing. Consider that Danaher has annualized at over 21% for four decades, resulting in an 1800-times multiple on invested capital! This is Mitch's first long-form interview of any kind, and he covers his entire history and business philosophy. Interviewing Mitch are Paul Buser and Rick Buhrman, who host the Art of Investing podcast on the Colossus network. Please enjoy this comprehensive discussion with Mitch Rales. Listen to more Art of Investing. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Passthrough. If you've ever filled out a subscription document to invest in a fund or worked with LPs to fill out their docs to invest in your fund, you know what a nightmare this exercise can be. Passthrough finally solves this problem. They configure custom workflows for your electronic subscription agreements and KYC & AML requirements to shrink the time for your investors to complete their sub docs. It's the best way to manage a critical part of your relationship with your LPs and is simply a drastically better experience for both investing firms and LPs alike. To learn more, go to passthrough.com. This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for fundamental investors. Whether you’re trying to get up to speed on a new market or keep tabs on a portfolio company, Tegus is the end-to-end investment research platform you need. With Tegus, you can quickly understand a company's business model, drivers, benchmarks, and management quality. To monitor an entire market, download our pre-built financial models — or update your own with the latest data using Tegus’ new Excel Add-In. Tegus gives you all of this and more, all bundled into a single software license. Find out why 95% of the top 20 global private equity firms are Tegus customers. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Art of Investing is a property of Pine Grove Studios in collaboration with Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Art of Investing, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes (00:00:00) - Welcome to The Art of Investing (00:05:32) - The Philosophy Behind Glenstone's Creation (00:12:57) - Benchmarking and Continuous Improvement: Lessons from Danaher and Glenstone (00:21:22) - The Influence of Mitch’s Father and Upbringing (00:28:43) - Transforming Danaher During The George Sherman (00:30:39) - Embracing Long-Term Vision and Patience (00:36:47) - The Role of Leadership in Navigating Change (00:42:21) - Danaher's Evolutionary Journey: From 1.0 to 4.0 (00:56:37) - Building a Culture of Internal Growth and External Innovation (00:58:42) - The Art of Successful Acquisitions and Integration Strategies (01:03:03) - Seeking Leadership Qualities and Business Traits for Long-Term Success (01:06:14) - The Journey from Personal Experience to Philanthropy (01:13:10) - Investment Philosophy: Concentration vs. Diversification (01:29:46) - Operational Expertise as a Catalyst for Company Growth (01:34:17) - Identifying and Supporting Talent in Business (01:43:02) - The Impact of Secular Trends on Long-Term Investments (01:49:53) - Revitalizing the Washington Commanders (01:57:36) - Engaging with Fans and Building a Winning Culture (02:05:16) - The Importance of Long-Term Vision
My guest this week is Marc Lasry. Marc is a pioneer of distressed debt investing and the CEO of Avenue Capital Group, which he co-founded with his sister in 1995. Avenue manages $13 billion today. More recently, Marc and Avenue have become active investors in sport. He owned the Milwaukee Bucks when they won the NBA championship in 2021, and has since made investments in sports as diverse as sailing and bull-riding. In our discussion, we talk about his journey building a big investing firm, the evolution of distressed investing, and the opportunities in sport today. Marc shares some great stories throughout about travelling with President Clinton, winning the NBA championship, and raising his first fund. Please enjoy this great conversation with Marc Lasry. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for fundamental investors. Whether you’re trying to get up to speed on a new market or keep tabs on a portfolio company, Tegus is the end-to-end investment research platform you need. With Tegus, you can quickly understand a company's business model, drivers, benchmarks, and management quality. To monitor an entire market, download our pre-built financial models — or update your own with the latest data using Tegus’ new Excel Add-In. Tegus gives you all of this and more, all bundled into a single software license. Find out why 95% of the top 20 global private equity firms are Tegus customers. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best (00:03:40) Marc Lasry's Early Confidence and Competence (00:06:03) Distressed Credit Evolution and the Allure of Sports Investing (00:08:15) The Milwaukee Bucks: A Championship and Investment Success Story (00:14:54) Exploring New Frontiers: Bull Riding and Women's NCA (00:18:33) Venturing into Sailing with Larry Ellison's League (00:22:27) The Economics of Sports Team Ownership (00:25:19) The Vast Universe of Sports-Related Investment Opportunities (00:29:36) The Evolution of Distressed Investing (00:34:05 The Common Thread Through Marc’s Business Endeavors (00:40:24) Marc’s Most Memorable Investment (Not Including The Bucks) (00:43:40) The Dynamics of Working with Family in Business (00:45:32) Finding Happiness and Perspective Amid Financial Success (00:51:03) Diving into the World of NBA Owners (00:55:19) Exploring New Ventures: Sports, Real Estate, and Beyond (00:59:03) The Art of Deal-Making and Navigating Risks (01:06:10) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Marc
My guests today are Bill Gurley and Michael Mauboussin. Bill is a General Partner at Benchmark, and Michael is the Head of Consilient Research for Counterpoint Global. While they are longtime friends with one another, I’d never heard them appear somewhere together so it was a real treat to be able to do this with the two of them. They are two of the leading minds in their fields, and we combined their decades of expertise into one wide-ranging conversation. We discuss the different kinds of increasing returns to scale, the issue of regulatory capture, AI, and hardware. Please enjoy this great conversation with Bill Gurley and Michael Mauboussin. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for the investor. With traditional research vendors, the diligence process is slow, fragmented, and expensive. That leaves investors competing on how well they can aggregate data — not on their unique ability to analyze insights and make great investment decisions. Tegus offers an end-to-end platform with all the data you need to get up to speed on a company or market: up-to-the-minute financials, customizable models, management and culture checks, and, of course, our vast and growing library of expert call transcripts. Tegus is changing the world of expert research. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:38) Dissecting the Dynamics of AI, LLMs, and Market Disruption (00:05:06) The World of AI Investments and Market Trends (00:08:13) Integration of New Technologies in Business (00:15:27) The Power of Increasing Returns and Strategic Investments (00:22:26) Unpacking the Role of Intangibles in Scaling and Innovation (00:28:54) Transformative Potential of Open Source and Idea Recombination (00:34:42) The Complex Landscape of Regulation and Innovation (00:43:17) Today’s Venture Capital Ecosystem (00:47:08) Impact of Fewer IPOs and Private Market Dynamics (00:50:38) Capital Allocation in Zero Interest Rate Environments (00:54:44) The Evolution of Venture Capital and High-Stakes Investment Games (00:57:21) Exploring New Frontiers: AI, Energy, and Physical World Innovations (01:01:14) The Power of Learning by Doing (01:17:49) Working with Genius (01:26:47) The Value of Teaching, Writing, and Sharing Knowledge
My guest today is Tim Ferriss. Tim is a writer, podcaster, and investor. He has written five best-selling books, has been an early-stage investor in Facebook, Uber, Shopify, & other household names, and is the host of one of the biggest podcasts in the world. He started The Tim Ferriss Show as an experiment in April 2014 and has deconstructed world-class performers ever since. Last year, his show crossed 1 billion downloads. Together, we deconstruct his podcast and approach to life. We talk about the art of interviewing, the business behind his podcast, and what motivates Tim to keep teaching through his writing and podcast. Please enjoy this great conversation with Tim Ferriss. Check Out Invest America 2024 Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for the investor. With traditional research vendors, the diligence process is slow, fragmented, and expensive. That leaves investors competing on how well they can aggregate data — not on their unique ability to analyze insights and make great investment decisions. Tegus offers an end-to-end platform with all the data you need to get up to speed on a company or market: up-to-the-minute financials, customizable models, management and culture checks, and, of course, our vast and growing library of expert call transcripts. Tegus is changing the world of expert research. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:32) The Evolution of Podcasting with Tim Ferriss (00:09:56) Crafting Meaningful Conversations (00:13:26) What Makes Tim Feel The Most Alive (00:24:06) Who Tim Considers To Be His Mentors (00:29:06) The Ingredients Of A World Class Performance (00:31:06) The Business Side of Podcasting (00:43:15) Identifying Emerging Trends (00:50:12) Lessons From Building a Small, Efficient Team (00:52:32) The Power of Constraints in Personal and Professional Growth (00:53:10) Innovating Against the Grain (Anti-Video Experiment) (00:54:54) Navigating Fame, Money, and Power (01:02:00) The Impact of Sharing Difficult Stories (01:06:18) Meta-Learning: A Framework for Fast, Effective Learning (01:12:32) Reflecting on a Decade of Podcasting & What’s In Store (01:24:41) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Tim
My guest today is Ken Langone. Ken is a legendary American businessman best known for his co-founding of Home Depot. He is also a former director of the New York Stock Exchange and a passionate philanthropist. He shares with us a lifetime's worth of wisdom, building Home Depot into a powerhouse and prioritizing his employees above all else. He says he still “bleeds orange” to this day. You’ll hear as he recounts his business endeavors, his strict belief in keeping your word, and his true pride in his country, which he knows to be the land of opportunity. We discuss his work with Ross Perot, the idea of an upside-down hierarchy, and the power of loyalty. For anyone who may find it easier to follow along, we have a transcript of the episode on joincolossus.com. Please enjoy this conversation with Ken Langone. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the go-to destination for bold investing. The investment research platform trusted by 95% of the top 20 global private equity firms just got even better. Building on their solid reputation for expert insights, Tegus has expanded to become the first true all-in-one research platform. The new Tegus makes diligence faster, easier, and more convenient than ever before. Your Tegus license gives you access to over 70,000 expert transcripts, more than 4,000 fully drivable financial models, and exclusive datasets like company management checks, industry KPIs, hard-to-find non-GAAP data, and more. Tegus is the fastest way to learn about a public or private company and the most cost-effective way to conduct investment research — now all under one roof. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:004:00) The Unforgettable Pitch to Ross Perot (00:08:37) Winning Over Perot with Honesty and Insight (00:16:08) The Art of Negotiation and Trust (00:19:31) Loyalty, Integrity, and the Power of Keeping Your Word (00:23:51) Home Depot's Culture of Service and Empowerment (00:29:16) Frank's Authentic Leadership and Its Impact (00:31:00) Transforming NYU Medical Center (00:33:45) Ken’s Investment Philosophy: Long Hold Only (00:39:56) The Power of Resilience in Business (00:45:37) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Ken
My guest today is Robin Dunbar. Robin is a biological anthropologist, evolutionary psychologist, and specialist in primate behavior. He is the man behind Dunbar’s number, a theory about the number of stable relationships we can maintain at once. Robin unravels the thread of research that led him to Dunbar’s number and describes how this plays into every single person’s layers of human connection. It was fascinating to hear how his findings on social circles have implications for optimally structuring businesses and organizations, as well as the idea of homophily, all of which Robin thoughtfully explains. It was a treat to get to explore these topics with Robin Dunbar himself so please enjoy this great conversation. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for fundamental investors. Whether you’re trying to get up to speed on a new market or keep tabs on a portfolio company, Tegus is the end-to-end investment research platform you need. With Tegus, you can quickly understand a company's business model, drivers, benchmarks, and management quality. To monitor an entire market, download our pre-built financial models — or update your own with the latest data using Tegus’ new Excel Add-In. Tegus gives you all of this and more, all bundled into a single software license. Find out why 95% of the top 20 global private equity firms are Tegus customers. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:39) The Journey to Discovering Dunbar's Number (00:07:28) Exploring the Layers of Human Connection (00:12:27) The Significance of the 1.5 Layer in Social Circles (00:16:55) Surprising Insights from Social Network Studies (00:20:40) Applying Dunbar's Number to Organizational Structures (00:27:51) The Science of Social Bonding in Primates and Humans (00:33:23) Unlocking the Endorphin System Without Physical Touch (00:34:10) The Power of Laughter, Singing, and Storytelling in Group Bonding (00:36:00) The Limitations of Digital Interactions for Building Relationships (00:39:51) Reviving Social Clubs and Activities for Workplace Bonding (00:44:40) The Importance of Homophily in Friendships and Social Networks (00:50:40) Challenges and Solutions for Overcoming Loneliness and Building Trust (00:53:45) The Impact of Technology, Religion, and Mental Health on Social Connections (00:61:47) Reflecting on Time as a Fundamental Aspect of Social Dynamics
My guest today is Sean Feeney. Sean is the co-founder of Grovehouse Hospitality Group and the owner of Lilia and Misi, two of New York City’s most sought-after restaurants. He left his job in Trading to chase down a dream with Michelin star chef Missy Robbins. Sean leveraged his finance background to write his own rulebook for the restaurant industry, crafting several establishments that now boast several thousand people on the waitlist any given night. His story is as entertaining as it is inspiring. As we go step by step through his business endeavors, he points out all of the times he was told “it’s just always been done this way” and how that revealed to him where he could innovate. Sean’s restaurants are the perfect example of building a business into the fabric of a community, collaborating with other brands in authentic ways, and staying true to yourself along the way. Please enjoy this awesome conversation with Sean Feeney. Listen to Founders Podcast Join Positive Sum as a Research Analyst For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for the investor. With traditional research vendors, the diligence process is slow, fragmented, and expensive. That leaves investors competing on how well they can aggregate data — not on their unique ability to analyze insights and make great investment decisions. Tegus offers an end-to-end platform with all the data you need to get up to speed on a company or market: up-to-the-minute financials, customizable models, management and culture checks, and, of course, our vast and growing library of expert call transcripts. Tegus is changing the world of expert research. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:58) First Question - A Chance Encounter with a Michelin-Starred Chef (00:08:52) The Birth of a Culinary Partnership (00:12:49) Embracing the Genius Within (00:16:41) Innovative Approaches to the Restaurant Business (00:24:53) Creating Demand: The Art of Exclusivity (00:28:49) Learning from the Best: Insights from Kith's Success (00:34:21) Defining Exceptional Hospitality (00:44:20) The Power of Customer Relationships in Hospitality (00:52:31) Unlocking Team Potential (00:53:33) The Philosophy of the Perfect Turn (00:54:05) Balancing Art, Commerce, and Satisfaction (00:56:13) The Impact of Authentic Experiences and Brands (01:03:24) The Evolution of a Hospitality Brand (01:06:38) Community Engagement and the Power of Simplicity (01:24:40) Creative Responses and Business Lessons Learned (01:36:05) Lessons From Working In The Restaurant Industry (01:43:01) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Sean
My guest today is Dave Fontenot, founder of HF0. Born out of Dave’s experiences in monasteries across the world, HF0 is a twelve-week residency for repeat founders to supercharge their next venture. For 12 weeks, 10 teams of engineers relocate to HF0’s house in San Francisco. During the residency, everything is taken care of so their sole focus is coding and building. It’s one of the most interesting incubators I have come across and we discuss the model and its monastic origins in detail. Please enjoy this conversation with Dave Fontenot. Become a Research Analyst at Positive Sum Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for the investor. With traditional research vendors, the diligence process is slow, fragmented, and expensive. That leaves investors competing on how well they can aggregate data — not on their unique ability to analyze insights and make great investment decisions. Tegus offers an end-to-end platform with all the data you need to get up to speed on a company or market: up-to-the-minute financials, customizable models, management and culture checks, and, of course, our vast and growing library of expert call transcripts. Tegus is changing the world of expert research. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:05) First Question - Dave’s Journey to Meditation and Monastic Life (00:07:25) From Monastery to Coding: Finding Flow in Programming (00:08:32) Creating Spaces for Uninterrupted Creativity: The Birth of HF0 (00:20:24) A Day in the Life at HF0 (00:25:15) Why 12 Weeks? The Philosophy Behind the Duration (00:27:14) Selecting the Brilliant Minds for HF0 (00:31:43) The Thin Line Between Visionary and Crazy (00:34:39) Creating Space to Meditate (00:37:24) The Economic Model Behind HF0 (00:41:36) Building Successful Residencies (00:44:48) Expanding the Residency Model to Universities (00:52:52) Understanding Engineers and Hackers (01:02:01) The Kindest Thing Anyone’s Ever Done For Dave
My guest today is Anne-Marie Peterson. Anne-Marie is an equity portfolio manager at Capital Group, a storied investment firm managing 2.5 trillion dollars and getting ready to celebrate its centennial anniversary. Anne-Marie is a seasoned investor, approaching three decades in the industry, with nearly 20 of those years being with Capital. She has become an expert in retail and restaurants and shares her proven strategies in those sectors over her career. We discuss her people-first approach, simplicity as criteria for investment, and the idea that the best retailers are cults. Please enjoy this great discussion with Anne-Marie Peterson. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the go-to destination for bold investing. The investment research platform trusted by 95% of the top 20 global private equity firms just got even better. Building on their solid reputation for expert insights, Tegus has expanded to become the first true all-in-one research platform. The new Tegus makes diligence faster, easier, and more convenient than ever before. Your Tegus license gives you access to over 70,000 expert transcripts, more than 4,000 fully drivable financial models, and exclusive datasets like company management checks, industry KPIs, hard-to-find non-GAAP data, and more. Tegus is the fastest way to learn about a public or private company and the most cost-effective way to conduct investment research — now all under one roof. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:06) First Question - Understanding Capital Group's Investment Approach (00:05:43) The Importance of Teamwork and Culture in Investment Firms (00:07:38) The Role of Analysts in Investment Decisions (00:12:24) The Art of Running Effective Meetings with Company Management (00:18:12) Exploring the Dominance of Big Tech Companies (00:19:13) The Common Thread Amongst Great Retailing Companies (00:30:49) Comparing The Growth in The Tech Market to That of Healthcare (00:34:14) The Rise of Pharma and its Potential Opportunities (00:36:56) Power Dynamics in the Tech Industry (00:38:11) The Idea of Power in Investing (00:46:21) Unique Challenges and Opportunities in the Restaurant Industry (00:48:35) The Positive Signal of Enduring Companies (00:54:54) The Importance of Gratitude and Kindness in Professional Growth (00:58:40) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done for Anne-Marie
My guest today is Aravind Srinivas. He is the founder and CEO of Perplexity, a startup that he describes as an “answer engine” built from scratch with AI. Aravind has set out for perplexity to become the most powerful answer engine backed by up-to-date sources. He helps me pick the technology apart, describing the behind the scenes of what it takes to build Perplexity to reach its potential and compete alongside the likes of Google and OpenAI. Our conversation goes deep into programming this type of infrastructure, the competition around latency, and constructing a business model around deep learning. There is so much on this horizon, so please enjoy my conversation with Aravind Srinivas. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for fundamental investors. How hard do you work to get the insights you need to make a great investment decision? How many hours do you spend digging through public records and expert transcripts, or manually updating complex models? Investors should compete on their ability to analyze investments, not how well they aggregate data. That’s why Tegus offers a unified, end-to-end research platform that combines robust qualitative content sets, up-to-date financial data, management and culture checks, and more — all in the same easy-to-use, streamlined user experience. 95% of the top 20 global private equity firms use Tegus. Shouldn’t you? Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:08) First Question - Redefining 'Great' in Search (00:07:16) The Mechanics of Perplexity (00:10:59) The Evolution of Perplexity From Wrapper to Robust Infrastructure (00:13:19) The Future of Large Language Models (LLMs) (00:22:39) Aravind's Strategy For Constructing The Business Model (00:28:16) The Process of Building an Index for a Search Engine (00:35:55) The Impact of Scaling and Data Quality on AI Models (00:40:00) Bottlenecks in AI Development (00:47:06) The Talent Landscape in AI (00:57:59) The Vision for the Future of Search (01:00:19) Importance of Execution in AI Startups
My guest today is Ali Hamed. Ali was first on Invest Like the Best six years ago. He was 26 at the time and four years into building his investing firm, CoVenture. Both then and now, Ali is an example of what’s possible when you think creatively. Six years later, CoVenture now manages two-and-a-half billion dollars, and Ali continues to find alpha in esoteric places. We talk about YouTube catalogs, creative opportunities in real estate, and how venture investing helps them get better at credit. We also talk about his lessons from building an investment firm and what it’s been like to work with Michael Ovitz. Please enjoy this great conversation with Ali Hamed. Listen to Ali host a Business Breakdowns on Spotter Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for fundamental investors. Whether you’re trying to get up to speed on a new market or keep tabs on a portfolio company, Tegus is the end-to-end investment research platform you need. With Tegus, you can quickly understand a company's business model, drivers, benchmarks, and management quality. To monitor an entire market, download our pre-built financial models — or update your own with the latest data using Tegus’ new Excel Add-In. Tegus gives you all of this and more, all bundled into a single software license. Find out why 95% of the top 20 global private equity firms are Tegus customers. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:11) First Question - The Journey of Building an Investment Firm (00:15:08) The Influence of Time and Scale on Asset Classes (00:22:39) The Power and Potential of YouTube's Asset Class (00:27:33) The Future of Real Estate and Housing Supply (00:30:15) The Challenges of Investing in Platform Economies (00:36:44) The Pitfalls of Capital Formation in Asset Management (00:45:17) The Evolution of Venture Portfolio (00:51:14) The Approach to AI and Other Emerging Technologies (00:54:42) The Mispricing in Private Credit (00:58:46) Building the People Side of the Business (01:04:21) The Challenges and Opportunities in Valuation (01:19:40) The Impact of Michael Ovitz on CoVenture (01:23:11) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Him
My guest today is Cyan Banister. Cyan’s life story is remarkable. She was homeless at a young age, dropped out of high school, and five years ago she suffered an extremely rare stroke. Yet, in spite of everything, she is one of the most optimistic and curious people you can hope to meet. Cyan is also one of the great angel investors of this era, having invested early in SpaceX, Uber, Postmates, and Deepmind to name a few winners. She became the first female investing partner at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and now invests at Long Journey Ventures. Our conversation is as much about investing as it is about the essence of life and how connecting with that will help us in our professional pursuits. It is also full of awesome stories about people and companies like SpaceX and Bill Murray. Please enjoy this great conversation with Cyan Banister. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the only investment research platform built for the investor. With traditional research vendors, the diligence process is slow, fragmented, and expensive. That leaves investors competing on how well they can aggregate data — not on their unique ability to analyze insights and make great investment decisions. Tegus offers an end-to-end platform with all the data you need to get up to speed on a company or market: up-to-the-minute financials, customizable models, management and culture checks, and, of course, our vast and growing library of expert call transcripts. Tegus is changing the world of expert research. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:03) First question - Spirituality as an Investable Category (00:06:51) Journey to Founders Fund (00:12:13) Overcoming Adversity and Embracing Optimism (00:14:28) The Power of Authenticity and Curiosity (00:25:28) The Skill of Feeling in Business (00:30:26) Investing in Uber (00:36:18) The Changing Dynamics of Early-Stage Investment (00:39:07) The Philosophy of 'Set it and Forget It' (00:42:24) The SpaceX Story: A Leap of Faith (00:48:02) Cyan’s Spiritual Awakening (00:61:34) Her Story of the Violin Kid (01:05:36) The Art of Trusting Your Gut in Business (01:07:47) The Spirit of Founders Fund and the Future of Venture Firms (01:15:16) What She Would Do With 1 Trillion Dollars (01:24:05) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Cyan
Today, we're replaying my conversation with Danny Meyer. He is the founder and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, which comprises some of the most acclaimed restaurants in New York, like Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Café. Danny is also the founder and chairman of Shake Shack, which began in NYC but is now a publicly traded company with hundreds of locations worldwide. Our conversation focuses on how great hospitality leads to a great business, regardless of what sector it's in. We discuss why hospitality is the starting point for Danny’s business philosophy, why first impressions matter, Danny’s concept of ABCD - always be connecting dots, how to scale hospitality, and how to build a business with essentialism and soul. Please enjoy this conversation with Danny Meyer. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (03:41) First question – Danny’s experience as a tour guide in Italy (08:17) Why hospitality is the center of business focus (08:19) Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business (11:50) Early lessons at creating an environment of hospitality (15:17) His strategy ABCD and learning from a trout fisherman relate and relate to hospitality (20:45) Scaling hospitality (24:56) What kind of people make a hospitality business work (29:34) How to be an effective leader (33:00) Handling mistakes well in the role of hospitality (36:28) Creating the spark in the early part of entrepreneurial ventures (40:32) When its time to start something new vs expand something you are already doing (45:52) The excellence reflex and an example of this in his career (50:25) Kindest thing anyone has done for him
Today, we're running a replay of my 2019 conversation with legendary investor Chuck Akre. Chuck founded Akre Capital Management in 1989, which now manages approximately $14B dollars. We discuss his investing style and his “three-legged stool” for evaluating companies. Please enjoy this great conversation. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported data point and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard-to-calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building, and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: [00:00:00] Welcome to Invest Like the Best [00:01:06] First Question – Advantage of being in Middleburg, Virginia [00:02:11] What a day looks like for Chuck [00:03:06] Why imagination is more important than knowledge [00:03:38] Difference between curiosity and imagination [00:04:38] The origins of the Nirvana Three-Legged Stool concept [00:10:14] First leg of the stool, extraordinary business and ROE’s with a focus on Bandag [00:14:36] How his evaluations of value have changed over the last 10-15 years [00:16:10] A look at recent businesses that he’s bought and why they are interesting [00:19:56] Why they keep things simple [00:21:35] Second leg of the stool, the people involved and characteristics of managers he has invested in [00:23:20] Role of capital allocation in the people he focuses on [00:29:34] Third leg of the stool, reinvestment [00:21:09] How does he think about diversifying across an investment area [00:33:32] Great businesses wrapped in a bad balance sheet [00:37:35] What would cause him to sell [00:38:52] What does he look for in people [00:43:27] How curiosity has impacted his interest in land conservation [00:43:51] Advice for investors, especially younger ones [00:46:14] Kindest thing anyone has done for him
My guest today is Alex Telford. Alex is the founder of Convoke, a software platform to help streamline drug development and commercialization. He also has been writing frequent blog posts on the biotech industry since 2019, keeping a pulse on the direction of innovation. He joined me today to talk about the history of the pharmaceutical industry and what’s becoming possible in medicine in the coming years. Alex helped break down the complexities of investing in new drug development, breakthroughs in gene therapy on the horizon, and the dance between timely progress and restrictive regulation. This industry has a lot to unpack, and he thoughtfully lays out the landscape. Please enjoy my conversation with Alex Telford. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:04:01) First question - Exploring public perceptions of Big Pharma (00:04:56) Providing an overview of the drug discovery process (00:07:22) Assessing the efficiency of the pharmaceutical industry (00:12:13) Anticipating the future direction of drug development (00:16:46) Categorizing different types of pharmaceutical drugs (00:21:19) Strategies to reduce the time from discovery to implementation (00:25:55) Gaining insights from cross-disciplinary research (00:31:13) The emerging role of AI in pharmaceuticals (00:34:32) Analyzing potential regulatory shifts in the industry (00:39:13) Discussing the importance of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) (00:43:29) Examining the impact of blockbuster drugs (00:47:47) Deliberating on the complexities of drug pricing (00:54:09) Highlighting exciting developments and concerns in pharma (00:59:55) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Madhavan Ramanujam. Madhavan quite literally wrote the book on how to price products. It’s called “Monetizing Innovations” and his concepts have been used by companies across the world like Porsche, Uber, LinkedIn, and SuperHuman. Our conversation is a masterclass on pricing. We discuss common mistakes when pricing products, why you need to focus on benefits rather than features, and how to pick the right monetization model. Please enjoy my conversation with Madhavan Ramanujam. Listen to Founders podcast. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported data point and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard-to-calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building, and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes [00:00:00] Welcome to Invest Like the Best [00:02:48] First question - How he arrived at a radically different way of building products [00:05:07] An example of coming up with a price before the product [00:08:35] Distinctions between a willingness to pay and positive feedback [00:10:29] How to make sure you’re talking to the right potential customer in the first place [00:13:32] Productizing for different customer segments [00:16:16] Questions companies should be asking to get accurate feedback [00:21:18] What he’s learned about the motivations of potential buyers [00:22:43] What leaders, killers, and fillers are [00:24:37] Some of the biggest mistakes companies make while following his formula [00:25:35] A rule of thumb for what is a benefit versus a feature [00:27:35] Five distinct pricing models for charging a customer [00:30:46] Whether or not the value piece of all of this revolves around time and money [00:33:27] What he tells entrepreneurs about pricing their products that most surprises them [00:35:16] Defining the first four categories of failure [00:40:13] Reasons why so many innovations fail to monetize and pricing being a CEO topic [00:41:51] Good rules that leaders can use to have a general sense for effective pricing [00:47:38] Behavioral changes and observations as the absolute price move up and down [00:50:36] Is there a pricing genius we should take note of? [00:53:18] The single question every leader should ask themselves [00:53:46] The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
This week, we are running a replay of my conversation with Daryl Morey from last year. Daryl is the President of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers. Together with my friend and past guest of the show, Sam Hinkie, Daryl pioneered the analytics movement in basketball. He’s been so influential his style has its own name, “Moreyball”, a nod to Michael Lewis’s book about baseball, Moneyball. I had a blast talking to him about negotiation tactics, systems thinking, hiring, and a ton more. Please enjoy this great conversation with Daryl Morey. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. Listen to Founders Podcast. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:03:15) The basic principles of sports and what makes for a great sport (00:09:54) How resource concentration influences outcomes in various sports (00:13:13) The degree of certainty in predicting sports outcomes based on existing data (00:16:32) Using the concept of KPIs to optimize for certain characteristics to win games (00:18:45) Training teams on specific systems and plays versus leveraging individual talent (00:21:07) Why superstar athletes are key to success in basketball (00:24:02) Dealing with constant expected value calculations to appease stakeholders (00:25:30) Building the organization’s back office to find talented athletes (00:28:32) How he and other GMs make organization-level decisions (00:34:12) Why he’s involved with basketball as opposed to other sports (00:36:17) How he uses his frameworks to figure out systems outside of mainstream sports (00:37:41) Problems with the rules and economic factors of professional soccer (00:41:53) Suggestions to mitigate huge point spreads that make viewers disinterested (00:42:54) Trends he’s observed in the worlds of music, movies, and books (00:45:33) His perspective on developing one’s own career path (00:48:22) How challenges in his youth benefited him in the long run (00:49:28) The person he would call for advice if he was stuck in a foreign prison (00:51:01) His emphasis on first principles and why he supports free speech (00:52:31) Takeaways from a Harvard negotiation class he took (00:57:07) The power of refining the terms and definitions of a deal post-negotiation (00:58:51) The four people in the world that intrigue him most (01:01:40) The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Michael Ovitz. Michael is the legendary talent agent and co-founder of CAA, or Creative Artists Agency. Michael started CAA in 1975 and over the next twenty years, he built it into the world’s most formidable talent agency, changing Hollywood forever. The list of stars he’s worked with is endless, from Meryl Streep to Steven Spielberg and David Letterman. Since leaving CAA, he has become an investor and adviser to many prominent firms, most notably Andreessen Horowitz, and Michael’s work ethic is unmatched. Please enjoy this great discussion with Michael Ovitz. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Show Introduction (00:03:25) First Question, Michael Crichton's Impact (00:04:14) The Art of Storytelling and Creativity (00:07:20) Michael Crighton’s Writer's Block (00:09:53) The Birth of Jurassic Park (00:12:42) The Importance of Pacing in Storytelling (00:17:43) Positional Power and Influence (00:20:04) Knowledge is Power (00:22:10) The Role of Agents in the Business World (00:36:18) The Importance of Momentum in Business (00:42:35) Branding and Image (00:45:44) The Art of Spotting Talent (00:46:20) The Role of Persistence (00:51:25) Investing in People (01:00:30) Building Mystique (01:06:30) The Importance of Relationships (01:10:39) The Role of Art in the Entertainment Industry (01:17:04) Telling the Truth to Clients (01:25:28) Winning the Coca-Cola account (01:42:18) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done for Michael
My guest today is Erik Serrano. Erik is the CEO of Stable Asset Management, which he started 14 years ago in his early 20s and has scaled to over $3 billion in AUM. Unusually, Stable’s strategy focuses on other investing firms. They look to back the Blackstone's of tomorrow and provide those founders with capital and support so their time is spent doing what they do best, which is typically investing. We discuss the commonalities among promising founders in this sector, how Stable serves as a full resource to their companies, and some harsh truths learned from building an investing business. Please enjoy my conversation with Erik Serrano. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported data point and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard-to-calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building, and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:33) - (First question) Exploring the allure of investing in investment firms (00:08:20) - Discussing the scarcity of investors in investment firms (00:18:20) - Strategies for generating returns for investors (00:22:50) - Analyzing risk/return dynamics in portfolios (00:26:26) - Unveiling surprising insights from Project Legends (00:29:56) - Characterizing the ideal General Partner (GP) (00:37:23) - Identifying red flags in GPs' practices (00:44:10) - Viewing investment strategies as marketable products (00:52:52) - Delving into the emotional aspects of investing (01:01:57) - Tracing the lifecycle of an investment firm (01:13:04) - Offering guidance to aspiring young investors (01:18:24) - Reflecting on the notion that ‘nice people finish last’ (01:23:52) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
This week we are replaying our episode with Doug Leone. Doug led one of the world’s most successful venture firms, Sequoia, for over 25 years after he was given responsibility for the firm by its founder, Don Valentine, in 1996. Alongside Mike Moritz, the pair managed its expansion from a single $150m early-stage fund into an $85 billion global powerhouse. It was a privilege to sit down with Doug and learn from him. We talk about his tough start at Sequoia, get into the technicalities of great go-to-market motions, and survey his advice for other investors in the industry. A key theme that will stick with me from this conversation is Doug’s insistence on keeping things simple and clear. Please enjoy my great conversation with Doug Leone. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:21] - [First question] - What Don Valentine’s heart was like [00:06:30] - The most productive and unproductive parts of Don’s toughness [00:10:55] - Why it’s so important to understand someone’s core motivations [00:14:18] - Questions or topics he returns to when getting to know people [00:16:44] - The most formative experiences he had prior to becoming an investor that impacted his investing the most [00:20:37] - What venture looks like to him today relative to his prior career [00:23:51] - His style of approaching emerging technology markets like AI as an investor [00:26:37] - Whether or not he’d go into venture today if he was in his late 20s [00:28:30] - Commonalities between the very best at going to market effectively [00:31:11] - The key components of great product positioning [00:37:15] - How interacting with companies early on has changed over the ears [00:41:12] - Whether or not new entrants into venture should build firms with enterprise value [00:46:14] - Sussing out the killer gene in somebody [00:49:04] - How successful people can instill the lessons learned from hardship into their children [00:53:52] - Whether or not his view on competitive advantage has changed [00:55:21] - The early 2000s clawback at Sequoia and what navigating that period was like [01:00:40] - The most interesting question an LP has ever asked him [01:05:00] - Which dinner companions he’d pick to educate a newly successful founder [01:07:59] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Justin Ishbia. Justin is the Founding Partner of Shore Capital. Shore is a private equity firm that invests in microcap businesses within industry niches. With $7 billion in capital deployed but an average transaction size of just $12 million, Justin has worked to build a system to drive success for hundreds of businesses through replicable operating procedures and championing young professionals. The firm has created a moat around volume with nearly 600 acquisitions over the last three years, some of the highest numbers in the world. We discuss identifying growth prospects, constructing a meaningful board, and the business mentality behind "main street," not wall street, as Justin puts it. Please enjoy my conversation with Justin Ishbia. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes: (00:03:10) - (first question) - “The system is the star” and how it applies to Shore Capital (00:07:10) - Shore Capital’s origin story (00:12:48) - What the perfect type of deal looks like for Justin (00:16:34) - The historical rates of return for their deals (00:18:12) - Shore Capital’s defensibility and strategic advantages (00:22:13) - Their board system and incentive structure (00:28:20) - Why they focus on the industrial subsector (00:31:21) - Overview of thesis evaluation and generation (00:37:24) - What they’re looking for during the diligence stage (00:40:45) - The bad reputation of levered rollups (00:43:57) - What he’s learned about negotiations (00:46:39) - The weak points of Shore Capital’s system (00:48:59) - The Innovation Stack; Thinking about stacking unfair advantages (00:52:11) - Selling a business and what buyers are looking for (00:55:08) - Heavy focus on operations and their portfolio performance group (00:58:00) - Why nobody above an associate level has ever left Shore Capital (00:60:46) - Lessons learned becoming the owner of a major sports franchise (01:03:56) - What’s surprising about how the league functions (01:05:05) - Key people and firms he’s learned the most from (01:07:17) - Where Shore Capital’s system could improve the most (01:11:06) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Justin
Today, my guest is 21-year-old Gavin Uberti, who dropped out of Harvard to build Etched, which is one of the most fascinating companies I’ve seen. The topic of our conversation is the ongoing revolution in artificial intelligence, and more specifically the chips and technology that powers these incredible models. To date, general-purpose AI chips like Nvidia GPUs have powered the revolution, but Gavin’s bet is that purpose-built chips, hard-coded for the underlying model architecture, will dramatically reduce the latency and cost of running models like GPT4. We’re about to embark on what Gavin calls the “largest infrastructure buildout since the industrial revolution”, and I won’t spoil what he thinks this will unlock for all of us. It is so uplifting to me that someone so young can be working on something so big. Please enjoy this great conversation with Gavin Uberti. Check out Etched.AI Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported data point and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard-to-calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building, and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes: (00:03:41) - (first question) - Born too late to explore the world, too early to explore the stars (00:05:59) - Interpreting and defining superintelligence (00:07:20) - Excitement we can have for an AI driven future (00:09:25) - Overview and basic terminology of the transformers that power AI (00:15:53) - What Q* is and the rumors around it (00:20:41) - Robotics, machinery, and what’s interesting about them (00:23:18) - The problem of latency and computing power (00:8:55) - Needing to build physical infrastructure that doesn’t exist (00:32:18) - Inference and training AI models (00:36:00) - Major stages of chip design and the upper limits of speed (00:45:56) - Customers for billion dollar generative AI models (00:48:56) - A sci-fi-esque reality and the politicization of AI (00:50:38) - The Bitter Lesson and the implications of powerful AI models (00:56:27) - The most important companies in the AI space today (00:61:52) - Strategically building a defensible AI product (01:04:07) - Software development and why other AI companies fail (01:06:51) - Specialization and chip performance improvement (01:15:34) - Why the transformer remains the leading architecture (01:17:26) - A proliferation of models beyond the major players and data access (01:21:19) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Gavin
Today, we’re releasing a conversation between John Collison and Charlie Munger. We've had this interview with Charlie scheduled to air for a while, coinciding with Stripe Press's launch of the amazing reprint of Poor Charlie's Almanack, which is released today. We were all stunned last week when we heard the news of Charlie's passing, but having consulted with those close to him, everyone agreed that he'd want us to release this interview. I'm thankful to be able to learn from him just one more time in this interview. Please enjoy, and may Charlie Rest in Peace. Order your copy of Poor Charlie’s Almanack Worldly wisdom episodes in honor of Charlie Munger: Daryl Morey: Systems Thinking in Sports Boyd Varty: The Art of Tracking Sam Hinkie: Find Your People David Senra: Passion & Pain Priya Parker: The Art of Gathering Charlie Songhurst: Lessons from Investing in 483 Companies For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:52) - (First question) - The fixation on evaluating business quality (00:05:58) - Learning the big ideas across various disciplines (00:10:03) - The issue of adverse selection in legal services (00:11:42) - Societal solutions for the opioid crisis (00:17:34) - Reasons for not investing in Amazon (00:20:38) - Explaining Costco's model (00:29:08) - Discussing the increasing challenges in investing (00:32:08) - Ingredients for long-term success in business (00:33:18) - Debating cryptocurrency (00:37:37) - Offering guidance for navigating a potential recession (00:38:56) - Reflecting on the state of American society (00:45:20) - Sharing a passion for architecture (00:54:13) - “Win-win” business (00:57:53) - Countering arguments against capitalism (00:60:42) - The origins of Poor Charlie's Almanack (01:05:14) - Building a productive partnership (01:08:55) - Opining on the SEC (01:12:22) - Highlighting investment concerns (01:16:31) - Reasons for optimism about China (01:32:14) - The unique aspects of Berkshire Hathaway
My guests this week are Peter Fenton and Victor Lazarte. Peter and Victor are both General Partners at Benchmark. Of the six equal partners at the storied venture firm, Peter is the longest serving and Victor is the newest, having spent the past decade founding and building Wildlife Studios into one of the biggest independent mobile gaming companies in the world. Peter has been a board member at Wildlife for the past four years and has a remarkable track record of tech investing over his two decades at Benchmark. In our discussion, we talk about the core motivators behind great entrepreneurs, Benchmark's unique operating philosophy, and what it's like to transition from builder to investor. Please enjoy this conversation with Peter Fenton and Victor Lazarte. Listen to Founders Podcast: #326 Anna Wintour For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:04:10) - (First question) - Victor’s early expectations after being at the company for just three months (00:05:39) - What Victor misses from the operating life (00:06:59) - Peter’s opinion on what makes Benchmark a fascinating company (00:15:00) - Peter and Victor’s perspective on the significance of the phrase “life’s work” (00:24:19) - The influence of market tailwinds on success in investing (00:29:42) - How to keep founders’ generative drive at peak levels (00:32:39) - Balancing aggression, desire and generative drive when building and operating a business (00:34:22) - Victor’s approach to dealing with pleasure seeking as a successful operator (00:38:29) - Why Benchmark intentionally raises funds at half the suggested amount (00:43:13) - Lessons learned from navigating challenging scenarios in venture capital (00:46:27) - What excites Victor as he starts a new venture at Benchmark (00:48:19) - Why AI is more akin to the internet than crypto (00:52:41) - The significance of platform-based businesses in the contemporary landscape (00:57:45) - The impact tech giants exert on new entrants in the industry (00:61:00) - Victor’s opinion on what makes great games and great gaming businesses (01:13:44) - Where Peter and Victor feel they have areas to grow (01:19:48) - Perspectives on human progress (01:21:14) - The kindest thing that anyone has done for both Peter and Victor
Today's episode is a conversation with Lior Susan, the Founder of Eclipse Ventures, whose mission is to unlock solutions to age-old physical industry problems through the intersection of bits and atoms. Lior is Israeli, and served in Israel's special forces before founding Ecplise. The topic of conversation is one fellow investor's perspective of the terror attacks of October 7 and the path forward. I hope more than anything that collective action is in the direction of fewer people dying, and most importantly, zero innocent civilians dying in Israel and in Gaza and Palestine. This is not a political show, and it won't become one. This is a conversation with a person deeply and personally affected by the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, who I believe to be a very good person who wants to be a part of change in the right direction for everyone good in and around Israel and Gaza, regardless of their background, religion, or anything else about them. Please enjoy my conversation with Lior Susan. Listen to Founders Podcast: #326 Anna Wintour For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported data point and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard-to-calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building, and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:57) - [First question] - Recounting Lior's career thus far (00:09:29) - Insights on the global situation post-October 7th (00:14:37) - Delving into Israel's historical backdrop (00:19:47) - Analyzing the wave of protests on college campuses (00:23:29) - Sharing thoughts on Palestine (00:28:49) - Planning for the use of his time ahead (00:31:41) - Evaluating the current state of leadership in Israel (00:36:27) - Concerns for the welfare of innocent people (00:40:47) - Assessing technology's role in future conflicts (00:44:08) - Crafting pathways to effective globalization (00:48:27) - Identifying traits that contribute to investment success (00:55:17) - Envisioning constructive steps post-conflict (00:57:10) - Reflecting on the lessons from strong leadership (01:01:04) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Lior
My guest today is Brad Jacobs. Brad’s resumé is remarkable. He has founded seven companies, all of which are billion-dollar or multibillion-dollar businesses. He has done 500 M&A transactions and raised $30 billion dollars of debt and equity capital. Currently, he is the Executive Chairman of XPO, a commercial trucking company that he started in 2011 and has grown into one of the largest logistics businesses in the world. He has also written a book that will be out in January, titled “How to Make a Few Billion Dollars”. Brad’s energy is infectious and our conversation unpacks his strategies for M&A, his propensity for speed, and methods for earning team buy-in. Please enjoy my conversation with Brad Jacobs. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:11) - (First question) - Identifying key factors in a market before investing (00:05:07) - Gleaning insights from early acquisition experiences (00:08:43) - Delving into the seller's mindset during a business sale (00:12:51) - Weighing pre-built against organic growth strategies in acquisitions (00:17:20) - Defining the elements of an ideal business (00:22:49) - Engaging constructively with Wall Street (00:24:36) - Discussing the substantial buyback of XPO shares (00:28:16) - Ambition as a recurring theme in entrepreneurial success (00:30:17) - Emphasizing the need to facilitate team agility (00:32:35) - Highlighting the joys of post-acquisition integration (00:36:09) - Drawing lessons from Ludwig Jesselson's principles (00:40:34) - Comparing the risks and rewards of early versus late adoption (00:44:09) - Reflecting on errors made in trend analysis (00:48:59) - Strategies for implementing new technologies in enterprises (00:51:59) - The significance of thought experiments in strategic decision-making (00:56:00) - Recalling transformative events from his early years (00: 57:22) - Outlining what makes a meeting 'electric' (01: 01:53) - Sharing experiences with exemplary leadership (01:05:02) - Strategies for maximizing team potential (01:07:37) - Deciding the right time to step away from a business (01:08:58) - Unveiling unexpected challenges in entrepreneurship (01:18:45) - Philosophies for leading a fulfilling life (01:21:04) - Finishing How To Make A Few Billion Dollars (01:22:53) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Brad
My guests this week are Elizabeth Zalman and Jerry Neumann. Jerry has been on this show two times before. He’s an early-stage Venture Capitalist, an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship, and an excellent writer. Liz is a two-time founder, most recently co-founding StrongDM, in which Jerry was a seed investor. Together, they have written a somewhat contentious book called "Founder vs Investor" that lays bare the relationship at the core of most new businesses. They take specific moments in a start-up’s life up to IPO and share their experiences on the friction that inevitably appears. In our conversation, we discuss the strong reaction to the book, the incentive problem at the root of the relationship, and explore best practices for other founders and VCs to follow. Please enjoy my conversation with Jerry Neumann and Liz Zalman. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes: (00:04:02) - (first question) - The controversy surrounding Founder vs Investor: The Honest Truth About Venture Capital from Startup to IPO (00:07:53) - Considering the idea of firing founders (00:10:44) - Navigating morally grey areas for founders and investors (00:11:57) - Understanding the role of the board and their power (00:15:05) - A PSA for founders (00:17:48) - Identifying where incentives are most broken (00:22:28) - Viewing founder friendliness as a temporary status (00:25:41) - Offering good advice during the fundraising process (00:32:41) - Ensuring delivery on promises as an investor (00:37:04) - Strategies for a long-term relationship between a founder and investor (00:41:44) - Structuring the ideal board meeting tactically (00:48:13) - Determining which investing terms matter most (00:51:18) - Managing the dynamic between a founder and an investor during company growth (00:56:44) - Establishing a sustainable, differentiated position (00:59:08) - Defining the distinction between a founder and an investor (01:00:18) - Reflecting on lessons from exiting a business (01:03:52) - Exploring the VC-to-VC relationship (01:08:01) - Plans following their book release (01:11:34) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Elizabeth
My guest today is Palmer Luckey. Palmer is the founder of Defense company Anduril Industries, which makes next-generation military technology for the US and its allies. Since bringing the company to life in 2017, Palmer and Anduril have disrupted the established order in the Defense industry. Prior to Anduril, Palmer founded Oculus VR, a virtual reality business that he sold to Facebook for $2 billion. Palmer is only in his early 30s, but he has already experienced more than most people will in a 40-year career. We talk about innovation, invention, differentiated thinking, and so much more. Please enjoy this great discussion with Palmer Luckey. Listen to Patrick's Business Breakdown with Anduril CEO. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported data point and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard-to-calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building, and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes: (00:03:28) - The importance of synthetic long-chain hydrocarbon fuel (00:09:37) - Ranking America's potential for innovation (00:12:43) - Why there aren't more Thiel Fellowships (00:14:56) - The principles that motivate and drive him (00:18:21) - What it has been like working in the world of defense after the attack on Israel (00:20:34) - Surprising lessons learned when building a large company (00:24:02) - How to approach a new field initially (00:28:45) - Meeting other out-of-the-box thinkers (00:33:11) - Inventors working backward from existing systems versus forward from their ideals (00:34:51) - The most pressing issue in national security (00:41:01) - What matters most for America from a defense perspective (00:43:58) - How to determine which problems to prioritize (00:50:24) - Lessons learned from working with AI (00:57:21) - How Apple is shaping the future of VR (01:01:36) - Which videogame a prospective employee should excel at (01:04:06) - Why Oculus was so successful in marketing (01:11:13) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Palmer
Today’s guest is Aswath Damodaran, who is joining us for a second time on Invest Like the Best. Aswath is a Professor of Finance at NYU’s Stern School of Business and is often referred to as the Dean of Valuation for his clarity of thought on the subject. This conversation picks up where we left off 18 months ago and covers a wide range of topics from macro risks to Nvidia and the process of crafting a personal investment philosophy. Please enjoy this great discussion with Aswath Damodaran. Listen to Founders Podcast Episode #311 James Cameron For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus Converge — the first virtual event centered on the world of investor research. When twin brothers Tom and Mike Elnick realized that the research process for investors was broken, they founded Tegus to fix it. Now the people behind the most trusted research platform are bringing institutional investors together to investigate the state — and the future — of fundamental research. On November 8th, join industry luminaries like IGSB Founder Reece Duca and Daniel Gross, AI Expert, Entrepreneur and Investor, to dig into the latest research trends and breakthrough technologies shaping the investment landscape. Register today at tegus.com/register. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:45) - (First question) - The general prevailing narrative in markets today (00:05:00) - The biggest business implications given the current market landscape (00:06:45) - Why it’s bad to have risky founders with cheap capital trying experiments (00:08:53) - The natural rate of interest and how it’s priced (00:09:55) - His updated view and thoughts on what’s currently driving inflation (00:11:05) - What it’s felt like valuing companies given rates being where they are (00:13:35) - Macro variables that most have his attention today (00:18:45) - Whether or not international equities will become a place of interest (00:21:53) - The unique absolute basis of NVIDIA’s growth (00:23:25) - His take on the new wave of AI in a broad sense (00:29:15) - Trying to value AI companies without tangible business models (00:32:45) - The parts of his own valuation process that are beyond automation (00:34:20) - Thoughts on a natural end state equilibrium for active management (00:35:55) - Commonalities between investors who beat the benchmark (00:38:35) - Episodes on his own path that lead him towards his investment philosophy (00:42:05) - How he goes about valuing non-traditional companies like sports franchises (00:46:45) - The world of entertainment and how he sees it as a business today (00:53:45) - The best business models he’s ever seen (00:55:40) - What valuing Instacart taught him about online grocery shopping (00:58:55) - The most interesting company he valued over the last year (01:03:25) - How bank failures changed his thinking on our financial systems and banks as businesses writ large (01:06:15) - The changing attitude towards ESG investing (01:11:11) - Why there are still so many pools of capital that pursue an active strategy (01:11:06) - Being sick and tired of the conversation always revolving around central banks (01:15:53) - What he’s most excited to look into over the coming year (01:17:53) - Major differences between a financial and an accounting balance sheet
My guests this week are the co-founders of Stripe, Patrick and John Collison. My conversation with John in 2020 is still one of our most popular. A key theme that emerged from that first discussion was John’s boundless curiosity for all things business and this conversation continues that thread. We talk about setting a strategy and culture that attracts ambition, why the returns to sweating the details are high, and how they view Stripe’s progress against their mission to increase the GDP of the internet. Please enjoy this great and wide-ranging discussion with John and Patrick Collison. Buy a ticket to Patrick and David Senra's live show this Thursday in NYC. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 311: James Cameron Subscribe to Colossus's New Show: Art of Investing For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:16) - (First question) - Stripe's curiosity-driven growth fuels enduring success and expansion (00:08:34) - Why companies should resonate with founders' ideas but also have strong enduring cultures (00:012:27) - Stripe aims to reduce friction and expand global commerce by solving practical barriers (00:25:59) - Simplifying processes for startups and large companies to drive growth efficiently (00:29:11) - Analyzing the enduring stories of ancient companies (00:35:44) - Success in Hollywood and academia depends on unmeasurable vision and knowledge (00:40:11) - Stripe's ubiquity, self-serve nature, and collective care drive its unique status (00:43:16) - Success in tech is grounded in user-centricity, care, and connecting with customers (00:48:17) - Parental influence on becoming entrepreneurs is complex (00:50:21) - Adult perspective on parents, admiration for their work, and ongoing philanthropy (00:52:30) - Stripe's challenges include complexity due to diverse payment methods and global programmable accessibility (00:57:27) - Aiming for long-term durability, Stripe prioritizes beauty and craftsmanship in its pursuit (01:02:50) - The most memorable conversation they had between them (01:05:30) - Why the launch of Atlas was a defining moment in Stripe’s history (01:06:35) - How their 25-year-old selves would react to what they are doing now (01:10:19) - The various ways in which they feel proud of each other (01:14:35) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for them
My guest this week is Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of leading game publisher Take-Two Interactive. Maybe most well-known for its hugely successful Grand Theft Auto game, Take-Two is a sophisticated, top-tier developer, publisher, and marketer of interactive entertainment that owns Rockstar Games and 2K. Strauss’s passion for entertainment led him strong and fast into the industry as he worked his way from sales to CEO and transitioned from motion picture to gaming. Today we cover his approach to staying on the cutting edge of media development, unlocking talent and potential in those around you, and becoming the leader you were meant to be. His intensity and his standard for excellence come through clearly. Please enjoy my conversation with Strauss Zelnick. Subscribe to Colossus's New Show: Art of Investing Buy a ticket to Patrick and David Senra's live show. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus Converge — the first virtual event centered on the world of investor research. When twin brothers Tom and Mike Elnick realized that the research process for investors was broken, they founded Tegus to fix it. Now the people behind the most trusted research platform are bringing institutional investors together to investigate the state — and the future — of fundamental research. On November 8th, join industry luminaries like IGSB Founder Reece Duca and Daniel Gross, AI Expert, Entrepreneur and Investor, to dig into the latest research trends and breakthrough technologies shaping the investment landscape. Register today at tegus.com/register. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:39) - (First question) - Why the entertainment media sector is so interesting (00:05:08) - Key inflection points in the history of media (00:09:17) - The role of pure content in businesses today (00:10:32) - Requirements for being a successful media business operator (00:12:03) - Strategies for working effectively with creatives (00:16:13) - How to cultivate a conducive environment for creatives (00:25:54) - The allure of collaborating with Take-Two (00:30:09) - Strauss’ journey to becoming the chairman and CEO of Take-Two (00:37:42) - Strategies for reducing costs in business (00:41:16) - Embracing diversity in the video game industry (00:43:41) - Identifying high-quality intellectual property (IP) (00:46:04) - The inspiration behind Strauss’ book Becoming Ageless: The Four Secrets To Looking and Feeling Younger Than Ever (00:51:12) - Influential leaders for learning and growth (00:55:45) - The impact of technology and the rise of new platforms (00:57:00) - Common misconceptions about Take-Two (00:59:42) - Unique attributes of Take-Two projects (01:00:36) - Defining moments in the history of the business (01:04:19) - Anticipating the future direction of Take-Two (01:13:41) - Sources of motivation and inspiration (01:15:29) - The concept and value of a masterpiece (01:11:08) - Paramount values as a parent (01:11:38) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Strauss
My guests this week are Rick Buhrman and Paul Buser. Rick and Paul spent over a decade managing the public equity portfolio at Notre Dame’s Endowment before leaving in 2020 to set up a permanent capital vehicle called Sator Grove. As you’ll hear in this conversation, they know, have studied, or have invested with most of the world’s best capital allocators. A few years ago, they also set up a class at Notre Dame for 40 of the college’s brightest students, called Art of Investing. The class is devoted to exploring the joys of compounding and each week, they bring in a world class investor or operator to share in detail how they’ve built their lives, portfolios, and businesses around the principles of compounding. Starting next week, it will be available as a Colossus Podcast so that you too will be able to join their class and learn from the likes of Todd Combs, Andre Perold, Ho Nam and others. I’d encourage you to search Art of Investing in your podcast player and subscribe so you don’t miss the first episode. Now onto my discussion with Rick and Paul. Art of Investing: Trailer For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:30) - (First question) - Shifting from Notre Dame to Sator Grove (00:06:20) - An overview of Sator Grove (00:11:39) - Launching in April 2021, they manage $300M for diverse, flexible investments (00:15:47) - Investing in meaningful projects with trust, long-term focus, and high potential (00:25:30) - How Mitch Rales embodies insatiable curiosity and lifelong learning (00:39:33) - Embracing change, adapting, and experimenting for success (00:41:49) - How investors learn from failed companies (00:51:59) - Investment success hinges on talent's judgment, character, adaptability, and trust (00:56:53) - What they found concerning in firms and teams when assessing managers (01:02:16) - Analyzing asset allocation challenges (01:07:39) - Fostering disciplined habits for growth (01:13:06) - The importance of nurturing compounding (01:21:21) - Creating meaningful connections and providing lifelong lessons (01:26:58) - Wisdom from their mentors and its impact on their investing philosophy (01:43:49) - Defining the good life: Quality projects, quality people, and meaningful integration (01:45:29) - The defining moments of their investing careers so far (01:47:59) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Rick and Paul
My guests today are Jack Altman and Miles Grimshaw. Jack is the co-founder and CEO of Lattice, an HR software platform. Miles is a General Partner at Benchmark, an early investor and Board Director at Lattice, as well as a former guest on Invest Like the Best. Jack started Lattice in 2015 and has scaled it into a multi-billion-dollar business that already serves over 5,000 organizations. In our discussion, we look at all aspects of building and scaling a software product from both an investor and operator’s perspective, which made this particularly fun to do. Please enjoy my conversation with Jack Altman and Miles Grimshaw. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:55) - (First question) - How Jack & Miles met at Y Combinator in 2015 (00:04:22) - Lattice found a niche in mid-market HR software (00:07:55) - Discovering Lattice's true market need (00:11:14) - Fear of stalling drove the need for business growth beyond initial product (00:12:06) - Deciding on multi-product focus over up-market expansion (00:17:01) - Prioritizing quality of usage over frequency for customer health scores (00:20:06) - Balancing customer health scores and actual needs (00:24:31) - Prioritized community by spotlighting HR voices (00:28:20) - Building community helps companies sell a vision or lifestyle (00:31:05) - Cultivating broad awareness instead of hard-selling (00:35:33) - Overcoming the culture of 'perfection’ (00:37:22) - Flywheel effect makes suites efficient: lower go-to-market costs, more focus on product (00:41:06) - The challenges of juggling current needs and future demands (00:46:27) - Navigating disagreements and trust-building within a company (00:50:36) - Investors' roles extend beyond founders, focusing on their own goals and interests (00:51:52) - How transparency eases the founder-investor dance (00:55:16) - The changing employer-employee relationship (00:58:37) - Navigating growth from startup to public equity (01:05:43) - Lattice's ultimate aspiration (01:07:42) - Evaluating founders' authenticity (01:11:18) - What Jack & Miles are most embarrassed about, the most proud of, and the most excited for (01:14:30) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Jack and Miles
My guest today is Michael Simanovsky. Mike is the Managing Partner of Conversant Capital, a real estate investment firm he founded in early 2020. Conversant aims to be the most flexible capital provider in real estate, investing across public and private markets as well as equities and credit. The firm will also incubate platforms where they see an opportunity to take advantage of a compelling theme that lacks existing business models for investment. We cover the most undersupplied part of the market, why he’s building Conversant to be so flexible, and the surprising appeal of billboards. Please enjoy my conversation with Mike Simanovsky. Listen to Founders Podcast Join Colossus live in NYC with Patrick O’Shaughnessy and David Senra on Oct. 19. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:32) (First question) - Real estate investing through the lens of the capital cycle (00:06:50) - The capital cycle in practice (00:12:07) - Using evaluation of supply to determine where you are in a capital cycle (00:13:16) - Why real estate drew Mike in (00:15:35) - The quality of investors in real estate (00:16:41) - What the US market needs most (00:20:26) - The range of returns in real estate (00:23:01) - Insights that stand out (00:26:45) - Starting a new company vs. building a portfolio of assets (00:28:46) - Key trade-offs and choices when building a firm (00:31:10) - Where things go wrong (00:33:59) - Best investment decision he ever made (00:38:06) - Philosophy on CapEx (00:39:52) - Misconceptions about real estate investing (00:41:31) - Cold storage real estate (00:43:13) - The most interesting corners of the real estate market (00:46:13) - AI and its impact on the future (00:48:30) - Common investor missteps (00:50:51) - Three guests Mike would invite to a dinner party (00:52:34) - The most impactful questions to ask a real estate investor (00:53:17) - A defining moment of his career (00:53:17) - The premise of the platform approach (00:56:20) - Possible opportunities and an understanding of the current landscape (01:03:38) - Lessons Mike learned from basketball coach John Wooden’s philosophies (01:04:30) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is David Senra, the creator and host of Founders Podcast. With an incredible appetite for biographies, David has delved into the lives of over three hundred entrepreneurs, extracting invaluable wisdom that he shares with his audience each week. Throughout the conversation, we discuss David’s love of podcasts, and what can be gained from studying the lives of not just entrepreneurs, but of athletes and film directors alike. I hope you enjoy this conversation with David Senra. Listen to Founders Podcast Join Colossus live in NYC with Patrick O’Shaughnessy and David Senra on Oct. 19. Our first interview with David, Episode 292: Passion & Pain For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:43) - (First question) - David's journey so far (00:05:13) - Why there are no negative surprises linked to his work (00:07:13) - Being bullish on podcasts (00:13:27) - The importance of storytelling to the entrepreneurial journey (00:17:43) - The impulse of entrepreneurs who are world-builders (00:23:03) - The universal trait of successful entrepreneurs (00:27:43) - What David has learned from filmmakers (00:31:23) - The dark side of the Type-A personality (00:35:13) - What he has learned from athletes (00:42:27) - The effects of early childhood on success (00:43:48) - Insights gained from conquerors (00:49:33) - Ranking the importance he places on power, wealth, and fame (00:56:13) - The possibility of episodes on spiritual figures (01:02:17) - How Henry Ford created something bigger than himself (01:05:43) - His thoughts on ‘high agency’ people (01:11:57) - Why David is not afraid to talk about anything publicly (01:16:27) - His favorite line from Game of Thrones
My guest today is Will England, the CEO and Co-CIO of Walleye Capital. Walleye is a multi-strategy hedge fund headquartered in Minnesota that manages around $5 billion. Our conversation is a primer on multi-strategy hedge funds, which have become a force in markets through the success of firms like Millenium, Citadel, Point72, and Balyasny. We discuss the operational complexity behind the model, which managers best fit this type of investment style, and what happens in stress events like the Gamestop short squeeze in early 2021. We also talk about performance culture, the All Blacks, and Will’s experience as a US National Team rower. Please enjoy my conversation with Will England. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 311: James Cameron For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:22) - (First question) - His fascination with Robber Barons (00:04:49) - He explains the style of investing he has built at Walleye Capital (00:08:51) - The importance of scale and what it means for firms like this (00:13:01) - A breakdown of the component parts of a 15% return structure (00:16:56) - His advice to new portfolio managers trying to succeed with long/short investments (00:21:23) - His reaction to an efficient market hypothesis (00:27:33) - He tells us what happens above the individual manager level (00:29:42) - The universe of talented people behind the business (00:35:26) - The backstory of Walleye Capital and why he chose Minnesota (00:42:37) - He discusses the felt experience of being at Walleye versus other firms (00:47:25) - Whether he identifies more as an entrepreneur systems builder or as an investor (00:50:04) - What he says about the half life of successful quantitative strategies (00:54:03) - A breakdown of style allocations and the percentage of managers within each (00:56:30) - How he determines how much leverage to use and how to be great at applying it (00:59:59) - How the firm handles tough investment periods (01:02:34) - How he knew Citadel wasn’t taking down gross during the GameStop short (01:03:51) - What he looks for when hiring a portfolio manager (01:06:37) - His philosophy on performance and how he blends that into his firms culture (01:09:21) - Inspiration he’s taken from the All Blacks team (01:11:25) - Addition aspects of the firm he believes are important (01:13:46) - Historical finance pioneers that inspire him (01:16:07) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
Almost exactly a year ago, Colossus entered into a partnership with David Senra and the Founders podcast to join the Colossus network. The show has since exploded with more devoted fans than any podcast that I've encountered. With that in mind, we are excited to share an example episode from his show here today on the director, James Cameron. It's my favorite recent episode of David's. Please enjoy this episode, and if you haven't already, subscribe to Founders. This is what he learned from reading The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron by Rebecca Keegan and The Return of James Cameron, Box Office King by Zach Baron. Join Colossus live in NYC with Patrick O’Shaughnessy and David Senra on Oct. 19. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:04:00) - I watched Titanic at the Titanic. And he actually replied: Yeah, but I madeTitanic at the Titanic. (00:07:10) - I like difficult. I’m attracted by difficult. Difficult is a fucking magnet for me. I go straight to difficult. And I think it probably goes back to this idea that there are lots of smart, really gifted, really talented filmmakers out there that just can’t do the difficult stuff. So that gives me a tactical edge to do something nobody else has ever seen, because the really gifted people don’t fucking want to do it. (00:07:20) - At 68 years old, Cameron wakes up at 4:45 AM and often kick boxes in the morning. (00:07:45) - Self-doubt is not something Cameron has a lot of experience with. His confidence preceded his achievements. (00:09:00) - I basically gave myself a college education in visual effects and cinematography while I was driving a truck. (00:16:00) - Every idea is a work in progress. (00:17:30) - He's been on a planet of his own making ever since. (00:18:00) - The Return of James Cameron, Box Office King by Zach Baron (00:22:00) - His outlook is that we can take fate in our own hands. (00:34:00) - Cameron had only been at Corman's for a matter of days, but he was already taking charge. He seems constitutionally incapable of doing otherwise. (What a line!) (00:35:30) - Your mediocrity is my opportunity. (00:37:40) - Cameron finds writing torture. He does it anyway. (00:43:00) - Cameron is willing to let ideas marinate for decades. (00:55:30) - I'd just made T2 for Carolco and I admired how they rolled, being their own bosses, mavericks, entrepreneurs. (00:57:30) - Mute the world. Build your own world. (01:04:50) - Opportunity is a strange beast. It commonly appears after a loss. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast.
My guest today is Lee Ainslie, the founder of Maverick Capital. Lee started his investing career at Tiger Management where he worked for Julian Robertson. In 1993, he left to start Maverick and has built the firm into one of the top-performing hedge funds of the last 30 years. Lee doesn’t speak in public often so this is a fascinating insight into what it takes to build an enduring investment business - both psychologically and operationally. Throughout the conversation, we flick between his lessons building Maverick, his perspective on the market, and what he’s learned about the craft of investing. I hope you enjoy this great conversation with Lee Ainslie. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 311: James Cameron Join Colossus live in NYC with Patrick O’Shaughnessy and David Senra on Oct. 19. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:00) - (First question) - Lee tells us about his relationship with Steve Mandel (00:04:29) - Why he thinks Steve gave him a hand into the role he excelled at (00:07:22) - The concept behind investment talent (00:13:08) - Steps he takes to hire the right individuals for his team (00:16:14) - Why he stepped out on his own to start Maverick Capital (00:20:48) - What he thinks makes for a great investment or stock purchase (00:25:16) - How Maverick maintains its edge over other comparable firms (00:28:31) - Features of a business that get his attention in a unique way (00:32:03) - What he learned from Sol Price (00:38:21) - The difficult aspects of portfolio construction (00:42:04) - How zero interest rates affected the long short style of investing (00:47:22) - Positioning his team for success against other competitors (00:50:32) - How private market activity can affect public market activity (00:54:27) - Software companies and their strengths and weaknesses in the investment market (00:59:33) - Things he tells his team to watch for (01:04:10) - What Lee's learned about money (01:07:02) - The most important conversation he’s had in Mavericks history (01:12:38) - Advice for senior executives trying to pass on responsibilities to others (01:17:54) - What the next ten years for Maverick Capital look like (01:20:42) - Things Lee and Warren Buffett disagree on (01:24:11) - The components of a great investment pitch (01:25:08) - The hardest question anyone could ask him (01:28:48) - What he thinks is important having started Maverick Ventures (01:31:32) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Lee
Today, we are running a special episode from our show Founder's Field Guide. In this conversation, Nick Kokonas shares his experience of bringing a business mindset to the restaurant industry. It is one of our favorites at Colossus and there is something for everyone in this timeless conversation. Nick is the co-founder of 3 of the best restaurants and bars in America - Alinea, Next, and The Aviary as well as the co-founder and CEO of Tock, a comprehensive booking system for restaurants. He majored in philosophy before becoming a derivatives trader and is now one of the most well-known names in the hospitality industry. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 311: James Cameron For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (3:02) – (First question) – Why he thinks it’s so important to own something (4:35) – Make decisions that have outcomes (7:00) – His interest in the restaurant business (8:54) – Why restaurants are so tough (12:05) – How their business mindset changed their running of the restaurant (14:35) – Words they would avoid in the restaurant (16:19) – Asking the right questions in the restaurant business (20:40) – Importance in taking the right risks (22:02) – Coming up with innovative strategies for ticketing, selling meals ahead of time, and dynamic pricing (30:08) – Can dynamic pricing be extended to other businesses (31:20) – Origin of Tock (36:17) – Early days of Tock and identifying the right customers/challenges (41:33) – Importance of the first customer (44:22) – The typical restaurant business model (49:23) – Lessons from Tock and the importance of knowing what your selling (53:47) – Lessons from publishing (55:44) – Other aspects of business that people know but do nothing about (1:00:19) – Their response to Covid and lessons learned (1:07:43) – The real impact to the food delivery companies (1:09:24) – How businesses communicate their end processes to their customers (1:14:07) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him
My guest today is Des Traynor. Des is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Intercom - a customer service solution that helps businesses answer product questions, offer instant support, and automate sales. The business was founded in 2011 and its products operate within 25,000 businesses, including the likes of Amazon, Lyft and Atlassian. Our conversation is roughly split in half. First, we talk about AI and how it’s actually changing businesses like Intercom through products such as their OpenAI powered bot called Fin. We then talk about Des’s views as an investor, which includes an answer about software that I’ll remember for a long time. Please enjoy my conversation with Des Traynor. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 311: James Cameron For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:42) - (First question) - Des's high level thoughts on Open AI and new technology (00:07:07) - Advanced AI tech for existing businesses versus start-ups ventures (00:11:14) - Where Intercom falls on the spectrum of existing and new AI technology (00:13:16) - Training AI to be tailored to specific fields of work (00:18:25) - The natural end point is for Intercom incorporating AI (00:22:25) - Des's product philosophy behind this technology (00:24:03) - Choosing an AI provider that best suited his customer service industry needs (00:26:55) - The value comparison between using AI-led customer service versus human (00:29:18) - Why outsourcing automated data is not for everyone (00:31:15) - Des's advice for other companies beginning to integrate AI into their operations (00:36:33) - What he is excited for as an investor in this area (00:37:50) - The most common discussions he’s having about this technology (00:41:21) - The inherent risks of using AI models that are not 100% accurate (00:45:10) - Des's evolution as an investor (00:48:25) - How Intercom solved it’s AI execution problems (00:50:46) - Combating other companies that are trying to overtake the field (00:53:44) - Counter arguments for using AI technology (00:57:22) - His view on the best software out there (01:03:00) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Samo Burja. Samo is the founder of consulting firm, Bismark Analysis, and has dedicated his life’s work to understanding why there has never been an immortal society. His research focuses on institutions, the founders behind them, how they rise and why they always fall in the end. As you’ll hear, Samo has an encyclopedic grasp of history and his work has led him to some fascinating theories about human progress, the nature of exceptional founders, and the future of different societies across the world. Please enjoy my conversation with Samo Burja. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 311: James Cameron For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:52) - (First question) - The core thesis behind the Great Founder Theory (00:06:40) - Great ideas inevitably being discovered at some point in history (00:08:45) - The historic implications of a global adoption of the Great Founder Theory (00:10:51) - The different possible directions of future trends (00:17:08) - Distinctions between great founders versus live players (00:22:15) - Common misconceptions about what qualifies one as a great founder (00:24:38) - Noteworthy great founders in the United States (00:28:34) - Recurring observable traits and common themes of great founders (00:31:29) - Using caution when projecting a mythic lens onto great founders (00:37:53) - Social technology as the upstream effects of prior material technology (00:43:32) - Whether or not institutions play a role in propagating the work of great founders (00:49:08) - The role of power and differences between owned and borrowed power (00:56:51) - Additional ideas that play an outsized role in shaping the world (01:01:09) - A differing worldview to his own that he finds interesting (01:04:53) - Whether or not capital allocators can benefit from the Great Founder Theory (01:07:37) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Chris Paik, who is a General Partner at early-stage venture firm, Pace Capital. Before Pace, Chris spent eight years building and investing alongside last week’s guest, Josh Kushner, at his firm Thrive Capital. During that time, he sat on the board of Twitch. Our conversation explores Chris’ frameworks for investing, from atomic value swaps to business model product fit and the seven deadly sins. We also discuss different consumer trends like the rise of virtual YouTubers, Apple’s Vision Pro, and why everyone graduates off YouTube. Please enjoy my conversation with Chris Paik. Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:00) - (First question) - The history of humanity as a data storage and transfer problem and how that relates to new kinds of computer interfaces (00:14:47) - Investing strategies; knowing when to invest in new technology (00:16:39) - Assessing the gray areas of a potential investment (00:22:13) - CodeMiko and VTubing (00:32:51) - An explanation of atomic value swap (00:39:55) - The 7 deadly sins and the degrees to which each sin is monetizable (00:45:05) - Evaluating the people behind new technologies (00:50:03) - The Reddit Revolt - the current changes happening at Reddit (00:53:09) - Business model alignment; the steps to take when determining a business’ value capture mechanism (01:03:52) - The investment decision that Chris is most proud of (01:08:14) - The consumer investing landscape today (01:11:19) - Chris’ methods for finding new content, technology and potential investments on the internet (01:14:06) - The fundamentals of value creation (01:15:06) - The dark side of tech, how can it be more than just friction reduction (01:17:22) - Chris’ opinion on why so many innovations come from the US (01:20:37) - Defining market places and how to start and grow a successful one (01:23:23) - Chris’ thoughts on opportunities with bad business models (01:26:19) - A breakdown of Chris’ analogy “Sculptors versus painters” (01:29:34) - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for Chris
My guest today is Josh Kushner, founder and managing partner of venture firm, Thrive Capital. Josh started Thrive in 2010 and launched its first institutional fund in 2011. That first institutional fund was $40 million and, in it, Thrive led Warby Parker’s Series A, invested in Instagram, and incubated a business, which Josh co-founded, called Oscar. Thrive has gone from strength to strength since then and now manages $15 billion with a small team of 9 investors. Their portfolio is stage agnostic and their track record includes many of the best known businesses from the past decade, including Spotify, Unity, Stripe, and Twitch among many more. Josh rarely speaks in public about the firm and their philosophy so it was a blast to do this with him. Please enjoy my great conversation with Josh Kushner. Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 driveable global models handbuilt by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:14) - (First question) - Why do this podcast (00:06:14) - The development of taste and quality (00:10:20) - CS Lewis tweet; The Inner Ring (00:11:53) - Founders being heroes and motivating quietly from the background (00:16:14) - Overview the founding story of Oscar Health (00:21:30) - Is a big business different from a small one (00:23:18) - Learning to identify good problems and creating a business to solve it (00:25:43) - The birth story of Thrive Capital (00:30:14) - Lessons learned from creating the first three Thrive funds (00:33:35) - Industry wide competition today and models for building a firm in general (00:37:44) - Talent, recruiting and seeing potential in younger generations of people (00:45:40) - Investments he made during the early foundation of Thrive that had significant impact (00:49:12) - His analogy for investing in early versus late stage (00:54:22) - The current macro environment (00:57:52) - Giving AI companies computing power instead of money (00:58:57) - Why he sold small stakes of Thrive (01:03:10) - His philosophy on what makes a good product (01:05:20) - What he thinks about the models like Mobile and Cloud (01:08:10) - His absence from crypto and why he refrained during the boom in 2021 (01:10:33) - Thoughts about the opportunity set in FinTech today writ large (01:12:04) - Other potential opportunity sets beyond what’s already been discussed (01:13:39) - Lessons learned from his time spent with Marc Andreessen, Stan Druckenmiller, Henry Kravis, and David Geffen (01:21:59) - Balancing magnitudes of capital between investment funds (01:23:32) - Why founders choose Thrive (01:29:15) - Vision as a key ingredient for founders (01:32:19) - His view of the investment industry in the world today writ large (01:40:19) - Other investment firms he would invest in (01:42:48) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Jeremy Giffon. I spend all my time trying to find people who have some “singularity” to them. People who seem like they can do an N of 1 something. Having spent many days with Jeremy recently, he strikes me as one of those people. He was the first employee and general partner at private equity firm, Tiny, which buys and holds internet and technology focused businesses. Prior to that, he was on the founding team of MediaCore, which was acquired by Workday. The focus of our discussion is about esoteric opportunities that exist in private markets. How misaligned incentives and co-ordination problems create special situations for people like Jeremy to invest in. The rest of the conversation is wide-ranging and covers everything from compensation advice to meeting your heroes. Please enjoy my discussion with Jeremy Giffon. Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:15) - (First question) - What defines the nature of a perfect business in his mind (00:05:21) - Key characteristics he’d look for in a perfect investment (00:09:58) - Coordination problems that excite him (00:14:02) - Raising funds and ghostship companies (00:16:17) - Examples of a special situations transaction in private markets (00:18:55) - Building up a sourcing mechanism (00:22:18) - The biggest mistakes he’s seen in buying and selling companies (00:25:42) - Refining the underwriting process (00:28:57) - Thoughts about minimum rates of return and multiples on capital for the investments he makes (00:30:44) - Being lazy enough to wait for good deals on enduring businesses (00:33:32) - Why people do things they don’t like (00:35:47) - Whether or not he feels like he knows what he wants in life (00:40:48) - Invest Like The Best - Kevin Kelly; The reward for good work is more work (00:42:58) - Hiring CEOs (00:44:54) - Really good respective returns in low risk companies and why those opportunities continue to persist (00:47:05) - Tactics for negotiating with and sourcing CEOs (00:50:37) - Binaries - pre and post fall (00:55:58) - Being hard to kill (00:59:15) - His favorite interview question (01:06:07) - Having an audience is incredibly underpriced (01:10:13) - What else is significantly underpriced (01:12:14) - Things he feels are overpriced today writ large (01:15:54) - Criticisms of the cult of learning (01:20:21) - The one call that everyone needs to make (01:27:18) - Meeting your heroes and having mentors (01:30:48) - Notable differences between the business environments of Canada and the US (01:33:13) - Lessons learned from people he admires and models for seeing the world (01:35:35) - Views he holds that would make people scratch their heads (01:40:02) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Dave Yuan. Dave is the Founder and Partner of Tidemark Capital, which he started in 2021 after 15 years as a General Partner at Technology Crossover Ventures. Dave has been investing in vertical market software as long as anyone I know and he currently sits on the board of two VMS businesses, Toast and Karbon. He is the perfect guest to deliver a primer on VMS, which is exactly what we do in this episode. Please enjoy my conversation with Dave Yuan. The Vertical SaaS Knowledge Project - Tidemark Capital Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:57) - (First question) - Vertical Market Software (VMS) offers unique business models and customer benefits (00:04:02) - Industry-specific software serving SMBs with tailored functionality (00:06:53) - Assess market based on TAM, competition, and growth dynamics (00:10:00) - Trust as a nuanced factor in evaluating market opportunities (00:11:59) - Leverage account-based marketing and local network effects for VMS solutions (00:14:22) - Vertical solutions offer tailored value and quick results for specific industries (00:16:21) - Disrupting legacy control points through integration and surrounding functionality (00:19:07) - Building demand is crucial for small merchants (00:21:31) - VMS entrepreneurs need operational experience and multi-product mindset (00:23:13) - Investors need to adapt to the specific growth stage and market dynamics (00:25:22) - Gross retention is driven by control points, individual-based retention, and distribution (00:29:43) - Multi-product vertical SaaS: Integrated solutions for efficiency and value (00:32:33) - Diverse offerings to serve merchants' needs in a multi-product approach (00:34:07) - FareHarbor's unique strategy led to success in the tour industry (00:38:43) - LA-based company revolutionized commercial casting with a free software tool (00:40:03) - Opportunities remain in VMS, with greenfield areas and specific markets (00:45:12) - Key valuation considerations for VMS businesses (00:47:27) - Time horizon is crucial for investing in VMS businesses (00:48:04) - Businesses worth studying in this category (00:51:12) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Kevin Kelly. Kevin co-founded Wired magazine and has published a number of seminal books and essays on technology over the past three decades. I have devoured everything Kevin has put out into the world and many of his ideas shape the way I live today. Our conversation explores media, family, money, his concept of the Technium, AI, and more but the central theme of this episode is that we should be as generous and unique as possible. You will hear us refer to his latest book, Excellent Advice for Living, throughout and I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t already. Please enjoy this great conversation with Kevin Kelly. Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 driveable global models handbuilt by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visitingtegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:05) - (First question) - Excellent Advice for Living - a journey towards authenticity (00:05:05) - Uncovering the essence of oneself is a lifelong journey of self-reflection (00:06:47) - What he would have done differently at 30 had he internalized this concept earlier (00:08:51) - The highest form of self-expression is being authentically unique and redefining success (00:11:05) - Conforming to others' definition of success and societal biases hinders progress (00:13:07) - Surrender and collaboration are both essential in becoming your authentic self (00:14:38) - Prototype your life to embrace imperfections and make ideas tangible (00:17:34) - Mastering cultural photography in Asia and developing a keen ability to spot trends (00:19:59) - Energy signatures reveal depth, breadth, discovery, and momentum in events (00:22:02) - The reward for good work is more work (00:23:42) - Money is a tool for doing things, but beware its imprisoning burden (00:28:35) - Imagination can be cultivated and improved, often by challenging expectations (00:31:38) - Imaginative individuals include lateral thinkers who challenge norms (00:34:41) - Rites of passage and rituals provide stability and identity for children (00:38:15) - Mealtime without screens, family traditions, and cultivating a family identity (00:41:44) - An overview of “The three gates” (00:43:02) - Humans are naturally kind (00:47:23) - The Technium: an evolving ecosystem of interdependent tech and their tendencies (00:52:01) - Thoughts on AI (00:55:55) - Overestimating the existential threat of AI (00:57:38) - Idiosyncratic expression of creators (00:59:48) - Lessons learned about media (01:01:34) - Be the only, not the best. (01:05:09) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest this week is Justin Mares. Justin is the founder of TrueMed and has previously founded three different health food brands that collectively do $100M+ in annual revenue. Every time I speak with him, he makes me reflect on my own health and the state of our health more broadly. This conversation is no different. As Justin puts it, we're in a health crisis that could ultimately bankrupt our country. We talk about the inputs, incentives, and potential solutions related to that crisis, and then move into his experiences building and investing in consumer brands. We finish with a fascinating discussion on why it's more common to see repeat founders these days. Please enjoy my great conversation with Justin Mares. Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:06) - (First question) - Framing the overall problem of the US health system (00:04:12) - What it would take for America’s health crisis to affect global competitiveness (00:11:05) - Important changes that have contributed to the decline of health in the US (00:14:53) - Other system settings and incentives have contributed to America’s health crisis (00:16:51) - Thoughts on Ozempic and attempts to engineer solutions for chronic disease (00:20:07) - Mental health decline, infertility, and other problems tied to the health crisis (00:24:33) - When he first discovered this problem and became passionate about it (00:26:56) - The difficulties of building a health-centric bone broth company (00:31:49) - Why no one has a built supply chain sourcing service to create scale economies (00:34:44) - Other companies he’s built and other things he’s doing to fight the problem (00:40:15) - Going to market to simplify the HSA consumer experience (00:43:04) - The world of water, environmental toxins and forever chemicals writ large (00:47:17) - The difficulty in avoiding forever chemicals in our everyday lives (00:51:51) - How he searches for and decides on new businesses to start or invest in (00:56:52) - The growing popularity and promise of psychedelic therapy (00:58:48) - Personality traits of people who feel most at home in Edge City (01:01:36) - Strategies on sourcing and connecting with ambitious and talented people (01:06:56) - Childhood nutrition and the impact of their diets and health on society (01:11:26) - Capital formation and creating new businesses in a systematic way (01:19:57) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest this week is Scott Goodwin. Scott is the co-founder and managing partner of Diameter Capital Partners, which he started as a credit hedge fund in 2017 and has expanded into a $13 billion investment firm that covers all credit markets. Scott spent the first 8 years of his career at Citi where he rose to head of High Yield Trading before moving to Anchorage Capital in 2010 where he led their global trading desk. Scott is one of my favorite examples of the joke I used to make about this show, when I said it should be called - "This is who you're up against." He's one of the sharpest investors I know and I'm sure you'll see why. Please enjoy my great discussion with Scott Goodwin. Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 driveable global models handbuilt by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:07) - (First question) - Comparing the investing themes of the ‘10s to the ‘20s (00:04:59) - The skillset differences between investing in equity versus credit (00:06:28) - Why Carvana’s stock plummeted and thoughts on the destruction of value (00:07:33) - General overview of credit cycles and what they are (00:15:42) - Opportunities come from knowing the names well enough (00:19:17) - Making substantial decisions in a matter of minutes as a credit investor (00:22:23) - How he thinks about the evolution of sourcing alpha in credit markets (00:27:37) - Why so many institutional capital pools have fewer credit managers (00:31:08) - His childhood and the unique aspects of it that set him apart (00:37:28) - Lessons learned early on about running an investment firm (00:43:34) - The role imagination plays in credit investing (00:46:35) - How weekly breakfasts lead to an investing partnership (00:50:51) - What Tracy Fenton has done for Diameter (00:53:05) - Things that should change about investing firms writ large (00:57:09) - Calling balls and strikes and how his team learns and works together (00:59:37) - Why he’s motivated more by failure than success (01:00:54) - Where he finds the most joy in his investing process (01:04:07) - Non-negotiable attributes he’d look for when investing in other GPs (01:05:22) - New variables that have his attention in the current market (01:08:27) - What feels like unfinished business to him (01:09:43) - His reaction to everything going on today in real estate (01:10:52) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
Today, we are running a special episode from our show Business Breakdowns. In this conversation, Ben Clymer does an incredible job breaking down what makes Rolex so special. If you enjoy this episode, follow Business Breakdowns for more discussions like this. Founded in the UK in 1905 under the name Wilsdorf & Davis, Rolex has become the leading name in luxury watches. But, while the company’s products are iconic, the business itself is highly secretive. Owned by a Foundation and run as a non-profit entity, little is known about Rolex. To unlock the secrets, we are joined by Ben Clymer, founder of HODINKEE, and an expert on all things luxury watches. Ben has had rare access to Rolex and the people behind the manufacturer, making him the perfect person to dissect this business with us. Please enjoy this excellent Breakdown of Rolex. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. —-- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss Show Notes [00:03:01] - [First question] - His favorite Rolex watch ever [00:04:24] - What makes the Rolex Daytona such a special watch [00:07:19] - The job-to-be-done for high-end watches beyond just telling them the time [00:12:18] - The strategy behind marketing luxury products: The Luxury Strategy [00:14:34] - An overview of the Rolex business [00:19:38] - The history of Rolex [00:38:45] - Their genius in marketing and distribution [00:41:55] - How they make decisions and what others can learn from them [00:47:14] - The financials of Rolex and other luxury watch brands [00:49:02} - Most important business lessons others can learn from Rolex [00:52:54] - Other luxury brands worth studying [00:57:26] - Negative lessons gleaned from Rolex
My guest today is Kieran Goodwin. Kieran spent over two decades at the frontier of credit investing. During the global financial crisis, he was a Partner and Head of Trading at King Street Capital, which grew from $4 billion to $20 billion while he was there. He then left to start his own credit hedge fund, Panning Capital Management. In our discussion, we cover the state of private credit today, which forms of alpha he’s most skeptical of, and the blend of EQ and IQ necessary for success and investing. Please enjoy my conversation with Kieran Goodwin. Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 55,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:00) - (First question) - His view of the state of private credit in capital markets (00:06:56) - The notion of ball washing and why it’s important to understand (00:09:04) - What the worst-case domino effects of ball washing could be (00:12:21) - Arriving at a place where JP Morgan could borrow so much at the fund level (00:14:20) - Lessons learned from the worst trade he made (00:16:53) - What could happen in the world of private credit in the next few years and how the bigger players tend to benefit (00:19:29) - Thoughts on the world of venture capital right now (00:21:13) - The time he was at the peak of his power as an investor (00:24:03) - From being new at something to incredibly successful seemingly overnight (00:26:42) - What kinds of alpha he believes exists and which ones he’s skeptical about (00:29:30) - Thoughts on income share agreements (00:31:24) - Why there aren’t more initiatives for new talent to trade their student loans for future earnings (00:33:13) - The power of EQ over IQ and why it’s important for investor success (00:35:49) - Whether or not now is a good time to get into the field of capital markets (00:37:54) - Key tenants to know when learning credit investing specifically (00:40:09) - Things people misunderstand about the power of volatility (00:42:39) - Ways he managed to stretch his own imagination effectively (00:48:06) - The natural inclination to be short volatility (00:49:24) - Incorporating long volatility into his portfolio and life (00:52:20) - Thoughts on synergy in relationships (00:55:48) - Other interesting lessons learned from sports (00:57:50) - The roles of the multiple coaches that sit in for an NBA team (00:59:42) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Henry Schuck, the founder and CEO of ZoomInfo. I’ve gotten to know Henry over the past year by virtue of him being on the board of Tegus, where I’m a board observer. I meet a lot of people and Henry is one of my favorites. His energy is unmatched and he knows his business down to the tiniest details. He has tenacity and curiosity in spades. ZoomInfo is a go-to-market software and data solution for B2B sales. Henry founded the business as DiscoverOrg in 2007 and bootstrapped it for the first 7 years of its life. Today, it’s an $8.5 billion public company with a database of over 140 million business contacts. We delve into the science of great sales, Henry shares some awesome stories, and we talk about his business philosophy more broadly. Please enjoy my great conversation with Henry Schuck. ZoomInfo Business Breakdown Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 driveable global models handbuilt by a team of sector-focused analysts, 25+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:19) - (First question) - The story of Henry’s famous email about building a championship team (00:07:01) - Dealing with pressure in business (00:09:14) - Applying pressure from the top down as a CEO (00:10:28) - How ZoomInfo’s C-suite was constructed and how it operates (00:13:17) - A high-level picture of their product philosophy (00:19:29) - Rating the effectiveness of the average B2B go-to-market engine (00:21:25) - An anecdote about meeting with the head of commercial banking at one of world’s largest banks (00:23:06) - What separates the good from the great B2B go-to-market strategies (00:27:30) - Specific questions for screening potential salespeople; characteristics to look for (00:31:39) - The story of bootstrapping his startup (00:36:05) - His view on the process of pricing (00:40:54) - The importance of M&A in building the business (00:47:01) - The story of how ZoomInfo was acquired (00:50:06) - The ever-shifting goal posts of mergers and acquisitions (00:53:15) - Anecdotes of hustling in the early days (00:59:34) - Another story from the early days of selling (01:03:40) - Using information to influence a potential lead into a sale (01:04:57) - How companies can prepare for the advent of generative AI (01:12:10) - The stages of what it means to be a CEO (01:13:15) - Learning how to execute M&A (01:16:43) - What it means for a company to work in unison at scale (01:18:26) - His advice on M&A, company core values, and corporate communication (01:26:57) - Tips for going public with a company (01:28:33) - Lessons learned from leading a public company (01:34:47) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
Today’s conversation was recorded during last week’s Sohn Conference. I sat down with Karen Karniol-Tambour, Co-CIO at Bridgewater Associates. I hosted Karen on this show two years ago and if you listened to that, you’ll remember she has a rare skill for distilling and analysing complex macro topics. Today’s environment is strikingly different to the summer of 2021 so this is a timely conversation on the big macro variables that are on investors’ minds today. Please enjoy my conversation with Karen Karniol-Tambour. Sohn 2023 | Kiril Sokoloff in conversation with Stanley Druckenmiller Sohn 2023 | Patrick Collison in conversation Sam Altman Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:05) - (First question) - Her take on AI and watching this new technology unfold (00:06:39) - Things she’s watching in the AI space that might lead to taking portfolio action (00:09:19) - Potentially using AI to inform or make investment decisions (00:10:17) - Why might it be the case that no one can use AI for investing in macro markets (00:11:14) - What she’d write about regarding the general state of capital markets today (00:13:46) - What pricing is telling us about market sentiment writ large (00:15:47) - Thinking about portfolio positioning in light of the unattractive state of risk assets (00:17:17) - Her perspectives on gold historically and today (00:20:09) - Big long-term slow-moving macro variables that aren’t quite visible yet (00:22:09) - The all-weather portfolio and building one in light of so much uncertainty (00:24:38) - The rise of China, its growing power, and potential conflicts with the US (00:28:01) - Monitoring for things like the banking crisis beneath the public narrative (00:31:13) - Non-obvious variables that currently have her attention (00:33:29) - “Overrated or underrated” rapid-fire questions (00:36:04) - What it’s been like being the CIO of Bridgewater so far
My guest this week is Fidji Simo, the CEO of Instacart. Fidji grew up in a small town in the South of France and was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. Since then, she has had a dazzling career with stops at France’s leading university, eBay, and Facebook. Fidji spent the better part of a decade at Facebook where she led the Facebook App before joining the online grocery platform, Instacart, in mid 2021. We talk about Fidji’s consumer product experiences, Instacart’s role within the grocery ecosystem, and delve into her personal philosophy on leadership. Please enjoy this wide-ranging discussion with Fidji Simo. Apply for the Investigative Research Analyst position at Positive Sum. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:51) - (First question) - Comparing her experiences with Facebook and Instacart (00:06:22) - The dimensionality of creating great consumer products online (00:07:50) - How Instacart uses AI now and her advice to other companies who are ready to incorporate AI into their business (00:15:41) - What being a pragmatic technologist means to her (00:18:02) - Influences in younger years that led to her career path in technology (00:21:00) - The landscape Instacart seeks to build and how major key players within the industry are involved (00:27:09) - Data algorithms and their role in helping consumers (00:29:24) - Scale around the original core business (00:32:12) - The functional difference between Instacart shoppers and delivery drivers (00:34:59) - Issues with fully automated grocery store facilities (00:37:32) - Insight into working with brands and consumer brand loyalty (00:43:16) - Her vision for the future of Instacart (00:49:34) - Her principles for capital allocation (00:52:34) - Common misperceptions about Instacart from prospective investors (00:54:21) - Her philosophy of seeing the magic in team members (00:56:46) - Expanding knowledge while managing a complex business environment (01:01:01) - When she felt the most helpless in her career (01:03:46) - Insight into generative AI and how it could shape the online grocery experience (01:08:00) - The role of content and its importance for businesses like Instacart (01:12:35) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her
My guests this week are Jeremy Levine, Kent Bennett, and Brian Feinstein. They are partners at one of the oldest and most storied venture firms in the world, Bessemer Venture Partners. Our conversation is split into two parts. First, we explore Bessemer itself. It’s over 100 years old and has a unique operating model with lessons for every investment firm in the market. We then discuss Jeremy, Kent, and Brian’s investing styles and outlook. What they look for in businesses, their thoughts on various sectors like vertical market software, and we close with a discussion about AI and defensibility. Please enjoy this great conversation. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 55,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:14) - (First question) - The unique history of Bessemer and how the firm stays current (00:08:55) - The role of heritage and cooperative partnership in Bessemer’s model (00:14:36) - How giving each partner autonomy and commissions can lead to better personal and company outcomes (00:17:18) - The extent of freedom a partner has in terms of the style of investments made (00:20:38) - Retro-analyzing the effectiveness of their investment roadmaps and core insights (00:25:10) - What conflict typically looks like in partners’ conversations and how they resolve it (00:27:06) - How they enable their junior staff using apprenticeship and open dialogue (00:31:31) - Their different taste in investment targets (00:35:11) - How they each evaluate companies based on their unique interests (00:42:32) - Their thoughts on valuations and how they have dealt with with run-ups in the tech market (00:45:46) - What they anticipate in the future of early-stage investing (00:49:43) - The significance of Centaur companies that have hit $100-million in revenue (00:52:38) - The success of Bessemer’s writing and online content (00:55:13) - Where the vertical market software industry is in its life cycle (00:59:12) - How the next wave of innovation may revolutionize software or even depart from it (01:02:33) - Advice they give to companies looking to prepare for future shifts in tech and AI (01:04:46) - What excites them and what scares them within the development of LLMs (01:08:18) - Defensibility of an LLM-based company, given the high level of competition (01:10:39) - How their firm deals with terminating partners if and when they aren’t a good fit (01:14:53) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for each of them
My guest this week is Alexis Rivas. Alexis is the co-founder and CEO of Cover, which is pioneering a new way of building homes. It’s no surprise to anyone that aspects of our housing market is broken. The market is undersupplied and littered with regulatory issues. The homebuilding process has also not changed for the better part of a century. Alexis is attacking the problem and has taken a leaf out of the car industry’s learnings to create a similar production process for home building. In our discussion, we talk about his idea of lego pieces for homes, how they’re refining production with backyard homes first, and how this may change the way people buy and sell homes in future. Please enjoy my conversation with Alexis Rivas. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. For a limited time, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:39) - (First question) - Supply and demand situation writ large for housing in the United States (00:06:34) - Lack of workforce growth to meet housing development needs (00:10:23) - Insight into “lego piece” style construction (00:11:41) - The comparison to automotive manufacturing (00:16:15) - Strategic description of a good “lego piece” from Cover (00:20:08) - Utility continuity comparison between panels versus tradition construction (00:21:05) - Potential criticism from skeptical contractors (00:22:53) - The marginal cost for a typical home buyer (00:25:59) - The role of software in the business (00:28:47) - Insight into support model and “The Last Mile” theory in construction and possible solutions to combat errors during assembly (00:30:46) - Support system integration for inevitable repairs (00:32:17) - The changing reality of initial ideas as projects are completed (00:34:27) - Building factories and streamlining production logistics (00:37:28) - Focusing on constraints and an example relatable to real life scenarios (00:38:37) - The value of moving slow to perfect processes early on versus an all in head first approach (00:40:09) - The scope of ambition over the next several decades (00:41:18) - The evolution of homes and how they could change based of consumer wants (00:43:37) - Vertical capabilities of cover panels (00:43:21) - Types of panels that could be introduced moving forward (00:45:14) - Timeline for Cover expansion into new states (00:46:06) - Advice for upcoming entrepreneurs when building similar business models (00:47:58) - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for Alexis
My guest this week is Dr. Peter Attia. I’ve had Peter on the show twice before but it’s been over 5 years since his last appearance. In that period, his work has exploded and today he’s one of the clear leaders on the topic and practice of longevity and health span. He has a new book out called Outlive, which I heartily recommend. You’ll hear us refer to the last chapter of his book early in our conversation but we chose not to reveal the whole story live so you can read and enjoy it. We highlight the big picture in our conversation, including the transition from Medicine 2.0 to Medicine 3.0. I always leave these conversations with Peter full of ideas, and in this case, highly motivated to go outside and move my body in nature. I can think of no better actionable advice. Please enjoy my conversation with Peter Attia. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with Tegus Expert Calls. Tegus delivers expert calls at a fraction of the cost of legacy vendors, with white-glove custom sourcing for every project at the speed you need to keep your research moving. And we don’t stop there. With rigorous compliance processes baked into everything we do, you can rest assured we’ve vetted every expert to ensure your privacy and protection. Start your next project today with Tegus Expert Calls. As an Invest Like the Best listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes Peter on The Tim Ferriss Show Podcast (00:04:15) - (First question) - How Patrick influenced Peter’s decision to launch his podcast (00:05:45) - How Peter has changed in the process of writing this book (00:08:11) - Process of writing the last chapter of this book (00:11:12) - How he stopped dealing with imposter syndrome (00:15:58) - Slow vs. fast death and medicine 2.0 vs. medicine 3.0 (00:22:55) - Doing more early detection screening to avoid slow death (00:27:00) - Impacts of compounding risks (00:31:24) - How do we shift thinking to better lifestyle changes vs. pill popping (00:35:32) - The outsized impact of exercise on health (00:46:18) - Peter’s exercise portfolio (The Comfort Crisis book) (00:50:55) - Why habitual workouts create euphoria for exercise (00:54:45) - How Peter’s views on nutrition have evolved (00:59:30) - Measuring metabolic health (01:01:55) - Where Peter hopes the future of healthcare is heading (01:05:40) - Benefits of mindfulness to health (01:12:55) - Defining your purpose in life (01:16:46) - An index card summation of this book (01:19:45) - Lessons learned being a better interviewer (01:21:46) - Frontier of Peter’s curiosity
My guests today are Scott Davis and Rob Wertheimer. Scott and Rob head up Melius Research and are the authors of a great book called Lessons from the Titans. The book explains what the industrial giants of old can teach the new generation of high-growth businesses about how to survive and deliver shareholder value over multiple decades. Drawing on their experience as industrial analysts, they present case studies on businesses like Danaher, Roper, Honeywell, Boeing and GE to reveal both what does and doesn’t work when it comes to capital allocation and business strategy as a company enters a more mature phase in its lifecycle. Please enjoy my conversation with Scott and Rob. Read Lessons from the Titans Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. I’m a longtime user and advocate of Tegus, a company that I’ve been so consistently impressed with that last fall my firm, Positive Sum, invested $20M to support Tegus’ mission to expand its product ecosystem. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:20) - (First question) - The intersection between the current tech sector drawdown and the historical track record of industrial titans (00:07:10) - The most common ways they see companies start to fail and the types of errors they commit (00:11:01) - The best historical examples of companies that have gone from non-operational excellence to operational excellence (00:15:04) - Teaching the value of a business system and installing one for longevity (00:24:06) - Questions they’d ask and points of evaluation to uncover the health of a business (00:31:19) - Thinking about sustainable value creation in a lower growth environment (00:37:04) - Lessons from operating leverage and the rental industry (00:39:11) - Ways industrial companies have handled growth CapEx well and badly (00:43:52) - The line between discovering the future in a lab versus major pivots in reality while trying to solve today’s problems (00:49:37) - How the best managers nurture a great shareholder base (00:55:35) - Lessons to learn about business model transitions (01:00:13) - Further important messages from their book that businesses would benefit from (01:04:30) - The kindest things anyone has ever done for them
Today’s episode is a little different. Rather than share a new conversation, I have put together a few of my favourites from the past six and a half years of doing this show. I often listen back to these for inspiration, energy, and their timeless ideas on life and investing. Each of these is a significantly shortened version of the original episode. The first conversation you’ll hear is with Sam Hinkie, the second discussion is with Boyd Varty, and the last conversation you’ll hear is with Charlie Songhurst. Sam, Boyd, and Charlie are all exceptional in their own way and I hope you enjoy these condensed versions of our conversations. Sam Hinkie - Find Your People Boyd Varty - The Art of Tracking Charlie Songhurst - Lessons from Investing in 483 Companies For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. I’m a longtime user and advocate of Tegus, a company that I’ve been so consistently impressed with that last fall my firm, Positive Sum, invested $20M to support Tegus’ mission to expand its product ecosystem. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:04:40) - (Sam Hinkie) (00:05:55) - The most amazing thing he’s seen from someone he has worked with (00:09:51) - His interest in finding “digital breadcrumbs” on his pursuit of knowing a person (00:13:18) - The impactful story of meeting the assistant GM of the Houston Rockets (00:17:22) - Strategies he has developed to avoid transactional people (00:19:22) - How he shapes his career and optimizes from an investment perspective (00:24:06) - The strangest things he has come across in early-stage investing (00:29:47) - (Boyd Varty) (00:33:04) - His early experiences with tracking wildlife and how it applies to investing (00:44:46) - What can be learned about life goals and paths from the experience of tracking (00:47:59) - The influence of culture on decision-making and goal-setting (00:50:39) - His concept of “the ordering of chaos on behalf of others” (00:54:41) - The importance of moving towards the unknown to start approaching goals (00:57:15) - His most memorable tracking experience (01:12:40) - (Charlie Songhurst) (01:15:10) - His diverse career highlights (01:16:29) - His analysis of why startups succeed or fail (01:21:21) - What founders can learn to enable and maintain productivity in their company (01:25:21) - Nature versus nurture as it applies to adept founders, and the controversial “alien founder” concept (01:30:10) - The importance of good recruiting from an early stage (01:33:32) - How founders can make their companies attractive to prospective talent (01:35:53) - Why he is interested in investing in highly boring and highly complex ideas
Hello everyone. A few days ago, we discussed what we call forever episodes, which are the few episodes of our show that we think will be as popular a decade from now as they are today. When I re-listened to this episode with David Senra, I left wildly energized and wanting to share that feeling. So we are re-releasing it today for anyone who missed it the first time or hadn't yet discovered Invest Like the Best. Please share with your friends and loved ones as I think anyone will benefit from David's perspective and enthusiasm. Have a great weekend and we'll be back with more next week. David Senra has studied history’s great founders and entrepreneurs in more depth than anyone I’ve ever met, and I’d wager more than anyone else alive. In this conversation, we cover many of the most common themes he’s discovered studying hundreds of entrepreneurs like Estée Lauder, John Rockefeller, Enzo Ferrari, and Edwin Land. Please enjoy this great conversation with David Senra. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:01] - [First question] - When he first fell in love with reading [00:07:01] - What’s rooted in his own history that’s made him obsessive about studying history’s great entrepreneurs and founders - Founders Podcast [00:10:34] - The first time he connected with someone as a positive role model that he was reading about [00:13:45] - How often obsession is apparent in the founders he’s studied across hundreds of biographies [00:18:08] - What is often behind obsession and how people listening can apply the lessons to their own lives [00:22:45] - The dynamic and relationship between inspiration and perspiration [00:27:11] - Commonalities between the layers of leadership and support underneath founders [00:31:52] - Where else he’s seen ego rear its head in good and bad ways [00:38:34] - How often do great founders break the law or enter gray areas of it [00:41:22] - The role constant learning and listening plays in success [00:45:12] - Talking about how anything worth doing is worth doing to excess [00:52:18] - Describing the soul of founders and businesses [00:58:39] - What he’s learned about all of these founders as it relates to marketing [01:04:38] - A common story that process is often art [01:08:10] - Who his idols are in podcasting specifically [01:14:55] - Major aspects of people he’s studied that haven’t been discussed yet [01:19:55] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is David Einhorn. David is the President of Greenlight Capital, a long-short hedge fund that he co-founded in 1996. He is a prominent value investor with a reputation for rigorous security analysis. In 2002, he revealed a short position in Allied Capital, which was ultimately proven correct and similarly in early 2008, he told the Sohn Conference he was short Lehman Brothers. Over his near three decades managing money at Greenlight, he has delivered impressive returns but it has not been without challenge. Our conversation covers both the highs and lows, his views on the current banking issues, and how he has evolved as an investor. Please enjoy my great conversation with David Einhorn. The Sohn Conference 2023 Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. I’m a longtime user and advocate of Tegus, a company that I’ve been so consistently impressed with that last fall my firm, Positive Sum, invested $20M to support Tegus’ mission to expand its product ecosystem. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:50) - (First question) - Why he is glad he started his fund in 1996 rather than today (00:05:58) - His view of how companies’ personnel and goals have changed since the 90’s (00:07:01) - His counter-momentum approach to markets and how he views current trends (00:11:17) - The jelly-donut theory of monetary policy (00:14:46) - His outlook on inflation and the Fed from a fiscal perspective (00:16:48) - The evolution of Greenlight’s portfolio and philosophy through history (00:20:11) - Periods in his career that stand out as the most challenging (00:25:58) - How tech advances have influenced his core concept of figuring out worth (00:28:17) - His three-step process to picking investment targets (00:29:10) - The companies he has learned the most from studying (00:30:52) - His experience with investing in Apple (00:33:33) - How he considers the notion of quality in a business (00:35:05) - His views on shorting, concentration, and holding periods (00:38:37) - What he learned from a deep dive on airline businesses (00:40:31) - His perspective on sports franchises as an asset (00:42:12) - His new interest in poker and how he got so good at it (00:45:22) - Applying traditional valuation styles to the modern market (00:47:13) - Cultivating relationships with his limited partner investors and his team (00:54:26) - His perspectives on the insurance space (00:57:33) - The health of the economy and financial infrastructure as he understands it (01:01:51) - How he thinks about housing and the construction industry (01:03:54) - How AI and other high-tech are affecting his investment decisions (01:05:28) - Other topics on his mind, from national politics to social psychology (01:08:22) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Avi Goldfarb. Avi is a Professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the Rotman Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare, as well as the co-author of two bestselling books on AI and its economic impact. His most recent book, Power and Prediction, is probably the best piece of content I have read in explaining how AI may reshape business models, systems, and products. We recorded this before GPT-4’s release last week which, if anything, makes Avi’s ideas on AI’s impact all the more poignant. Please enjoy my conversation with Avi Goldfarb. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. I’m a longtime user and advocate of Tegus, a company that I’ve been so consistently impressed with that last fall my firm, Positive Sum, invested $20M to support Tegus’ mission to expand its product ecosystem. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:15) - [First question] - His initial reaction to chat GPT when it first launched (00:07:08) - Prediction Machines; The impact price has on how much something is used by humans (00:11:07) - The shift from steam powered factories to electric ones and the transition between the two in regards to systems and application solutions; Power and Prediction (00:17:06) - Midpoints between a point solution and a systems solution and applications that are being built in the middle of them (00:19:10) - What application, system, and point solutions feel like today in the world of AI (00:27:03) - The transition from a world governed by rules to one by decisions (00:30:58) - How the power of prediction moves us from a binary to a decimal framework (00:34:48) - Ways power disruption will occur as we navigate the emerging AI frontier (00:44:33) - Other functions like personalization that entrepreneurs should think about putting into their products and features (00:47:18) - How we should be thinking about the generation of information and data (00:51:32) - A future where technology either desimates or empowers specific industries (00:54:16) - What he’s most excited and worried about given the emerging frontier of AI (00:55:41) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest this week is Auren Hoffman. Auren is the CEO of Safegraph, which curates data on physical locations. He also founded LiveRamp, a public data connectivity business. Auren knows more about data businesses than almost anyone I know and that is the topic of today’s discussion. We look at the business of data from every angle and finish with a fun masterclass on how to host a dinner party. Please enjoy my conversation with Auren Hoffman. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:16] - [First question] - His 2x2 matrix for categorizing different types of data businesses [00:04:59] - An example of what he calls a religion company in his matrix [00:07:03] - His notion of data currency [00:08:23] - His definition of a great business [00:09:46] - An example of a so-called application religion company in his proverbial matrix [00:11:24] - Co-op and non-profit business models within and outside of the data sphere [00:13:35] - The truth application quadrant of his matrix [00:16:18] - How data has exploded in prevalence for the business world as a whole [00:18:57] - How to think about the end market for data and its demand [00:21:09] - Characteristics of a good data set and how to identify it [00:23:14] - Other factors that impact the usability of a data set [00:24:30] - Optimizing data collection itself [00:26:30] - The slow growth that’s typical of early-stage data companies [00:27:27] - Market share considerations for data businesses [00:30:03] - Common struggles for data entrepreneurs [00:34:01] - The genesis of his business; SafeGraph [00:37:08] - The power of self-maintained and user-maintained databases [00:40:16] - Typical customers and use cases for SafeGraph’s data [00:41:08] - How SafeGraph and other companies protect against data theft [00:42:12] - Frequency of change as a proxy for the value of a given data set [00:45:32] - Categorizing inbound data based on the most important criteria [00:47:07] - The founder personalities he finds in the data industry [00:49:53] - Why he feels the data truth quadrant of his matrix is underdeveloped [00:50:30] - Bloomberg as an important data company to study [00:51:42] - The importance of transparency in business and in data distribution [00:53:07] - Failure modes that he sees most commonly in data-based startups [00:53:53] - Data businesses becoming application businesses and vice-versa [00:57:35] - The great dinner parties he’s known for [00:59:50] - How he makes the dinner parties appeal to introverts [01:03:11] - Dead people he would most like to have as dinner guests [01:04:09] - Questions he would ask the most influential religious figures [01:06:20] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest this week is Trae Stephens. Trae is a partner at Founders Fund and co-founder and Executive Chairman of Anduril. Trae’s philosophy can be boiled down to finding good quests, which has led him to investing in businesses that work closely with the government on societally important issues. Clearly, that extends to co-founding Anduril and I would highly recommend listening to my Business Breakdowns episode on Anduril if you haven’t already. In this conversation, we discuss the importance of lobbyists, why the high-tech defense firms of the past became stale, and how he hunts for disagreeableness in founders. Please enjoy my conversation with Trae Stephens. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:17] - [First question] - Why Trae thinks most high-margin businesses are bad for society [00:04:28] - What would he change to impact energy technology most if he were in charge [00:06:18] - His investing focus on dynamism and mission-driven tech companies [00:09:42] - Analyzing why relatively few people strive to make society-level advancements [00:11:35] - What he’s done as a parent to enable his kids to develop passions [00:12:41] - The most noteworthy adventures in his career [00:14:41] - Founding Anduril and what it taught him about the tech industry [00:18:40] - The cutting-edge of defense technologies today [00:21:29] - What Shyam Sankar of Palantir taught him about defense tech [00:23:34] - Why some of the biggest defense tech companies have stopped innovating [00:28:29] - What he and Anduril have learned about sales and scaling in the public sector [00:35:22] - His take on Peter Thiel’s notion that competition should be avoided [00:38:24] - The importance of being psychologically disagreeable when building a start-up [00:39:54] - The origin story that stands out the most from companies he has interviewed [00:41:12] - How he developed an investor mindset on his unorthodox path to the venture world [00:43:57] - What he has learned from playing supporting roles and aligning with great leaders [00:46:11] - Important but uncommon lessons about entrepreneurship [00:48:21] - Venture investing lessons he’s learned from Lauren Gross [00:50:00] - His first VR project and aspirations for the future of VR [00:54:50] - The role of religion and spirituality in his business philosophies [00:59:13] - Why he tries to capitalize on morality as opposed to sin [01:03:57] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest this week is Doug Leone. Doug led one of the world’s most successful venture firms, Sequoia, for over 25 years after he was given responsibility for the firm by its founder, Don Valentine, in 1996. Alongside Mike Moritz, the pair managed its expansion from a single $150m early-stage fund into an $85 billion global powerhouse. It was a privilege to sit down with Doug and learn from him. We talk about his tough start at Sequoia, get into the technicalities of great go-to-market motions, and survey his advice for other investors in the industry. A key theme that will stick with me from this conversation is Doug’s insistence on keeping things simple and clear. Please enjoy my great conversation with Doug Leone. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:21] - [First question] - What Don Valentine’s heart was like [00:06:30] - The most productive and unproductive parts of Don’s toughness [00:09:01] - Being the opposite of insufferable and how it was different when he was younger [00:10:55] - Why it’s so important to understand someone’s core motivations [00:14:18] - Questions or topics he returns to when getting to know people [00:15:31] - How much time he believes it can take to really get to know someone [00:20:37] - What venture looks like to him today relative to his prior career [00:23:51] - His style of approaching emerging technology markets like AI as an investor [00:26:37] - Whether or not he’d go into venture today if he was in his late 20s [00:28:30] - Commonalities between the very best at going to market effectively [00:31:11] - The key components of great product positioning [00:32:10] - Helping companies circumnavigate mediocre positioning [00:33:25] - Generating demand and leads and doing it well [00:37:15] - How interacting with companies early on has changed over the ears [00:46:14] - Sussing out the killer gene in somebody [00:47:25] - What high school was like for him when he first came to the US [00:49:04] - How successful people can instill the lessons learned from hardship into their children [00:50:45] - The most common failure modes he’s seen for investors [00:55:21] - The early 2000s clawback at Sequoia and what navigating that period was like [00:59:06] - What he’s learned about picking the right LPs and partnering with them [01:00:40] - The most interesting question an LP has ever asked him [01:02:18] - Making sure that performance is on everyone’s minds all the time [01:04:04] - What the components of a fantastic investment memo are [01:05:00] - Which dinner companions he’d pick to educate a newly successful founder [01:05:29] - What first popped out at him as black magic when he started investing [01:07:59] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
I’m excited to share this conversation with Tim Urban. Tim is, in my opinion, one of the best and most engaging writers of our era. He’s tackled many of the most interesting topics in the world from AI to procrastination. I interviewed him in 2017 in an episode we called “Grand Theft Life”, and it remains one of my favorite episodes ever. In the 6 years since that episode, he hasn’t published almost anything. That’s because he’s been writing the book we discuss in this episode. The book is called “What’s Our Problem”, in which Tim investigates the big issues facing society. The reason I love Tim’s writing so much is its density of ideas and ridiculously clear explanations: a rare combo that makes reading a joy. I hope you enjoy this great round two with Tim Urban, and go buy and enjoy his great new book. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. Listen to Founders podcast. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. I’m a longtime user and advocate of Tegus, a company that I’ve been so consistently impressed with that last fall my firm, Positive Sum, invested $20M to support Tegus’ mission to expand its product ecosystem. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:50] - [First question] - What it’s been like spending seven years thinking about a single topic: Tim's book, What’s Our Problem? [00:05:05] - How he’s come to articulate the big question he’s trying to answer in his book [00:07:58] - A dinner experience where a single question showed just how much of a problem there was to solve [00:09:47] - Group ideology and the different ladder rungs of human thinking [00:17:28] - The concept of a social golems and genies and their implications for society [00:23:02] - His favorite genies and golems throughout history and their impact [00:29:07] - Examples of canonical high functioning genies across history [00:34:20] - The key ingredients within liberal democracies that allow for and correct golems [00:40:44] - Media’s role in shaping ideas and society and what’s changed about it in today’s media landscape [00:46:46] - What else is going on that has him worried about modern institutions that are failing as social immune systems [01:01:15] - The gap between what we say publicly versus what we feel privately and the growing pile of unsaid things [01:07:18] - What’s to be done in order to help society repair itself [01:14:09] - Whether or not the direction we’re most afraid to run is where we should [01:17:37] - Thoughts on AI having written extensively on it and the new wave of emerging tools [01:22:13] - The role and impact of leadership in regards to golems and genies
My guest today is Dan Rose. Dan is the chairman of Coatue Ventures and has one of the most interesting collections of experiences of anyone I’ve talked to. He spent 20 years at Amazon and Facebook in their early days, working closely with Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sheryl Sandberg. He’s had a front-row seat to the defining products and founders of our era and his lessons from those experiences do not disappoint. Please enjoy this great discussion with Dan Rose. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. I’m a longtime user and advocate of Tegus, a company that I’ve been so consistently impressed with that last fall my firm, Positive Sum, invested $20M to support Tegus’ mission to expand its product ecosystem. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:27] - [First question] - The story behind Amazon’s Kindle and the lessons it taught him [00:09:19] - Amazon’s philosophy of working backwards and the most creative solutions he and his team had to come up inside of that framework [00:13:04] - What he did to convince publishers to get on board with his vision [00:16:02] - His overall experience of the relationship between innovation and constraints [00:18:43] - Thoughts about the fine line between genius and nutcase [00:22:02] - What the key points of his theory on partnerships would be [00:24:28] - When advising portfolio companies becomes relevant [00:26:09] - The dark arts of building companies that could be adopted by partnerships [00:28:40] - Why he thinks the best technology companies drive strategy through product [00:32:23] - Resolving micro management while also giving skilled talent their own space [00:36:07] - Where Javier Olivan fits into his ideal executive team [00:36:57] - What about growth requires its own expertise [00:37:35] - What makes Dave Schneider an ideal sales leader [00:39:08] - The most stressful period of time while working at Facebook [00:42:51] - General thoughts on great versus good business models in tech [00:45:36] - Topics where Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg would disagree the most [00:47:13] - Defining the platonic ideal of a great investor approaching corporate enterprises [00:50:25] - Overview of the investing environment we’re in today from coast to coast [00:55:07] - What made Sheryl Sandberg so successful; Lean In [01:00:35] - Why he started his career at Life Mastery selling personal growth seminars [01:05:47] - What will define the next generation of leaders [01:07:59] - A product he would build if he could that doesn’t exist yet [01:08:59] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Jeff Green, the CEO and co-founder of advertising platform, The Trade Desk. The Trade Desk is the second advertising exchange Jeff has built, having sold his first venue to Microsoft in 2007. He started The Trade Desk in 2009 and has built it into a $30 billion public business. In our discussion, we talk about the parallels between The Trade Desk and an equity exchange, why Jeff chose to align with ad buyers not sellers, and how he shapes the culture of his firm. Please enjoy my conversation with Jeff Green. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. Listen to Founders podcast Founders Episode #136 A Success Story: Estee Lauder Founders Episode #288 Ralph Lauren Invest Like the Best with David Senra: Passion & Pain ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. I’m a longtime user and advocate of Tegus, a company that I’ve been so consistently impressed with that last fall my firm, Positive Sum, invested $20M to support Tegus’ mission to expand its product ecosystem. Whether it’s quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:09] - [First question] - What he’s learned about human behavior and how it’s impacted his business [00:05:45] - Big differences in generational and perennial behavior [00:06:56] - The strong link between vulnerability and creativity [00:07:42] - The necessary preconditions that allowed him to build Trade Desk the way he did [00:10:53] - What it would have felt like as an early stage employee at Trade Desk [00:12:43] - The hardest parts about maintaining his type of company culture [00:14:05] - How much of his company culture is interwoven systemically or whether it arises naturally based on talent choices [00:15:59] - Defining what talent means to him and the dimensions of it that matter [00:22:03] - What he’s learned about delivering messages effectively [00:23:49] - The founding story and history of Trade Desk [00:28:33] - How he thinks about the key stakeholder groups around Trade Desk’s platform [00:30:50] - Figuring out who Trade Desk’s key customers were and identifying them writ large [00:34:55] - The composition of the universe and market of those who buy advertising [00:36:11] - Practical product implications based on their choice of service [00:40:16] - Building inventory legibility and its dimensions and importance [00:47:55] - The time between the first line of code to a multi million dollar revenue stream [00:50:29] - Markers for technology companies he’d look for that could achieve a similar scale [00:53:35] - How not being able to simulate poverty or hunger translates into his parenting [00:57:10] - Describing the margin differences between Trade Desk and Google [00:59:00] - What stands out as the defining moment in his firm’s history [01:01:50] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest this week is Carl Kawaja. It’s the second time I’ve had Carl on the show and my first conversation with him is one I go back to often. Carl is a portfolio manager at Capital Group, where he’s quietly overseen a huge portfolio for decades. He is one of the top investors operating today as well as one of my favorite people. The investing world has changed quite a bit since Carl and I first spoke in mid-2021 so this was a great chance to use Carl’s curious mind and wide range of experiences to discuss the regime change taking place across capital markets. In true Kawaja fashion, we go all over the map and discuss Apple, the Amazonian rainforest, baseball, the oil & gas industry, Muhammad Ali, and more. Please enjoy my great discussion with Carl Kawaja. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. I’m a longtime user and advocate of Tegus, a company that I’ve been so consistently impressed with that last fall my firm, Positive Sum, invested $20M to support Tegus’ mission to expand its product ecosystem. Whether it's quantitative analysis, company disclosures, management presentations, earnings calls - Tegus has tools for every step of your investment research. They even have over 4000 fully driveable financial models. Tegus’ maniacal focus on quality, as well as its depth, breadth and recency of content makes it the one-stop, end-to-end research platform for investors. Move faster, gather deep research to build conviction and surface high-quality, alpha-driving insights to find your differentiated edge with Tegus. As a listener, you can take the Tegus platform for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:44] - [First question] - What the market feels like to him today [00:06:00] - The pros and cons of the cost of capital and experimentation [00:09:09] - Things we can learn from Oil & Gas stocks and resource commodities in general [00:14:38] - Pulling apart the key lessons from Berkshire’s purchases of IBM and Apple [00:20:37] - The practical implications of wanting to land more soft-wins in investing that aren’t apparent out of the gate [00:25:52] - How he approaches and considers products and product cycles writ large [00:31:10] - The Systems Bible [00:33:15] - Thoughts about making money from value based strategies [00:38:31] - His methodology to go about finding the next diamond in the rough [00:42:48] - A New Innings [00:45:13] - The Arc of Boxing; Lessons from Muhammad Ali fighting Cleveland Williams [00:48:54] - Someone he thinks is an exemplar in both business and the world [00:54:37] - Don’t Sleep There Are Snakes [00:59:41] - The role fossil fuels play in the energy transition and the current regime change [01:07:35] - What we can learn from uncontroversial transitions in the past
My guest this week is Daryl Morey, who is President of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers. Daryl is a computer science graduate but has become one of the NBA’s most successful General Managers during his time with the Houston Rockets and the 76ers. Together with my friend and past guest of the show, Sam Hinkie, Daryl pioneered the analytics movement in basketball. He’s been so influential his style has its own name, “Moreyball”, a nod to Michael Lewis’s book about baseball, Moneyball. Daryl is also the co-founder of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which has become the gold standard forum for leaders in sports analytics. I had a blast talking to him about negotiation tactics, systems thinking, hiring, and a ton more. Please enjoy this great conversation with Daryl Morey. Listen to Founders podcast Founders Episode #136 A Success Story: Estee Lauder Invest Like the Best with David Senra: Passion & Pain For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:15] - [First question] - The basic principles of sports and what makes for a great sport [00:09:54] - How resource concentration influences outcomes in various sports [00:13:13] - The degree of certainty in predicting sports outcomes based on existing data [00:16:32] - Using the concept of KPIs to optimize for certain characteristics to win games [00:18:45] - Training teams on specific systems and plays versus leveraging individual talent [00:21:07] - Why superstar athletes are key to success in basketball [00:24:02] - Dealing with constant expected value calculations to appease stakeholders [00:25:30] - Building the organization’s back office to find talented athletes [00:28:32] - How he and other GMs make organization-level decisions [00:34:12] - Why he’s involved with basketball as opposed to other sports [00:36:17] - How he uses his frameworks to figure out systems outside of mainstream sports [00:37:41] - Problems with the rules and economic factors of professional soccer [00:42:54] - Trends he’s observed in the worlds of music, movies, and books [00:45:33] - His perspective on developing one’s own career path [00:48:22] - How challenges in his youth benefited him in the long run [00:49:28] - The person he would call for advice if he was stuck in a foreign prison [00:51:01] - His emphasis on first principles and why he supports free speech [00:52:31] - Takeaways from a Harvard negotiation class he took [00:57:07] - The power of refining the terms and definitions of a deal post-negotiation [00:58:51] - The four people in the world that intrigue him most [01:01:40] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Miles Grimshaw. Miles is in his early thirties and is a General Partner at Benchmark. His experience and success belie his age. He was an early investor in Segment, Benchling, and Airtable, all before they had 30 employees. I have learned a ton from Miles about software investing and that’s why I was excited to have him on the show. We discuss his biological approach to investing, whether pure API companies can be good businesses, and what most has his attention right now. Please enjoy this conversation with Miles Grimshaw. Listen to Founders podcast Founders Episode #136 A Success Story: Estee Lauder Invest Like the Best with David Senra: Passion & Pain For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern Saas platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. I’ve been so impressed by the platform that my firm, Positive Sum, recently made an investment in Tegus. We did so because we feel that Tegus will be the gold standard platform for investing research for decades to come. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:57] - [First question] - His notion of the investor as a biologist or a physicist [00:05:24] - Why he seeks out new companies with unique business models [00:07:53] - How his investments are based on present and future needs in the market [00:11:55] - Evaluating the genetics of a nascent or small company [00:13:38] - The half-life of information as it flows through a company or platform [00:17:26] - Unpacking how software companies can survive re-evaluation periods [00:21:03] - The power of environment creation and facilitation [00:25:10] - The importance of user conferences [00:25:45] - A company’s potential for a differentiated second act as a sign of good genes [00:30:21] - Product quality, timing, and reinvention in tech startups [00:33:10] - Why it’s crucial for companies to avoid copying their heroes [00:37:41] - Breaking down market perspective on pure API companies [00:41:29] - His views on software targeted to vertical versus horizontal markets [00:44:29] - Carefully leveraging relationships with core customers [00:48:06] - Operational lessons from his experience with the companies he’s invested in [00:50:26] - His maxim that software development is as much an art as a science [00:51:12] - His idea of a product magician in the software industry [00:52:19] - Effects of new products and categories at the forefront of the space [00:58:21] - How software founders should prepare for 2023 [01:01:41] - How both market structure and product shape the genetics of a business [01:04:32] - The challenge of pricing and packaging for SaaS companies [01:06:42] - Cardinal sins in software investing [01:07:42] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is John Fiorentino. John is a product inventor and entrepreneur who, in the space of a few years, has bootstrapped four products; Gravity Blanket, Moon Pod, Moon Pals, and Birthdate Candles which have collectively sold hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. Our conversation is quite different than normal. Alongside his successful brands, John has had a range of life experiences – from starting as a Jazz musician to working for Justin Bieber - that give him an original worldview. I was especially interested in his points around product positioning, creating magic for consumers, not letting yourself become the product, and how to build enduring brands. Please enjoy this great conversation with John Fiorentino. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. I’ve been so impressed by the platform that my firm, Positive Sum, recently made an investment in Tegus. We did so because we feel that Tegus will be the gold standard platform for investing research for decades to come. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:25] - [First question] - The amazing story behind Gravity Blanket [00:08:51] - What he’s learned about positioning relative to product [00:13:17] - How fundamental truths drive creativity in commerce [00:16:17] - Real-world examples of magic as he defines it [00:19:50] - The investability of consumer businesses from his perspective [00:25:25] - His contrarian thoughts on venture-backed startups [00:28:00] - How unique personalities create compelling IP and monetize it [00:38:28] - The fine line between creative power and self-destruction for brand founders [00:45:13] - The importance of consumer business goals being larger than oneself [00:48:45] - The story of the Moon Pals weighted stuffed animals [00:53:15] - How investors undervalue IP and mythology [00:57:20] - Leveraging uniqueness as a founder to boost your brand power [01:00:53] - His eye-opening experience working on Justin Bieber’s team [01:05:20] - How he identifies potential magic-makers and enables them [01:09:16] - An odd commonality between high-level successful people [01:12:14] - Whether or not one could map out their own archetype framework [01:15:23] - The dangers of focusing on one’s own persona and image as the product [01:18:19] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Amjad Masad. Amjad is the founder and CEO of Replit, whose mission is to bring the next billion software creators online. Replit has built a browser-based coding environment that makes coding more fun, collaborative, and approachable. We discuss how that is possible and why the way most of us interact with computers today is suboptimal. We then go into the effects of AI on software creation and its broader impacts on technology. Please enjoy my conversation with Amjad Masad. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. I’ve been so impressed by the platform that my firm, Positive Sum, recently made an investment in Tegus. We did so because we feel that Tegus will be the gold standard platform for investing research for decades to come. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes[00:02:18] - [First question] - The Steve Jobs black-pill [00:06:02] - Speculation on the near future of programming [00:09:38] - Potential convergence of simple software and coding tools [00:11:23] - What an IDE is and how it works [00:12:44] - The definition of REPL and the role of Replit in the space [00:14:21] - Decreasing friction in a programming environment using primitives [00:19:47] - Real-world effects of Replit’s low-friction design [00:23:27] - His perspective on new coding and AI technologies [00:30:29] - Promises and limitations of the user-friendly programming movement [00:33:16] - The dynamic nature of IDE technology and its challenges [00:39:53] - How he’s priming his team to react to new technologies like the upcoming GPT-4 [00:43:58] - Recommended skills and training for the AI world of the future [00:47:21] - The impact of IDE and AI tech innovations on existing tech giants [00:51:56] - His mixed but optimistic views on the trajectory of AI [00:54:40] - Recommendations for the curious listener without a programming background [00:56:50] - The role of smartphones in the IDE movement [00:58:28] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest this week is Rebecca Lynn. Rebecca co-founded early-stage investor Canvas Ventures in 2013 and is regularly featured as one of the best VCs in the market. She has deep positioning and go-to-market experience, which she honed during her time at Procter & Gamble, and that's the focus of our discussion. We cover the details of great marketing, why you should say no to customers, and how she has built Canvas. Please enjoy my discussion with Rebecca Lynn. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern Saas platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. I’ve been so impressed by the platform that my firm, Positive Sum, recently made an investment in Tegus. We did so because we feel that Tegus will be the gold standard platform for investing research for decades to come. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:37] - [First question] - What she’d do a great job teaching if she could teach a singular 401 level course [00:05:20] - Defining what the umbrella concept is [00:06:10] - What about her career at P&G applies most to the kinds of companies she spends her time with now [00:12:06] - What types of questions she asks to help someone building a product understand their marketing angle [00:15:34] - The top three things people do wrong when running a survey in tactics or strategy [00:19:33] - Categories of questions where surveys are always helpful and effective [00:21:06] - What the Go-To-Market Council is and what it does [00:28:21] - The ways that most funnels are commonly broken [00:31:17] - Defining great positioning and what it accomplishes [00:33:36] - How her knowledge and ideas most impacted the way she built Canvas [00:35:04] - Lessons learned about the world of digital health and the quantified self [00:39:15] - The base level attributes that most indicate investment potential when she’s investing in a company [00:42:32] - The shifts in the world that most have her attention today [00:46:10] - What has her worried systemically about venture investing [00:49:37] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her
My guest this week is Michael Mauboussin. Many of you will know Michael and his work well. He’s Head of Consilient Research at Counterpoint Global, one of the sharpest investment minds I know, and a frequent guest on this show. In this discussion, we go deep into his recent work on market share, returns on capital, and capital allocation - all of which are coming under increasing scrutiny for different reasons. Please enjoy this great conversation with my friend Michael Mauboussin. Listen to Founders podcast Founders Episode #136 A Success Story: Estee Lauder Invest Like the Best with David Senra: Passion & Pain For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. I’ve been so impressed by the platform that my firm, Positive Sum, recently made an investment in Tegus. We did so because we feel that Tegus will be the gold standard platform for investing research for decades to come. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:46] - [First question] - Overview of Michael’s recent research on market share [00:05:48] - Market share dynamics in modern history [00:08:43] - How market share data is useful for investors [00:12:30] - Investing in early breakout companies from low-concentration markets [00:14:34] - Surprises from his recent research project [00:15:29] - Using the value stick for stakeholder satisfaction [00:19:12] - Examples of value creation using the value stick [00:23:33] - Market power in relation to markups and willingness to pay [00:32:00] - Identifying a company’s real ROIC numbers [00:44:00] - How important absolute ROIC is when picking investments [00:47:07] - Research on capital generation and allocation trends [00:54:25] - Characteristics of great capital allocation strategies [00:59:26] - Surprises in the market since his deep-dive research [01:02:54] - Artificial intelligence and other sources of disruptive innovation
My guest this week is Jeremiah Lowin. Jeremiah has been on the podcast a number of times over the years. He’s one of my oldest friends who has been a sounding board for me throughout my career. Today he is the founder and CEO of Prefect, which helps companies automate and orchestrate their dataflows. In full disclosure, Positive Sum is an investor in Prefect. We didn’t plan this conversation, but when OpenAI released ChatGPT, I called Jeremiah for a primer on what’s happening under the hood and how best to contextualize this product amidst the growing AI movement. We have these conversations often, but this time I decided to record it so we can all learn from someone I consider to be a leading mind in the fields of data science and machine learning. We start off in the weeds and zoom out as the discussion unfolds. Please enjoy this conversation with my friend, Jeremiah Lowin. Listen to Founders podcast Founders Episode #136 A Success Story: Estee Lauder Invest Like the Best with David Senra: Passion & Pain For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:38] - [First question] - What a pre-trained transformer is [00:06:12] - What latent representation means in the context of AI models [00:09:57] - Models using math to interpret input data and generate images accurately [00:11:43] - Whether or not understanding AI complexity in light of the results they arrive at will become a black box scenario [00:14:13] - A high level history of the companies involved in generative AI [00:17:51] - The precursory technology that makes generative AI art possible [00:21:01] - What people are doing to improve AI models in between versions [00:26:39] - Things that are literally happening during AI training [00:33:38] - Whether or not AI models might one day function as a utility like electricity [00:36:01] - Coding using GitHub Copilot and what it’s felt like to use it [00:40:30] - How he’d approach starting an AI company from scratch [00:44:40] - Developing this technology beyond general and into specific use cases [00:49:44] - The secret sauce for defensibility in the AI model space [00:53:02] - What he’s watching more closely as the story unfolds [00:56:32] - Whether or not he thinks that these toolkits will eventually learn how to use other systems like Unreal Engine on our behalf
My guest today is Bill Lenehan. Bill is the CEO of Four Corners Property Trust, a listed REIT and one of the leading owners of restaurant real estate in the US. Their portfolio is made up of 982 properties across 47 states. Real estate is something most of us own, whether as an investment or a home, and Bill’s insight into the asset class at this particular moment in time is fascinating to hear. Please enjoy my conversation with Bill Lenehan. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. I’ve been so impressed by the platform that my firm, Positive Sum, recently made an investment in Tegus. We did so because we feel that Tegus will be the gold standard platform for investing research for decades to come. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:19] - [First question] - Recent increases in mortgage rates and a frozen housing market [00:08:55] - Projected real estate trends over the next decade [00:13:38] - How a company’s ROI can be more consistent with backing from a real estate firm [00:16:41] - Risk-return rate and risk exposure in real estate compared to other asset classes [00:20:09] - The skills, traits, and circumstances that make a top-level real estate investor [00:22:38] - Stand-out learnings from his time at Farallon Capital Management [00:33:20] - The value of shopping malls and offices in a post-COVID, e-commerce US [00:39:27] - Pros and cons of different types of real estate investments, including REITs [00:43:22] - The impact of climate change on the real estate market [00:45:39] - The role of modern technology in investing and in real estate infrastructure [00:51:10] - Hard costs of building and renovating for the future [00:54:20] - How hard costs and supply levels impact rates of return and housing costs [00:57:17] - How the retail industry is adapting to consumer trends [01:01:23] - Why retailers need to adapt to a changing economy and how they’ll do it [01:04:03] - The relative magnitude of change in today’s real estate market [01:06:51] - The role health and wellness plays in real estate and finance [01:09:28] - What it feels like to be investing in 2022 [01:12:23] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
Today I’m joined by two Hollywood greats, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. They have produced, directed, written, and acted in a number of the most popular films and tv shows ever made, including Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, 24, and Frost/Nixon. Their partnership is one of the longest running in Hollywood, and the business they founded in 1985, Imagine Entertainment, has won 49 EMMY awards, 11 Golden Globes, and 10 Academy Awards. There are few better storytellers in the world and it was a thrill to talk about curiosity, trust, and business building with them both. Please enjoy this great conversation with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:44] - [First question] - The value of trust and how Ron built it up over time with Brian [00:08:34] - The spark that allowed Brian to trust and work with Ron [00:14:45] - Ray Stark calling Brian and threatening him over their mermaid movie [00:16:37] - Keeping their creative spark alive as their business scaled and matured [00:20:20] - Principals like the universality concept that they return to most commonly [00:23:24] - Seemingly bottomless wells of inspiration that they both pull from [00:26:18] - Curiosity precedes innovation and the curiosity conversations Brian has [00:30:15] - The pitch format Brian uses to try and secure a guest for a curiosity talk [00:32:16] - The role of engaging with conversations or ideas Brian disagrees with [00:33:56] - How curiosity shapes the nitty gritty of Ron’s directing and producing [00:37:41] - The biggest mistakes they’ve come across that people make telling stories [00:40:27] - Pinpointing the defining moments of their careers outside of the obvious wins [00:44:27] - Thoughts about how the industry has changed across their careers [00:47:19] - How they’ve gotten better at taking a project from nothing to the finish line [00:49:53] - The kindest things anyone has ever done for them
Today’s episode is a special one, in a format that may turn into a series. It is a conversation between Ravi Gupta and Shane Battier. Ravi is a partner at Sequoia, one of our most popular past guests, and a good friend. Shane is Ravi’s friend, and one of the most successful basketball players ever, having won championships and awards at the high school, college, and NBA levels. I spent 10 years as a purely quantitative investor, so naturally I was obsessed with data in sports. When I was meeting with prospective investors, Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball—which chronicled the data analytics revolution in baseball—was my go-to analogy to explain what I did… “Moneyball, but for investing.” I used that line for years. I’ve learned firsthand that it’s wise to follow your curiosity, no matter how strange or different it may be. The podcast is my curiosity tour, and years ago it led me to Sam Hinkie—who is himself on the Mt. Rushmore of analytics in sports. Sam introduced me to Ravi. Then Ravi sent me Michael Lewis’ article written about Shane called “The No Stats All-Star.” I highly recommend you read it. All this serendipity around friends, data, investing, and sports gave me an idea: why not ask Ravi to interview Shane? Ravi likes the idea of playing for the front of the jersey, not the back. It is hard to imagine someone that lived that more than Shane. Shane shares his story, lessons learned from various coaches, and using data as an advantage. He also explains the four kinds of teams he’s encountered, which I found simple, and memorable. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:53] - [First question] - What people measure in basketball, what matters when it comes to winning, and why he was called a replaceable cog in the No-Stats All-Star [00:08:38] - Some of the plays that impact the overall points during a basketball game [00:14:33] - The power of curiosity and obsessing over details [00:16:16] - Embracing his role and how being a role player applies to life outside of the court [00:20:47] - Where his obsession for winning and being a good team mate comes from [00:23:23] - Some of the things great leaders and coaches did to inspire him [00:28:51] - An overview of the four types of teams and fundamental aspects of them [00:34:50] - What a person can do to elevate their team and make it a winning one [00:37:43] - Antifragility and the letter Shane wrote for Ravi when Amazon bought Whole Foods [00:44:56] - How to get everyone rallied around a long-term shared mission effectively [00:46:48] - Finding a No-Stats All-Star in a company and what to look for in one [00:52:34] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Parker Conrad, co-founder and CEO of Rippling. I wanted to speak to Parker because he is building Rippling in a way that we don’t come across often. Rather than focus narrowly on one product, he is building a suite of interrelated products simultaneously to carry out the functions of HR, Finance, and IT for companies. He calls it a compound company and we discuss the idea, as well as some of his other non-traditional theories, in detail. Please enjoy this conversation with Parker Conrad. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com. ----- This episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:36] - [First question] - Overview of what a compound startup is [00:06:32] - What he’s learned about picking customers effectively [00:08:48] - Key chapters when it comes to building a compound startup [00:13:48] - What great looks like at the base level infrastructure of employee data [00:20:15] - His overall philosophy on product development writ large [00:25:09] - His role as a capital allocator and distributing resources to his teams [00:27:19] - The amount of products they offer and whether or not there’s a tradeoff between time, cost, and quality when building software [00:31:36] - Possibly incorporating an app-like store on top of their existing infrastructure [00:34:43] - Speed and the kinds of people that can sustain it for long periods of time [00:36:30] - What motivates him on a personal level and harnessing motivation in general [00:42:31] - Whether or not there’s an end to feeling hurt by false public perceptions when building in public [00:44:12] - The intersection of leadership and communication inside of a business and what he’s learned about great communication [00:48:00] - The paradox of how focusing on non-scalable actions perpetuates growth and productivity and his views on productivity-per-person [00:50:36] - The best example of a moment that required the most grit and perseverance while building his company [00:52:28] - How to successfully get former founders to come work for him [00:54:47] - What good private equity investors do [00:58:31] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Bob Elliott, the CEO and CIO of Unlimited, which creates low-cost index ETFs for alternative investment strategies. Prior to co-founding Unlimited, Bob was a senior investment executive at Bridgewater Associates where he served on their investment committee and led Ray Dalio’s personal research team for a decade. His breadth and depth of experience makes him a great person to assess the current macro landscape. We discuss the relationship between rates, inflation, and asset classes, Bob's approach to identifying data with the most signal, and finish with his view on quantitative strategies in private markets. Please enjoy this great discussion with Bob Elliott. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:45] - [First question] - The Economic Organization of a POW Camp and key lessons one can learn from the paper [00:07:22] - The way that supply and demand clears a price and how that plays into his thinking about investing across asset classes [00:09:58] - Whether or not he has a generalized investing worldview or framework [00:11:46] - Deciding on what data is signal and matters most when analyzing markets [00:15:46] - A crash course on easy money and tight money regimes and the implications of both in a macro environment [00:20:28] - The rise and role of inflation and what should be done about it [00:24:00] - What the next couple of years will look like if we draw lessons from history [00:30:12] - Why gold could ever belong in someone's portfolio when it doesn’t produce or yield anything back to the investor [00:35:08] - Supply and demand constraints and the state of the housing market today [00:40:42] - What might happen in future labor markets given our current macro environment [00:46:27] - Currencies, energy, geopolitics, and what he’s most focused on globally [00:52:19] - What movements in the charts are worrying him the most [00:56:04] - The original “All Weather” portfolio and what one would look like if he built it today [01:02:05] - How his career has taught him to find talented individuals who might deliver alpha [01:07:19] - Lessons learned from early-stage and venture investing and thoughts on that world now [01:12:41] - Why there hasn’t been an iconic early-stage technology investing firm driven by systematic strategies [01:16:10] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Kirsten Green, founder and managing partner at Forerunner Ventures. Kirsten launched Forerunner in 2012 and has built it into a leading consumer-focused venture firm with early investments in consumer brands like Dollar Shave Club, Bonobos, Faire, and Warby Parker. Our conversation is an exploration of consumer behavior and how to invest behind change in our society. We also discuss frameworks for identifying brands early, how to build deal flow, and the shift in power between buyers and sellers. Please enjoy my conversation with Kirsten Green. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:35] - [First question] - The insights gleaned from studying consumers in the modern era [00:07:02] - Whether or not the shift in consumer behavior is similar to a platform shift like mobile [00:09:58] - Which of her hypothesis going into the research was proven most wrong [00:11:31] - The leading persona archetype that drives consumer spending [00:13:58] - Thoughts about her investing focus after doing all of this research [00:16:23] - How much the digital world is good and bad for community [00:18:50] - Positive and negative impacts digital access has on children [00:21:17] - The investing criteria that she and her firm have developed for founders and business models they find desirable [00:32:00] - The beachhead problem for entry points, encouraging good focus and entry point selection, and who’s done it well [00:35:33] - The history of the consumer of how they buy and sell and where the shifts in power have been [00:39:47] - Other interesting trends she’s seeing in the seller empowerment era [00:43:35] - How different her investing models are for linear product businesses [00:46:45] - Frameworks she’s developed for evaluating a brand early on [00:49:57] - The most defining moment in Forerunner’s history and the hardest lesson she’s had to learn [00:53:13] - Ways she’s fostered and mentored young investors at Forerunner [00:54:04] - What the most underappreciated thing is today about the consumer [00:54:50] - User and customer development strategies that work well for early stage products [00:56:26] - Three businesses young investors should study to educate themselves on great consumer businesses; Shoe Dog [00:59:49] - Where they find the companies Forerunner tends to invest in, and how to build and effective deal flow pipeline [01:05:07] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her
My guest today is Jason Droege, a venture partner at Benchmark. Jason’s had a long entrepreneurial career, which most recently culminated in building and leading Uber Eats. He joined Uber in 2014 with a blank piece of paper to grow the business beyond ride sharing. Within six years, he found product market fit with food delivery, refined the service, and scaled Uber Eats to a global $20 billion GMV run rate. Our conversation pulls out the most important lessons learned during that period and how Jason now employs them in his role at Benchmark. Please enjoy this great conversation with Jason Droege. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:52] - [First question] - What it was like at a high level building Uber Eats [00:07:38] - How he would structure entrepreneurial incentives on a platform like Uber for a new leader or team attempting to build on top of it [00:10:17] - What he learned about selecting competitive frontiers and mistakes made while building Uber Eats [00:15:17] - Things that Uber Eats got most right that he’s proud of [00:18:16] - Constructive mistakes that taught him a lot from his time with Uber Eats [00:20:36] - What made India such a competitive environment [00:26:13] - What improved the most in his playbook for launching in a new city [00:27:14] - Defining what best means in this competitive sector [00:29:01] - Dealing with suppliers in different categories and finding an ideal balance [00:32:09] - When monogamy between the buyer and supplier matters and when it doesn’t in a marketplace [00:36:12] - Defining what founder market fit is and being “fingertippy” [00:37:29] - His views on the relationships between leaders of businesses and their cultures [00:40:26] - Why Uber believed in him more than he did [00:41:40] - What he learned about marketing to suppliers specifically [00:45:18] - Differing views he has on the concept of failure [00:47:31] - Thoughts about ideas versus execution and the relative importance of the two [00:49:10] - Effectively measuring opportunity cost and using it in decision making [00:58:56] - The most interesting things he’s learned from his time as a partner at Benchmark [01:00:15] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Paul Orfalea. Paul founded Kinkos, the popular copy chain, in 1970. He started with a single photocopy shop in California and grew the business into a $2 billion multinational operation over the course of his 30 years in charge. Paul is a non-traditional leader in the best sense and we discuss his philosophy of business building, from why your subordinates should frustrate you, why you shouldn’t love your business and tips he learned on hiring well. Please enjoy this conversation with Paul Orfalea. Founders podcast on Paul Orfalea. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:58] - [First question] - What it was like to be a very bad student in highschool [00:04:22] - When he first realized he was unemployable [00:05:02] - The origin story of the very first Kinko’s [00:07:53] - Finding what has worked well in each Kinko’s and coaching managers [00:11:45] - The difference of working on and not in the business [00:13:57] - Why a good salesperson will sell you broke [00:15:36] - Why he teaches, what he teaches, and his teaching style [00:18:31] - Explaining the Federal Reserve in two minutes [00:21:58] - The role of anger in his career and something he’s worked on over time [00:22:31] - Where Kinko’s falls on the spectrum of bad to great businesses [00:26:18] - Lessons learned about using the word employee [00:27:21] - The most clever marketing strategy he ever deployed or designed [00:27:45] - Learning to spread the glory instead of the money [00:28:30] - The state of entrepreneurship today compared to when he started [00:30:42] - What motivated him across his career [00:31:35] - Why being in it for the money seems odd in today’s lens [00:32:34] - Who he most admired or most admires today [00:32:51] - Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman [00:33:08] - Preserving the alignment of integrity and action [00:34:57] - How good he is naturally with numbers and math being dyslexic [00:38:05] - His parents’ impression of him while he was building Kinko’s [00:39:56] - The most interesting person he’s ever worked with at Kinko’s [00:40:48] - What he would have done differently if he started from scratch [00:41:24] - Something that is most underappreciated about the United States [00:43:00] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him [00:43:57] - A big lesson he’s earned in a deeper way that he wishes he could share with others
My guest today is Madhavan Ramanujam. Madhavan quite literally wrote the book on how to price products, it’s called “Monetizing Innovations” and his concepts have been used by companies across the world like Porsche, Uber, LinkedIn, and SuperHuman. Our conversation is a masterclass on pricing. We discuss common mistakes when pricing products, why you need to focus on benefits rather than features, and how to pick the right monetization model. Please enjoy my conversation with Madhavan Ramanujam. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern Saas platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. I’ve been so impressed by the platform that my firm, Positive Sum, recently made an investment in Tegus. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:48] - [First question] - How he arrived at a radically different way of building products [00:05:07] - An example of coming up with a price before the product [00:08:35] - Distinctions between a willingness to pay and positive feedback [00:10:29] - How to make sure you’re talking to the right potential customer in the first place [00:13:32] - Productizing for different customer segments [00:16:16] - Questions companies should be asking to get accurate feedback [00:21:18] - What he’s learned about the motivations of potential buyers [00:22:43] - What leaders, killers, and fillers are [00:24:37] - Some of the biggest mistakes companies make while following his formula [00:25:35] - A rule of thumb for what is a benefit versus a feature [00:27:35] - Five distinct pricing models for charging a customer [00:30:46] - Whether or not the value piece of all of this revolves around time and money [00:33:27] - What he tells entrepreneurs about pricing their products that most surprises them [00:35:16] - Defining the first four categories of failure [00:40:13] - Reasons why so many innovations fail to monetize and pricing being a CEO topic [00:41:51] - Good rules that leaders can use to have a general sense for effective pricing [00:47:38] - Behavioral changes and observations as the absolute price move up and down [00:50:36] - Is there a pricing genius we should take note of? [00:53:18] - The single question every leader should ask themselves [00:53:46] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Scott Wilson. Scott is the CIO of Washington University’s endowment, which manages over $13 billion. In this conversation we discuss WashU’s non-traditional endowment model and cover a variety of asset classes and geographies. We talk about the qualities Scott looks for in managers, lessons from investing in Asia and emerging markets, and red flags in the venture space. Please enjoy this conversation with Scott Wilson. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern Saas platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:38] - [First question] - What he learned about markets from quant fixed income trading [00:04:42] - How his experience shaped his degree of skepticism of the world [00:05:15] - The story that brought him to Grinnell College [00:06:45] - What his education was like back in 2010 and what seemed sensible and insane when he arrived [00:09:37] - His philosophy around trying to have more direct ownership [00:12:03] - Lessons learned about choosing good partners and doing it effectively over time [00:13:51] - Things that are most enjoyable about getting to know new managers [00:16:17] - Why they spend so much time in frontier and emerging markets [00:18:21] - Lessons learned from investing in China and thoughts on it today [00:23:16] - The worst things he sees from venture investors [00:24:39] - Whether or not venture investors should care more [00:27:55] - What percentage of investors in private equity are investors versus just involved to try and engineer returns [00:28:59] - His impressions on hedge funds and the evolution of the hedge fund model [00:31:18] - The role that credit can play in a portfolio like the one he manages now [00:36:34] - Everything he’s learned about asset managers acting as asset gatherers [00:39:35] - Ways he fights convergence and tracking error overseeing so much capital [00:41:49] - What it’s like to go through the bad side of tracking error [00:45:43] - What he sees as a normal level of tracking error for endowments and foundations [00:46:59] - Why such big pools of institutional capital tend to look so similar [00:48:10] - Whether or not real estate sits somewhere between stocks and bonds [00:51:10] - Colliding managers in a fun and spirited way at meetings [00:52:16] - An investing trip from his career that he finds most memorable [00:52:50] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guests today are Julio Vasconcellos and Mate Pencz, who are partners at Canary and Atlantico, leading early-stage investment firms in Latin America. They’re also both successful entrepreneurs. Mate is the co-founder and CEO of Brazilian real estate unicorn, Loft. Julio was Facebook’s first country lead for Brazil, an entrepreneur in residence at Benchmark, and the former founder of Peixe Urbano which sold to Baidu. This conversation was a great opportunity to dive into the state of investing and business in Latin America today, what it looks like on the ground, and cover the most interesting findings from Atlantico's annual report on Digital Transformation in the region. Please enjoy my conversation with Julio and Mate. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:39] - [First question] - A broad perspective on what is interesting in Latin American investing today - Latin America Digital Report 2022 [00:05:15] - What makes up the existing 1.5% tech penetration index in Lat Am [00:06:11] - Florian Hagenbuch, Mate Pencz - Everything Will be Bought Online (Loft); David Velez - Building the Branchless Network (Nubank); How important it is to parse by country when it comes to building businesses in LatAm [00:08:31] - Overview of LatAm as a microcosm of fintech innovation happening really fast and what is most exciting in that sphere [00:12:28] - Why the adoption of PIX was so successful and how it maps onto the banking system [00:14:27] - What PIX’s widespread adoption will enable for the coming wave of entrepreneurs [00:22:30] - Shifting to remote work and how it’ll affect LatAm workers and talent [00:30:06] - What it feels like for an entrepreneur today compared to when Loft launched [00:32:36] - Deeper themes and what needs to be unlocked for LatAm’s tech sector to look more like the US or China with big tech giants [00:40:12] - Sources of available funding for venture and private equity [00:42:54] - What valuations look like and whether or not there’s an entry multiple discount [00:45:12] - Seeking evidence that crypto is used in more valuable ways in emerging markets [00:48:00] - Areas where LatAm is operating in a future state more so than elsewhere [00:50:28] - What the right amount of global firm participation in capital partnerships looks like [00:52:38] - Big standout lessons from their operating days [00:55:53] - What is most exciting and concerning about their investing style and investing writ large in LatAm [00:58:51] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Julio
My guest today is Trina Spear, a former investor at Blackstone and the co-founder and CEO of FIGS. FIGS is a multi-billion-dollar public company that built a category-leading brand selling scrubs to healthcare professionals. It was a problem hiding in plain sight and FIGS solved it through vertical integration and customer obsession. Trina shares so many interesting, simple lessons that are often ignored in business. Please enjoy my great conversation with Trina Spear. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:28] - [First question] - The original insight that lead to founding FIGS [00:04:28] - Why obvious opportunities can go so long before being seized [00:06:23] - Key dimensions needed to improve the product and the early days [00:09:02] - Basic overview of a clothing retailer’s financial profile [00:10:49] - Financing the business and the early stage cash flow cycle [00:13:04] - Strategies to manage workflow and making sacrifices [00:14:43] - Advice for people trying to build their brands in a hands-on way [00:17:14] - The biggest calculated risk she took in the first five years [00:19:00] - Building a foundation that allowed for such explosive growth [00:21:44] - The story that allowed FIGS to connect with their customers [00:24:43] - Painting a picture of the size and scope of healthcare apparel [00:26:22] - Things lazy companies do and thoughts on product variety [00:28:54] - Defining SKU productivity and what to do with low productivity products [00:30:21] - Chip Wilson Book; Lessons learned from reading Chip’s story [00:31:58] - Balancing a healthy relationship with your CFO [00:33:59] - Where she sees the most runway to tackle and continue to execute [00:35:46] - A women-lead industry and her time spent with Meg Whitman [00:38:13] - The most essential jobs she feels she has and shouldn’t do as the CEO [00:40:03] - Thoughts about relationships with investors and messaging [00:42:14] - What she’d be most focus on in founders if she was just an investor [00:43:57] - The most stressful thing that has ever come across her desk [00:44:41] - What types of things bring her the most joy in building FIGS [00:45:27] - Philosophy of hiring given their small team and when it’s okay to hire [00:46:56] - Whether or not there’s a role for non A players in businesses [00:47:48] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her
Today, we are sharing an episode of Web3 Breakdowns with you. My Invest Like the Best conversation with Gabe Leydon last year was one of my favorites and became one of our most popular. Since that conversation, Gabe has become one of the most interesting builders in web3 that I know so I was excited to have him back to share his views of the space and how it might grow. If you enjoy this episode, subscribe to Web3 Breakdowns on your preferred podcast player. My guest today is Gabe Leydon, who’s episode last year was one of our most popular ever. Gabe has spent the last 20 years designing video games and is one of the most original thinkers I know. He was the co-founder of Machine Zone, which pioneered free-to-play hits like Mobile Strike and Game of War. Over the past year, he has been in stealth mode building a web2 meets web3 video game company called Limit Break, which is founded on a brand new business model that he calls free-to-own. We dive into his vision for the future of gaming, how it could onboard a billion users onto the Ethereum network, and why the LTVs of crypto gamers are so far higher than their web2 counterparts. Please enjoy this conversation with Gabe Leydon. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Coinbase Prime. Coinbase Prime combines advanced trading, battle-tested custody, financing, and prime services in a single solution. Clients have used our comprehensive investing platform to execute some of the largest trades in the industry because they are the only publicly-traded company with experience trading and custodying crypto assets at scale. Get started with Coinbase Prime today at coinbase.com/prime. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag Show Notes [00:02:19] - [First question] - What free-to-own gaming means and why it’s exciting [00:11:40] - Pre-existing behavior that sets up free-to-own for success [00:12:32] - The progression from PFP NFTs to clubs and the road ahead [00:14:16] - Overview of the business and monetization model for free-to-own games [00:17:51] - The story of DigiDaigaku, their mechanics, the drops, and what lead to their creation [00:22:14] - Balancing supply and demand in a free-to-own market [00:24:35] - Creativity and extensions of the DigiDaigaku NFTs [00:26:13] - Tiering, breeding and the role the Genesis series will play in the Digi universe [00:27:32] - The level of brand marketing NFTs will unlock for businesses [00:29:57] - How free-to-own will be the primary monetization method for brands [00:31:21] - A future with a global marketing shift towards digital property and economies [00:33:06] - Why most of the winning PFP projects are of unique characters [00:35:50] - His Twitter strategy and how he’s created such a fervor around him [00:42:40] - What will define the legendary marketers over the coming decade [00:43:06] - Interoperability needed to make real-world NFT uses appealing to consumers [00:44:44] - Whether or not we’ll see more token-gated business in the future [00:45:40] - Stable Diffusion and his impression of the new AI art generating bots [00:48:56] - What great distribution looks like in a digitally native world [00:50:03] - The emphasis of innovation taking place in the metaverse being a bad thing [00:53:24] - Things he most admires in adjacent games and creators in his world [00:54:25] - Unique game mechanics that Web3 technology unlocks [00:56:16] - NFTs will be the gateway for people to acquire crypto
My guest today is Harley Finkelstein. Harley is the President of Shopify and has been with the company since its early years. He is a lawyer by training but an entrepreneur by calling and that is the focus of our discussion. We discuss the different dimensions of entrepreneurship and Shopify’s role in promoting it, as well as exploring the company’s transition to public markets, and what the last few years have been like. Please enjoy my discussion with Harley Finkelstein. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:26] - [First question] - His interpretation and definition of a person’s life's work [00:05:50] - The story of the riverstone and the average polished executive [00:08:36] - The thing he can’t help but do; and focusing on our compulsions [00:13:12] - How he would boil things down to the most simple entrepreneurial formula; Distilled [00:16:38] - What is harder and easier about new business formation today [00:21:03] - The countervailing forces for small-to-medium business entrepreneurship [00:24:31] - What he’s learned about operationalizing ideas and mentor lessons [00:29:08] - A piece of fortune cookie advice that he finds terrible [00:30:49] - How Brands Grow; his philosophy on marketing & distribution [00:35:27] - The most effective distribution strategies he’s seen work in Shopify that might be portable to other businesses [00:38:43] - What it was like getting their first app developer for the Shopify app store [00:41:17] - The state of ecommerce today writ large and what trends are interesting [00:45:46] - Lessons learned about the digital places that people are buying [00:49:06] - What it’s been like as an executive working at a company that had their stock price explode over the pandemic [00:52:25] - Tips for communicating effectively with Wall Street [00:54:14] - An investor that stands out in memory that really impressed him [00:55:10] - Important aspects of his world that are worth mentioning [00:57:04] - Lessons learned about motivating people through DJing [00:59:12] - Whether or not reading the crowd can apply to business [01:03:49] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Mitch Lasky. Mitch is a partner at Benchmark and one of the leading figures in the video game industry. Over the last 30 years, he has built, led, and invested in a number of the best gaming companies in the world, including Activision, EA, Riot, Snapchat, and Discord. I couldn’t think of a better person to break down the anatomy of great gaming businesses and Mitch does not disappoint. His insights are remarkable. Please enjoy this excellent conversation with Mitch Lasky. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:31] - [First question] - Why there aren’t more famous gaming investors [00:05:08] - The most important features of the modern gaming business model [00:07:11] - Developing his aesthetic taste and investing decision skill [00:08:03] - What makes a game fun [00:09:26] - How delivering a pleasurable active user experience differs from passive content and media [00:11:09] - The developers of Doom being the first real modern video game company [00:13:09] - Half-Life’s important role in the development of the gaming industry [00:17:54] - How some of the big game aggregators get started in the first place [00:19:58] - What Riot can teach non-gaming businesses about business writ large [00:21:10] - Ways that the change from physical games to downloads changed monetization [00:31:47] - The impact of Apple’s privacy changes on gaming revenue [00:34:11] - How the access to professional game engines and a lower friction environment will change the industry [00:37:04] - Whether or not there is a step beyond mobile [00:39:42] - Ways platforms like Twitch and Discord have influenced gaming [00:42:26] - What he’s learned about games that allow them to seemingly exist forever [00:45:17] - Signs of a healthy gaming community [00:46:21] - The role of celebrities and influencers and generating retained audiences [00:47:45] - Whether or not crypto will unlock new opportunities for in-game monetization [00:52:50] - Key categories of motivators that could replace a ponzi-style in-game inflation [00:54:36] - Contrasting League of Legends versus a Ready Player One style world [00:58:22] - Emerging technologies and trends that may revolutionize the industry [01:02:41] - The most genius game pattern he’s ever played [01:04:44] - What attributes will define the great game investors in the coming decades [01:06:59] - How much his experience lends itself to investing in other sectors [01:11:07] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is David Senra. David has studied history’s great founders and entrepreneurs in more depth than anyone I’ve ever met, and I’d wager more than anyone else alive. In this conversation, we cover many of the most common themes he’s discovered studying hundreds of entrepreneurs like Estée Lauder, John Rockefeller, Enzo Ferrari, and Edwin Land. I found this to be one of the most energizing conversations I’ve had in a long time, and one I’ll return to often. David’s work and extraordinary energy aligns so well with our mission at Colossus that we’re excited to partner with him. You’ll soon be able to find his podcasts and transcripts at joincolossus.com where we hope you’ll learn as much from him as we have. If you like this conversation, be sure to subscribe to David’s podcast called Founders. Now onto our discussion. Please enjoy this great conversation with David Senra. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:01] - [First question] - When he first fell in love with reading [00:07:01] - What’s rooted in his own history that’s made him obsessive about studying history’s great entrepreneurs and founders - Founders Podcast [00:13:45] - How often obsession is apparent in the founders he’s studied across hundreds of biographies [00:18:08] - What is often behind obsession and how people listening can apply the lessons to their own lives [00:22:45] - The dynamic and relationship between inspiration and perspiration [00:27:11] - Commonalities between the layers of leadership and support underneath founders [00:31:52] - Where else he’s seen ego rear its head in good and bad ways [00:38:34] - How often do great founders break the law or enter gray areas of it [00:41:22] - The role constant learning and listening plays in success [00:45:12] - Talking about how anything worth doing is worth doing to excess [00:52:18] - Describing the soul of founders and businesses [00:58:39] - What he’s learned about all of these founders as it relates to marketing [01:08:10] - Who his idols are in podcasting specifically [01:14:55] - Major aspects of people he’s studied that haven’t been discussed yet [01:19:55] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Robert Smith, the founder, Chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. An engineer by training, Robert started Vista at the turn of the millennium and built it into one of the world's most successful software-focused investment firms. We discuss the white space left in enterprise software investing, the importance of capital cycles, and what he’s learned building an iconic investing franchise. Please enjoy my discussion with Robert Smith. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:34] - [First question] - What the enterprise software market looks and feels like to him [00:05:52] - Whether or not software is becoming a saturated market and what will drive demand over the coming decades [00:09:42] - Bringing an engineering mindset to enterprise software investing and culture [00:12:36] - A single change he made to a business that stands out most in memory [00:14:33] - Qualities that are most critical in defining a good enterprise software company [00:18:07] - How the profile of companies he’s bought has changed over the years [00:20:33] - Categories of software he tends to gravitate towards [00:23:56] - Evolving his model for considering what multiple to pay for a business and thinking about p/e growth multiples [00:27:17] - Lessons learned about customer churn over his twenty two year career [00:29:44] - Capital cycles and how much they truly impact the software world [00:31:53] - What elements of building Vista have most appealed to him over the years [00:38:06] - The war for talent and what his senior team would debate most [00:40:01] - Biggest mistakes Vista has made and what they taught him [00:41:09] - What has him most insecure or paranoid about the platform he’s built [00:43:10] - The advice he’d give on having good relationships with LPs [00:44:57] - The largest risk he or Vista has ever intentionally taken [00:46:15] - What he’s learned about having a winning negotiations and sales approach [00:49:27] - Who he’d give all of his capital to outside of Vista [00:53:08] - The work he does in the foster world [00:54:49] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Katherine Boyle, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Katherine started her career as a reporter for The Washington Post before moving into VC at General Catalyst. She now leads a practice at a16z called American Dynamism, investing in companies that are solving critical issues in areas like defense, housing, and education. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. The content here is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as legal, business, tax or investment advice, or be used to evaluate any investment or security and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details, please see a16z.com/disclosures. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:42] - [First question] - The origin and overview of the term American Dynamism [00:05:01] - Why the shift to a move slow and make sure nothing breaks mentality [00:07:31] - What about the American system today feels broken and stale [00:09:48] - Becoming a journalist at The Washington Post [00:11:35] - Describing the power landscape of media as it exists today [00:12:28] - Major categories of American Dynamism that matter most [00:14:29] - What matters more or less to her as an investor in these categories [00:17:31] - Whether or not there’s anything fundamentally broken about our government [00:19:36] - The Systems Bible; What excites her about aerospace and defense and what creates opportunity and demand in these sectors [00:26:01] - An overview of how lobbying works and who does it and why [00:33:09] - The biggest problems that currently exist in the K-12 school system [00:37:34] - The role immigration will play in range of outcomes in these main categories [00:39:32] - Key takeaways about housing in light of American Dynamism [00:42:09] - Her interpretation of the chart that shows inflation in categories over time [00:47:56] - Whether or not expected returns and risk profiles are different in this area [00:49:55] - Overview of the anatomy of a great story [00:51:30] - The story she tells founders at this stage so establish a partnership [00:52:46] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for her
My guest today is Ravi Gupta. Ravi spent a decade in private equity at KKR before joining Instacart as their first CFO and COO. He navigated them through a critical moment in their history and returned to investing in 2019 as a partner at Sequoia. Our discussion gets to the heart of what it means to build and invest in great businesses, and we talk a lot about the personal side of the journey, which tends to get overlooked. Please enjoy this great conversation with Ravi Gupta. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:34] - [First question] - Why it’s important to keep the main thing the main thing [00:04:59] - His first exposure to this idea; How Will You Measure Your Life [00:07:50] - Thoughts on the conflict of the main thing for a business and a person [00:11:45] - The most painful episode of enacting this philosophy at Instacart [00:19:16] - Amazon’s 14 leadership principles vs. his concept of focus [00:21:55] - What good main things share in common and their attributes; Frank Slootman Episode [00:24:48] - Whether or not the feedback loop for things that work are very short [00:26:04] - The nature of joy and competitiveness in company culture [00:29:01] - How he assesses the depth that motivation runs through people and companies [00:32:43] - Analysis of his own motivations in life [00:35:34] - Differences and shortcomings of virtuous and vicious motivators [00:37:15] - How to accurately figure out someones motivators in a short period of time [00:40:22] - Being Demanding and Supportive; Why these words pair so well together [00:45:55] - What he’s looking for in companies given all of the ideas discussed so far [00:51:11] - How his ideology manifests inside of Sequoia [00:58:44] - What it’s like to mentor an apprentice and how to do it well [01:02:40] - Adjusting behaviors to meet current markets where they’re at [01:06:13] - Defining what a great product is [01:07:56] - What he did to turn around Instacart by narrowing their focus [01:12:28] - The things that most drove the switchover at Instacart [01:14:53] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Will Thorndike. I first spoke to Will in 2017 about his excellent book The Outsiders and his career in private equity. I titled that conversation: How Skilled Capital Allocators Compound Capital. In many ways this conversation continues where that one left off. Through the lens of his new project, a podcast called 50X, we explore the power of multi-decade holding periods and the shared characteristics of businesses that are able to compound returns at high rates for abnormally long periods of time. Please enjoy this discussion with my friend, Will Thorndike, and if you haven’t subscribed to 50X, I highly recommend doing so. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:45] - [First question] - How working on The Outsiders project shaped his thinking [00:06:29] - His interest in long-term holding periods and dealing with multi-decade time horizons [00:09:42] - Shared characteristics among compounding machines [00:11:23] - Defining capital efficiency and the return on tangible capital metric [00:13:02] - An example of an attractive business that requires a lot maintenance CapEx [00:14:22] - Thoughts on the measurement of intangibles and whether or not he’d avoid great businesses that are intangible heavy [00:15:25] - Tangible ways capital efficiency rolls into compounding capacity [00:20:32] - Lessons learned about good game selection for companies [00:25:09] - An example of a decentralized structure and why it works so well [00:30:00] - What the best serial acquirers do for long-term holders [00:31:46] - Advantages of using debt for financing and acquisitions [00:33:39] - How different the future might be for young CEOs with capital allocator mindsets [00:39:09] - 3 companies that Housatonic Partners has owned for more than 25 years [00:40:29] - What made Karen Moriarty so good for so long [00:42:36] - The crossover between public and private investing and the virtues of each sector [00:47:10] - What is at the top of his wish list of the companies he wants to explore [00:50:25] - The development of investor conviction over time and what he’s learned about it [00:52:19] - Lessons learned about producing great media [00:53:43] - What he can teach us about deep research on companies with analysts [00:55:10] - Adjusting his thinking and investing in a high variance world
My guest today is Alok Vasudev. Alok is an early-stage investor who has been in the crypto space for a very long time. Before co-founding Standard Crypto, he was an investor at Benchmark and S28 Capital. Given Alok's experience and the prevailing mood right now in crypto, this is a particularly interesting discussion on the ecosystem writ large. We discuss whether the bubble can be thought of as productive speculation, his views on skeptics in the space, and look at some big, potentially, underestimated ideas. Please enjoy my conversation with Alok Vasudev. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:31] - [First question] - His history in venture and thoughts on the crypto ecosystem [00:06:06] - What it means to be great at searching for white space as a venture capitalist [00:08:00] - Things his original venture peers would say he was best and worst at [00:09:24] - How he would address crypto skeptics broadly given today’s market [00:13:35] - Whether or not it’s appropriate to look at each crypto token as a stock [00:15:32] - The pool of demand for Dai and the end use-case itself for the stablecoin [00:17:01] - What matters to him the most in the world of stablecoins [00:19:59] - Defining sound and unsound collateral [00:21:02] - Why the US doesn’t digitize the dollar and how being a government entity would impede some of their capabilities [00:23:21] - What a community operated computer unlocks compared to a standalone one [00:27:09] - What persistence and resilience from community computers open up [00:29:30] - Something going on that people aren’t talking about yet in regards to blockchains [00:33:54] - The notion of productive speculation and what it means [00:36:03] - One of the best historical examples of productive speculation [00:42:29] - How things outside of the blockchain become integrated and connected to it [00:45:43] - Ways crypto will impact the gaming world over the coming years [00:49:10] - Handicapping a potential future where NFTs work and blockchains don’t benefit [00:51:42] - Thoughts on the world of art, IP, NFTs, and its changing landscape [00:54:43] - Whether or not there are companies being built that can streamline and facilitate this form of connection between artists and their fanbases [00:58:13] - Other controversial opinions he holds in the crypto community [01:03:13] - What he’s most bullish and bearish on right now [01:07:29] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Matthew Ball. Matt is an investor, the former head of strategy at Amazon studios, and one of the brightest minds in the media industry. Through his essays and now his book, which launches today, Matt has established himself as the foremost authority on the Metaverse, which has stormed into the public eye since I first had him on the show two years ago. The Metaverse is the focus of our discussion and I hope you enjoy this encyclopedic tour through all of its details as much as I did. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:37] - [First question] - Which most represents the Metaverse: Minecraft, Ready Player One, Fortnite, or Facebook’s Horizon [00:05:58] - Facebook trying to own the concept of the Metaverse by changing their name [00:09:22] - Defining what the Metaverse is and a good working definition of it [00:11:33] - The state of the engines behind 3D output and the history of them [00:16:32] - The role IP played in bootstrapping the first Metaverses [00:18:32] - Where the ability to create digital environments will lead, and what Unreal 7 could look like compared to Unreal 5 today [00:21:03] - Natural limits of the Metaverse compared to real-world experiences [00:24:16] - Other sensory inputs that will need to be improved for digital immersion [00:26:59] - Why the initial excitement of trying something like Oculus wears off over time, both for casual gamers and those excited about this new frontier [00:31:40] - Changes in technology and new projects that have him most excited that will empower the digital infrastructure for Metaverses [00:37:14] - What interoperability means and why it has its own chapter in his book [00:31:52] - How Roblox connects with Fortnite and how far down we need to go to build a bridge between digital worlds [00:46:13] - What will drive commerce in the Metaverse and the possibility for a singular currency standard [00:51:35] - Considering the demand for the Metaverse and whether or not it will be a constraint on adoption and success [00:57:37] - What the modern equivalent of a lemonade stand will be in the Metaverse [00:59:58] - The lower adoption rates for more participatory media consumption[01:03:19] - Potential pitfalls and the dark side of the metaverse [01:06:14] - Who the categorical winners of the Metaverse might be [01:14:15] - The top things he would suggest exploring to best understand the Metaverse
Today we are dropping a special episode in the Invest Like the Best feed. You will hear the first episode of 50X – a new series from Will Thorndike and the team at Compounding Labs, in partnership with Colossus. Will’s book, The Outsiders, is one of the best business and investing books you will find. Now you will hear him continuing his work in the hosting chair as he looks in detail at investments that have appreciated at least 50-fold. First up is TransDigm, an aerospace components manufacturer that has returned over 1,750X since its inception nearly three decades earlier. In this episode, Will is joined by Nick Howley, TransDigm’s long-time CEO and Chairman. Make sure to subscribe to 50X in your preferred podcast player. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. The team at Tegus has built a full company intelligence platform aimed at streamlining the investment research process. In preparation for the 50X series, we actively used Tegus to gain qualitative insights beyond traditional reported data. To learn more and enjoy a free trial, visit tegus.co/50x. ----- 50X is a podcast that dissects the anatomy of extraordinary long-term investments. The show is hosted by Will Thorndike and the team at Compounding Labs, and brought to you in partnership with Colossus. In each episode of 50X, we look in detail at an investment that has appreciated at least 50-fold. From the seat of the professional investor and occasionally the CEO, we explore its origins, evolution, and eventual outcome, studying key themes around long-term value creation ranging from operations, capital allocation, and culture to pivotal buy and sell decisions. To enhance the quality and depth of our interviews, we rigorously study each asset in advance, diving into all available public and private resources. Learn more and dive into our research at 50xpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: @50Xpodcast and @joincolossus Show Notes [00:00:00] – 50X Introduction [00:02:00] – Sponsorship: Tegus [00:07:04] – Episode Introduction [00:09:05] – Nick’s Background pre-TransDigm [00:11:56] – Original Acquisition from Imo Industries in 1993 [00:15:33] – Thesis and Performance under Kelso & Co.’s Ownership [00:18:42] – Genesis of Three Key Value Drivers: Price, Productivity, and New Business [00:21:07] – Building the Management Team [00:24:05] – Early Lessons on Value Drivers [00:27:53] – Capital Allocation under Kelso & Co. [00:28:51] – Sale to Odyssey Investment Partners in 1998 [00:30:26] – Strategy under Odyssey’s Ownership [00:31:51] – Early Acquisitions and Integration Playbook [00:37:26] – Early External Crises [00:41:13] – Snapshot at Conclusion of Odyssey’s Ownership in 2003 [00:43:19] – Building a Decentralized Culture [00:46:23] – Differentiated Approach to Compensation [00:52:12] – Sale to Warburg Pincus in 2003 [00:55:51] – Shift to Inorganic Growth under Warburg’s Ownership [00:58:08] – Evolution of M&A Process [01:05:37] – Post-Acquisition Expectations and Post-Mortem Process [01:09:48] – Divesting Acquired Assets to Maintain Focus [01:11:29] – Embedding Value-Generative Culture via Hiring and Training [01:13:54] – Quarterly Product Line Reviews [01:20:43] – Recap of Private Investment Returns and Snapshot pre-IPO
My guest today is Alice Bentinck, co-founder of Entrepreneur First. Entrepreneur First, or EF, invests pre-company by systematizing the way that talented individuals find co-founders, develop ideas, and scale into companies. They’re an incubator of teams and ideas on a mission to create impactful companies that, without their help, wouldn’t exist. I first spoke with Alice’s co-founder, Matt Clifford, over two years ago and have been fascinated with EF’s model of investing ever since. Please enjoy my conversation with Alice Bentinck. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:33] - [First question] - Overview of what Entrepreneur First is today [00:05:57] - How she identifies the people to bring into each cohort and convince them to quit their job to join EF for eight weeks [00:10:10] - Categories of the main types of people who join the EF program [00:12:32] - What she’s learned about negative screening at the first stage of recruits [00:14:07] - Positive signals she looks for in early admissions [00:17:46] - What the program itself feels like as a participant [00:21:29] - Reasons partners tend to fail and whether or not EF advises equity splits between founders [00:24:49] - How important the idea is that the team will be working on [00:28:04] - Exercises she enjoys doing with the new cohorts around social norms [00:30:38] - How the experience looks physically in each city [00:32:57] - Categories of data collected as the cohorts unfold and making investment decisions [00:36:46] - Ways the companies mature after EF and what kinds of investors fund the next stage of their startups [00:40:55] - Why aren’t there ten EF style initiatives or organizations [00:44:26] - Motivations for the change in their holding company structure [00:46:48] - The love of product and ideas she’s playing with right now [00:51:49] - Cities she has her eye on that EF is not a participant in today and criteria that makes a city desirable for EF [00:54:03] - A piece of software that EF could benefit from that doesn’t exist yet [00:55:30] - The keys to her harmonious relationship with her co-founder Matt [00:59:01] - National and international impediments that directly impact company building [01:01:36] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her
My guest today is Jess Lee. Jess is a partner at Sequoia Capital as well as their Chief Product Officer. Before becoming an investor, Jess co-founded fashion app, Polyvore, and was an early product manager for Google Maps. Most recently, she founded All Raise, a non-profit that is changing the gender balance in tech. Our discussion ranges from Burning Man to Marvel to Sequoia’s mobile app and I hope that Jess’s passion for delighting users rubs off on you. Please enjoy my conversation with Jess Lee. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:35] - [First question] - Why more investment firms don’t have a product mindset [00:05:22] - How to approach building a productized version of capital [00:08:00] - Ways Ampersand measures success and judging their own performance [00:08:49] - Driving reasons that Sequoia wins deals beyond their brand name [00:10:28] - How her work as CPO at Sequoia has changed her investing approach [00:12:28] - Everything she’s learned about community and its relevance to business [00:17:48] - What the gold standards are for studying strongly built communities [00:19:42] - What it is about Comic-Con that works so well from a community standard [00:21:18] - The role that scarcity plays in communities writ large [00:23:10] - Product mindset and customer obsession [00:24:33] - Knowing when it’s okay to begin expanding [00:28:12] - Rates of change in her investment progress and dollars going to female founders [00:29:36] - Systemic bias and what’s driving a lack of funds towards female founders [00:32:26] - How she applies community building lessons to All Raise [00:33:20] - The internal learning culture in Sequoia that others could adopt and benefit from [00:37:01] - Which Marvel superheroes her Sequoia partners would be [00:39:05] - Seeds of motivation for Arc and what it is [00:44:31] - The best ways she’s seen companies manage and support human capital [00:45:36] - Biggest mistakes made when managing human capital [00:46:42] - What working on Google Maps taught her about product development [00:48:42] - Someone she admires and has learned the most from in All Raise [00:50:02] - Measuring success at Sequoia over the next ten years [00:52:20] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her [00:53:42] - What it was that made the people who believed in her take a chance on her [00:55:03] - Things in pop culture today that most has her attention
My guest today is Ken Stanley. Ken is a Professor in Computer Science and a pioneer in the field of neuroevolution. He is also the co-author of a book called, Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned, which details a provocative idea that setting big, audacious goals can reduce the odds of achieving something great. We discuss that revelation in detail and how to apply it in our day-to-day lives. Please enjoy this great discussion with Ken Stanley. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex, the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:36] - [First question] - The best way to change the world is to stop trying to change it [00:06:26] - The kinds of goals his work addresses and the ones it doesn’t [00:08:46] - Almost no prerequisite to any major invention was invented with that major invention in mind [00:14:04] - Picbreeder [00:17:21] - How looking for specific results often makes arriving at them a longer process [00:24:00] - The importance of the individual in a web of invention and disruption [00:28:30] - How generations progressed in Picbreeder when consensus mechanisms were inserted into the process [00:31:24] - Examples of stepping stones that were invented that became something even greater [00:36:02] - What his research means for how we should conduct ourselves writ large [00:44:17] - Thoughts on necessity being the mother of all invention [00:50:08] - The ways that society is arranged is psychologically toxic [00:55:14] - The role that constraints play in creative output and outcomes in general; Brett Victor - Inventing on Principle [01:01:10] - What the constraints are that he sets for himself in AI development [01:04:44] - To know what’s new you need to know what’s not new [01:06:47] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him [01:08:28] - How he would allocate resources to create more innovation in the world
My guest today is Lydia Jett, Managing Partner of SoftBank Investment Advisers. Lydia leads the team’s consumer, internet, and e-commerce investments and has worked with many of the most significant consumer platforms in the world, including as a board member of Coupang and Flipkart. We cover all aspects of e-commerce and explore Lydia’s evolution as an investor alongside Masa Son at SoftBank. Please enjoy my conversation with Lydia Jett. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex, the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:34] - [First question] - What curiosity thread she’s been pulling on thus far in her career [00:05:17] - The biggest felt differences doing things one way for a decade and changing now [00:07:08] - Learning about tailwinds and what the predominant ones are that exist today [00:10:44] - Competitive frontiers that exist today in e-commerce [00:12:14] - What drives companies that grow faster than their competitors [00:13:15] - What areas the world’s most innovative e-commerce companies are focused on [00:16:38] - Unique characteristics that they select for in ecommerce CEOs and founders [00:19:03] - Upside down approaches to e-commerce that aren’t common in America yet [00:23:05] - Lessons learned about business models that don’t work in e-commerce [00:27:47] - What western investors should know about Coupang [00:30:12] - Everything she’s learned about vertical integration [00:33:01] - Everything she’s learned and cares about in regards to margins [00:37:17] - The most extreme version of efficiency gain she’s seen deployed [00:41:27] - The role the size of assets plays at SoftBank [00:47:42] - Focusing on efficiency and smart allocation first before trying to scale [00:50:33] - Companies as products that investors buy and defining what great looks like [00:53:16] - The danger of premature optimization around a set of KPIs [00:55:46] - How important the specific founder is for their given e-commerce company [00:58:18] - Why e-commerce companies tend to start from a worse place than offline ones [00:59:45] - Ways that she’s changed from working alongside Masayoshi Son for a year [01:03:31] - Who comes most to mind as a great investor [01:05:23] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for her
My guests today are Josh Wolfe and Chris Power. Josh will be a familiar voice to many of you and is the co-founder and General Partner of Lux Capital. Chris is the founder and CEO of advanced manufacturing start-up, Hadrian. Most of our discussion centers on the need to modernize the factories that supply our space and defense industries. But given the current market environment, we also talk about capital conditions and the responsibility to build products that really matter. Please enjoy this conversation with Josh Wolfe and Chris Power. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex, the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:40] - [First question] - An overview of the precision manufacturing industry writ large [00:08:28] - Why the manufacturing sector has so many great investment opportunities [00:12:58] - Anduril Breakdown; What Hadrian in its final form will unlock for manufacturing [00:16:08] - What the demand side looks like for manufacturers in its current state today [00:18:29] - How the nature of demand will shift for this style of manufacturing in the future [00:22:51] - Important rare earth materials, supply chain constraints, and the revival of commodities [00:27:55] - The key set of jobs being done by mom and pop shops that could be innovated on and done within a Hadrian factory [00:30:35] - What is going on inside of a Hadrian factory and how they will evolve over time [00:32:10] - Prosecuting diligence on someone's ability to execute on their behalf [00:37:14] - The PhD arrogance trap and how a Hadrian machine will be better in five years from now [00:48:08] - Breadth of ability versus focus and selling parts to buyers early on [00:50:42] - Lessons learned and advice for understanding the focus problem [00:56:39] - Fat startup vs. lean startups and making the hardest irreversible decision during Hadrian’s early days [00:58:31] - Enduring more schlep work than less being a good signal [00:59:06] - Chris’ thoughts on the future of Hadrian and defining the exciting and scary edges of the spectrum of outcomes [01:03:36] - Josh’s thoughts on the future of Hadrian and defining the exciting and scary edges of the spectrum of outcomes [01:07:22] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Chris
My guest today is Martin Casado. Martin is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz where he focuses on digital infrastructure. Before joining a16z, Martin pioneered software-defined networking and co-founded Nicira, which was bought by VMware for $1.3 billion in 2012. Martin has studied, built, and invested in digital infrastructure his whole career and is the perfect person to discuss the most interesting aspects of the industry. Please enjoy this great conversation with Martin Casado. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex, the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:43] - [First question] - The state of the digital infrastructure industry today [00:04:02] - The major stages and eras of cloud technology [00:06:30] - Overview of Dropbox’s story and the two major trends at the time of its emergence [00:10:12] - Lost margin and lost market cap from big users of the public cloud [00:12:14] - Whether or not there is a headwind coming for public cloud providers [00:17:33] - How entrepreneurs might go after the biggest public cloud providers [00:19:37] - His view on API first companies and granular monetizable units in growing markets [00:23:20] - Developer facing tools and what works well when going to market [00:27:12] - The difference between a front-end and back-end developer and what is changing in their responsibilities [00:28:45] - What he looks for as an investor when he’s processing a new API first company [00:30:31] - Common redflags and disqualifying observations for an API first company [00:36:35] - Frank Slootman Episode; Snowflake’s offering for their users, their explosive growth, and primitives in their sector [00:39:06] - The history of digital security and potential opportunities as an investor [00:40:19] - How digital infrastructure intersects with the real world and hardware world [00:43:33] - How to screen out people for their potential to deliver transformative technology [00:47:45] - Things he’s most intrigued about by cryptocurrencies as an infrastructure person [00:52:49] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Aswath Damodaran, a Professor of Finance at NYU’s Stern School of Business. Aswath is one of the clearest teachers of investing and finance in our industry and through his blog, books, and YouTube has open-sourced his wisdom for decades. This conversation is a masterclass of key investing concepts. We discuss inflation, narratives, disruption, the evolution of alpha and edge, and his thoughts on ESG. Please enjoy this great conversation with Aswath Damodaran. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:43] - [First question] - How he thinks about inflation as a now dominant force [00:04:33] - Why inflation is so important across the spectrum [00:09:02] - Big lessons from other periods of historically high inflation writ large [00:10:45] - Reasons why equities as an asset class struggle in high inflation environments [00:15:21] - The relationship betweens goods versus services in times of high inflation [00:16:59] - Broader economic implications especially for income inequality [00:19:03] - The Fed taking inflation seriously now when they didn’t and thoughts on the policy response to today’s situation [00:21:05] - How smart companies are defensively adjusting to inflation [00:27:46] - The importance of a capital allocation skill-set for executive team members [00:29:32] - Further historic lessons and how he’s being defensive against inflation [00:33:09] - Lessons learned about Amazon valuing them every year since their inception [00:42:25] - Whenever he sees Thanos in the Avengers he thinks of Amazon [00:44:51] - Thoughts on Facebook, Apple and Microsoft [00:48:26] - The evolution of edge and the search for alpha [00:54:37] - Whether or not there’s utility in studying other investors [00:57:16] - Skill versus luck and the most common valuation mistakes he’s made [00:59:09] - Assuming long-term growth rates and changing company life cycles [01:02:02] - Momentum and Value investing in today’s market [01:07:24] - Differences between interest rates and discount rates in regards to inflation [01:12:00] - How today’s market affects early stage equity investment [01:14:36] - The growing popularity of ESG and his seemingly contrarian view on it [01:24:03] - Nature of disruption as a force and companies that are protected from it [01:28:24] - Assigning a disruption risk premium when valuing companies [01:32:52] - What he makes of Elon Musk buying Twitter [01:34:24] - Other major topics he has a divergent view on [01:38:37] - Narrative And Numbers; The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him [01:38:55] - Teaching with a goal of changing mindsets
Today, we are running a special episode of Business Breakdowns. With geopolitics playing an increasingly important role in society again, this episode with Anduril’s CEO offers an inside look at the state of the defense industry and how it is changing. If you enjoy this episode, subscribe to Business Breakdowns on your preferred podcast player, where you’ll find past episodes on Block, Goldman Sachs, AutoZone and many others. Today, we are breaking down Anduril. Anduril builds high tech defense systems for the US Department of Defense and its allies. Crucially, it does so with speed that emanates from Silicon Valley. Founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey, who previously built and sold Oculus to Facebook, Anduril has achieved the rare feat of challenging the established order in the defense industry. To break down Anduril, I’m joined by the company’s CEO and co-founder, Brian Schimpf. We discuss the history of the defense industry, how Anduril’s business is counter positioned against the legacy cost-plus model, and what Brian has learned about selling to the DoD. Please enjoy this breakdown of Anduril. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the new digital hub for market intelligence. The Tegus platform empowers Investors and Corporate Development teams to invest smarter by pairing best-in-class technology with the highest quality user-generated content and data. Find out why a majority of the top firms are using Tegus on a daily basis. If you're ready to go deeper on any company and you appreciate the value of primary research, head to tegus.co/breakdowns for a free trial. ----- This episode is brought to you by Daloopa. Daloopa streamlines a major pain point for investors. By capturing all of a company's KPIs and adjusted financials into their database - Daloopa makes it easy to quickly update your models for what matters. Daloopa uses AI to find every KPI disclosed - from charts, to text, and even from footnotes of investor presentations. Daloopa updates these KPIs and data points in your existing Excel models in one click, regardless of your source or format. Test Daloopa for free at daloopa.com/Patrick. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss Show Notes [00:02:52] - [First question] - The history of defense technology and the technological and competitive landscape when he set out to build Anduril [00:08:22] - What the early experience was like when approaching the government and finding an early adopter [00:12:44] - Necessity being the mother of invention when it came to developing drones [00:16:37] - What it’s like to develop hardware and software products at the same time [00:24:44] - The state of military technology and military conflict today writ large [00:31:10] - Are we heading to a future where warfare is mostly machine against machine? [00:33:34] - Comparing the ghost drone system to predator drones [00:38:40] - Guiding principles as a firm and deciding on their product roadmap [00:43:25] - An overview of their product lineup and what they’ve built so far [00:51:56] - Most difficult decisions he’s had to make through Anduril’s history [00:53:51] - How he overcame Anduril’s lowest points and biggest challenges [00:58:38] - Thoughts on effectively compounding hardware innovation [01:02:23] - A moment he’s most proud of and regrets most in Anduril’s history [01:04:20] - Lessons learned from observing Palantir and SpaceX [01:08:37] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Tobi Lütke, co-founder and CEO of Shopify. Having first spoken to Tobi at the beginning of the pandemic, just two months into it, this felt an opportune moment to revisit Shopify and the world through Tobi’s eyes. Among many things, we discuss Shopify’s evolution into the world of atoms-based building through Shopify’s fulfillment network, the value of infrastructure writ large, and the impact of market volatility on day-to-day business building. Please enjoy my conversation with Tobi Lütke. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:44] - [First question] - His interest in infrastructure as a whole and why it’s underrated [00:07:18] - Whether or not we’re currently building enough digital infrastructure [00:09:45] - Base level principles for decision making around building infrastructure [00:13:17] - How much room is left for innovation and whether or not we’ll just reinvent basic human instincts [00:15:22] - Ways new ideas are fed into a product funnel at Shopify and greenlit [00:19:34] - Solving eCommerce infrastructure and what he attributes to Shopify’s success [00:24:23] - Overview of the Shopify Network and how it’s evolved over time [00:31:04] - Lessons learned in an atom-driven world in regards to fulfillment and logistics [00:34:37] - Common ways bits thinkers are often wrong when solving atom problems [00:35:50] - Spreadsheets tend to win meetings and how the ROI on a fulfillment network impacts its ecosystem [00:40:26] - Navigating becoming an aggregator that sits on top of their merchants and whether or not there are plans to participate as a distributor [00:45:45] - Fair market value, what it’s been like managing through such a volatile market, and important takeaways [00:50:54] - Thoughts on capital allocation decisions as Shopify continues to grow [00:53:25] - Advice for company leaders effectively communicating with their teams about stock-based compensation [00:59:04] - How much COVID altered their trajectory and what he’s most interested in as he looks out to the future [01:03:45] - What he’s learned about blockchains and the crypto space given recent events [01:08:45] - A new idea he’s encountered recently that he’s fallen in love with
My guests today are Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross. Tyler is an economics professor and creator of one of the most popular economics blogs on the internet. Daniel is the founder of start-up accelerator Pioneer, having previously been a director at Apple and a partner at Y Combinator. Both Daniel and Tyler are prolific talent spotters and that is the focus of our discussion and their new book, which is called Talent. Please enjoy this conversation with Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:38] - [First question] - Defining what talent is to them writ large [00:03:34] - The differences between means and ends in regards to talent [00:04:14] - What the Diet Coke idea is and why it’s relevant [00:06:32] - Types of energy that are valuable and the subtle differences between them [00:07:40] - Thoughts on using a moneyball-like approach to acquiring and evaluating talent [00:11:49] - The talent market and thinking about pricing talent specifically [00:13:14] - What is seemingly overpriced in today’s talent landscape [00:15:50] - Relationship between experience and/or age when it comes to talent [00:20:34] - Lessons about the utility of intelligence and where they’ve lead them wrong [00:23:35] - What’s beneath being an outsider and why it’s important [00:24:46] - Why what people do in their downtime is worth considering [00:31:41] - Things to try and get out of a reference call as an objective [00:32:40] - Disabilities and what lead them write that chapter specifically [00:35:01] - Whether or not talented people are happier [00:38:40] - Lack of contentment and it’s dynamic influence over individuals [00:41:01] - Where they think the other is most talented [00:43:33] - Thinking about the physical side of mental performance [00:45:49] - What was frustrating about writing the book [00:48:25] - How they evaluate talent most differently now after having finished the book [00:50:41] - What makes for a good bat signal and how to cast one well [00:53:27] - Personality inventories and what they would and wouldn’t recommend [00:54:15] - Geographical frictions and their role in high success rates [00:56:08] - Antonio Gracias; Existing supply constraints on talent development [01:00:01] - How they would redesign the current attractors of talent that we rely on today [01:01:18] - Assembly line development and how we can improve and scale talent filters [01:02:29] - The biggest open questions for talent today writ large [01:05:16] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Tyler
My guest today is Jeff Jordan, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Jeff has one of the most interesting set of experiences of guests that I’ve had on the show. As an operator, he has been the General Manager of eBay.com, President of PayPal, and CEO of OpenTable. As an investor, he was one of the first General Partners at a16z and sits on the board of Airbnb, Instacart, Pinterest, and other notable firms. Given his vast experience, he is the firm’s go-to-expert on all things marketplaces, which is the common thread in our conversation. Please enjoy this great discussion with Jeff Jordan. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Lemon.io. The team at Lemon.io has built a network of Eastern European developers ready to pair with fast-growing startups. We have faced challenges hiring engineering talent for various projects - and Lemon.io offered developers for one-off projects, developers for full start to finish product development, or developers that could be add-ons to the existing team. Check out lemon.io/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:48] - The notion of perfect competition in marketplaces [00:04:31] - How to build a marketplace while thinking about perfect competition [00:05:32] - Promoting price discovery at eBay [00:06:52] - Features of a marketplace he focuses on [00:08:38] - Best way to do lead generation [00:10:20] - Red flags for marketplace businesses [00:11:00] - Major business lessons learned while at Disney [00:12:10] - Learning to be an operator while at eBay; Leaving It All on the Field [00:14:45] - How he got hired at OpenTable [00:16:22] - Taking OpenTable public and being its first public company CEO [00:17:44] - What they did well in financing OpenTable [00:18:54] - Communications between company leaders and its investors [00:19:45] - Going from operator to investor [00:22:08] - Lessons from the early years of becoming an investor and pricing companies [00:24:12] - Power of network effects on a startup [00:26:56] - Healthy tensions inside of a network [00:29:23] - When the supply side is the more difficult part of the equation [00:33:30] - The importance of being a perpetual learner as a founder [00:35:36] - When he starts focusing on unit economics and margin profile in a new marketplace [00:37:45] - Increasing convenience for a buyer as a business strategy [00:42:14] - Categories that could use better marketplace solutions [00:44:36] - Layers of growth inside a business [00:50:26] - Lessons with the unique business model of Pinterest [00:52:03] - Unique aspects of the Andreessen Horowitz business model [00:55:54] - Finding and recruiting talented general partner investors [00:57:37] - The morning basketball game and community strengthening [01:01:36] - Defining great mentor relationships [01:04:54] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him [01:06:05] - Lessons from his parents
My guest today is Eric Glyman, co-founder and CEO of Ramp. Ramp is best known for its corporate cards but it has a range of software products to help finance teams save money and time. Since its founding in 2019, the business has grown rapidly and was last valued at $8 billion. Eric and I discuss Ramp’s initial marketing wedge, how the business has dealt with such fast growth, and why they hold stablecoins on their balance sheet. Please enjoy my conversation with Eric Glyman. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Lemon.io. The team at Lemon.io has built a network of Eastern European developers ready to pair with fast-growing startups. We have faced challenges hiring engineering talent for various projects - and Lemon.io offered developers for one-off projects, developers for full start to finish product development, or developers that could be add-ons to the existing team. Check out lemon.io/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:41] - [First question] - What was most notably awry about the industry before Ramp [00:04:45] - Breakdown of Visa; The business model of the Black Card compared to the business card offering of Ramp [00:08:40] - Causes and what he attributes their early success to [00:11:30] - Description of Ramp’s software in the beginning and the evolution of co-building it [00:16:34] - How he’s gone about building the company and team fast enough to handle their explosive growth curve [00:19:47] - Approaching all aspects of recruiting and acquiring such great talent [00:21:39] - Thoughts on the biggest mistake he’s made while building Ramp [00:24:05] - Lessons learned about marketing that this journey has taught him [00:26:13] - Learning to manage a senior team and advice for managing rapid growth [00:28:58] - Unique aspects of Ramp’s approach to the financing side [00:32:56] - Why they are storing some of their balance sheet in stablecoins [00:34:47] - What the idealized end state of Ramp looks like [00:37:26] - How the data and information he sees indicates trends in the economy writ large [00:39:33] - Providing secondary liquidity to employees in a world where companies stay private for longer periods of time [00:43:03] - Aspects of company building that are still unnecessarily hard [00:44:55] - What has him most excited about Ramp in the next 12-18 months [00:46:42] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Dmitry Balyasny. Dmitry is the Managing Partner and CIO of Balyasny Asset Management, otherwise known as BAM. BAM runs a multi-strategy, multi-PM model that aims to produce consistent absolute returns. Since its founding in 2001, it has produced only one negative year and become one of the largest firms of its kind. Please enjoy my conversation with Dmitry Balyasny. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to get and maintain your SOC 2, HIPAA or ISO 27001 reports at a fraction of the typical cost. Listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:53] - [First question] - The origin story of his firm and the key stages of evolution [00:06:43] - Describing the difference between good and great in platform hedge funds [00:10:25] - How a multi-strategy, multi-investor group works and managing capital allocation [00:13:58] - What he’s trying to solve at the end of the day as their CIO [00:16:21] - How close they are to their idealized end-state [00:18:26] - Typical amounts of leverage associated with these types of models [00:20:22] - Lessons learned about incentivizing talented investors [00:22:39] - Ways he tends to attract risk takers and their levels of variance [00:28:15] - Other characteristics that are common amongst great PMs [00:30:42] - The nature and source of edge and how it’s changed most over time [00:33:19] - Some of the hardest portfolio and business decisions he’s had to make [00:37:59] - One of his most important business decisions on the firm side [00:40:09] - How they’ve thought about shorting as a firm in general and more recently [00:43:52] - How interest rates affect this style of investing [00:45:29] - His view on the opportunity set in private markets and what does and doesn’t excite him about it [00:49:42] - How reading Ayn Rand most shaped his thinking [00:50:36] - Things Ayn most got right and most got wrong in his mind [00:51:24] - What the war in Ukraine has felt like for him as a Ukrainian-American [00:52:08] - Ways the future still has him excited as he continues to build his firm [00:53:53] - Where his trading instincts draw him today and areas of interest [00:55:11] - His most memorable trade of all time [00:56:37] - In which order the major asset classes will be affected by digital innovation [00:58:13] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Henry Ward, co-founder and CEO of Carta. Started in 2012, Carta helps companies and investors manage their cap tables, equity plans, and ownership. Last year, they launched CartaX, a platform for private companies and their employees to access secondary market liquidity. Our discussion is a detailed exploration of private market infrastructure and Henry’s views on building an enduring business. Please enjoy my conversation with Henry Ward. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to get and maintain your SOC 2, HIPAA or ISO 27001 reports at a fraction of the typical cost. Listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:57] - [First question] - The first key mental moment of how Carta came to him [00:05:30] - Initial thoughts on how to position Carta as a business model [00:06:47] - Historical divergence between private and public market infrastructure [00:08:33] - What a price discovery process for primary shares could look like in the future [00:11:09] - The end state Carta is trying to effect in their perfect state [00:13:29] - Why it’s so hard for private company staff to manage their illiquid wealth [00:15:45] - Lessons and challenges in the new market creation business [00:17:57] - The nature and dynamics of supply and demand in this space [00:22:45] - How Carta is mapped onto the success of its customers [00:25:27] - Deciding on what is a good idea and what isn’t when it comes to focus [00:28:07] - Describing the One of N versus N of One market frameworks and principles of this philosophy that manifests in how he runs Carta [00:32:11] - How working at Carta would differ from a payroll-type company [00:35:37] - Characterizing his leadership and management styles [00:37:57] - The types of circumstances that bring out his tough side [00:39:33] - Making hard decisions in a bottom up management model [00:44:05] - How he spends his time while building Carta [00:45:02] - What a great product looks like to him [00:47:10] - The Systems Bible; Defining what a great team looks like [00:49:13] - What he’s learned about being great at Go-To-Market [00:51:26] - Effective ways to beat competitors and build relationship pipelines [00:53:49] - Things he likes the least about leading a company of this size [00:55:13] - What he fears most as he thinks about the future of Carta [00:55:45] - Advice for entrepreneurs when thinking about data in modern businesses [00:58:26] - The biggest missing pieces in capital market structure writ large [01:00:17] - What’s next for CartaX and what he’ll be pushing to make it work [01:02:10] - Lessons learned from serving venture investors [01:04:25] - Whether or not investment banks are their competitors [01:05:18] - Public market dislocation and how long it will last [01:06:58] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Alexandr Wang, the CEO and founder of Scale AI. Alexandr founded Scale in 2016, having been inspired to accelerate the development of AI through his work at Quora and his studies at MIT. Specifically, Alexandr realized there was a lack of infrastructure solutions for producing high quality data, the lifeblood for AI models. Today, Scale provides data solutions to leading AI teams at Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Flexport, the US Air Force, and many others. This time last year, the business was valued at over $7 billion. Our conversation is a primer on AI. We discuss the building blocks beneath successful artificial intelligence, AI’s role in both the public and private sector, and why data is the new code. We also cover the similarities and differences between AI and software from an investing perspective and what inspiration Scale takes from AWS. Please enjoy my great discussion with Alexandr Wang. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Lemon.io. The team at Lemon.io has built a network of Eastern European developers ready to pair with fast-growing startups. We have faced challenges hiring engineering talent for various projects and Lemon.io offered developers for one-off projects, developers for full start to finish product development, or developers that could be add-ons to the existing team. Check out lemon.io/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:04] - [First question] - The role that AI and data play in geopolitics and foreign policy [00:07:21] - The end state of a digital arms race akin to nuclear weapons [00:08:53] - Current state of things writ large and how the public and private sectors differ [00:11:33] - The flow and importance of talent when scaling AI and whether it’s more important than software [00:14:29] - His thoughts on how to communicate categories of what AI can do well and what is still a ways out [00:20:18] - The process of creating an AI model and the stages of development [00:27:16] - Principles of building a great engine for gathering data [00:29:04] - The state of technology around annotating data writ large [00:31:31] - What Scale does as a business and their product lineup [00:35:08] - The Storage and Compute equivalents in the AI space [00:37:08] - How Scale fills the gap in producing better and cleaner data [00:39:52] - What Scale will look like in 10 years if their vision is fully realized [00:41:11] - Where AI is in the S curve of acceleration and where AI and software intersect [00:44:32] - Questions to ask about how to incorporate AI and data sets in your business [00:46:23] - What worries him about the proliferation of technology that makes AI more accessible to the masses [00:48:27] - The most interesting AI model he’s ever come across and collapsing the friction between human intent and programmable outcomes [00:51:51] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Antonio Gracias, founder, CIO, and CEO of Valor Equity Partners. Antonio is perhaps best known for his role at Tesla, as the earliest institutional investor and Director from 2007 to 2021. But he has deep operating and investing experience, having first acquired and managed a number of manufacturing and technology companies during his 20s. And it was during those formative years that Antonio and his team developed the skills that led to Valor, which provides operational expertise to the high growth private companies they invest in. Our conversation is a deep exploration of the drivers behind Antonio and Valor’s success. We dive into his concept of pro-entropic investing, what he learned as a 25-year-old running a manufacturing business, and trust me when I say, you don't want to miss his answer to the kindest thing ever. Please enjoy this great conversation with Antonio Gracias. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Lemon.io. The team at Lemon.io has built a network of Eastern European developers ready to pair with fast-growing startups. We have faced challenges hiring engineering talent for various projects - and Lemon.io offered developers for one-off projects, developers for full start to finish product development, or developers that could be add-ons to the existing team. Check out lemon.io/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:51] - [First question] - Defining what a pro-entropic company is [00:07:26] - Understanding external forces of chaos and why they’ll continue to increase [00:11:32] - What he’s learned about identifying and investing in pro-entropic companies [00:13:43] - Investing with entropy in mind can be a bet on unchanging aspects of human nature [00:15:08] - Defining durability in contrast with resiliency and entropy [00:18:53] - Coming from a traditional background and the origin of Valor [00:22:05] - The theory of constraints and why it’s so powerful; The Goal [00:26:32] - Transitioning into a private equity structure and Valor’s 2001-2005 era [00:42:02] - Decision making bias and combating bias effectively in practice [00:44:30] - Where security and control figures into his thinking [00:45:45] - Identity in relation to ego; the tools he uses to combat identity related decisions [00:49:04] - Lessons learned from the Japanese language versus Western languages [00:53:07] - Questions he returns to when he’s getting to know a company [00:56:16] - An episode of operational deployment that most stands out in memory [00:58:54] - Key concepts that most stick with him from working alongside Elon Musk [01:01:32] - Why there aren’t more Musk’s or Bezos’ in the world [01:04:20] - Ensuring Valor invests in the best companies going forward [01:06:06] - How to pass the torch of what Valor is to others when his time is done [01:08:25] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group - one of the largest private equity firms in the world. David has worked in the White House, built a $300 billion investment institution, become a prominent philanthropist, published books, and even hosts his own TV show. It was a thrill to sit down with him and cover the whole spectrum of his experience as a father, investor, historian, and titan of American business. Please enjoy this great conversation with David Rubenstein. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:02] - [First question] - What his perspective on the world today is compared to the last forty years [00:05:35] - The long term implications of the Ukraine war on a global scale [00:07:54] - Concerns and thoughts on the US’s role in a radically different world [00:10:07] - How inflation and reduced globalization impacts business behavior in the US [00:14:11] - His method when interviewing people and how it’s changed over time [00:15:03] - How his interest in leadership as a topic began; How to Lead [00:17:55] - The time he was the most personally in awe of a leader [00:19:05] - The most basic ingredients for strong leadership [00:21:34] - Learning from Oprah and developing his own interviewing style [00:24:25] - His leadership style while running Carlyle and key variables that drove Carlyle’s success [00:28:41] - The ways that were most effective in terms of investment for Carlyle’s brand [00:29:50] - How should a new investor think about the relationship between government and business [00:32:17] - What he’s learned about leadership that he thinks is the most portable for other people [00:34:04] - His interest in masters of leadership and what he has learned from them [00:35:08] - How Carlyle retained their talent and building relationships with LP investors [00:37:20] - Lessons from working in media with what worked and what didn’t; How to Invest [00:38:55] - How he approached writing How to Invest [00:41:13] - The importance of intuition when evaluating backers and why geniuses aren’t always chosen [00:43:04] - Big aspects of American history and why he finds it so interesting; The American Story [00:44:17] - Key drivers of American outcomes and biggest areas for improvement [00:47:00] - Lessons he learned going from humble beginnings to amassing wealth and how he’s teaching his children about it [00:49:20] - The state of private equity and what are its best and highest functions today [00:51:03] - Experience and impressions on the emerging cryptosphere [00:52:25] - What makes for a good chairman and why he is always drawn to that role [00:53:42] - The most interesting system outside of the US that he’s observed [00:55:33] - What he has learned about being a giving pledge signer and philanthropy [00:57:02] - His interest in Monticello and the Magna Carta [00:59:13] - View on how speeches from leaders have changed over the years; Citizenship in a Republic [01:01:24] - What subject he would write his next book on [01:03:58] - Thoughts on the line between giving your life for your country versus your state [01:05:17] - The American Experiment [01:06:10] - Looking back on his career at a time where he felt the most alive [01:08:07] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Gaurav Kapadia, founder of investment firm XN. Gaurav is a veteran of the investing arena. We cover his lessons while rising to partner at TPG Axon, co-founding Soroban Capital, and his decision to launch XN in 2020. We then discuss his approach to building XN around a culture of rigor and kindness, the importance of relationships in investing, and finding investments that are obvious in retrospect. Please enjoy my great conversation with Gaurav Kapadia. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:05] - [First question] - What lead to kindness and rigor becoming pillars in XN’s company culture [00:05:30] - The types of situations where it’s hardest to be kind or rigorous [00:07:58] - Asking one question that can stump a founder can be a display of rigor [00:08:58] - An example of looking at a situation and reducing the problem to a single variable [00:12:51] - How he trains investors and team members to consider outcomes that would be obvious in hindsight [00:14:28] - Developing the art of interacting with company management [00:17:54] - Dimensions that typically find their way into his presentations and what tends to create complexity [00:21:13] - Whether or not rigor has declined in public markets over the years [00:21:55] - Why fewer talented people are going into public markets [00:23:01] - What it felt like when he first started XN and being successful at a young age [00:28:58] - Being impressed with his peers and rooting for each other [00:30:33] - The nature of public versus private investing today writ large [00:32:32] - How he gets to know a company when he’s never heard of them before [00:35:20] - Reasons he won’t invest from a personal policy standpoint [00:36:01] - Common problems he encounters that companies are dealing with [00:37:32] - Defining the strike zone of companies to invest in where he can be best-in-class [00:39:10] - The insane valuations of public markets in recent years especially in tech [00:40:42] - Why there are so few great businesses and common attributes of the great ones [00:44:12] - Biggest problems in the investment industry writ large [00:45:48] - The most remarkable business he’s ever seen [00:49:22] - How he would teach investors to deploy XN’s operating partner model [00:51:32] - His perspective and thoughts on diversity in the investing industry [00:56:58] - A business or institution he would own outright personally [00:57:37] - What outside of investing most has his attention lately [00:59:50] - Key touchpoints of coming from Queens and going to Hunter [01:02:15] - What stands out looking back on his relationship with his parents and how hard they worked to build a better life for their family [01:04:10] - Two things that manifest in a system that is seemingly rigged towards the wealthy and the problem with generational wealth [01:05:29] - What has him most excited and optimistic about the future in the investing landscape today [01:08:16] - Investing mentors deserve gratitude for believing in their pupils [01:09:12] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Marko Papic, partner and chief strategist at Clocktower Group, where he leads the firm’s research on macroeconomics and markets. Marko has spent his career at the intersection of finance and geopolitics, making him a perfect person to speak to about current events in Ukraine and their potential impact further afield. Along with Russia and Ukraine, we discuss the Fed, inflation, China, the green energy transition, and the US’s position in the global order. Please enjoy this discussion with Marko Papic. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the new digital hub for market intelligence. The Tegus platform empowers Investors and Corporate Development teams to invest smarter by pairing best-in-class technology with the highest quality user-generated content and data. Find out why a majority of the top firms are using Tegus on a daily basis. Head to tegus.co/patrick for your free trial. ----- This episode is brought to you by Lemon.io. The team at Lemon.io has built a network of Eastern European developers ready to pair with fast-growing startups. We have faced challenges hiring engineering talent for various projects - and Lemon.io offered developers for one-off projects, developers for full start to finish product development, or developers that could be add-ons to the existing team. Check out lemon.io/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:48] - [First question] - His thoughts on what’s happened so far between Russia and Ukraine [00:06:18] - The geopolitical motivations for Russia and what they can gain from the conflict [00:10:52] - How his impressions of warfare have evolved watching this play out [00:13:45] - What to consider about nuclear war and different types of nuclear weapons [00:16:31] - The economic warfare from the West against Russia and its implications [00:21:06] - Whether or not the world is de-globalizing and how interconnected we all are [00:24:45] - How we should view post-covid inflation, specifically in the US [00:30:34] - The ways the Fed’s role has evolved [00:33:25] - Impacts of liquidity on asset prices and why it’s such a key factor in markets [00:34:16] - China’s positioning and how the Ukraine conflict could alter their plans [00:40:58] - Thoughts on Taiwan and how global supply chains might change [00:44:47] - Why so few people believe that China has peaked; Young China [00:48:52] - His take on income equality in the US and why it’s the number one issue [00:53:03] - What the US could do to improve itself as a country most going forward [00:55:35] - Having a green energy transition view is crucial and the surrounding politics [00:59:22] - The preconditions for doing well in atoms-based innovation [01:01:13] - What he’s watching most carefully about the conflict in Ukraine [01:02:51] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Garry Tan, founder and managing partner of early-stage venture firm, Initialized Capital. Before starting Initialized, Garry was a partner at Y Combinator, employee number 10 at Palantir, and co-founder of YC backed blog platform Posterous. Our discussion covers what’s missing in the investment world, how to best systematize venture investments, and what he learned from Paul Graham. Please enjoy my conversation with Garry Tan. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the new digital hub for market intelligence. The Tegus platform empowers Investors and Corporate Development teams to invest smarter by pairing best-in-class technology with the highest quality user-generated content and data. Find out why a majority of the top firms are using Tegus on a daily basis. Head to tegus.co/patrick for your free trial. ----- This episode is brought to you by Lemon.io. The team at Lemon.io has built a network of Eastern European developers ready to pair with fast-growing startups. We have faced challenges hiring engineering talent for various projects - and Lemon.io offered developers for one-off projects, developers for full start to finish product development, or developers that could be add-ons to the existing team. Check out lemon.io/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:45] - [First question] - Why he’s interested by software and the global brain [00:06:23] - How the shift from global to local manifests in his investing and company activities [00:11:42] - Ways to increase throughput that would benefit everybody in the investing world [00:17:13] - What software he would build if there were no limitations and what happens at the systems level of securing deals at Initialize [00:23:33] - Why there is no objective application process for early-stage capital and how much human judgment we can remove from approving funding [00:26:49] - Shared characteristics amongst new inventions he finds favorable [00:31:49] - Whether he’s able to evaluate an idea without a prototype [00:33:33] - Why travel planning software was the worst idea of 2012 and what he sees as the bad idea of today [00:36:06] - The most common reasons for failure in these types of businesses [00:39:07] - Is big enabling technology shifts what manifests in successful outcomes? [00:40:37] - The role of media and how it intersects with investing [00:44:29] - What he attributes to the success of his firm and thriving in chaos [00:48:11] - Would he press a button that would have made his childhood easy, and whether he’s met founders who haven’t come across adversity in their lives [00:50:00] - His thoughts on the world today via the lens of his portfolio [00:53:12] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Eric Mandelblatt, founder and CIO of Soroban Capital, a $10 billion investment firm. While many of my conversations focus on technology and emerging industries, Eric has deep roots investing in the industrial economy, which made this conversation a fun change of pace. We discuss why energy and materials represent such a small share of the market today, how the global push towards decarbonization could have massive impacts on the industrial economy moving forward, and how Eric evaluates this dynamic opportunity set. Please enjoy this deep-dive discussion with Eric Mandelblatt. Editor’s note: This conversation was recorded on February 15, before last week's invasion of Ukraine. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:01] - [First question] - Soroban’s history and why Eric is qualified to discuss industrial and commodity sectors [00:04:37] - Overview of what their portfolio looks like today [00:05:49] - How much of the commodity exposed equity sectors are owned by hedge funds [00:08:03] - The key history points that makes industrials more interesting today [00:11:17] - Commodity cycles, what drives them, the role CAPEX plays and how this world works [00:17:38] - Thoughts on natural demand and the societal push towards decarbonization [00:22:32] - How deeply one needs to know commodities in order to hold them [00:23:57] - Big categories to explore as decarbonization becomes more accessible to consumers and the lack of nuclear investing [00:28:50] - The resurgence of industrial production in the US [00:32:21] - Rail networks writ large and if we can expect new ones in the future [00:36:17] - The market gap between rail and technology businesses [00:41:38] - Commodities and the ways they differ from railroads [00:43:47] - Comparing the differences between businesses within the commodity industry [00:46:52] - Walkthrough of Alcoa’s business and how things like a carbon tax might affect an individual business [00:52:55] - What is the portfolio manifestation of the fact it's impossible to forecast commodities historically [00:56:08] - His view of the world in its current state and big things that matter [01:00:25] - Thoughts on inflation as an investor in the commodity space [01:01:42] - Utopian to dystopian takes on what growth looks like for the world [01:04:28] - Juxtaposed positions in big tech against the industrial story [01:08:45] - The kindest thing someone has ever done for him
My guest today is Sebastian Kanovich, CEO of payments company dLocal. Sebastian founded dLocal in 2016 to bridge the infrastructure gap between payments in developed and emerging markets. Since then, the initially bootstrapped start-up has enabled global merchants like Uber, Spotify, and Google to service billions of emerging market users. And in doing so, dLocal has created $10bn of equity market value, having IPOd last year. Our discussion covers dLocal’s playbook for facilitating payments in emerging countries, what Sebastian has learned about great API building, and how he challenges himself to improve personally. Please enjoy my conversation with Sebastian Kanovich. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Pilot. Pilot handles your startup’s finance, accounting, and tax prep needs, so you can focus on what matters most—building your business. Join over 1,000 startups that rely on Pilot to help them scale. Founder’s Field Guide listeners get 20% off their first six months. Get in touch with Pilot at https://pilot.com/founders. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:13] - [First question] - His take on global payments, what is interesting about this system today, and dLocal’s role within it [00:04:06] - Approaching a country that could benefit from low-friction payments and the playbook for helping them improve their system [00:06:10] - Differences between being an API business versus a protocol one [00:07:13] - What companies handle these systems outside of emerging markets and why they haven’t entered the emerging market space [00:08:59] - A specific example of the steps involved in getting a country integrated into global payments for an app or service provider [00:11:22] - Whether or not they interact with consumers [00:12:09] - The trading and foreign exchange component of global transactions [00:13:16] - Country specific product teams and consolidating their process [00:14:52] - What he would look for in early-stage payment companies to invest in [00:16:23] - Defining excellent when it comes to working with regulators and regulatory environments [00:17:53] - Their role in digital globalization and trends that might arise in the future [00:19:52] - Ways that low-friction payments have helped accelerate regional innovation [00:21:31] - The unit economics and costs of a single payment [00:24:05] - What the source of cost is to process a payment or transaction [00:25:10] - Variables in currencies that make them desirable to work with [00:26:38] - Lessons learned from distribution and customer acquisition of their service [00:29:23] - Advice he would give to developers building API products [00:31:16] - An example of wanting to build a function into an API that was never built [00:32:40] - How they’ve been able to move and scale so fast [00:34:23] - Ways their business could most improve [00:35:14] - The operating system he uses to run the company [00:36:38] - Ways he’s most improved or gotten better as a CEO over the years [00:37:58] - Why deep humility is such an integral part of his character [00:38:30] - The biggest mistake they’ve ever made as a business and what they learned [00:39:20] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Frank Slootman, Chairman and CEO of cloud platform Snowflake. Frank has become one of the most revered CEOs in business. Over the past twenty years, he has three times taken over emerging enterprise software businesses – first Data Domain, then ServiceNow, and most recently Snowflake - and led them across the chasm into large, billion-dollar businesses. Please enjoy this great discussion with Frank Slootman. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the new digital hub for market intelligence. The Tegus platform empowers Investors and Corporate Development teams to invest smarter by pairing best in class technology with the highest quality user-generated content and data. Find out why a majority of the top firms are using Tegus on a daily basis. Head to tegus.co/patrick for your free trial. ----- This episode is brought to you by Lemon.io. The team at Lemon.io has built a network of Eastern European developers ready to pair with fast-growing startups. We have faced challenges hiring engineering talent for various projects - and Lemon.io offered developers for one-off projects, developers for full start to finish product development, or developers that could be add-ons to the existing team. Check out lemon.io/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:33] - [First question] - How he evaluates the team of a company he’s working with [00:04:48] - The pace of decisions made around changing team members [00:06:10] - Understanding the potential quality of outside leaders being brought into the company [00:08:13] - How he characterizes great and constructive confrontation [00:09:53] - What he’s found to be most effective in convincing senior talent to join a team [00:11:36] - Ways he personally generates energy to sustain himself in this pace of business [00:14:17] - How he fosters and nurtures healthy communication pathways [00:15:36] - Narrowing the focus when evaluating a new product [00:17:58] - Is it possible for a focus to be too narrow? [00:19:31] - An example of a dazzling customer that he’s worked with [00:21:04] - Working backwards from a problem and building something that solves it [00:23:03] - Building trust between a company and its customers over time [00:25:37] - Overview of the base layer ingredients of trust [00:28:12] - Sequential versus parallel processing and how they affect building trust [00:30:22] - Lessons in successfully translating between engineers and business people [00:32:58] - Crossing the chasm and effective sales organizations [00:35:17] - Working compensation into getting more out of an organization [00:38:45] - How much a sales organization needs to work backwards to serve their product [00:41:40] - Great questions for board members to ask their executive team [00:46:07] - Where the analogy of ‘business as war’ falls down and defining the highlander concept [00:48:01] - What he feels he could still hone in his skillset [00:49:16] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Tim Flannery, co-founder of venture fund administrator Passthrough. Passthrough is removing friction from the manual, time-consuming fundraising process by making investor onboarding as simple and automatic as possible. Their software helps investors fill out subscription documents in minutes rather than hours and allows GPs to easily track LP subscriptions during a fundraise. In our conversation, we discuss the power of identity as a feature to build products around, the double-edged sword of solving an unsexy problem, and how Passthrough has thought about pricing their software. Please enjoy my conversation with Tim Flannery. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Pilot. Pilot handles your startup’s finance, accounting, and tax prep needs so you can focus on what matters most — building your business. Join over 1,000 startups that rely on Pilot to help them scale. Founder’s Field Guide listeners get 20% off their first six months. Get in touch with Pilot at https://pilot.com/founders. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:08] - [First question] - The push and pull nature of what Passthrough is trying to solve [00:04:17] - What the idealized end state 10 years from now looks like [00:07:33] - A history of friction in investing and what barriers still remain today [00:12:35] - The spark of insight that led to starting this new venture [00:17:45] - Lessons learned from Okta and why identity is so powerful [00:19:39] - Plans to expand this concept deeper into the tech stack [00:22:24] - Adjacent problems that they plan to tackle as they continue to scale [00:24:30] - What it feels like to use their product as an LP today [00:26:10] - Working with service providers without becoming one [00:28:06] - What great sales and distribution looks like to him at the infrastructure level [00:31:50] - Defining what “bring your collaborators” means [00:33:19] - His secret to recruiting talent to help solve an unsexy problem [00:37:46] - His love for the intersection between process, pipelines, and efficiency [00:40:12] - Having a process for designing processes [00:42:11] - How they arrived at their pricing and thoughtful pricing in software [00:45:08] - Lessons from building Passthrough that other builders could benefit from [00:47:16] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is IAC’s CEO, Joey Levin. IAC is a unique business in that it’s a holding company which builds world-class digital businesses. Since Barry Diller created IAC over two decades ago, it has produced 11 public companies, including Match Group, Expedia, and Live Nation. Today, the business is comprised of category-leaders like Angi, Dotdash Meredith, and Care.com. Joey joined IAC in 2003 and became CEO in 2015. We talk about why he tries to avoid centralization between businesses, what he's learned from Barry Diller, how he approaches capital allocation, and so much more. This conversation serves as an excellent reminder that there’s no formula to company building. Everything is idiosyncratic and requires its own best decisions. Please enjoy this great discussion with Joey Levin. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:05] - [First question] - The unique nature of IAC; the business of building businesses [00:05:27] - The first business spun out of IAC and its bottom-up philosophy [00:06:41] - The differences of IAC and how they manifest [00:09:39] - Agility and history of respecting the core functions of the internet [00:12:36] - Simplified, faster, and larger choice digital experiences [00:15:57] - His thoughts on the shared characteristics amongst their winners [00:18:26] - Lessons from building competitive products in online dating simultaneously [00:21:37] - Navigating customer acquisition cost and embracing change [00:24:04] - What makes someone great at customer acquisition [00:26:26] - Fostering a unique approach compared to typical customer funnels [00:27:48] - What most explains his move from a pip-squeak to CEO [00:29:44] - The process he uses to get to know the critical aspects of a new business [00:31:59] - Indications that a leader may no longer be suited to run a business [00:33:13] - Characteristics of vertical markets that he finds attractive to get involved in [00:34:08] - The early stages of incubating a new business and an overview of their process [00:38:10] - Enabling new consumer experiences and infrastructure fading away [00:40:17] - Distilling big ideas down to streamlined approachable consumer products [00:42:22] - High-level internal conversations around capital allocation [00:45:06] - Quantitative versus qualitative analysis in their decision-making process [00:46:50] - What idea felt the most right but turned out to be a disaster [00:51:26] - Brand rollup versus brand consolidation and when either strategy is appropriate [00:54:03] - Having a good sense of identifying, defining, and positioning categories [00:56:23] - Which aspects of his perspectives have shifted since becoming CEO [00:57:59] - Thoughts on the toolkit available for sourcing and the cost of capital [01:01:08] - What personally brings him the most joy in what he does [01:02:37] - Working with Barry Diller and what it taught him [01:06:39] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Peter Chernin, who’s had a Hall of Fame career in the entertainment business. Peter ran News Corp and Fox for fifteen years between 1996 and 2009 before co-founding The Chernin Group, which has become one of the leading investment firms in the consumer space. Along the way, he has also produced a number of blockbuster films, including Titanic, Avatar, The Greatest Showman, and The Planet of the Apes Trilogy. Please enjoy this wonderful discussion with Peter Chernin. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ----- This episode is brought to you by Levels. As one of their early access members, Levels was one of the most interesting products I've ever used. Levels is attempting to make continuous glucose monitoring mainstream by using real-time biosensors to see how food affects your health. Using Levels made me realize how little we understand about what's happening in our bodies. And it was the only product that ever made me willing to log food. If you want early access to become a Member of their private Beta, (the waitlist is currently at 150K+ people), use this link – levels.link/PATRICK ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:06] - [First question] - Business and investing lessons from producing Titanic and Avatar [00:06:44] - Defining great content and why James Cameron’s franchises have done so well [00:10:26] - Contributing factors to box-office domination of pre-existing franchises [00:12:56] - Tailwinds in his earlier career and identifying them in time to get behind change [00:16:07] - Identifying Showcase was a subscription business early on, unlike broadcast businesses [00:19:40] - Signals of passion and how powerful niche audiences can be [00:23:24] - What a phony aggregator is and the slow dissolution of the middle market [00:27:01] - The era of unbundling and direct relationships with superfans [00:30:27] - Lessons learned from building Hulu [00:34:29] - Working with Rupert Murdoch and qualities that separate him from the crowd [00:37:07] - Defining what bravery means in a businesses sense [00:39:22] - A movie he’s made in the past decade that he’s most proud of [00:43:27] - The keys to being an effective partner to creative individuals [00:49:53] - What exists today that may change the future landscape of media writ large [00:52:19] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is entrepreneur and investor, John Pfeffer. John was a partner at private equity firm KKR in the 2000s, Chairman of leading French IT company Groupe Allium in the 90s, and now invests his own money through his private family office, Pfeffer Capital. John is one of the smartest investors I know, and our conversation spans all of John’s experience and investment ideas. We discuss the difference between value creation and wealth creation, why John has made such a big bet on one asset, and why adaptation is more important than ever. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ----- This episode is brought to you by Lemon.io. The team at Lemon.io has built a network of Eastern European developers ready to pair with fast-growing startups. We have faced challenges hiring engineering talent for various projects and Lemon.io offered developers for one-off projects, developers for full start to finish product development, or developers that could be add-ons to the existing team. Check out lemon.io/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:08] - [First question] - John’s background and the experiences that shaped his worldview and sparked his curiosity [00:07:34] - Aspiring to grow with a lack of inertia [00:10:31] - Why he invests primarily in technology and technology dependant businesses [00:15:22] - What it’s felt like being a tech investor from 2011 leading up to today [00:19:26] - How he defines good and bad business [00:21:24] - Why good businesses don’t often have technology disruption risks [00:22:26] - An (Institutional) Investor’s Take on Cryptoassets; key points from his paper [00:35:28] - What else is interesting in the crypto space and potentially strong business models that exist outside of Bitcoin [00:48:46] - How capital has changed over time and what makes capital efficiency or formation superior [00:51:51] - Value creation and why a shift in value can affect your returns [01:01:12] - Whether or not crypto and the founding protocols will fade out of the public eye [01:11:52] - A consensus on store of value in crypto and how it could change [01:18:03] - Why he is so heavily allocated to Bitcoin compared to other tokens [01:25:19] - General take on the nature of buying and selling capital and European markets [01:35:28] - The interconnectedness of the globe and the future of globalism [01:39:46] - Why he doesn’t ask people where they’re from and how he prefers to get to know people that can sometimes be unorthodox [01:41:59] - Market index investing and why it may not be the best strategy going forward [01:47:36] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is the renowned tech author, consultant, and venture partner at Wildcat Ventures, Geoffrey Moore. Geoffrey has spent his career focused on the dynamics surrounding disruptive innovations and his book, Crossing the Chasm, has become a canonical work for young businesses trying to unlock mainstream markets. This discussion is a masterclass on business strategy. We start with Geoffrey’s more recent work on category-defining businesses, break down his life cycle of adoption framework, and close with the ways messaging should change as a company evolves. Please enjoy this great discussion with Geoffrey Moore. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:08] - [First question] - What he means by a gorilla business [00:07:10] - An example of how companies self-organize into gorillas, chimps, and monkeys [00:09:41] - Why architecture is so important and how it applies to company building [00:13:11] - How and when businesses should think about open and closed systems [00:14:50] - Ways in which enabling tech companies are superior to application ones [00:16:39] - Thoughts on approaching and hiring a singular use case company [00:18:23] - Markets underestimate competitive advantage periods for technological gorillas [00:20:38] - The inertia and duration of being the creator of a space’s architecture [00:23:28] - Advice for early-stage companies when creating or dominating categories [00:25:16] - What he’s learned about identifying trapped value [00:26:49] - Questions that can identify trapped value, factoring for time, and horizontal uses [00:41:49] - Problems with risk exposure in B2B and applying this model for value creation [00:33:37] - His initial discovery of the life cycles of adoption and its five categories [00:39:29] - Perspective on venture capital funding and going from idea to the chasm [00:44:10] - What good pragmatists in pain look like [00:47:29] - Successful vertical uses-case sales motions [00:50:03] - Guarding from becoming over-specialized in a singular focused effort [00:50:52] - The Diffusion of Innovations; Ways messages work their way through a company to keep up with category evolution [00:55:00] - How extensible these ideas are to non-technology businesses [00:56:04] - The race between innovation and distribution [00:56:44] - What about the world today has changed or influenced his thinking [00:59:17] - Ways big companies can stay competitive in emerging categories [01:02:23] - The company he’s most enjoyed studying over his career [01:05:25] - Shared characteristics of exceptional leaders he’s met and talked to [01:07:48] - The Gorilla Game, Crossing the Chasm [01:08:14] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is past guest Gavin Baker, managing partner and CIO of Atreides Management. Gavin’s focus is on consumer and tech growth investing, which makes him the perfect person to discuss the bloodbath we’ve seen in many growth equities over the past few months. We also cover inflation, semiconductors, and the disconnect between private and public markets. Please enjoy this conversation with the always great Gavin Baker. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Lemon.io. The team at Lemon.io has built a network of Eastern European developers ready to pair with fast-growing startups. We have faced challenges hiring engineering talent for various projects - and Lemon.io offered developers for one-off projects, developers for full start to finish product development, or developers that could be add-ons to the existing team. Check out lemon.io/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:30] - [First question] - What it’s been like investing over the pandemic [00:06:14] - The way he thinks about multiples, how they’ve done, and where they’re going [00:09:14] - Themes that most have his attention in our current economic landscape [00:19:25] - The ways in which wage inflation negatively impacts the market [00:25:39] - How semiconductors have evolved and what matters in that subsector [00:32:47] - Software volatility and the roller coaster it's been on lately [00:35:52] - A future state where infrastructure overtakes apps [00:41:03] - Key differences between internet and software and how they behave [00:43:44] - The coming trend of the metaverse and his reaction to public adoption [00:49:26] - Investor and business opportunities in adopting tech trends [00:53:54] - An unfolding mismatch between private and public market multiples [00:57:17] - How the competitive landscape of venture capital might evolve [01:05:54] - Differences in recruiting and training talent in private and public markets [01:10:20] - Sci-Fi novels that he’s read recently; Dune, A Wizard of Earthsea, Culture, Hyperion
Today, my guests are Sam Englebardt and Richard Kim, general partners at venture fund, Galaxy Interactive. Having come from the media and finance sectors, respectively, Sam and Richard joined forces in 2018 to invest in their shared thesis that immersive digital experiences would become the dominant way people engage with each other in the future. Our conversation centers around the evolution of art, finance, and gaming as they proliferate in Web3. Please enjoy my conversation with Sam and Richard. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Levels. As one of their early access members, Levels was one of the most interesting products I've ever used. Levels is attempting to make continuous glucose monitoring mainstream by using real-time biosensors to see how food affects your health. If you want early access to become a Member of their private Beta, (the waitlist is currently at 150K+ people), use this link – levels.link/PATRICK ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:50] - [First question] - Their thoughts on the digital art market [00:11:33] - What motivates traditional art collectors and what has been carried over into digital art [00:17:27] - Is there an attractive beta opportunity in the digital art space? [00:24:32] - Why investors should do more work understanding NFTs and ways to consider incorporating them into your portfolio [00:27:55] - The history of Galaxy and their thesis writ large [00:33:09] - Exciting and terrifying aspects of the financialization of everything [00:37:27] - Places where inserting markets could be beneficial with Web3 [00:45:27] - Their perspectives on gaming as a subcategory of Web3 [00:51:38] - Tokenomics and the importance of building great game communities [00:59:18] - What we can learn from successful gaming companies and in-game monetization [01:04:19] - How Diablo 3’s auction house detracted from the core player experience [01:06:36] - Where they disagree with the Web3 investing community [01:10:37] - The kindest things anyone has ever done for them
My guest today is Ricky Sandler, founder of Eminence Capital. Ricky is a hedge fund veteran managing over $8bn of assets across Eminence's strategies. We cover Ricky's evolution as an active investor, why he thinks this is a stock-picker's environment, and what keeps him competitive after a long and successful career. Please enjoy my conversation with Ricky Sandler. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by: Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Levels. As one of their early access members, Levels was one of the most interesting products I've used. Levels is attempting to make continuous glucose monitoring mainstream by using real-time biosensors to see how food affects your health. Using Levels made me realize how little we understand about what's happening in our bodies - and it was the only product that has ever made me willing to log food. If you want early access to become a member of their private beta, (the waitlist is currently at 150K+ people), use this link – levels.link/PATRICK ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:42] - [First question] Whether or not great investment firms should be led by a single investor [00:03:25] - Episodes where singular investment power has proven effective and powerful [00:05:06] - Where he finds joy in the investing process on a regular basis [00:06:19] - Ways he’s learned to become better at guiding and helping teams he works with [00:08:14] - The most common types of fool's gold he comes across [00:11:00] - Evolution of the pricing mechanisms in ever-evolving markets [00:16:14] - Common features of a good mispricing opportunity [00:18:42] - How he interacts with other hedge funds and long-only investors [00:21:14] - An investor he often disagrees with but loves talking to [00:22:13] - The investment he’s most proud of historically [00:25:11] - What the healthy draw that keeps him coming back to investing is [00:28:31] - His opinion on crossover funds and their growing popularity [00:32:09] - What the world in 2022 looks like to him and what both excites and worries him [00:38:19] - Key contributors that influence liquidity and how it flows into equity prices [00:41:26] - A macro view of the healthcare sector and why it’s so interesting today [00:42:59] - Lessons from the Titans [00:43:52] - Advice he’d give to younger investors for stepping into the space [00:46:45] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Orlando Bravo, co-founder and Managing Partner of leading private equity firm, Thoma Bravo. Thoma Bravo manages over $90bn of assets and is best known for investing in software and technology businesses. It was Orlando who led the firm’s early entry into software buyouts some twenty years ago, and he has overseen more than 350 software acquisitions since. There are few, if any, people better placed to discuss private equity and software investing. Please enjoy this excellent discussion with Orlando Bravo. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:36] - [First question] - His belief about an opportunity/capital mismatch in private equity [00:04:26] - Adjusting his own approach to take advantage of seemingly niche opportunities [00:06:13] - Differences between software businesses they invest in versus traditional ones [00:08:25] - Outline of how he runs their four-hour portfolio meetings [00:09:53] - Overview of the very first deal he ever made in the software sector [00:14:01] - The dissonance between the average SaaS company and the ones they try to manage [00:18:22] - Major contributors that allow for their higher margins [00:20:16] - Common mistakes of companies that mis-invest capital for growth only [00:22:28] - Defining what market leader means writ large [00:23:45] - Why the subsector of cyber security is such a good opportunity set [00:26:25] - The evolving nature of the private equity world in general [00:28:41] - Where returns will come from going forward [00:31:47] - How good the opportunity for returns in this style of investing today is [00:35:32] - Lessons learned on knowing when to exit or sell a position [00:37:59] - How short their holding periods can be and how much influence they can have in such a short time [00:40:04] - Surprising things about deal-making that he’s learned over his career [00:41:20] - Difficulties and points of frictions in deals that still exist for him today [00:43:11] - What part of the deal-making process he loves the most [00:44:30] - If your job title has a C in it you’re not allowed to complain about it [00:46:27] - Deeply held beliefs about operating excellence [00:47:33] - What the word service means to him given everything we’ve talked about [00:50:27] - How we do a better job of inviting talent into this space [00:52:51] - How decentralization will define the 2020s and beyond [00:55:48] - What is most interesting about Web3 that might affect cyber security [00:57:42] - Where there is a lack in innovation in private equity today [01:00:45] - Advice for young talent for building their careers [01:03:16] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Nick Saltarelli, co-founder of the functional chocolate bar business, Mid-Day Squares. Nick started the company with his wife and brother-in-law a few years ago to build on a simple idea: if the big chocolate bar brands were to start today, what would they look like? In our conversation, we discuss the importance of Mid-Day Squares’ $100 million revenue target, what’s wrong with the CPG industry today, and how to keep a long-term mindset while making the most of every day. Please enjoy this unique conversation with Nick Saltarelli. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Pilot. Pilot handles your startup’s finance, accounting, and tax prep needs, so you can focus on what matters most—building your business. Join over 1,000 startups that rely on Pilot to help them scale. Founder’s Field Guide listeners get 20% off their first six months. Get in touch with Pilot at https://pilot.com/founders. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:01] - [First question] - What Mid-Day Squares is and how he started the business [00:04:48] - Why they’re so publicly open about their company’s goals [00:09:05] - Major lessons he learned from his father’s early passing and being around very successful entrepreneurs at a young age [00:16:51] - What long term thinking unlocks for him in short term progress [00:21:05] - Becoming unexpectedly close and learning from Rory Olson [00:25:44] - What Rory taught him about deal-making [00:28:35] - Lessons from Rory about raising capital [00:33:25] - Opportunities in a seemingly oversaturated market like chocolate [00:42:46] - An example of doing something contrarian that worked out [00:47:11] - Their unique approach to marketing Mid-Day Squares [00:57:33] - Lessons learned about building a manufacturing operation after years in China [01:02:35] - What we can expect from Mid-Day Squares in the near future [01:06:59] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him [01:08:05] - Mid-Day Squares Uncensored Podcast
My guest today is Jenny Johnson, President and CEO of one of the world’s largest asset managers, Franklin Templeton. Jenny joined the business in 1988 and has worked in the organization ever since. In early 2020 she became CEO of Franklin, which now manages some $1.5 trillion. I should, of course, note that I met Jenny as our two firms explored a partnership, which we cemented 3 months ago when we announced that Franklin Templeton would be acquiring O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. During our conversation, we discuss Jenny’s thoughts on leadership, how she manages the needle-moving problem that afflicts many large companies, and the ways in which she sees private markets becoming more accessible to retail investors in the future. Please enjoy this great conversation with Jenny Johnson. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:19] - [First question] - The four P’s of leadership and what she thinks are the most important roles of a CEO [00:06:00] - The difficulty of finding and recruiting great people and keeping them invested [00:07:18] - Things she looks for in her senior leadership team [00:07:59] - Knowing when to be more or less involved as a leader [00:09:30] - Her takeaways from working in a family-owned business [00:11:20] - Advice she’d give to families who are building businesses together [00:12:06] - Thoughts on the role technology will play in the asset management industry [00:16:13] - Costs and frictions that blockchains could alleviate [00:18:17] - General views on disruption and considering ones position when thinking about the future [00:20:09] - Knowing when to start a project internally or acquire an existing project [00:23:10] - The hardest things about effective M&A decisions [00:23:42] - Overseeing a hybrid model of singular focus between multiple investment groups [00:28:26] - The pros and cons of active management against passive adoption [00:31:15] - Costs and fees in the industry and how they might change in the future [00:33:04] - Talking to clients when they don’t have one specific view on strategy [00:36:10] - Formative experiences in her career that has shaped her worldview [00:38:34] - Managing emotions through seemingly chaotic situations [00:39:13] - The impacts on psychology when being a top performer and an average one [00:41:15] - Managing and adapting strategy when faced with highs and lows [00:42:55] - Acquiring alternative managers and defining what alternative assets are [00:46:26] - Relevant trends on how capital is pooled and their client base over time [00:47:52] - What is under-discussed in the world of asset management today writ large [00:49:01] - Other leaders she’s met or knows that have had her in awe [00:50:30] - What about Cathie Wood has made her story and approach so successful [00:51:38] - How she runs a great board meeting and ways to improve meetings themselves [00:53:34] - Lessons learned about time management as the leader of a public company [00:54:52] - What purpose means to her [00:56:18] - Ways we can incentivize young and new people to start investing [00:59:10] - Her favorite things that her dad has taught her and how she’d describe him [01:00:57] - What has her most excited about the future [01:01:34] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for her
My guest today is Doug Colkitt. Doug has spent his career searching for and trading inefficient markets, first at Citadel’s high-frequency trading group, then for himself, and then as an operator building CrocSwap - a decentralized exchange or DEX designed to bring modern functionality to crypto markets, which is closer to what large traders have come to expect from a modern electronic market like the NASDAQ. My interest in market infrastructure has continued to grow since my great conversation with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. So my conversation with Doug covers the evolution of market and trading infrastructure. We unpack the trading stack as it exists today, dive into DeFi’s innovations, and explore the new category of single contract DEXs that Doug is creating. After learning so much from Doug about how markets function and how crypto markets should function, I became an investor in his new business via my venture capital firm Positive Sum. Please enjoy this great conversation with Doug Colkitt. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:31] - [First question] - Doug’s career and history working with markets [00:08:55] - Defining what a trading stack is [00:13:41] - How HFT firms are such reliable money-making models [00:16:27] - What’s at the cutting edge of traditional markets that provides an edge [00:18:45] - The mechanical parts of infrastructure involved in building an exchange [00:21:00] - Classes of data that matter for operating an exchange [00:22:11] - Capacity and what good returns are as an HFT firm [00:28:45] - Overview of the mechanics of an AMM [00:31:53] - Earning a yield as a liquidity provider [00:33:59] - Other ways to think about AMMs and liquidity providers [00:36:42] - Key players in the AMM space and the evolution of them [00:41:20] - How asset holders can approach DEX tools and be liquidity providers [00:42:55] - The function of an exchange’s native token [00:45:25] - Token distribution and how to earn them without buying them [00:48:31] - How you receive payment for providing liquidity [00:51:31] - What CrocSwap will do and what a single contract DEX unlocks [00:57:36] - How CrocSwap is able to do this when other exchanges can’t [00:59:27] - What single contracts will improve for users [01:00:43] - The impact CrocSwap will have for all participants writ large [01:02:28] - Whether or not CrocSwap will cultivate an ecosystem [01:03:30] - What’s next for CrocSwap in the near future [01:04:58] - The promise of DeFi and the future of blockchain technology [01:07:04] - Whether or not DeFi is a threat to centralized exchanges [01:09:52] - Defining what MEV is and why it’s important for DeFi [01:13:04] - Missing pieces in the DeFi world and how we can address them [01:15:24] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guests today are Philip Rosedale and Bill Gurley. Philip created Second Life in the early 2000s and helped build it into the largest virtual 3D world ever created at the time. Frequent listeners will recognize Bill, who was an investor in Second Life via Benchmark Capital. During the conversation, we cover the fascinating story of Second Life and the billion-dollar economy that persists through to this day. Bill and Phillip share their key learnings from the experience, including the importance of usability, their views of the current metaverse opportunity, and what excites them most about the current focus on virtual realities. If you’re curious about what the metaverse might become, these two experts have seen much of this already and are kind to share their lessons with us. Please enjoy my conversation with Phillip and Bill. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:22] - [First question] - The origin story of Second Life and why they created it [00:05:38] - How many people were playing Second Life at its peak, the in-game economy and its growth trajectory [00:06:49] - The interface between the in-game currency and its function for players [00:10:53] - An example of early entrepreneurship and user-created IP in Second Life [00:12:13] - Was technology a rate limiter to success in such an early version of the metaverse? [00:14:35] - What was most exciting about creating it and it’s early-stage potential [00:18:23] - Why Unity isn’t more adopted by creators and players like Minecraft [00:24:42] - Defining what the metaverse means to each of them today [00:28:50] - What Discord has taught them about aggregating people digitally [00:33:02] - Simultaneously crossing the digital chasm and the uncanny valley [00:38:16] - Key differences between games and platforms and the role of purpose [00:42:04] - Why cryptocurrencies and blockchains haven’t produced experiences akin to the virtual Travis Scott concert [00:47:13] - Why removing friction and centralizing financial structures can help growth and thoughts on play to earn gaming and user spending [00:53:27] - Digital asset ownership and digital trustless exchanges in the metaverse [00:57:30] - Pros and cons of today’s speculative digital asset valuations [01:01:05] - Interesting pockets of opportunity that could benefit the metaverse ecosystem [01:04:28] - How they’d build and construct an ETF with metaverse exposure [01:07:18] - Thoughts on AR and VR and which holds more promise for public adoption [01:08:02] - Surprising findings about the role audio plays in digital worlds [01:10:23] - What they’re watching most closely in this emergent sector [01:11:29] - Limitations of visual and sonic barriers when recreating real-world interactions [01:12:42] - The kindest things anyone has ever done for them
My guest today is Francis Davidson, founder and CEO of the hospitality brand Sonder. Francis launched Sonder in 2013 as an alternative to traditional hotels and rentals with a specific focus on technology and design. During our conversation, we discuss where Sonder fits into the hospitality ecosystem and why design is so key to their offering. We also touch on Francis’s unique views around customer-centric focus, the nuances of hiring a team, and how they approach decision-making. Please enjoy my conversation with Francis Davidson. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:38] - [First question] - Thoughts on the obligation of a business to deliver the best possible customer experience [00:03:43] - Making a decision that actively went against improving the customer experience [00:06:00] - What Sonder is and the key insight that led to building the business [00:08:43] - Ways they cut down costs by leveraging technology available today [00:10:44] - The economic model of the business and where it differs most from other hotels [00:12:15] - The journey of $100 coming in to Sonder and working through the company [00:13:20] - How the building or asset owner is integrated into the business model [00:14:18] - Network density and how he thinks about it when it comes to scaling Sonder [00:16:18] - His philosophy on design and why he thinks it matters in hospitality [00:18:05] - What you can overspend on and underspend on to keep a guest happy [00:21:05] - Making decisions on building in house or partnering to provide a new solution [00:22:29] - Do property owners dress up their own hotels or are there guidelines and retailers [00:23:51] - Lessons learned from working with overseas manufacturers [00:24:44] - The key levers that will drive the growth of Sonder [00:26:59] - What a typical occupancy rate is for them versus other hospitality options [00:28:23] - Category creation and design that influence and change how people behave [00:29:45] - Qualities of a new market and what drives success in attacking it [00:31:15] - His contrarian viewpoint on building a business and talent density [00:33:40] - The features of his job’s product and the interview process [00:36:21] - Does everyone at a company need to be an A player? [00:38:00] - His philosophy on team culture and developing synchronicity [00:41:01] - Ways to build strategic competitive advantage inside of Sonder [00:43:22] - What the most successful version of Sonder will look like ten years from now [00:45:16] - New features and tech improvements that are coming soon he’s excited about [00:46:48] - Trends in hospitality that have been accelerated and changed by COVID [00:48:36] - Growing changes in the glamping and nature-forward guest experiences [00:51:04] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Niraj Shah, the CEO and co-founder of Wayfair. Wayfair started life in 2002 as a collection of independent websites selling category-specific home furniture but became a one-stop-shop for the home category in 2011 when, at $500 million in sales, the team consolidated their 240 websites into Wayfair.com. Today, the business offers 22 million products from 16 thousand suppliers to more than 30 million customers. During our conversation, we discuss how the competitive frontiers in e-commerce have changed, what it was like to build out a proprietary logistics operation, and what makes the home goods market more attractive than other physical goods markets. Please enjoy this great conversation with Niraj Shah. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you've been scrambling to keep up with the deluge of IPOs and SPACs these days, Canalyst has models on Robinhood, Marqeta, Grab, and everything in between. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/patrick. ----- At WatchBox, the world’s finest watches are at your fingertips with an ever-expanding collection of luxury timepieces, all certified authentic and collector quality. WatchBox’s global team of expert client advisors is ready to help you find the watch you’ve always wanted. Step into the collector’s circle at thewatchbox.com/patrick ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:50] - [First question] - The global supply chain and its issues today in 2021 [00:05:13] - Why he finds the ocean leg such a problematic area and how to resolve it [00:07:04] - Overview of the physical goods market around the world [00:10:50] - The role of magazines and devout subscribers in certain sectors [00:11:50] - Are physical goods trends in flux or fairly steady and less geared to change [00:13:06] - From 240 separate websites into what became Wayfair as we know it today [00:16:36] - The competitive frontier of eCommerce in its early days and why they won [00:18:29] - Expanded logistics control, developing their brand, and becoming Wayfair [00:21:40] - Aggressively building for the future as a public company with investors involved [00:27:23] - Key differences between Wayfair, IKEA, Restoration Hardware and others [00:34:22] - Other areas of interest and drivers of future investment opportunities for Wayfair [00:38:39] - What excellent marketing means to him and why Netflix does it so well [00:42:02] - The margin profile of Wayfair and all of its major components [00:47:13] - Lessons learned from major mistakes while building the business [00:49:54] - Company culture and deliberately investing time and money into it [00:51:50] - Evaluating the importance and success of their adapt and grow philosophy [00:53:18] - How he would measure his own improvement as a CEO over time [00:55:17] - Thoughts on the dimension of competition as they scaled [00:56:57] - The most stressful episode of growing the business and what he learned [01:00:16] - What the best outcome for Wayfair would look like in the future [01:01:38] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
Today, I am excited to share our newest show, Web3 Breakdowns. Similar to our Business Breakdowns series, Web3 will have it's own dedicated feed so make sure to hit this subscribe link or find it on your preferred podcast player. The first episode of Web3 Breakdowns covers Bored Ape Yacht Club. You will hear from guest, Eric Golden, who will also be coming back to host his own Web3 Breakdowns moving forward. We are sharing this first episode to make sure no one misses this launch. ---- Welcome to our new show, Web3 Breakdowns. We want to be your on ramp into this new decentralized world, and through conversations with builders, creators, and investors, we will do our best to help you understand and navigate this emerging ecosystem. First up, we are breaking down the NFT project and cultural phenomenon, Bored Ape Yacht Club. To help break down Bored Apes, I am joined by Eric Golden, former Portfolio Manager at Fidelity and current Bored Ape owner. Eric and I start with an overview of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and his path to owning an NFT in the collection. We then use Bored Apes as a lens to understand how NFT projects are not just creating rare art but strong membership communities too. Beyond the cultural differences between NFT communities, it was fascinating to hear how projects are differentiating themselves with IP ownership, roadmaps, and DAOs. Please enjoy this breakdown of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:30] - [First question] - What the Bored Ape Yacht Club is [00:03:39] - Motivations for owning a Bored Ape compared to traditional art [00:07:46] - The scope of prices, hierarchy, turnover, and trading overview of these NFTs [00:09:51] - Distribution of rarity and why it matters [00:11:29] - How the project roadmap is managed by the member community [00:16:23] - Who are the members and the key stewards of steering the ship [00:18:08] - An example of a project where the owners don’t own the IP of their NFT [00:20:56] - Underlying fundamentals and utility behind owning a Bored Ape [00:26:36] - Thoughts on fungible tokens inside of non-fungible projects [00:29:06] - Ways to think about the value proposition of owning an Ape and an Ape token [00:30:36] - Different options for minting NFTs and their pros and cons [00:34:36] - Literal mechanics of the minting process [00:36:59] - Smart contract mediating of combining NFTs to generate rare ones [00:39:20] - Building a bottom up brand and other examples of this trend [00:41:50] - Are NFTs just gambling, or will they become investable assets like physical art [00:46:09] - Blockchain infrastructure of the NFT space and whether it’ll stay on Ethereum [00:48:48] - What makes the Bored Ape Yacht Club so innovative compared to other projects
My guest today is Will Marshall, the co-founder and CEO of Planet. Will founded Planet in 2010 with a small team of NASA scientists to build a constellation of satellites that would image the entire Earth every day. Since then, Planet has successfully built and deployed 450 satellites into space, which the company is using to create a time series of images for every place on Earth. Our conversation covers the untold space story. How space is going through an internet moment where cost reductions and performance enhancements have led to a seismic shift in what’s possible above our atmosphere, and how that can drastically improve life on Earth through unique datasets like the one Planet is piecing together. Once you listen to Will speak about Planet’s progress and mission, it’s hard to think of a more underappreciated company in business today. Please enjoy this great conversation with Will Marshall. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:57] - [First question] - His thoughts on the renaissance of the space industry [00:05:09] - The earliest days of Planet and why he started the business [00:09:22] - Unique data units captured by their satellites [00:13:35] - The real estate of space and interesting angles to consider [00:15:59] - How customers interface with Planet and their early use cases [00:20:57] - Thoughts on the sovereignty of space and the laws that exist currently [00:23:43] - Figuring out the dynamics and pricing of Planet’s business model [00:27:34] - Examples of stress and tensions when working in space [00:29:08] - The future of privacy and concerns we should have there collectively [00:30:29] - Five different types of satellites and their functions [00:31:39] - The most sci-fi potential futures that Planet may unlock someday [00:32:54] - Indexing the Earth and using data to train machine learning algorithms [00:34:02] - What he’s learned about Earth that is most surprising [00:37:12] - Contributing factors to a 70% decline in life on the planet in 40 years [00:38:35] - Ways that going public might impact Planet’s long term goals [00:40:23] - The hardware story of building various prototypes of satellites [00:42:18] - How much is built in house versus outsourced to fabricate their satellites [00:43:48] - Complimentary space trends that are compounding beyond imagery [00:45:32] - Whether or not they plan on making their data open-source [00:47:15] - Democratizing their data and allowing other companies to build on top of it [00:48:30] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Roelof Botha, a partner at one of the world’s oldest and most successful venture firms, Sequoia Capital. A few days ago before I sat down with Roelof, he announced Sequoia’s boldest innovation since the firm was founded by Don Valentine in the early 1970s. Going forward, the firm will break from the traditional VC mould of fund cycles and instead restructure around a single, open-ended, permanent structure named The Sequoia Fund. In our conversation, we first discuss the details of this change from all different angles and then dive into Roelof’s career. We talk about what’s changed over the past twenty years, his days at PayPal, what legendary investors he’s worked with have had in common, and what he’s learned from being involved in businesses like Square, YouTube, and Unity. Please enjoy this great conversation with Roelof Botha. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:53] - [First question] - What led Sequoia to change their structure [00:05:53] - Parallels between their approach and the problem Square set out to solve [00:07:36] - The mechanics of the new fund and how it’ll affect their clients [00:13:11] - What the future looks like and how public securities could be a dominant force [00:15:02] - Benefits and value-unlocks that the new fund offers that weren’t available before [00:16:55] - Comparing their structure to the current crossover funds we see emerging [00:18:21] - What alignment looks like in this new structure for LPs [00:22:02] - Cost of capital, interest rates, and their impacts on rates of return [00:25:39] - Changes in the industry and founders that he’s noticed [00:28:56] - What matters to him when meeting with young companies for the first time [00:31:47] - The importance placed on value creation over value capture in the early days [00:33:09] - Things that would dissuade him from partnering with a company [00:34:18] - What the growth and leadership at Square has taught him over the years [00:35:44] - Things he’s most excited about for payments looking forward [00:37:34] - How often a company lowering friction with technology appeals to him [00:38:38] - Thoughts on Unity and its role in the growing trend of the metaverse [00:40:28] - Why the open and decentralized nature of the future is so beneficial [00:42:05] - Lessons learned about content and internet from working with YouTube [00:44:08] - The landscape of developers today and MongoDB's role in it [00:49:26] - Learning to identify and hunt for crucible moments [00:50:50] - Curiosity is the key ingredient of a great investor [00:52:05] - What makes for a fantastic investment memo [00:53:20] - The most memorable investment memo he’s ever read [00:54:07] - Honing his leadership as his role has changed at Sequoia these past years [00:55:51] - Thoughts on Sequoia’s brand and the scope of his ambition [00:58:05] - What he’s most curious about in the world today [00:58:46] - What technology wants most from people today [01:01:13] - The difference between an accountant and an actuary's mindset and when each one is appropriate to inhabit [01:02:38] - Differences between talent and genius [01:04:12] - Closing principals about business building he finds important to consider [01:06:17] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Sarah Friar, the CEO of Nextdoor, which connects people in local neighborhoods together. Sarah’s CV sparkles with impressive achievements at interesting businesses, and we spend a lot of time in this conversation thinking through what excellence looks like as a CEO, CFO, equity analyst, and board member. The rest of our discussion is focused on Nextdoor and how the soon-to-be public business is fostering connections between people and businesses in their local areas. I do this podcast so I get to meet and learn from people like Sarah. I could have talked to her for hours. I hope you enjoy this great conversation with Sarah Friar as much as I did. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:03] - [First question] - What makes an excellent equity analyst [00:05:51] - Things Sarah does differently as an operator because she was an investor [00:08:29] - Key factors that make a great CFO [00:09:31] - The role of the CFO in regards to capital allocation as a company grows [00:11:50] - What convinced her to join Salesforce and Square [00:14:45] - The initial spark and appeal that led her to join Nextdoor [00:17:35] - Existing problems with ‘community’ and how they approach fixing them [00:21:36] - Interesting and compelling data points about in-person interactions [00:23:54] - Network density as a driving factor of product quality [00:26:43] - What gives Nextdoor a unique angle against some of its existing competitors [00:28:51] - Thoughts on platform leakage and user retention [00:30:57] - Successful strategies for deploying Nextdoor in a new country [00:35:32] - Having a feed and trying to avoid creating echo chambers [00:37:04] - Some of the biggest mistakes they’ve made while trying to grow [00:38:49] - Options for a business model and thoughts on advertising [00:43:25] - The importance of scale, advertising, and their relationship dynamic [00:45:55] - Ways she’s learned to effectively steer the businesses strategy [00:49:48] - Why she doesn’t like titles [00:51:07] - Key levers that will allow Nextdoor to succeed in the future [00:53:35] - How advertisers evaluate platforms like Nextdoor compared to Google or Facebook [00:57:19] - What a successful board member looks like and how she’s learned to be one [00:59:34] - Leading with transparency and empathy [01:02:00] - An overview of what Ladies Who Launch is and what they do [01:03:57] - Way to educate our children about finance and encourage financial literacy [01:07:51] - Making your platforms welcoming and guiding users away from conflict [01:10:30] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her
Today, we are running a special episode of Business Breakdowns on our Invest Like the Best feed. When we launched Breakdowns, we hoped to cover industries and businesses that we were “well known but poorly understood.” This deep-dive on UMG and the music industry is just that - you will walk away with a whole new appreciation for artists, labels, and what streaming technology has done for a historic industry. If you enjoy this episode, please be sure to subscribe on your preferred podcast player and check out our growing catalog of episodes. Today we’re breaking down Universal Music Group. As one of the largest music businesses in the world, UMG is home to many of the world’s greatest artists, including Taylor Swift, U2, and The Beatles catalog. A discussion on UMG requires a deep dive into the history of music itself, how it was historically monetized, the shift from physical to digital, and what streaming has meant for the various pieces of the ecosystem. Our guest, Arman Gokgol-Kline, a partner and investor at Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, walks us through that evolution of the music industry before we dive in on UMG. In our discussion, we first break down the industry pre and post Napster, looking at the ways music was sold historically, and how that led to both record profits and a consumer revolution. We then assess streaming’s impact on the industry and how, contrary to what you might think, labels may be more important in a marketplace where it’s easier than ever for creators to record and release music. Finally, we finish with UMG’s place in the ecosystem. The primary drivers of the business, how they’re able to attract the world’s superstars, and how they think about deploying dollars to acquire new artists and timeless catalogs. Please enjoy this fantastic breakdown of Universal Music Group. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss Show Notes [00:04:01] - [First question] - How technology disrupted the music business and it’s evolving history [00:12:44] - What the industry of music labels looks like from the 90s to today [00:21:19] - How it feels as a high-tier artist to engage with a label directly today [00:28:20] - The revenue and business model of an artist akin to Taylor Swift [00:30:44] - The differences between UMG's main sources of revenue; music publishing and recording [00:35:08] - General margins and trends for music publishing [00:36:22] - Ownership and mechanics of monetizing an artist’s Intellectual Property [00:40:57] - How streaming revenues are divided among stakeholders [00:46:23] - History of the bargaining power of labels and streaming platforms [00:51:25] - Capital allocation, ROI, and acquiring IP and catalogs [00:57:39] - Thoughts on the growth profile of the industry as an investor [01:02:23] - Potential risks to UMG in emerging technology and new creator trends [01:08:50] - Reasons why an artist would pick UMG over other major labels [01:12:42] - Diversity and how artists are sometimes treated by labels [01:14:02] - A growing increase in music consumption across the world
My guest today is Alex Rampell, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Alex has a long history in fintech, having co-founded six companies in his career, including Affirm and TrialPay. During our conversation, we cover Alex’s framework for positive selection in investing, why the best investments are often operating systems or systems of record, and Alex’s views on the future of fintech. For those that have listened to our Business Breakdown on Visa with Alex - you know the intellectual horsepower he brings to every discussion. This conversation is no exception. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ------ This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ------ This episode is brought to you by Hall Capital Partners. Hall Capital is always looking for exceptional investment talent at any stage and size, so if you are raising capital or looking for a career change in the San Francisco or New York areas, you should check them out at hallcapital.com or e-mail at invest@hallcapital.com. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:32] - [First question] - Lean into positive selection and avoid adverse selection [00:07:48] - Thoughts on growing capital formation in private markets [00:14:01] - Why it’s useful for investors to think in terms of bonds and call options instead of equity [00:18:39] - Doing more with less and hunting for operating systems to invest in [00:28:08] - His views on infrastructure and the presentation layer conundrum [00:33:32] - The sequencing involved in building an operating system over time [00:40:11] - Rise of the creator class and the coming tailwind post-cloud technology; the rise of the solopreneur [00:43:32] - The pig joke and his thoughts on the FinTech space [00:47:47] - Big financial services functions that will be embedded in non-financial businesses [00:51:07] - Deciding which functions and financial services models are most attractive [00:57:01] - What a shift towards data and FinTech might unlock for the world writ large [01:02:40] - How to improve payment profits by reducing credit rates [01:04:12] - The threat that Buy-Now-Pay-Later companies pose to Visa and Mastercard [01:12:17] - How the struggle between distribution and innovation continues to change [01:15:04] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for him
My guest today is Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of leading cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. In a little over two years, FTX has registered 1.2 million users, grown to facilitate $10.9 billion of daily trading volume, and reached an $18 billion valuation. Prior to FTX, Sam worked at Jane Street Capital before founding a quant trading firm of his own, Alameda Research. At just 29, Sam has packed a lot into a short period of time, and as I’m sure you’ll hear, he has a special ability to harness uncertainty and think deeply across a range of topics. In our discussion, we cover the building blocks of a perfect market, the key areas of inefficiency in today’s exchanges, and Sam’s north stars of product design and effective altruism. We also talk about fairness in crypto markets, how FTX thinks about user acquisition, and derivatives as key enablers of properly functioning markets. Please enjoy my great conversation with Sam Bankman-Fried. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:57] - [First question] - What motivates him and what the true north of his vision is [00:07:12] - Evaluating the impact of well-functioning markets and philanthropic spending [00:11:55] - The key functions and building blocks of a perfect market [00:14:59] - Who pays $50 million to access fiat market order books [00:21:49] - What is valuable about having access to order book data [00:25:41] - Assessing and understanding the state of fairness in crypto markets today [00:31:51] - Can crypto only move as fast as the fiat system keeps up [00:32:43] - The advantages and disadvantages of stablecoins and USDT [00:34:46] - How much fiat inflow there is into crypto markets and exchanges today [00:37:36] - What it is about cryptocurrency exchanges that are so appealing to him [00:42:21] - Building in a dynamic world and deciding the sequence of problems to solve [00:45:12] - Whether or not the US is on the wrong side of crypto and countries competing for healthy regulatory environments in this emerging asset class [00:47:25] - Thoughts on centralization and what being decentralized unlocks [00:50:22] - Why derivatives are such a key function of properly functioning markets [00:52:38] - The competitive landscape between derivatives and exchanges [00:54:35] - Spending marketing dollars and paid acquisitions for FTX [00:57:30] - The growing trend of user-generated content becoming user-generated assets [01:02:24] - How many layer one blockchains we’ll need and the competition for dominance [01:05:18] - Thoughts on Bitcoin as the pioneer of the space and how relevant it still is [01:06:26] - Possibly reaching a state where everything happens on-chain [01:08:23] - What he means when he says he has more RAM than hard drive space [01:09:39] - Amassing wealth insanely fast and whether or not it affects him [01:10:26] - Important things to consider in this rapidly growing space [01:12:02] - A decision he made while respecting the power laws that govern us [01:13:10] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him
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