Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

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 Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone.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

Transcribed - Published: 23 July 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 16 July 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 9 July 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 2 July 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 25 June 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 18 June 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 11 June 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 4 June 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 28 May 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 21 May 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 14 May 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 7 May 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 2 May 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 30 April 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 23 April 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 16 April 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 9 April 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 2 April 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 26 March 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 19 March 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 12 March 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 5 March 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 27 February 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 20 February 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 13 February 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 6 February 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 30 January 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 23 January 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 16 January 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 9 January 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 2 January 2024

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

Transcribed - Published: 26 December 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 19 December 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 12 December 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 5 December 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 28 November 2023

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 civilizations 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

Transcribed - Published: 21 November 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 14 November 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 7 November 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 31 October 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 24 October 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 17 October 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 10 October 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 3 October 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 26 September 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 19 September 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 12 September 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 5 September 2023

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.

Transcribed - Published: 29 August 2023

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

Transcribed - Published: 22 August 2023