Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy Colossus

Today, we are running a special episode from our show Business Breakdowns. In this conversation, Ben Clymer does an incredible job breaking down what makes Rolex so special. If you enjoy this episode, follow Business Breakdowns for more discussions like this.

Founded in the UK in 1905 under the name Wilsdorf & Davis, Rolex has become the leading name in luxury watches. But, while the company’s products are iconic, the business itself is highly secretive. Owned by a Foundation and run as a non-profit entity, little is known about Rolex. To unlock the secrets, we are joined by Ben Clymer, founder of HODINKEE, and an expert on all things luxury watches. Ben has had rare access to Rolex and the people behind the manufacturer, making him the perfect person to dissect this business with us. Please enjoy this excellent Breakdown of Rolex.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick.

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Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss

Show Notes
[00:03:01] - [First question] - His favorite Rolex watch ever
[00:04:24] - What makes the Rolex Daytona such a special watch 
[00:07:19] - The job-to-be-done for high-end watches beyond just telling them the time
[00:12:18] - The strategy behind marketing luxury products: The Luxury Strategy
[00:14:34] - An overview of the Rolex business
[00:19:38] - The history of Rolex 
[00:38:45] - Their genius in marketing and distribution 
[00:41:55] - How they make decisions and what others can learn from them
[00:47:14] - The financials of Rolex and other luxury watch brands
[00:49:02} - Most important business lessons others can learn from Rolex
[00:52:54] - Other luxury brands worth studying 
[00:57:26] - Negative lessons gleaned from Rolex

My guest today is Kieran Goodwin. Kieran spent over two decades at the frontier of credit investing. During the global financial crisis, he was a Partner and Head of Trading at King Street Capital, which grew from $4 billion to $20 billion while he was there. He then left to start his own credit hedge fund, Panning Capital Management. In our discussion, we cover the state of private credit today, which forms of alpha he’s most skeptical of, and the blend of EQ and IQ necessary for success and investing. Please enjoy my conversation with Kieran Goodwin.

Founders Podcast
Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder
Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 55,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. 

Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus

Show Notes
(00:03:00) - (First question) - His view of the state of private credit in capital markets
(00:06:56) - The notion of ball washing and why it’s important to understand 
(00:09:04) - What the worst-case domino effects of ball washing could be 
(00:12:21) - Arriving at a place where JP Morgan could borrow so much at the fund level
(00:14:20) - Lessons learned from the worst trade he made 
(00:16:53) - What could happen in the world of private credit in the next few years and how the bigger players tend to benefit 
(00:19:29) - Thoughts on the world of venture capital right now  
(00:21:13) - The time he was at the peak of his power as an investor
(00:24:03) - From being new at something to incredibly successful seemingly overnight
(00:26:42) - What kinds of alpha he believes exists and which ones he’s skeptical about
(00:29:30) - Thoughts on income share agreements 
(00:31:24) - Why there aren’t more initiatives for new talent to trade their student loans for future earnings 
(00:33:13) - The power of EQ over IQ and why it’s important for investor success
(00:35:49) - Whether or not now is a good time to get into the field of capital markets
(00:37:54) - Key tenants to know when learning credit investing specifically 
(00:40:09) - Things people misunderstand about the power of volatility 
(00:42:39) - Ways he managed to stretch his own imagination effectively  
(00:48:06) - The natural inclination to be short volatility 
(00:49:24) - Incorporating long volatility into his portfolio and life  
(00:52:20) - Thoughts on synergy in relationships  
(00:55:48) - Other interesting lessons learned from sports
(00:57:50) - The roles of the multiple coaches that sit in for an NBA team
(00:59:42) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

My guest today is Henry Schuck, the founder and CEO of ZoomInfo. I’ve gotten to know Henry over the past year by virtue of him being on the board of Tegus, where I’m a board observer. I meet a lot of people and Henry is one of my favorites. His energy is unmatched and he knows his business down to the tiniest details. He has tenacity and curiosity in spades.
ZoomInfo is a go-to-market software and data solution for B2B sales. Henry founded the business as DiscoverOrg in 2007 and bootstrapped it for the first 7 years of its life. Today, it’s an $8.5 billion public company with a database of over 140 million business contacts. We delve into the science of great sales, Henry shares some awesome stories, and we talk about his business philosophy more broadly. Please enjoy my great conversation with Henry Schuck.

ZoomInfo Business Breakdown
Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder
Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. 

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This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 driveable global models handbuilt by a team of sector-focused analysts, 25+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. 

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus

Show Notes
(00:03:19) - (First question) - The story of Henry’s famous email about building a championship team
(00:07:01) - Dealing with pressure in business
(00:09:14) - Applying pressure from the top down as a CEO
(00:10:28) - How ZoomInfo’s C-suite was constructed and how it operates
(00:13:17) - A high-level picture of their product philosophy
(00:19:29) - Rating the effectiveness of the average B2B go-to-market engine
(00:21:25) - An anecdote about meeting with the head of commercial banking at one of world’s largest banks
(00:23:06) - What separates the good from the great B2B go-to-market strategies
(00:27:30) - Specific questions for screening potential salespeople; characteristics to look for
(00:31:39) - The story of bootstrapping his startup
(00:36:05) - His view on the process of pricing
(00:40:54) - The importance of M&A in building the business
(00:47:01) - The story of how ZoomInfo was acquired
(00:50:06) - The ever-shifting goal posts of mergers and acquisitions
(00:53:15) - Anecdotes of hustling in the early days
(00:59:34) - Another story from the early days of selling
(01:03:40) - Using information to influence a potential lead into a sale
(01:04:57) - How companies can prepare for the advent of generative AI
(01:12:10) - The stages of what it means to be a CEO
(01:13:15) - Learning how to execute M&A
(01:16:43) - What it means for a company to work in unison at scale
(01:18:26) - His advice on M&A, company core values, and corporate communication
(01:26:57) - Tips for going public with a company
(01:28:33) - Lessons learned from leading a public company
(01:34:47) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Today’s conversation was recorded during last week’s Sohn Conference. I sat down with Karen Karniol-Tambour, Co-CIO at Bridgewater Associates. I hosted Karen on this show two years ago and if you listened to that, you’ll remember she has a rare skill for distilling and analysing complex macro topics. Today’s environment is strikingly different to the summer of 2021 so this is a timely conversation on the big macro variables that are on investors’ minds today. Please enjoy my conversation with Karen Karniol-Tambour.

Sohn 2023 | Kiril Sokoloff in conversation with Stanley Druckenmiller
Sohn 2023 | Patrick Collison in conversation Sam Altman

Listen to Founders Podcast
Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder
Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. 

Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus

Show Notes
(00:03:05) - (First question) - Her take on AI and watching this new technology unfold
(00:06:39) - Things she’s watching in the AI space that might lead to taking portfolio action 
(00:09:19) - Potentially using AI to inform or make investment decisions 
(00:10:17) - Why might it be the case that no one can use AI for investing in macro markets
(00:11:14) - What she’d write about regarding the general state of capital markets today
(00:13:46) - What pricing is telling us about market sentiment writ large
(00:15:47) - Thinking about portfolio positioning in light of the unattractive state of risk assets
(00:17:17) - Her perspectives on gold historically and today 
(00:20:09) - Big long-term slow-moving macro variables that aren’t quite visible yet 
(00:22:09) - The all-weather portfolio and building one in light of so much uncertainty 
(00:24:38) - The rise of China, its growing power, and potential conflicts with the US 
(00:28:01) - Monitoring for things like the banking crisis beneath the public narrative 
(00:31:13) - Non-obvious variables that currently have her attention 
(00:33:29) - “Overrated or underrated” rapid-fire questions
(00:36:04) - What it’s been like being the CIO of Bridgewater so far 

My guest this week is Fidji Simo, the CEO of Instacart. Fidji grew up in a small town in the South of France and was the first person in her family to graduate from high school. Since then, she has had a dazzling career with stops at France’s leading university, eBay, and Facebook. Fidji spent the better part of a decade at Facebook where she led the Facebook App before joining the online grocery platform, Instacart, in mid 2021. We talk about Fidji’s consumer product experiences, Instacart’s role within the grocery ecosystem, and delve into her personal philosophy on leadership. Please enjoy this wide-ranging discussion with Fidji Simo.

Apply for the Investigative Research Analyst position at Positive Sum.

Listen to Founders Podcast
Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder
Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren


For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. 

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus

Show Notes
(00:03:51) - (First question) - Comparing her experiences with Facebook and Instacart
(00:06:22) - The dimensionality of creating great consumer products online
(00:07:50) - How Instacart uses AI now and her advice to other companies who are ready to incorporate AI into their business
(00:15:41) - What being a pragmatic technologist means to her
(00:18:02) - Influences in younger years that led to her career path in technology
(00:21:00) - The landscape Instacart seeks to build and how major key players within the industry are involved
(00:27:09) - Data algorithms and their role in helping consumers
(00:29:24) - Scale around the original core business
(00:32:12) - The functional difference between Instacart shoppers and delivery drivers 
(00:34:59) - Issues with fully automated grocery store facilities
(00:37:32) - Insight into working with brands and consumer brand loyalty 
(00:43:16) - Her vision for the future of Instacart
(00:49:34) - Her principles for capital allocation
(00:52:34) - Common misperceptions about Instacart from prospective investors
(00:54:21) - Her philosophy of seeing the magic in team members
(00:56:46) - Expanding knowledge while managing a complex business environment  
(01:01:01) - When she felt the most helpless in her career
(01:03:46) - Insight into generative AI and how it could shape the online grocery experience
(01:08:00) - The role of content and its importance for businesses like Instacart
(01:12:35) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her

My guests this week are Jeremy Levine, Kent Bennett, and Brian Feinstein. They are partners at one of the oldest and most storied venture firms in the world, Bessemer Venture Partners. Our conversation is split into two parts. First, we explore Bessemer itself. It’s over 100 years old and has a unique operating model with lessons for every investment firm in the market. We then discuss Jeremy, Kent, and Brian’s investing styles and outlook. What they look for in businesses, their thoughts on various sectors like vertical market software, and we close with a discussion about AI and defensibility. Please enjoy this great conversation. 

Listen to Founders Podcast
Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder
Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren


For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

-----

This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 55,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick.

-----

Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. 

Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus

Show Notes
(00:03:14) - (First question) - The unique history of Bessemer and how the firm stays current
(00:08:55) - The role of heritage and cooperative partnership in Bessemer’s model
(00:14:36) - How giving each partner autonomy and commissions can lead to better personal and company outcomes
(00:17:18) - The extent of freedom a partner has in terms of the style of investments made
(00:20:38) - Retro-analyzing the effectiveness of their investment roadmaps and core insights
(00:25:10) - What conflict typically looks like in partners’ conversations and how they resolve it
(00:27:06) - How they enable their junior staff using apprenticeship and open dialogue
(00:31:31) - Their different taste in investment targets 
(00:35:11) - How they each evaluate companies based on their unique interests
(00:42:32) - Their thoughts on valuations and how they have dealt with with run-ups in the tech market
(00:45:46) - What they anticipate in the future of early-stage investing
(00:49:43) - The significance of Centaur companies that have hit $100-million in revenue
(00:52:38) - The success of Bessemer’s writing and online content
(00:55:13) - Where the vertical market software industry is in its life cycle
(00:59:12) - How the next wave of innovation may revolutionize software or even depart from it
(01:02:33) - Advice they give to companies looking to prepare for future shifts in tech and AI
(01:04:46) - What excites them and what scares them within the development of LLMs
(01:08:18) - Defensibility of an LLM-based company, given the high level of competition 
(01:10:39) - How their firm deals with terminating partners if and when they aren’t a good fit
(01:14:53) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for ea