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Invest Like the Best

Exploring the ideas, methods, and stories of people that will help you better invest your time and money. Learn more and stay-up-to-date at InvestorFieldGuide.com

Mike Kerns and Jesse Jacobs - Content to Commerce - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 220]

Invest Like the Best

  • 2.3K views
  • almost 3 years ago
  • 01:11:14

My guests this week are Jesse Jacobs and Mike Kerns, co-founders and partners at The Chernin Group, TCG, a multi-stage investment firm dedicated to building consumer businesses. Many think of TCG as some of the best media investors in the world, and in this discussion, you’ll quickly see why. In our conversation, we cover how TCG identifies creators that they can help build businesses with, how established companies should think about influencers and media today, and what innovations they are most excited for in the creator space. As I become more heavily involved in building new media properties, Jesse and Mike are always my first point of call for advice, and I’m so excited to share this with you. Please enjoy my conversation with Jesse Jacobs and Mike Kerns. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ------ This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you've been scrambling to keep up with the deluge of IPOs and SPACs these days, Canalyst has models on Coinbase, Roblox, Qualtrics and everything in between. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/patrick. ------ This episode is brought to you by MIT Investment Management Company – also known as MITIMCo, the endowment office of MIT. MITIMCo seeks to find people who are focused on achieving exceptional long-term investment returns, partner with these firms early, and stick around for the very long term. MITIMCo doesn’t care how small, new, or un-institutional your firm is if you have the potential to generate amazing results that support MIT’s pursuit of world-class education, cutting-edge research, and groundbreaking innovation. Despite their willingness to invest early, they do not ask for GP economics, and they commit their initial capital for ten years. Visit www.mitimco.org and their new emerging managers page to learn more. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:03:32] - [First question] - The history of TCG  [00:04:30] - iFilm (Discontinued) [00:07:08] - Full Screen [00:07:13] - Crunchyroll [00:10:46] - Uniting properties across all of TCG’s brands[00:11:14] - Barstool, MeatEater[00:12:00] - Headspace, Food 52, Hodinkee, Surfline [00:14:03] - Accidental businesses and pre-commercial success[00:14:53] - Exploding Kittens [00:16:05] - Evaluating the potential of a new pitch [00:19:12] - Testing, tracking and understanding media brand conversions [00:21:13] - The most important things happening in media in 2021[00:25:12] - Analysis of MeatEater from content to commerce [00:27:22] - First Lite [00:29:21] - Replacing your own sponsors with owned companies [00:30:11] - Analysis of Hodinkee from content to commerce [00:33:42] - What sparked the resurgence of interest in collectibles [00:38:05] - Hands on investing in the intersection of media, finance and tech  [00:40:05] - Comcast  [00:41:02] - Surprising discoveries in the sports collectibles space [00:43:06] - NFTs and their role in generating capital for media companies [00:44:25] - Sorare [00:45:22] - JPG File Sells for $69 Million, as “NFT Mania” Gathers Pace [00:47:23] - How to adapt to the NFT space as a business seeking equity [00:51:12] - The valuation landscape of today [00:55:25] - Defining success when working with an influencer [00:58:48] - Upcoming trends they’re most excited about in the world [01:01:40] - Roblox [01:02:00] - Mr Beast, Beastburger [01:02:47] - Pokemon Go [01:04:01] - The kindest things anyone’s ever done for them

Business Breakdowns - Trailer

Invest Like the Best

  • 2.6K views
  • almost 3 years ago
  • 02:43

Welcome to Business Breakdowns, a new Colossus podcast featuring deep-dive conversations on individual businesses. In each episode, we will dissect a new company with investors and operators that know it best. We believe every business has secrets and lessons to learn from, and these conversations are designed to deliver that content in an entertaining and narrative format.   The series launches today with Shopify, so check out the links below and give it a listen.    Subscribe to Business Breakdowns via:  Apple Spotify Google Overcast Amazon   Leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts if you like the show.    With each new episode, we will be releasing full episode transcripts, show notes, and the best content we could find on that business from across the internet. Check out www.joincolossus.com for more. 

Jesse Pujji - A Primer on Performance Marketing - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 27]

Invest Like the Best

  • 2K views
  • almost 3 years ago
  • 01:34:22

My guest today is Jesse Pujji, the Founder & CEO of Gateway X, a holding company that builds, buys, and invests in companies that are driving the direct-to-consumer landscape. Prior to Gateway X, Jesse was the CEO and co-founder of Ampush, a performance marketing business helping power customer acquisition across some of the world's biggest brands. Jesse is my go-to person for all things performance marketing and customer acquisition, so we decided to record this episode to bring his incredible lessons to a wider audience. It also dovetails nicely into the series of episodes we are making called Primers, where we take our audience from a 0 to a 7 on just about any topic. In this Primer with Jesse, we dive into how revenue mechanics affect ad campaigns, why long sales funnels often offer the greatest opportunities for differentiation, and the various channels and strategies available for performance marketing. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jesse Pujji.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to get and maintain your SOC 2 report at a fraction of the typical cost. Founder’s Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. With LinkedIn, you get access to an active community of professionals with more than 722 million members worldwide. LinkedIn is the easiest place in the world to post a job and message qualified candidates. Getting started is easier than ever, and now you can do this all from your mobile device.   When your business is ready to make that next hire, find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit linkedin.com/fieldguide to post a job for free. Terms and conditions apply. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:58] - [First question] - Overview of Jesse’s career and starting Ampush [00:12:11] - Red Ventures [00:13:11] - The four components of performance marketing [00:17:47] - Time and other variables in between impressions and revenue events [00:23:12] - Understanding the dimensions of a business and their offering [00:25:32] - Common misunderstandings businesses have about their marketing [00:27:17] - Major changes in the Facebook and Google digital marketing ecosystems [00:29:27] - Direct response marketing vs brand marketing[00:35:08] - The importance and impact of effective messaging [00:37:28] - The differences between good and bad conversions [00:40:56] - Does alpha still exist, is it worth looking for, and does beta have a place [00:43:25] - Fundamentals of a high performing marketing organization [00:50:04] - Attention aggregators of marketing agencies[00:50:18] - Nerdwallet - Thumbtack  [00:51:22] - Product channel fit [00:52:11] - PebblePost[00:53:58] - Lessons learned from working with Uber [00:55:42] - Retention marketing [00:57:31] - Upcoming frontiers of performance marketing [01:01:15] - Overview of Nerdwallet [01:03:36] - How Jesse’s time at Ampush has shaped his investment lens[01:07:20] - Lessons from bootstrapping a business vs venture capital funding [01:17:05] - The entrepreneurial execution loop and operating cadence  [01:29:20] - Kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Jessi Pujji - A Primer on Performance Marketing - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 27]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.9K views
  • almost 3 years ago
  • 01:34:22

My guest today is Jesse Pujji, the Founder & CEO of Gateway X, a holding company that builds, buys, and invests in companies that are driving the direct-to-consumer landscape. Prior to Gateway X, Jesse was the CEO and co-founder of Ampush, a performance marketing business helping power customer acquisition across some of the world's biggest brands. Jesse is my go-to person for all things performance marketing and customer acquisition, so we decided to record this episode to bring his incredible lessons to a wider audience. It also dovetails nicely into the series of episodes we are making called Primers, where we take our audience from a 0 to a 7 on just about any topic. In this Primer with Jesse, we dive into how revenue mechanics affect ad campaigns, why long sales funnels often offer the greatest opportunities for differentiation, and the various channels and strategies available for performance marketing. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jesse Pujji.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to get and maintain your SOC 2 report at a fraction of the typical cost. Founder’s Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. With LinkedIn, you get access to an active community of professionals with more than 722 million members worldwide. LinkedIn is the easiest place in the world to post a job and message qualified candidates. Getting started is easier than ever, and now you can do this all from your mobile device.   When your business is ready to make that next hire, find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit linkedin.com/fieldguide to post a job for free. Terms and conditions apply. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:58] - [First question] - Overview of Jesse’s career and starting Ampush [00:12:11] - Red Ventures [00:13:11] - The four components of performance marketing [00:17:47] - Time and other variables in between impressions and revenue events [00:23:12] - Understanding the dimensions of a business and their offering [00:25:32] - Common misunderstandings businesses have about their marketing [00:27:17] - Major changes in the Facebook and Google digital marketing ecosystems [00:29:27] - Direct response marketing vs brand marketing[00:35:08] - The importance and impact of effective messaging [00:37:28] - The differences between good and bad conversions [00:40:56] - Does alpha still exist, is it worth looking for, and does beta have a place [00:43:25] - Fundamentals of a high performing marketing organization [00:50:04] - Attention aggregators of marketing agencies[00:50:18] - Nerdwallet - Thumbtack  [00:51:22] - Product channel fit [00:52:11] - PebblePost[00:53:58] - Lessons learned from working with Uber [00:55:42] - Retention marketing [00:57:31] - Upcoming frontiers of performance marketing [01:01:15] - Overview of Nerdwallet [01:03:36] - How Jesse’s time at Ampush has shaped his investment lens[01:07:20] - Lessons from bootstrapping a business vs venture capital funding [01:17:05] - The entrepreneurial execution loop and operating cadence  [01:29:20] - Kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Kanyi Maqubela - Dawn of the 21st Century - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 219]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.5K views
  • almost 3 years ago
  • 01:09:48

My guest today is Kanyi Maqubela, co-founder of seed-stage VC firm Kindred Ventures, which he started with his partner Steven Jang in 2019. Before founding Kindred Ventures, Kanyi was a general partner at Collaborative Fund. In our conversation, we discuss the parallels between today and the Roaring ’20s of the last century, the misunderstood risk curve of seed investing, and dive deep into how Kanyi evaluates founders and businesses at the earliest stage of company formation. We also discuss Kanyi’s experience teaching the Design Your Life class at Stanford and how some of those principles convinced him to take the leap to start his own fund. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Kanyi Maqubela.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ------ This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ------ This episode is brought to you by NordVPN. NordVPN is the best VPN to keep your internet experience private.   It has over 5,500 servers in 60 countries to ensure super-fast internet while protecting your information no matter where you are. As working from home and remote work become more prevalent, now is the time to protect your personal and business information without any data logging.   NordVPN works on all popular platforms, including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, and supports up to 6 simultaneous connections across your devices.   To get started, go to nordvpn.com/patrick or use code PATRICK to get a 2-year plan plus 1 additional month with a huge discount and a 30-day money-back guarantee. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:04:11] - [First question] - Understanding the roaring 20s and their potential resurgence [00:06:14] - Seed-stage investing today compared to a few years ago [00:09:02] - Lessons learned from studying the 1920s  [00:11:52] - Supply chain infrastructure in the 21st century [00:14:49] - His investment philosophy and what influenced it [00:17:47] - Defining the risk curve and early-stage divergence [00:21:31] - Assessing risk in seed-stage investing [00:23:32] - Other moments that influenced Kanyi’s investment philosophy [00:26:50] - Assisting early-stage companies as a VC  [00:29:31] - How he approaches VC differently than traditional US VCs [00:31:55] - Non-consensus ways and unique views when evaluating founders [00:35:19] - Domain insight and its importance [00:36:53] - What he looks for in a company when considering investing in them [00:38:17] - Assessing a team in whether or not they have characteristics of longevity [00:40:59] - Questions he most enjoys asking people [00:42:24] - What makes for a good problem space [00:44:26] - Early-stage crypto investing [00:47:27] - How the crypto space and NFTs will change and influence other sectors [00:50:37] - Emerging trends that are catching his attention [00:54:20] - The potential for upward mobility in the coming decade [00:56:30] - Teaching the Design Your Life course [01:01:21] - Advice for modern investor-operators [01:03:26] - If he could change one major thing in the industry [01:06:57] - The biggest lesson learned from Obama’s campaign [01:07:44] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Roxanne Petraeus - Modernizing Compliance - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.26]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.7K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 56:01

My guest today is Roxanne Petraeus, co-founder and CEO of Ethena, a modern compliance platform for businesses. Roxanne’s background is pretty incredible, before starting Ethena she was a Rhodes Scholar, served in the US Army, and worked at McKinsey. In our conversation, we cover the lessons Roxanne ported over from her military career to building a business, how she’s trying to make compliance training not suck, and the woeful state of funding female founders in VC today and what can be done about it. Far from a boring conversation about compliance, this was an incredible discussion with one of the best founders I’ve met recently. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Roxanne Petraeus.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo is the ultimate marketing platform for e-commerce. With targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more, Klaviyo helps you create your ideal customer experience.    See why Klaviyo is 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 klaviyo.com/founders.  ----- This episode is brought to you by DigitalOcean. DigitalOcean provides founders and creators with the platform they need to get their website and apps off the ground, all with low-bandwidth pricing to save them money over other cloud providers.   If you are looking for the best place to build web apps or API backends on robust infrastructure, DigitalOcean is the place for you. They provide a fully managed solution that handles your infrastructure, operating systems, databases, and other dependencies on their new App Platform product. App Platform makes it easy to build, deploy, and scale apps. Get started for free at do.co/founders. -----   Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:29] - [First question] - What Ethena does [00:06:31] - Lessons from her military career [00:09:13] - Good and bad elements of leadership training from the military  [00:11:35] - The problem of what sucks in compliance training [00:14:33] - The enablement of bad behavior among people with power [00:17:56] - The original idea for Ethena and bringing it to market [00:21:15] - Determining who is the right person to serve first  [00:24:03] - Lessons for building good software  [00:26:21] - How they have adapted to working in and around regulation [00:29:31] - Getting other companies to buy into the product [00:34:45] - Creating effective content and measuring that effectiveness [00:38:13] - Darker sides of growing the business and raising money [00:39:57] -  How ‘the Motherhood Penalty’ Plays Out for Startup Founders [00:43:12] - Fixing the problems with bias in venture capital investing [00:46:57] - What is the outlook and long-term vision for the business [00:50:38] - What has her most excited for the future [00:51:53] - Most interesting about the Rhodes Scholar program [00:54:02] - Kindest thing anyone has done for her  

Jesse Walden - A Primer on NFTs - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 218]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.9K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 47:34

My guest today is Jesse Walden, the founder of Variant, an early-stage venture firm investing in crypto networks and platforms building the ownership economy.   With all the hype surrounding NFTs, I wanted to talk to Jesse about them, given his background in the music industry and his focus on the creator and ownership economy. The conversation did not disappoint. We discuss the basics of what an NFT is, what new creative paradigms they might unlock, and where we are in the NFT hype cycle.   This episode is the first in what will likely become its own show we are calling Primers. Our goal for primers is to bring investors and operators from a zero to a seven understanding of a topic, concept, or industry. The goal here is for the education around these topics to be fast and entertaining. I hope you enjoy this discussion with Jesse Walden and hopefully the first of many Primers to come.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ------ This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ------ This episode is brought to you by NordVPN. NordVPN is the best VPN to keep your internet experience private.   It has over 5,500 servers in 60 countries to ensure super-fast internet while protecting your information no matter where you are. As working from home and remote work become more prevalent, now is the time to protect your personal and business information without any data logging.   NordVPN works on all popular platforms, including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, and supports up to 6 simultaneous connections across your devices.   To get started, go to nordvpn.com/patrick or use code PATRICK to get a 2-year plan plus 1 additional month with a huge discount and a 30-day money-back guarantee. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:04:19] - [First question] - Simple definition of an NFT [00:05:22] - What distinguishes NFTs from each other  [00:06:24] - The value chain of a song, and who owns it [00:12:07] - Monetization and royalties on traded tokens [00:15:02] - Consumer incentives for purchasing NFTs [00:19:19] - Long-term passive income and media legos [00:22:23] - Technical breakdown of minting, hosting, and storing tokens [00:24:28] - Verification of token ownership on the blockchain [00:25:58] - NFT marketplaces and aggregators [00:27:06] - Opensea.io  [00:27:21] - Foundation.app  [00:29:46] - Innovations inspired by the NFT explosion [00:31:01] - Mirror.xyz  [00:32:26] - NBA Topshot [00:32:57] - Crypto Punks [00:23:24] - Nifty Gateway [00:34:30] - Physical cultural assets in the digital landscape [00:36:02] - Legacy brands exploring digital goods and tokenized ownership [00:38:37] - NFTs becoming the port of entry of all media [00:39:39] - An ownership economy in second generation internet platforms [00:41:02] - Uniswap[00:42:41] - The “hype cycle” of NFTs and incoming market correction[00:44:18] - Lessons for investors in the NFT space [00:45:15] - Lessons for buildings in the NFT space [00:45:54] - Resources to continue learning about NFTs[00:45:54] - NFTs make the internet ownable by Jesse Walden[00:46:20] - NFTs and a thousand true fans by Chris Dixon[00:46:13] - A beginner’s guide to NFTs by Linda Xie

Jonathan Goldberg - Capturing Carbon - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 25]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.5K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 50:03

My guest today is Jonathan Goldberg, the founder, and CEO of Carbon Direct, a company focused on advising and investing in carbon removal at scale. Jonathan started his career in the commodities division of Goldman Sachs and then went on to start a commodity hedge fund, BBL Commodities. In our conversation, we cover the state of the carbon problem today, the importance of global carbon standards and carbon taxes, and the future of carbon capture and removal technologies. This was a masterclass on all things carbon-related. Please enjoy my conversation with Jonathan Goldberg.    For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo is the ultimate marketing platform for e-commerce. With targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more, Klaviyo helps you create your ideal customer experience.    See why Klaviyo is 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 klaviyo.com/founders.  ----- This episode is brought to you by DigitalOcean. DigitalOcean provides founders and creators with the platform they need to get their website and apps off the ground, all with low-bandwidth pricing to save them money over other cloud providers.   If you are looking for the best place to build web apps or API backends on robust infrastructure, DigitalOcean is the place for you. They provide a fully managed solution that handles your infrastructure, operating systems, databases, and other dependencies on their new App Platform product. App Platform makes it easy to build, deploy, and scale apps. Get started for free at do.co/founders. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:25] - [First question] - Overview of his career [00:06:02] - The start of his commodities trading strategy and its evolution  [00:09:08] - Key strategies for making money as a commodities trader [00:10:41] - Opportunity to trade commodities today  [00:11:39] - Making the shift to carbon capture work [00:15:04] - Range of consequences for elevated carbon emissions and biggest buckets of carbon [00:18:52] - An outline of the Paris Climate Accord and other agreements on climate change [00:20:26] - Ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere [00:23:46] - The technology to remove carbon and incentives to invest in this technology [00:26:19] - Corporate participation in the carbon trade  [00:28:35] - Balance of natural vs man-made solutions  [00:31:53] - Making money without the altruistic goals [00:33:43] - Trends in the fossil fuel industry  [00:36:41] - Convenient ways for consumers to switch to clean energy products [00:39:57] - The geopolitical will to shift towards cleaner energy [00:41:58] - Primary consequences of not making this shift [00:44:25] - The important role of regulation  [00:46:01] - Thinking through the investing side of combating climate change [00:48:59] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Marissa King - The Science of Social Networks - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 217]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.5K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 58:06

My guest this week is Marissa King, a professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management. I was fascinated by Marissa's work after coming across her book, Social Chemistry: Decoding the Elements of Human Connection, earlier this year. Our conversation covers the three types of social networking styles, the surprising impact of COVID on social networks, and what her research tells us about building high-performing teams. This episode covers many topics I haven't explored before that I find fascinating. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Marissa King.      For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ------ This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more.   ------ This episode is brought to you by NordVPN. NordVPN is the best VPN to keep your internet experience private.   It has over 5,500 servers in 60 countries to ensure super-fast internet while protecting your information no matter where you are. As working from home and remote work become more prevalent, now is the time to protect your personal and business information without any data logging.   NordVPN works on all popular platforms, including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, and supports up to 6 simultaneous connections across your devices.   To get started, go to nordvpn.com/patrick or use code PATRICK to get a 2-year plan plus 1 additional month with a huge discount and a 30-day money-back guarantee. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:04:04] - [First question] - Origin of her career and topics she is focused on [00:04:06] - Social Chemistry: Decoding the Patterns of Human Connection [00:04:09] - Priya Parker Podcast Episode [00:05:41] - Why the focus on Autism and some of the trends around it [00:08:07] - Prevalence of mental health and substance abuse vs. raised awareness [00:09:16] - The eureka moment for her in this research [00:10:16] -  Pattern in growing large social movements [00:11:43] - The Expansionists group and their role in large social movements [00:14:31] - Acid test for the Brokers group [00:15:35] - How she developed the categories of people that drive social movements [00:17:35] - Most memorable moments of discovery in the development of these categories [00:18:58] - Important categories for overall network science [00:20:20] - Behavioral changes we can make to improve the nature of our social connections [00:23:21] - The pitfalls for each group and how they can invest in their own network [00:25:29] - Conveners and what they need to improve  [00:26:34] - Downside of being a broker [00:27:58] - The attachments styles of secure, anxious, or avoidant [00:30:07] - Velocity of interactions possible today and what it means for research [00:32:02] - How men and women develop networks differently [00:33:55] - What is unique in organizational behavior through the lens of her research [00:36:19] - Best practice for creating high output interactions [00:37:33] - Putting together the perfect team [00:38:42] - Largest pitfalls in putting together a good team [00:40:00] - Role of conversation in effective network building [00:41:15] - Being a great listeners and distractions [00:42:47] - Eric Maddox Podcast Episode [00:43:41] - Good policy for running a network, being attentive to the network [00:46:40] - The power of touch [00:48:39] - How movements become societal and what role technology has played [00:52:46] - How this applies to a business [00:53:34] - Biological underpinnings of Dunbar’s number [00:57:13] - Kindest thing anyone has done for her  

Jonathan Neman - Building the Modern Restaurant - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 24]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.5K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 53:48

My guest this week is Jonathan Neman, the co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen. Sweetgreen is a fast-casual restaurant chain that Jonathan co-founded in 2007 during their senior year at Georgetown when he realized they couldn't find a healthy, affordable, and convenient place to eat. Today, Sweetgreen operates in 11 markets and will have about 160 restaurants across the US by the end of 2021. In our conversation, we cover the origins of Sweetgreen and how it builds a direct relationship with its customers, how Jonathan thinks restaurants should work with marketplaces like DoorDash, and the economics of operating restaurants. While Sweetgreen is primarily a restaurant concept, Jonathan brings a tech-first mindset to the food industry, focusing less on single-store economics and more about customer lifetime value and the importance of owning the relationship with the customer. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jonathan Neman.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo is the ultimate marketing platform for e-commerce. With targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more, Klaviyo helps you create your ideal customer experience.    See why Klaviyo is 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 klaviyo.com/founders.  ----- This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. With LinkedIn, you get access to an active community of professionals with more than 722 million members worldwide. LinkedIn is the easiest place in the world to post a job and message qualified candidates. Getting started is easier than ever, and now you can do this all from your mobile device.    When your business is ready to make that next hire, find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit linkedin.com/fieldguide to post a job for free. Terms and conditions apply.  ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:04] - [First question] - The origins of Sweetgreen [00:05:47] - Something they did from a position of naivete, working their supply chain [00:07:18] - Most common reason restaurants go wrong [00:08:35] - Building the first restaurant and lessons along the way  [00:12:22] - Effective menu building [00:14:36] - The Sweetgreen network and how they view the restaurant as a network [00:21:05] - What their digital business means compared to other restaurant businesses [00:23:55] - How they have improved at converting people into their ecosystem [00:27:40] - Creating win-win partnerships [00:29:12] - The pros/cons of the marketplaces in the food industry [00:32:58] - The general economics of a restaurant [00:36:58] - Allocating capital differently when the focus is the customer and not the store [00:39:36] - How tech trends aimed at improving personal health plays into Sweetgreen’s plans [00:45:11] - Their focus on sustainability for the business [00:47:56] - The core values of ‘Add the Sweet Touch’ and ‘Live the Sweet Life’ [00:50:18] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him [00:51:38] - Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time

Josh Wolfe and Tony Thomas - The Past, Present, and Future of Defense – [Invest Like the Best, EP. 216]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.9K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 01:25:44

My guests today are Josh Wolfe and Tony Thomas, better known as T2. Josh is the co-founder and General Partner at Lux Capital. T2 is now a venture partner alongside Josh at Lux Capital, after serving for almost 40 years in the US military and becoming a 4-star general and the 11th Commander of US Special Operations Command. Our conversation focuses on the technology frontier in defense as well as the geopolitical threats that the US faces. We talk about everything from semiconductors and autonomous weapons systems to the moral dimensions of investing in defense technology. I hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation with Josh Wolfe and Tony Thomas.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ------ This episode is brought to you by MIT Investment Management Company. MITIMCO is the endowment office of MIT. New and small investment funds listen up. MITIMCO is looking to find investors starting funds today.   MITIMCO is partnership-driven, long-term focused, and has an extensive history of backing investors early in their careers. These partners are key in delivering the outstanding investment returns required to support MIT's pursuit of world-class education, cutting-edge research, and groundbreaking innovation. MITIMCO is focused on finding and partnering with the best investors across the globe, no matter the market environment. No firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional.   If you or someone you know is currently in the process of starting a fund or recently launched, please email partner@mitimco.org or discover more on their website at mitimco.org/partner. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. 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 [00:03:46] - [First question] - Overview of Tony Thomas’s career [00:06:36] - His focus on the information wars and truthiness [00:08:50] - How Josh and Tony met [00:12:27] - Experiencing the slow pace of technology growth within the Department of Defense [00:15:51] - History of businesses selling to and engaging with the government [00:23:52] - Consensus of the threats we face today  [00:28:55] - Most important competitive frontier today  [00:35:09] - The lessening of kinetic warfare [00:46:51] - State of the drone technology and industry  [00:52:56] - Mapping the arctic and the geopolitical ramifications [00:54:31] - The frontier of space  [00:59:26] - What shouldn’t be unmanned technology  [01:02:31] - The cutting edge of simulation technology  [01:06:50] - The most important thing to know about the future of semiconductors [01:11:36] - The moral lens of working with and investing in defense companies [01:20:53] - Traits of the most exceptional soldiers he’s served with [01:23:53] - Kindest thing anyone has done for Tony  

Matteo Franceschetti – Modernizing Sleep – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 23]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.4K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 43:20

My guest today is Matteo Franceschetti, the founder and CEO of Eight Sleep, a smart mattress company. I’m a customer of Eight Sleep and this was one of the most unique founder conversations I’ve had on the show, in both the focus on the product and the exploration of sleep. We talk about which biometrics matter, how hard it is to start a hardware company and launch manufacturing overseas, how Matteo manages his own sleep, and the massive potential for preventative health companies like Eight Sleep may have in the future. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Matteo Franceschetti.    For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you 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 is 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 klaviyo.com/founders.  ----- This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. With LinkedIn, you get access to an active community of professionals with more than 722 million members worldwide. LinkedIn is the easiest place in the world to post a job and message, qualified candidates. Getting started is easier than ever and now you can do this all from your mobile device.    When your business is ready to make that next hire, find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit linkedin.com/fieldguide to post a job for free. Terms and conditions apply.  ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.      Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:02:36] - [First question] - Origins of the Eight Sleep business [00:03:21] - Designing and testing the original product [00:04:17] - Goal of the product [00:05:19] - How temperature can improve sleep [00:06:28] - Accuracy of the sensors in this product [00:08:30] - Valuable inputs for health that they measure, HRV (heart rate variability) [00:09:59] - Amount of research on the variables they measure and impact on health [00:11:45] - Hardest data for them to measure in their mattress [00:14:03] - Early challenges to launching the business [00:15:27] - Lessons from the early manufacturing process [00:16:50] - Working through the potential business models [00:17:56] - Goal of less sleep and reducing light sleep [00:19:45] - Behavior changes he’s made as a result of understanding his sleep more [00:21:08] - How alcohol/caffeine impacts sleep [00:22:01] - How food impacts sleep [00:23:01] - Why glucose spikes are bad for sleep [00:23:40] - Challenges in the business after the crowdfunding stage [00:25:34] - Marketing lessons from a high price point and infrequently purchased product [00:26:42] - Most exciting day in the researching phase [00:27:48] - Turning an infrequent purchase into a frequent sale [00:28:54] - What it’s like to work with his wife [00:30:03] - Future of the quantified self-movement [00:31:23] - The hardest challenge in the business [00:32:13] - Most valuable things he’s learned as a fan of Formula 1 racing [00:33:41] - Future of the mattress business [00:35:28] - Other businesses he has learned from [00:36:40] - Lessons from the data part of the business [00:38:26] - Collecting more data from their customers without being intrusive [00:39:56] - What he’s learned through Apple Health  [00:41:39] - What has him excited for the long term future of Eight Sleep [00:42:32] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Jack Clark - Grateful for Everything, Entitled to Nothing – [Invest Like the Best, EP. 215]

Invest Like the Best

  • 2K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 42:25

My guest today is Jack Clark, head coach of the University of California Varsity Rugby team. Jack has one of the highest winning percentages not only at the collegiate level but in sports history, winning an incredible 90% of games since his start as a coach in 1984. That includes a 98 game winning streak from 1990 to 1996 and a 115 game winning streak from 2004 to 2009. In our conversation, we dive into how Jack builds high-performing teams, the shared vocabulary he creates across his organization, and his work with companies applying what he's learned on the field to operating businesses. Please enjoy this conversation with Jack Clark.    For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ------ This episode is brought to you by MIT Investment Management Company. MITIMCO is the endowment office of MIT. New and small investment funds listen up. MITIMCO is looking to find investors starting funds today.   MITIMCO is partnership-driven, long-term focused, and has an extensive history of backing investors early in their careers. These partners are key in delivering the outstanding investment returns required to support MIT's pursuit of world-class education, cutting-edge research, and groundbreaking innovation. MITIMCO is focused on finding and partnering with the best investors across the globe, no matter the market environment. No firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional.   If you or someone you know is currently in the process of starting a fund or recently launched, please email partner@mitimco.org or discover more on their website at mitimco.org/partner. ------   Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. 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 [00:03:44] - [First question] - Overview of his playing and coaching career [00:06:02] - The importance of creating a set of values for a team [00:07:53] - Why selflessness is such an important trait he looks for in teams [00:09:20] - Examples of selflessness in the teams [00:10:06] - The Winner Within: A Life Plan for Team Players [00:10:24] - Lessons on gratitude and entitlement [00:11:34] - Being a meritocracy on the team [00:12:55] - Rewarding merit as a coach [00:14:18] - Improving a team today, the power of the basics and fundamentals [00:15:29] - Defining toughness for players and teams [00:17:29] - Mark Bingham, the epitome of toughness [00:18:33] - Why he created and how he uses a glossary [00:22:09] - Creating a high rate of conversion in recruiting [00:25:01] - What qualities did the teams that beat him share [00:27:22] - Take on pride and something he is exceedingly proud of [00:29:17] - Translating the concepts from the court into the business world [00:32:20] - Where companies have room to improve [00:33:16] - Changing a company culture [00:34:21] - Coaches he has learned from  [00:36:00] - The power of non-cognitive grit [00:38:45] - Advice for companies creating a value set [00:40:40] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him 

Ryan Petersen - Where There Is Mystery, There Is Margin – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 22]

Invest Like the Best

  • 2.1K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 01:08:50

My guest today is Ryan Petersen, founder and CEO of Flexport. Flexport is a technology platform for global trade. In this conversation, Ryan takes us through the fragmented world of international freight shipping, and we dive deep into the history and inefficiencies of the system. We also cover how shipping containers were standardized, how new protocols get adopted internationally, and the challenges of doing business in the “no man's land” of international waters. Ryan is the type of entrepreneur I enjoy talking to most: he has incredible domain knowledge, high energy and is tackling an enormous global problem. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ryan Petersen.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ----- This episode is brought to you by DigitalOcean. DigitalOcean provides founders and creators with the platform they need to get their website and apps off the ground, all with low-bandwidth pricing to save them money over other cloud providers.    If you are looking for the best place to build web apps or API backends on robust infrastructure, DigitalOcean is the place for you. They provide a fully managed solution that handles your infrastructure, operating systems, databases, and other dependencies, on their new App Platform product. App Platform makes it easy to build, deploy, and scale apps. Get started for free at do.co/founders. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.    Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:24] - [First question] - Overview of what Flexport does [00:04:49] - His introduction into the world of shipping [00:06:49] - Difference between parcel and freight [00:08:53] - Market cap of the overall shipping industry [00:09:24] - Fragmentation of shipping and what Flexport is solving for [00:12:52] - Worst parts of the shipping world [00:15:34] - Improving the tech behind the shipping container [00:19:06] - Why the shipping container changed the world [00:19:07] - The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger [00:21:27] - Teams and outsider perspectives in solving problems [00:22:34] - How their business could make shipping more efficient and reduce costs [00:25:24] - Where the margins and profits are made in shipping [00:25:49] - Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger [00:27:11] - The finance side of shipping [00:28:56] - Maritime law and the ocean [00:30:57] - How much is left in the digitization of shipping [00:32:48] - The perfect state of shipping using Flexport [00:38:19] - Investing in hard assets to expand the business [00:41:03] - Lessons about building a business and global coordination [00:43:15] - Multidisciplinary thinking among their team [00:44:04] - Global supply chain issues in light of Covid and ocean policing  [00:44:15] - Peter Zeihan Podcast Episode [00:47:59] - Testing out demand in the beginning [00:50:28] - The process of testing out new ideas and killing off losers [00:52:33] - Important lessons/themes for founders [00:54:51] - Hardest learned lesson, fundraising [00:58:06] - Other opportunities in shipping [00:59:47] - Lessons for creating a new standard [01:02:22] - Using their standardization to improve global relief work [01:04:40] - Creating synchronicity in a company [01:07:09] - What he’s excited about for the future [01:07:53] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Jeremy Grantham - A Historic Market Bubble – [Invest Like the Best, EP.214]

Invest Like the Best

  • 3K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 01:04:37

My guest today is Jeremy Grantham. Jeremy is the co-founder and chief investment strategist at GMO. Jeremy has an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of markets, which made it such a pleasure to have him back on the show. In this conversation, we discuss the three key signs of a bubble, why Jeremy believes we are in a bubble right now and how it’s being led by retail rather than institutional investors. We close with the important role that demographics and productivity will play over the next few decades across the world. Please enjoy my conversation with Jeremy Grantham.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- 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 MIT Investment Management Company. MITIMCO is the endowment office of MIT. New and small investment funds listen up. MITIMCO is looking to find investors starting funds today.   MITIMCO is partnership-driven, long-term focused, and has an extensive history of backing investors early in their careers. These partners are key in delivering the outstanding investment returns required to support MIT's pursuit of world-class education, cutting-edge research, and groundbreaking innovation. MITIMCO is focused on finding and partnering with the best investors across the globe, no matter the market environment. No firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional.   If you or someone you know is currently in the process of starting a fund or recently launched, please email partner@mitimco.org or discover more on their website at mitimco.org/partner. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. 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 [00:03:03] - [First question] - His view on the markets today  [00:03:07] - Jeremy Grantham’s Podcast Episode [00:08:00] - Proliferation of SPAC’s and how he views them as a potential bubble [00:10:20] - Could SPAC’s help to improve the IPO process [00:14:30] - How he viewed the Gamestop story through his historical context  [00:18:24] - Is investor education possible  [00:19:50] - How the increasing role of retail investors impacts bubbles [00:24:15] - Attitudes towards market bears in bubbles [00:28:52] - Long term view on the economy and the forces pushing it higher [00:41:50] - Returning to a hard money standard for the US economy [00:49:39] - Would a finite supply of money change market trajectory [00:51:02] - Best ways to improve the infrastructure of the economy and people’s willingness to work [00:53:52] - What should one do if they believe we are in a bubble [00:58:14] - What he is excited about in his green investments [01:02:28] - Advice to young investors  

Carlos Brito – Creating an Ownership Culture – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 21]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.4K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 56:59

My guest today is Carlos Brito, CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev. AB InBev is the world’s largest brewer of beer and maintains a portfolio of hundreds of beer brands across the globe. Our conversation focuses on AB InBev’s culture of ownership, how Carlos balances organic growth with acquisitions and managing disruption as an industry incumbent. I loved hearing about Carlos’ story from growing up in Brazil to now running one of the largest businesses in the world. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Carlos Brito.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ----- This episode is brought to you by 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 netsuite.com/invest. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.    Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:12] - [First question] - His career path and how he got to where he is today [00:11:02] - Culture building lessons throughout his career [00:14:52] - Maintaining ownership of company culture as businesses grow  [00:16:47] - How and why they avoid wasted resources [00:18:49] - Why conserving resources is so beneficial for a company [00:21:18] - Spreading culture into new members of a team [00:25:26] - Lessons from managing a large portfolio of different brands [00:27:58] - Biggest mistakes he has seen within brands [00:29:38] - Navigating changes/threats in the beer industry, starting with craft beers [00:32:56] - Lessons from the production and distribution side of the business  [00:36:02] - How to assess and decide to move into a new market [00:37:12] - Role of data in deciding how to allocate resources and capital [00:40:34] - The evolution of marketing over his career [00:44:32] - Implementing the meritocracy to keep the right people in the company and move them around [00:47:59] - Feedback he needed to hear [00:49:16] - How other leaders can decide on whether to focus on inorganic or organic growth [00:51:41] - What he’s most proud of from his career [00:53:13] - Passion for the product [00:54:12] - Most memorable beer in his life [00:54:56] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Scott Belsky - Focus on the First Mile – [Invest Like the Best, EP. 213]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.7K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 53:57

My guest today is Scott Belsky. Scott was the co-founder and CEO of Behance, the world's largest creative network, and a prolific angel investor, having made early-stage investments in Pinterest, Uber, Carta, and Airtable. His company was acquired by Adobe in 2012, where he is currently the chief product officer. In this conversation, we cover the importance of focusing on the first mile of a customer's experience with your product, why every user is (at first) either lazy, vain or selfish, and what the rise of creativity tools means for creators and investors in the future.  We also cover the major trends that Scott thinks will dominate for the next decade. This was one of those conversations where I was left with 10 great lessons that will stick with me for a long time. Please enjoy my conversation with Scott Belsky.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- 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. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. 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 [00:03:24] - [First question] - Philosophy for building great products [00:04:52] - Starting the journey of building a great product  [00:06:08] - Making the first mile better [00:08:12] - Understanding user progress in product building  [00:10:25]  - Getting to awareness and attention and interest in a product  [00:12:41] - The concept of window dressing [00:14:24] - Taking an idea and turning it into a high-value product  [00:14:42] - The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture and Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality [00:16:49] - Keeping rewards structure in place for teams to stay engaged [00:19:56] - Using his knowledge in product building to invest in other companies [00:24:00] - The concept of object model [00:25:52] - User psychology concepts they keep in mind when designing a product [00:27:51] - Implementing all of these strategies into a product [00:29:25] - The era of eduployment [00:31:05] - How this will impact colleges [00:33:27] - The evolution of the talent/audience relationship [00:35:32] - Decentralization and the companies of 1 [00:37:44] - How that decentralization will impact his investment thesis [00:39:21] - How increased productivity tools could help with more creativity in the workplace [00:42:04] - Training people to be more creative in the workplace [00:44:33] - Future of user interfaces [00:44:58] - The Interface Layer: Where Design Commoditizes Tech [00:48:10] - Good design principles [00:49:51] - The future coming out of Covid [00:52:09] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Matt Mullenweg – The Past, Present, and Future of the Internet – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.20]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.6K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 55:28

My guest today is Matt Mullenweg, co-founder and CEO of Automattic, the company on top of the open-source project WordPress that Matt helped start. Today, WordPress powers 40% of all the websites in the world. Our wide-ranging conversation covers the state of the internet when Matt first started WordPress, the symbiotic relationship between open source and proprietary projects, and how the most successful companies are really master world builders. I hope you enjoy this great conversation with Matt Mullenweg.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ----- This episode is brought to you by 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. Founder’s 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, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.    Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:15] – [First question] – What the internet felt like when he first started building Wordpress [00:05:11] – What was wrong with his impression of the internet then [00:06:50] – Being a connoisseur of things overlooked  [00:08:34] – How permission less publishing and open source software shaped the internet [00:12:30] – Balance between centralization and decentralization and where we are in the cycle [00:14:08] – The cycle between direct-to-consumer and having intermediary [00:16:32] – New opportunities and challenges of the internet today [00:18:49] – Potential of cryptocurrency to enable big changes on the internet [00:21:22] – The idea of distributed work via the internet and the utopia of it [00:21:38] - Sam Harris podcast with Matt Mullenweg [00:24:31] – Advantage of having a team distributed across geographies and timezones [00:26:46] – What he learned from the Amazon’s API mandate [00:29:12] – Landmines of distributed work [00:31:13] – Interesting lessons learned building Wordpress [00:34:55] – Company building as world building [00:35:52] – Lessons from Microsoft on platform building [00:38:53] – Key ingredient to world building within your company [00:41:09] – Lessons from Wix and Shopify  [00:42:23] – How to decide what to do next in resource and capital allocation [00:47:00] – How to engage with other stakeholders in a platform business [00:50:06] – The continued connectivity created by the internet [00:53:14] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Michael Dempsey – Investing in Bleeding Edge Technology – [Invest Like the Best, EP.212]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.5K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 55:49

My guest today is Michael Dempsey, General Partner at Compound. Michael invests in a broad range of areas but has a unique talent for combining brand building and direct customer relationships with technically demanding sectors. Our conversation covers the rise of virtual influencers, robotics, and how to best identify key inflection points in the evolution of new technologies. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Michael Dempsey.  For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- 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 MIT Investment Management Company. MITIMCO is the endowment office of MIT. New and small investment funds listen up. MITIMCO is looking to find investors starting funds today. MITIMCO is partnership-driven, long-term focused and has an extensive history of backing investors early in their careers. These partners are key in delivering the outstanding investment returns required to support MIT's pursuit of world-class education, cutting-edge research, and groundbreaking innovation. MITIMCO is focused on finding and partnering with the best investors across the globe no matter the market environment. No firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional. If you or someone you know is currently in the process of starting a fund or recently launched, please email partner@mitimco.org or discover more on their website at mitimco.org/partner. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. 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 [00:02:54] – [First question] – Early stages of his career [00:05:13] - What are inflection points and how he views them as a source of opportunity  [00:07:40] - Real vs fake inflection points  [00:12:19] - Creativity as a key component of inflection points  [00:12:33] - On Inflection Points [00:15:01] - Generative Adversarial Networks [00:18:02] - History of animation and the innovation we are seeing there today  [00:20:12] - Animation is Eating the World [00:24:11] - The concept of a digital celebrity and their scale [00:29:17] - Characteristics of digital celebrity creators [00:31:12] - Longevity and consistency of these personalities [00:33:11] - Future of gaming and potential for investments in the space  [00:37:49] - The landscape for robotics and what has him excited [00:41:07] - The exploration of space and the opportunities there. [00:44:35] - Computational biology and the investment potentials. [00:48:11] - How 2020 has changed the ability to solve scientific problems [00:51:32] - The idea that Cyberpunk is now [00:53:32] - Sam Hinkie podcast episode [00:53:51] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Dustin Moskovitz – Eliminating Work About Work – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 19]

Invest Like the Best

  • 1.4K views
  • about 3 years ago
  • 53:03

My guest today is Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder and CEO of Asana, a team-centric product management tool used by over 1.3 million users around the world. Dustin started Asana in 2008, 4 years after co-founding Facebook. In this conversation, we dive into Dustin's belief about the diminishing returns of hard work, the shocking amount of productivity lost in doing "work about work", and Dustin's philanthropic investment strategy around leverage and maximizing ROI. I hope you enjoy my wide-ranging conversation with Dustin Moskovitz.    For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/88012555/moskovitz-eliminating-work-about-work ----- 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. ----- This episode is brought to you 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 at https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter.   Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:19] – [First question] – Balancing hard purposeful work and too much work that leads to burn out [00:05:41] – What led to this way of thinking [00:06:54] – Regulating hard work through culture [00:08:25] – False tradeoffs and how Asana represents this [00:09:43] – Origins of Asana [00:13:22] – Organizing the chaos of a project [00:18:09] – Change vs discipline of the mission [00:19:55] – Transferring good ideas from one company to another [00:23:19] – Instilling leverage as a concept in an early company [00:25:21] – New learning curves in building Asana [00:26:52] – Hardest boss battle during his time at Asana [00:28:43] – The role of the work graph [00:31:46] – The proliferation of the work management space and the overall landscape [00:32:56] – The idea of radical inclusiveness [00:36:31] – Best reasons to start a new company [00:37:47] – What will lead to Asana’s continued success [00:38:59] – Lessons building the product [00:41:13] – Work with the Open Philanthropy Project [00:43:44] – Work on pandemics and biosecurity [00:46:11] – Where he sees the future of artificial intelligence [00:50:47] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him