Podcast Transcripts of Invest Like the ...

Chamath Palihapitiya – The Major Problems Facing the World – [Invest Like the Best, EP.211]

Invest Like the Best

800 views
about 2 years ago
01:06:18

My guest today is Chamath Palihapitiya, the founder and CEO of Social Capital, whose mission is to advance humanity by solving the world's hardest problems. I didn't know where this conversation would take us given Chamath's wide-ranging activities and interests but I think it provides an interesting glimpse into some of his core beliefs and the source of his drive. In our wide-ranging discussion we cover potential paths to closing the income inequality gap, how to manage one's personal psychology, his perspective on "value investing", and tackling climate change. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Chamath Palihapitiya. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/33654465/palihapitiya-the-major-problems-facing-the-world. ----- This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest growing fintech startups. I discovered Koyfin earlier this year when I asked Twitter for the best Bloomberg alternative, and the overwhelming winner was an intriguing new product called Koyfin. Koyfin has tons of high-quality data, powerful functionality, and a nice clean interface. If you’re an individual investor, research analyst, portfolio manager, or financial advisor, you should definitely check them out. Sign up for free at koyfin.com. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. Visit https://www.tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, go to https://www.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 at https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:13] – [First question] – His experience with debt and how he approaches personal finance [00:09:13] – Attacking the problem of perpetual income inequality [00:12:06] – Reaching the right people to fix the problem [00:15:04] – A for profit business to solve the problem of income inequality [00:19:18] – Traps he has beaten and hasn’t beaten in his finances [00:22:15] – Chamath’s focus on family, friends, memories, and legacy [00:25:01] – Big issues of our time; inequality, climate change, improving education [00:29:28] – Lessons learned from Social Capital 1.0, allocating funds for himself and others [00:32:33] – The balance between data and the qualitative analysis of companies [00:35:26] – Insights into businesses beyond the investments he makes [00:40:29] – Absurdities in the value investing style [00:43:32] – Benefits of SPAC investing and opportunities for late-stage entrepreneurs [00:45:06] – Traits in managers that he invests in [00:47:20] – What he’s learned about combatting climate change [00:51:40] – Thoughts on the supply chain, specifically as Americans [00:54:35] – Company life cycles and innovation [00:57:15] – What is most broken in the capital markets system [00:58:58] – Fixing healthcare [01:01:36] – Fixing climate change as President for a day [01:02:06] – Messaging effectively [01:03:14] – Is he a “main character” in the investing world [01:04:06] – Tweeting a picture of himself as a kid [01:04:42] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Chamath Palihapitiya – The Power of Equity – [Invest Like the Best, EP.211]

Invest Like the Best

830 views
about 2 years ago
01:06:18

Ali Ghodsi – The Past, Present, and Future of Big Data – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.18]

Invest Like the Best

1.1K views
about 2 years ago
48:02

My Guest today is Ali Ghodsi, founder and CEO of Databricks, a data analytics platform for data scientists and developers. He's also the founder of Apache Spark, the open-source project that Databricks is built on, and is an accomplished researcher at UC Berkley's computer science department. Our conversation ranges from the origins of distributed computing to modern data infrastructure, how companies can leverage their massive datasets, and the transformation of Databricks through its phases of growth as a business. While technical, it's exactly the kind of conversation I like to have on this show. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ali Ghodsi. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/4919706/ghodsi-the-past-present-and-future-of-big-data This episode of Founder's Field Guide is sponsored by Klaviyo. Klaviyo is the ultimate marketing platform for ecommerce. With targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more, Klaviyo helps you create your ideal customer experience. See why Klaviyo's trusted by more than 50,000 brands, like Living Proof, Solo Stove, and Nomad to help them grow their business. For a free trial check out https://www.klaviyo.com/founders. This episode is also sponsored by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to both get and maintain your SOC 2 report, at a fraction of the normal cost. Founders Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick. Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:48] – [First question] – What is Databricks [00:03:34] – History of distributed computing [00:05:35] – Hardware that made this all possible [00:07:20] – Early challenges in building out these systems [00:09:43] – What has made networking technology better [00:10:35] – Doing something in storage vs with memory [00:11:45] – Origins of Hadoop [00:12:42] – Use cases of distributed data in 2010 that weren’t possible in 2000 [00:13:35] – Origins of Spark [00:15:25] – Early Spark and then the transformation into Databricks [00:16:50] – Early uses cases [00:17:37] – Their relationship to the open-source project [00:21:07] – What customers need in order to work with Databricks [00:23:11] – Their customer interaction [00:26:27] – How they think about making investments [00:28:24] – Their competitive advantage [00:30:13] – Other companies in moving the needle in building distributed computing industry [00:32:10] – Walls that need to be broken down today [00:34:02] – Best practices for companies when it comes to their data [00:34:13] – Jeff Lawson Podcast Episode [00:38:47] – Lessons being a CEO [00:39:53] – Working at the University of Berkeley’s AMPLab [00:41:56] – What excites him about the future [00:43:29] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Joost van Dreunen – Unlocking Value in Gaming – [Invest Like the Best, EP.210]

Invest Like the Best

550 views
about 2 years ago
01:01:35

My guest today is Joost van Dreunen, an investor in the gaming space, professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, and former CEO and co-founder of SuperData Research, a data-driven gaming firm that was acquired by Nielsen. He also recently authored One Up: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games, a great book on the business game industry and why I reached out to speak with him in the first place. Our conversation covers the rise and decline of GameStop, what parts of the value chain actually make money in video games, the evolution of video game business models from Nintendo to Fortnite, and what other industries can learn by studying the video game industry. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Joost van Dreunen. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/14574831/van-unlocking-value-in-gaming This episode of Invest Like the Best is sponsored by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you’re a professional equity investor and haven’t talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. Invest like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:38] – [First question] – First chapter of the modern gaming business [00:06:28] – The product era of video games [00:10:11] – The different pieces that take place in creating and selling a game [00:12:25] – The story of GameStop [00:18:45] – The transition to digital platform-based gaming [00:22:55] – How the breakdown of platforms has changed [00:27:35] – Free-to-play vs free-to-win in digital gaming [00:31:27] – How the revenue models are changing the type of games that are made [00:35:07] – Socializing games and the future there [00:38:14] – Who is making money in the modern gaming world [00:43:33] – The zones of opportunity to invest in within gaming [00:47:12] – Why the business models can be more powerful than new tech [00:53:52] – Strategies from gaming that the non-gaming industries can learn from [00:57:05] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Ilkka Paananen – Superpowering Teams – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.17]

Invest Like the Best

720 views
about 2 years ago
45:00

My guest today is Ilkka Paananen, Founder and CEO of Supercell, a mobile game developer based in Finland. Supercell has built hugely successful games like Clash of Clans and Clash Royale that have reached over 100 million daily active users. What interests me most about the company is Supercell's unique culture built on decentralized, autonomous teams with nearly total creative control. Ilkka and I talk about how Supercell hires and designs teams, why they incorporate as little process as possible, and the rise of global, social games. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ilkka. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/72273479/paananen-superpowering-teams This episode of Founder's Field Guide is sponsored by Klaviyo. Klaviyo is the ultimate marketing platform for ecommerce. With targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more, Klaviyo helps you create your ideal customer experience. See why Klaviyo's trusted by more than 50,000 brands, like Living Proof, Solo Stove, and Nomad to help them grow their business. For a free trial check out https://www.klaviyo.com/founders. This episode is also sponsored by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to both get and maintain your SOC 2 report, at a fraction of the normal cost. Founders Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick. Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:51] – [First question] – Why he is the “least powerful CEO in the world.” [00:04:03] – His career prior to Supercell [00:07:53] – Lessons from his prior career that he brought to Supercell [00:11:49] – What he looks for in identifying and recruiting the best people [00:13:46] – The funnel of getting great people into the business through the rest of the team [00:15:44] – The Supercell recruitment team [00:17:33] – Interviewing and screening applicants [00:18:39] – Building teams and how they are the driving force behind the company [00:21:29] – The culture of trust throughout the company [00:24:13] – Ensuring teams know when to kill a project [00:26:11] – Celebrating after a project gets shutdown [00:28:15] – Why retention is such an important focus of the company [00:30:40] – How reach and depth lead to a game’s success [00:32:21] – The teams outside of development and how they operate [00:33:36] - LOST & CROWNED | A Clash Short Film [00:34:53] – His day-to-day [00:35:49] – Biggest surprises within Supercell since its founding [00:36:38] – What makes for a good game [00:37:59] – The notion of infinite games [00:39:28] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Claire Cormier Thielke – The Future of Cities and Real Estate – [Invest Like the Best, EP.209]

Invest Like the Best

720 views
about 2 years ago
01:04:41

My guest today is Claire Cormier Thielke, Managing Director of Asia Pacific for Hines, the largest private real estate investment, development and management firm in the world with over $144 billion in assets under management. Claire responsible for acquisitions, development, and new business generation for Hines APAC and was also recently appointed to the board of Zillow. I was first introduced to Claire two years ago and have wanted to have her on the podcast ever since. Her personal story is fascinating - Claire finished Stanford undergrad in 2.5 years and now teaches there - on the intersection of tech and real assets, she was a professional track and field athlete - competing for USA Track and Field, and she's run a marathon on Everest, which we discuss. Aside from her personal story and some of her amazing achievements, in the episode, we dive into the world of real estate investing including how to use pattern recognition to unlock real alpha in real estate, the ingredients that make a city special, and the surprising ROI of public art. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/72331821/cormier-the-future-of-cities-and-real-estate This episode of Invest Like the Best is sponsored by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you’re a professional equity investor and haven’t talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. Invest like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:01] – [First question] – Overview of her career and her passion for real estate [00:05:32] – The impact of Gerry Hines on her life [00:07:30] – Her theory of and what she thinks about cities [00:09:47] – Cities rhyming with each other [00:12:03] – How the highway act led to growth in cities [00:13:31] – How cities compare around the world [00:15:42] – Airplanes as time machines [00:18:42] – Overview of a building project and how it differs from investing in equities [00:23:15] – Rebuilding a city from scratch [00:25:45] – Major real estate changes we’ll be seeing in the US [00:28:30] – Real estate trends that fascinate her in Asia [00:30:10] – Real estate plugging into other industries [00:32:11] – Trends in Asia that could be ported to the US [00:34:08] – Where to see the best of cities today (post-pandemic) [00:37:28] – The ROI on public art [00:38:33] – Her time in track and field [00:41:59] – The concept of tomorrow time [00:42:49] – Cultivated other part of her training [00:45:07] – Her marathon on Mount Everest [00:46:26] – Replicating the extreme performance piece of herself in a professional setting [00:48:18] – Lessons from being a professor [00:49:53] – Joining Zillow’s board, what she wants to bring and get [00:52:17] – Her childhood and her parents, how that influenced her [00:56:26] – How one person can be actionable [00:58:30] – Brad Gerstner and Rich Barton podcast episode [01:00:32] – Kindest thing anyone has done for her

Oliver Hughes – The Secret FinTech Giant – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.16]

Invest Like the Best

730 views
about 2 years ago
57:56

My guest today is Oliver Hughes, the CEO of Tinkoff, the leading online commercial bank based in Russia. I found this conversation fascinating and think it will be essential for anyone who wants to understand online financial services or the next generation of fintech. Our conversation touches on how Tinkoff used direct mail campaigns to become the largest online banking provider in Russia, their last-mile delivery platform that combines couriers with door-to-door salesmen, and how they build profitability into every aspect of the business. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Oliver Hughes. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/72486324/hughes-the-secret-fintech-giant This episode of Founder's Field Guide is sponsored by Klaviyo. Klaviyo is the ultimate marketing platform for ecommerce. With targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more, Klaviyo helps you create your ideal customer experience. See why Klaviyo's trusted by more than 50,000 brands, like Living Proof, Solo Stove, and Nomad to help them grow their business. For a free trial check out https://www.klaviyo.com/founders. This episode is also sponsored by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to both get and maintain your SOC 2 report, at a fraction of the normal cost. Founders Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick. Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:44] – [First question] – The origins of Tinkoff [00:06:18] – How they started and stayed profitable, and lessons learned [00:08:18] – Bringing Visa to Russia and what he took with him to Tinkoff [00:10:02] – Overall Credit card and Tinkoff's specifically business model [00:12:35] – Running an effective direct mail acquisition campaign [00:15:45] – Branching off from the original core credit card business into other spaces [00:18:45] – How he thinks about when to make competing investments [00:21:00] – Embedding into new businesses and how it goes wrong [00:24:50] – How they became a large door-to-door business in Russia [00:27:55] – Why that door-to-door business makes it hard to compete with them [00:29:38] – Challenges in the payments business [00:32:25] – Using content to help them grow their business [00:35:29] – Competitive frontiers for Tinkoff and how often they shift [00:38:45] – What the future of Tinkoff might look like and the Russian business environment [00:41:55] – State of the market in Russia today [00:45:27] – Recruiting talent and building culture [00:47:55] – What he enjoys most about his job [00:49:14] – Failures and lessons from them [00:52:00] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Zack Fuss – Breaking Down the Food Ecosystem – [Invest Like the Best, EP.208]

Invest Like the Best

1.1K views
about 2 years ago
01:19:28

My guest today is Zach Fuss, an investor at Continental Grain, a 200-year-old family owned business that is focused on investing and operating businesses throughout the food and agriculture ecosystem with assets across the US, Latin America, and Asia. Prior to his work at Continental, Zack was an analyst at Tiger and Citadel. This is a must listen for those interested in any aspect of the food ecosystem but also understanding value chains more generally. In our conversation we cover where profits tend to sit in a specific value chain, how legacy food businesses are creating their 2nd acts as digital businesses and explore what makes Domino's Pizza so interesting and special. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Zach Fuss. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/93129089/fuss-breaking-down-the-food-ecosystem This episode of Invest Like the Best is sponsored by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you’re a professional equity investor and haven’t talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. This episode is brought to you by the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCO). MITIMCO is always on the looking for promising investment managers with the potential to compound our capital for a decade or more. If you think your firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional, you might just be exactly what we are looking for. Check us out at https://mitimco.org/partner/ or e-mail us at partner@mitimco.org. Please also see our new page for emerging managers https://mitimco.org/emerging-managers/. Invest like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:42] – [First question] – Key components of the food management business [00:05:12] – The most defensible businesses in the food chain [00:07:51] – Law of conservation of attractive profits in the food business and food delivery [00:11:05] – Legacy food businesses and ones that have adapted well to changes today [00:15:42] – Dark stores and cloud kitchens [00:17:11] – Breaking down the Domino's Pizza business [00:19:45] – Being a Domino's Pizza franchise owner [00:21:03] – Why they offer such high returns to franchise owners [00:23:22] – The tech company aspect of Domino's Pizza [00:25:25] – Same store economics for an owner [00:28:15] – When Domino's Pizza realized their food was not great [00:29:45] – Why Domino's Pizza owns the delivery and won’t go on other platforms [00:32:47] – Most portable pieces of Domino's Pizza business [00:34:03] – Parts of Domino's Pizza history that are intriguing [00:35:51] – Build once, sell many times [00:40:09] – Lessons from the best retail businesses [00:43:26] – Has it become harder for smaller companies to win with larger ones being more nimble [00:46:39] – Watching the alternative meat companies flourish [00:49:49] – Interesting trends in the food space [00:51:22] – Global trends in food that we can learn from [00:54:04] – Impact of Covid on the food industry [00:57:44] – Businesses outside of stores that he finds fascinating [01:00:08] – Why he’s impressed by Chipotle [01:01:48] – Approaching buying a franchise [01:05:30] – Creating a new QSR business and differentiating from the pack [01:07:58] – Frontiers that he’s interested in today [01:10:17] – What he is saying in the competitiveness in public equities [01:13:48] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Carlos Cashman – Lessons from the Amazon Ecosystems – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.15]

Invest Like the Best

850 views
about 2 years ago
01:04:23

My guest today is Carlos Cashman, co-founder and co-CEO of Thrasio an acquirer of third-party Amazon sellers. In a surprising departure for a high growth company, Thrasio has been profitable since its founding in 2018 and was most recently valued at $1 billion. In our conversation we discuss the full spectrum of the Amazon third party seller ecosystem, the effects of globally commoditized manufacturing, and the terms of Thrasio's acquisitions of Amazon businesses. I hope you enjoy this great conversation with Carlos Cashman. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/28372673/cashman-lessons-from-the-amazon-ecosystem This episode of Founder's Field Guide is sponsored by Klaviyo. Klaviyo is the ultimate marketing platform for ecommerce. With targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more, Klaviyo helps you create your ideal customer experience. See why Klaviyo's trusted by more than 50,000 brands, like Living Proof, Solo Stove, and Nomad to help them grow their business. For a free trial check out https://www.klaviyo.com/founders. This episode is also sponsored by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to both get and maintain your SOC 2 report, at a fraction of the normal cost. Founders Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick. Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:44] – [First question] – Origin of Thrasio [00:07:27] – The types of business they work with [00:11:19] – Challenges for smaller businesses selling on Amazon and when they need a Thrasio [00:15:31] – How the Amazon ecosystem has changed since they started [00:18:14] – The capital sourcing side of their business [00:19:49] – Future of the ecommerce space that has them excited [00:27:20] – What makes the major online powerful so powerful for DTC companies [00:32:18] – How edge erodes on spend when people crowd into a platform [00:34:46] – Building the recognition of the Thrasio brand [00:44:06] – His history as an entrepreneur and what was the common thread in these businesses [00:45:47] – Getting customers early on [00:46:47] – Knowing when something will fail [00:48:48] – Downside of MBA’s [00:50:07] – The importance of people in building a company [00:51:01] – Effectively hiring people [00:52:37] – What has to remain with the founder [00:52:50] – The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success [00:53:53] – Other places in ecommerce that fascinate him [00:56:36] – What are the risk factors that he worries about [00:59:12] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Ram Parameswaran - Internet Scale Businesses – [Invest Like the Best, EP.207]

Invest Like the Best

1.1K views
about 2 years ago
01:24:49

My guest today is Ram Parameswaran, founder of Octahedron Capital. Ram started Octahedron this year after more than 5 years as a partner at Altimeter Capital where he made investments in Square, Bytedance, Pinduoduo, and Udaan. In our conversation we cover the potential for internet scale businesses, explore the common characteristics of these businesses, and then go through a rapid-fire round of the most important qualities for 8 business models. This conversation was a blast of energy and could have gone on for 2 more hours. I hope to have Ram on again and can't imagine what his conversations are like at the dinner table with his wife and former podcast guest, Anu Hariharan. Please enjoy this awesome conversation with Ram Parameswaran. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/22392883/parameswaran-internet-scale-businesses This episode of Invest Like the Best is sponsored by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you’re a professional equity investor and haven’t talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. This episode is brought to you by the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCO). MITIMCO is always on the looking for promising investment managers with the potential to compound our capital for a decade or more. If you think your firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional, you might just be exactly what we are looking for. Check us out at https://mitimco.org/partner/ or e-mail us at partner@mitimco.org. Please also see our new page for emerging managers https://mitimco.org/emerging-managers/. Invest like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:45] – [First question] – The opportunity of the commercial internet [00:11:18] – Identifying the companies that will take advantage of this shift to online commerce [00:18:30] – How businesses build scale, in particular internet vs non-internet businesses [00:23:09] – How Amazon Wins: By Steamrolling Rivals and Partners [00:24:19] – The Carvana playbook [00:30:11] – Using frequency of use as a factor in valuing a business [00:33:55] – Evaluating ByteDance and what can others learn from them [00:40:52] – Finding success in an experiment [00:43:32] – How online commerce business will grow globally, with India in focus [00:55:28] – How they approach and evaluate online advertising businesses [00:54:50] – Evaluating direct content subscription online businesses [00:55:42] – Biggest challenges in building ecommerce online businesses [00:58:31] – The lens to evaluate online marketplace businesses [00:59:43] – What distinct things matter for on-demand online businesses [01:01:56] – The competition in the online payment space business [01:06:35] – Rake/Take rates outside of the US [01:08:25] – Things that matter for consumer software [01:10:25] – How that compares to enterprise software [01:11:44] – Evaluating developer companies [01:11:51] – Jeff Lawson Podcast Episode [01:13:53] – Advice to help people be successful early in their investing career [01:17:22] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Dylan Field - The Growing Importance of Design – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.14]

Invest Like the Best

700 views
about 2 years ago
56:13

Dylan Field is the co-founder and CEO of Figma, a collaborative, online design tool which has taken the world by storm. With a most recent valuation of more than $2B and bakers like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, and Greylock, Figma has been one of the most successful companies building tools for creators. In our conversation, we dive into the principles Figma is built on, how they created multi-player for design tools, and the growing importance of design in business. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Dylan Field. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/375923/field-the-growing-importance-of-design DocSend is a document sharing platform that enables companies to share business-critical documents with ease and get real-time actionable analytics. With DocSend’s security and control, startup founders, investors, business development executives, and financial professionals can drive business outcomes that have a lasting impact. Start for free at www.docsend.com. Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:2:04] – [First question] – His decision to and application for the Thiel Fellowship [00:3:23] – What makes his co-founder Evan so good [00:4:15] – The Thiel Fellowship interview process [00:5:26] – Creating better opportunities for open ended learning in education [00:6:12] – Why Software Is Eating The World [00:7:48] – Importance and types of independent thought as they built Figma [00:10:00] – Early stages of forming Figma [00:12:03] – The market of designers and what Figma does [00:15:57] – His principles of good design [00:17:36] – Bret Victor - Inventing on Principle [Youtube] [00:17:49] - Up and Down the Ladder of Abstraction [00:18:12] – Future of design tools [00:19:45] – Design as a multiplayer concept and surprises that have come from it [00:21:40] – Threshold to know when product-market fit occurred [00:24:11] – Lessons for pricing something effectively [00:25:48] – Biggest challenge growing the business for him [00:26:58] – What he’s learned as a manager since starting Figma [00:28:38] – Lessons in effective recruiting [00:31:49] – Payoff of hiring the right partner [00:33:01] – The chapters/stages of Figma [00:34:38] – What has led to success in terms of the distribution of Figma [00:35:56] – Hardest thing to copy about Figma [00:36:47] – Dealing with customer support and unhappy users [00:38:08] – Their Communities platform and why it’s important for the business [00:39:02] – Learning about and from their competitors [00:41:50] – The landscape of software design tools [00:43:43] – Interesting creator tools [00:44:31] – What would be the key levers that lead to explosive growth for Figma [00:45:57] – Global trends he is most curious in [00:47:21] – Creating a more private digital world [00:49:33] – Thoughts or advice for people building something new [00:50:57] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Tracy Graham - Investing in Overlooked Businesses – [Invest Like the Best, EP.206]

Invest Like the Best

540 views
about 2 years ago
56:34

My guest today is Tracy Graham, founder and managing principal of Graham Allen Partners, a private equity firm that specializes in acquiring and building technology-enabled businesses. In our conversation we discuss how Tracy ended up playing football at Notre Dame, the key lessons he learned from famed coach Lou Holtz, why Graham Allen believes that businesses in secondary or tertiary US markets are undervalued, and why technology represents a great way to improve old businesses. I hope you enjoy my fun conversation with Tracy. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/86798473/graham-investing-in-overlooked-businesses. This episode of Invest like the Best is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Square, Snowflake, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit https://www.tegus.co/patrick to learn more. This episode is brought to you by the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCO). MITIMCO is always on the looking for promising investment managers with the potential to compound our capital for a decade or more. If you think your firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional, you might just be exactly what we are looking for. Check us out at https://mitimco.org/partner/ or e-mail us at partner@mitimco.org. Please also see our new page for emerging managers https://mitimco.org/emerging-managers/. Invest like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best go to https://www.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 at https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [3:35] – [First question] – Tracy’s origin story [7:17] – Lessons from Lou Holtz [8:58] – Why Lou was so good as a leader [10:32] – His early experience as an entrepreneur [15:45] – Investing principle at Graham Allen and how it was shaped by his experience [18:41] – Types of companies they target for investment [23:09] – Defining a unique and interesting data set [27:14] – Mispricing data sets and the fools gold [29:19] – Overview of a Midwest manufacturing company [31:50] – How data is being generated in manufacturing businesses [36:57] – Data to improve marketing [41:13] – Using data to dissect distribution [45:59] – Valuation of the companies in terms of multiples they are looking at [47:31] – Business values he strongly believes in [50:54] – Significance of Kenneth Allen in the firm [52:23] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Zach Perret – The Future of Financial Services – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.13]

Invest Like the Best

790 views
over 2 years ago
58:23

Zach Perret is the founder and CEO of Plaid. Plaid helps companies build fintech solutions by creating APIs that allow people to connect their financial data to apps and services. In this conversation, we dive into Zach's philosophy on building products, how the financial system works today, how the financial system needs to be updated, and the trends Zach is seeing from the next wave of fintech companies launching on Plaid. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Zach Perret. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/39328476/perret-the-future-of-financial-services DocSend is a document sharing platform that enables companies to share business-critical documents with ease and get real-time actionable analytics. With DocSend’s security and control, startup founders, investors, business development executives, and financial professionals can drive business outcomes that have a lasting impact. Start for free at www.docsend.com. Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus Show Notes [2:00] – [First question] – The notion of Great Challenges he got from his parents [3:34] – How it was instilled into him [4:26] – Default Consumptive State and constantly asking questions [5:33] – Origins of Plaid [8:57] – An overview of the Plaid product [11:10] – The early challenges of building Plaid and creating trust with all of the stakeholders [15:57] – First big break for Plaid [18:06] – Convincing Venmo to work with them [20:12] – What helped build relationships with customers [21:30] – How money is moved and their place in the chain [24:34] – How convenience helps to create larger markets and opportunities [26:39] – Usage base vs recurring revenue models [28:03] – Maintaining their systems as the landscapes and customers shift [29:56] – What is he seeing on the financial services frontier [32:34] – Building relationships with developers [35:07] – Lessons from building a business he’s learned along the way [37:44] – Successful techniques in recruiting [39:52] – What’s working well in this current landscape [41:41] – Business models that interest him [43:14] – Advice for other startup founders [44:49] – Things he doesn’t understand today that he wishes he did [45:46] – What he attributes Plaid’s success too [47:55] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him [50:09] – How you know when you’ve found a great challenge

Mario Cibelli - Cornerstone Investing Insights - [Invest Like the Best, EP.205]

Invest Like the Best

710 views
over 2 years ago
47:23

My guest today is Mario Cibelli. Mario is the managing partner of Marathon Partners Equity Management, a long-biased, concentrated investment firm that he's run for over 20 years. In our conversation, we discuss how his firm figured out Blockbuster's DVD volume and told Reed Hastings and Netflix about their numbers, why visiting a company's distribution center can be an edge for investors, Mario's interesting foray into the world of tequila, and how a few "cornerstone" investing insights have led to many of Marathon's long positions. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Mario. This episode of Invest like the Best is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Square, Snowflake, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit https://www.tegus.co/patrick to learn more. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Show Notes (2:34) – (First question) – Doing a deep dive into the early days of Netflix (2:43) – Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America's Eyeballs (6:50) – What was impressive about Reed (7:34) – Visiting Netflix’s distribution centers early on and the lessons of those visits (10:44) – Lessons learned from other distribution centers (17:52) – What helps create good luck for a company (19:17) – Why tequila was fun to investigate (25:09) – Why tequila is different from other hard liquors (27:40) – Finding the cornerstone insight in a company (29:20) – What he’s learned about media-driven personalities and WWE (34:30) – Lessons in starting a media company and developing IP (39:00) – Having to battle activist shareholders in business (42:43) – How the rate of return in deep investigations has changed over his time (45:08) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Bob Pittman - Lessons from Building Media Empires – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.12]

Invest Like the Best

710 views
over 2 years ago
01:09:24

My guest today, Bob Pittman, has had one of the most interesting careers I’ve ever come across. Today, he’s the CEO of iHeartMedia, the country’s largest operator of radio stations and podcasts. Bob also created MTV, was the CEO of Six Flags and 21 Century Real Estate, and the COO of AOL and AOL Time Warner. He’s the Dos Equis man of business. In our conversation we discuss why convenience is king for consumers, his lessons from building MTV into one of the most iconic brands and media properties in the world, the rise of user-generated content platforms, and the future of media. We also discuss what qualities make for a great host, a topic that given my current position, is always fascinating. Please enjoy my great conversation with Bob Pittman. DocSend is a document sharing platform that enables companies to share business-critical documents with ease and get real-time actionable analytics. With DocSend’s security and control, startup founders, investors, business development executives, and financial professionals can drive business outcomes that have a lasting impact. Start for free at www.docsend.com. This episode of Founder’s Field Guide is also brought to you by NetSuite. Netsuite allows founders to centralize their payment systems, ditch old spreadsheets and Quickbook tools, and finally gain visibility and control over their financials, HR, inventory, eCommerce - all in one place, instantly. Whether you are doing a million in revenue or hundreds of millions in revenue - see why over 22,000 companies are using NetSuite today. Schedule your free product tour at https://www.netsuite.com/invest. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Show Notes (2:56) – (First question) – His personal interest that unites all of his business ventures (4:09) – His philosophy on the consumer (7:43) – Biggest quality mistakes business leaders make (9:31) – Respecting convenience in consumer preferences (11:08) – Founding insight to build MTV (16:23) – Fred Seibert on Math in Magic Podcast (17:14) – How the music video concept evolved with MTV (22:37) – Role of hosts vs guests in the media world (25:13) – Quality that increases the odds a host works (30:15) – Why everyone needs to know how to tell a good story (31:53) – Peak of his time at MTV (37:51) – Lessons for new media from his experience (43:46 – The largest uncertainty in the media landscape amid the rise of user generated content platforms (49:27) – Where he finds inspiration outside of business (55:40) – What Other People Say May Change What You See (56:16) – Different ownership structures and how they changed his behavior (59:09) – Finding and respecting your audience (1:02:11) – Lessons from time at Six Flags (1:02:24) – Most interesting thing about podcasting (102:52) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Sam Hinkie – Find Your People - [Invest Like the Best, EP.204]

Invest Like the Best

850 views
over 2 years ago
01:17:30

My guest today is Sam Hinkie. Sam worked for more than a decade in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and then as the President and GM of the Philadelphia 76ers. And now, after years of personal investing, he has launched his own venture capital firm, Eighty-Seven Capital. Every conversation I have with Sam is alive with insight, and this one is no different. We explore the idea of studying the "breadcrumbs" that someone leaves behind as a way to track their progress and trajectory, finding and attracting the right people into one’s orbit, and the lessons from the NBA that most shape his investing career. Sam has taught me the most about the topic of building trust, which we cover here as well. I am excited to share my conversation with Sam with all of you. Please enjoy! This episode of Invest like the Best is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Square, Snowflake, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit https://www.tegus.co/patrick to learn more. This episode is brought to you by the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCO). MITIMCO is always on the looking for promising investment managers with the potential to compound our capital for a decade or more. If you think your firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional, you might just be exactly what we are looking for. Check us out at https://mitimco.org/partner/ or e-mail us at partner@mitimco.org. Please also see our new page for emerging managers https://mitimco.org/emerging-managers/. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Show Notes (3:48) – (First question) – Conducting a good interview (5:58) – Drilling into topics to learn more about people (7:49 – What percentage of people are actually worth spending time with for Sam (9:29) – People who think in a strange way that intrigues him (10:36) – Interest in digital breadcrumbs and how to follow them (14:02) – Building context around founders vs analyzing their pitch decks (17:20) – A real world example of the bread crumb strategy, Houston Rockets GM (21:25) – How successful people evolve with the erosion of their pre-established edge (23:07) – Shifting to a people-first focus (24:50) – Creating an atmosphere that attracts the best talent (26:50) – Tailoring things to someone else’s incentive structure (28:24) – Most amazing thing someone did in early days of working with Sam (30:18) – Lessons from sports that he carries with him (32:31) – Exceptions to relationships being a key to success (33:03) – Have people gone soft? (34:58) – Knowing whether founders are on the right path (36:07) – Avoiding transactional type people (37:04) – Most effective lessons he brought to sports from the investing world (40:01) – Ideas from the sports world he is bringing to the investing world (44:11) – How the size of the team can impact the success of the team (45:48) – Designing the game for himself (50:33) – Lessons learned from watching them build trust (52:26) – Market areas that have his attention (54:13) – Fascination into API’s (58:05) – Keeping your focus on your expertise (59:45) – Strangest things he’s seen in early stage investing (1:01:26) – Playing the long game (1:04:29) – Calling it Eighty-Seven Capital. (1:04:42) – Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson) (1:05:49) – Increasing his chance at a GM job (1:06:52) – What can Caro teach us about the long game (1:08:26) – Lessons of power (1:10:39) – Quality in leaders he respects most (1:11:17) – The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (1:12:58) – The power of breadcrumbs and how people can start to lay them out Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Michelle Zatlyn – Protecting the Internet – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.11]

Invest Like the Best

400 views
over 2 years ago
58:09

My guest today is Michelle Zatlyn. Michelle is the co-founder and COO of Cloudflare, a now $25 billion dollar business which she helped take public last year. Cloudflare helps businesses make their websites faster and more secure, and over 25 million websites are running Cloudflare today. In our conversation, we discuss the catalyst for starting CloudFlare, explore the layers of the internet and the future of distributed storage and computing power, and discuss how and why Cloudflare operates its network across 200 cities globally. We close with the importance of finding and working with great co-founders and partners as you build a business. I hope you enjoy our conversation. DocSend is a document sharing platform that enables companies to share business-critical documents with ease and get real-time actionable analytics. With DocSend’s security and control, startup founders, investors, business development executives, and financial professionals can drive business outcomes that have a lasting impact. Start for free at www.docsend.com. This episode of Founder’s Field Guide is also brought to you by NetSuite. Netsuite allows founders to centralize their payment systems, ditch old spreadsheets and Quickbook tools, and finally gain visibility and control over their financials, HR, inventory, eCommerce - all in one place, instantly. Whether you are doing a million in revenue or hundreds of millions in revenue - see why over 22,000 companies are using NetSuite today. Schedule your free product tour at https://www.netsuite.com/invest. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Show Notes (2:52) – (First question) – Project Honeypot and how it started (3:39) – What question was Honeypot solving (4:59) – Working through the idea maze of Cloudflare (7:30) – The first iteration of Cloudflare (8:15) – An overview of the cybersecurity market and why more leaders need to pay attention (10:33) – First big break for the company (12:50) – Risks they help mitigate (16:42) – Cyber weapons that Cloudflare protects against (20:14) – Hardest part of the building process (24:06) – Effective marketing lessons (25:41) – The sharks vs mosquitoes concept (27:53) – How do decide where to focus next (31:34) – The Cloudflare workers program (36:33) – Their scale vs other cloud providers (42:21) – The finance side of Cloudflare and their relationship vs Wall Street (42:40) – John Collison Podcast Episode (44:47) – Relationship with their founding partners (50:46) – What about the future is most excites them (52:32) – Kindest thing anyone has done for her Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Danny Meyer – The Power of Hospitality - [Invest Like the Best, EP.203]

Invest Like the Best

940 views
over 2 years ago
50:32

My guest today is Danny Meyer, the founder and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, which compromises some of the most acclaimed restaurants in New York like Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Café. He’s also the founder and chairman of Shake Shack, which began in New York City 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 its 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. The other day, when my young son went ice skating and fell a lot he said to me “well you learn from your mistake so you try to make as many of them as you can.” You’ll hear Danny say something powerfully similar late in the conversation. It’s a lovely thought, then, that I found out my son, my firstborn, was a boy in one of Danny’s restaurants, in a reveal orchestrated by his incredible team. I really hope you enjoy our conversation. This episode of Invest like the Best is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Square, Snowflake, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit https://www.tegus.co/patrick to learn more. This episode of Invest Like The Best is also sponsored by Assure. Assure is changing the way investors manage private transactions. With Assure, investors can eliminate nearly all the admin cost of private investment. On top of that, they handle all the backend, legal, taxes, accounting, and compliance. All of it, with a straightforward one-time fee. Learn more and try Assure for yourself at https://www.assure.co/patrick. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Show Notes (3:41) – (First question) – His experience as a tour guide in Italy (8:17) – Why hospitality is the center of business focus (8:19) – 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 Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Zac Bookman – How Government Works – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.10]

Invest Like the Best

790 views
over 2 years ago
01:15:08

My guest today is Zac Bookman. Zac is the Founder and CEO of OpenGov a budgeting and financial management software for local governments. Before he founded OpenGov Zac was an Advisor to U.S. Army General H.R. McMaster in Afganistan, a law clerk on the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, and earned a Fullbright Fellowship studying corruption in the Mexican government. This conversation is one of the most unique and wide-ranging of any I've had on the show. We cover how Zac built a world-class sales organization, the power of selling momentum, and the role capital efficiency still plays in building great companies. We also dive into the details on how local government works from mayors down to school board meetings. Please enjoy my conversation with Zac Bookman. This episode is brought to you by Microsoft for Startups. Microsoft for Startups is a global program dedicated to helping “enterprise-ready” B2B startups successfully scale their companies. If you’re a founder running a B2B company targeting the enterprise, you should definitely check them out. This episode of Founder’s Field Guide is also brought to you by NetSuite. Netsuite allows founders to centralize their payment systems, ditch old spreadsheets and Quickbook tools, and finally gain visibility and control over their financials, HR, inventory, eCommerce - all in one place, instantly. Whether you are doing a million in revenue or hundreds of millions in revenue - see why over 22,000 companies are using NetSuite today. Schedule your free product tour at https://www.netsuite.com/invest. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Show Notes (2:56) – (First question) – His career leading up to OpenGov (5:45) – Experience in Afghanistan and lessons from his time there (8:54) – Aligning a large group on a strategy (9:56) – Aligning the team at OpenGov when getting started (11:54) – Levels of government that matter and what their systems looked like when he was getting started (15:24) – Role of budget and how money flows in in government operations (18:55) – How technology can fix the bureaucracy of government (21:40) – Can technology help the public’s relationship to government (24:20) – Defining vertical SaaS products (27:02) – Picking the right products/customers to build your product well (28:33) – Their purpose when building their first product (30:23) – Building a company in a highly regulated space (32:14) – Selling in this space and lessons learned (34:04) – Building a machine to distribute enterprise software (37:03) – Getting the technical, political, and commercial processes aligned (39:40) – Staying up to date on the market and fending off your competition (42:18) – Competency within public governments (44:03) – Metrics that he uses to understand the health of OpenGov (46:07) – The importance of charging the right price for professional services (48:36) – Hardest episode in developing OpenGov (50:17) – Valid early criticisms of the company (52:34) – Advice to new entrepreneurs entering the vertical SaaS space (54:06) – The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers (57:04) – Engineering momentum among teams (59:00) – Personal improvement as a leader (1:01:55) – The study of death and why it’s important for him (1:04:19) – What people can get spending time in the mountains (1:06:53) – Role of capital efficiency in his work (1:09:11) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Emmett Shear - The New Language of the Internet – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.9]

Invest Like the Best

590 views
over 2 years ago
51:23

My guest today is Emmett Shear, founder and CEO of Twitch. Twitch is the world's leading live streaming platform for gamers, which was acquired by Amazon in 2014. We talk about how Twitch empowers streamers to monetize their audience, the necessity of picking a customer early in a business, and the lessons Emmett learned scaling Twitch from an online reality TV show to a global brand inside Amazon. We also discuss how Twitch has helped create a new language in the internet age with emotes, a topic I am fascinated by. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Emmett Shear. This episode is brought to you by Microsoft for Startups. Microsoft for Startups is a global program dedicated to helping “enterprise-ready” B2B startups successfully scale their companies. If you’re a founder running a B2B company targeting the enterprise, you should definitely check them out. This episode is also brought to you by Solo Stove. There's simply no better way to create good moments this holiday season than around a fire with a Solo Stove Bonfire. Complete with 30-day return policy and a lifetime warranty, the unit is made entirely of stainless steel, and at just 20 pounds, the Solo Stove Bonfire is easy to transport for a perfect evening in the backyard, at the campground, or on the beach. Get $5 off with code Patrick5 before December 31st 2020. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Show Notes (2:52) – (First question) – History of interactive entertainment (4:10) – Interactivity from the clubs in Vienna and what he learned from that (5:16) – Origins of Justin.TV and when gaming became the focus for Twitch (8:59) – What he enjoyed about video streaming games early on (10:21) – Interactive experience between creators and community (12:28) – Emotes on twitch and how they came to be (14:45) – Business of emotes and the affiliates (16:27) – How these features are proliferating out on the internet and changing it (17:21) – How far we are in the streamer-influencer phenomenon (20:00) – Building an effective platform for fans (23:07) – Evolution of the just chatting piece of Twitch (24:58) – Favorite parts of Twitch from followers: Chess (26:45) – Running a business within a larger business (28:09) – Most interesting trend in the market today (30:40) – Effective ways for recruiting the team (31:35) – Most curious about what is happening on the internet today (33:06) – Advice from the early days of Twitch (35:55) – Ira Glass video taste and making things (36:34) – Focus on strategic mission (38:06) – Identifying the customer (40:40) – Starting small (41:45) – Investors focus on potential market size (43:00) – Most common reasons talented people fail (43:47) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag