Business Breakdowns Colossus

This is Dom Cooke and today we’re breaking down PayPal. PayPal has been at the forefront of digital payments since the early days of the internet. Founded by Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and others, who have since become household names, PayPal is a payments marketplace that facilitates transactions between merchants and consumers. It found product market fit as the trusted way to send money over the internet, was quickly acquired by eBay, and had its second founding moment in 2015 when it was spun off into a public company again. The platform serves 435 million consumers and merchants and processed $1.4 trillion of payments last year.
To break down the business, I’m joined by Elliot Turner, managing partner and CIO at RGA Investment Advisors. We discuss the acquisitive history behind this business, how their portfolio of brands like Braintree, Venmo, and Honey operate within the ecosystem, and why VISA threatened to go nuclear on PayPal. Please enjoy this business breakdown of PayPal.
 
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. 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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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 | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke

Show Notes
(00:02:40) - (First question) Important milestones leading to the genesis of PayPal
(00:08:18) - eBay's acquisition of PayPal and the subsequent separation
(00:12:13) - The size and scope of PayPal today
(00:15:08) - Where PayPal fits within the overall payments ecosystem
(00:18:33) - The various transaction types involved in their business economics
(00:22:03) - How PayPal protects its users against fraudulent behavior
(00:24:37) - PayPal’s business strategy of getting people comfortable with using digital money
(00:27:31) - The value that driving customer engagement has on the bottom line
(00:31:41) - How PayPal utilizes cash within its ecosystem
(00:33:15) - Why Braintree has been such a success, and who they compete with
(00:38:50) - How PayPal revenue is split into cash flow and profits
(00:42:40) - What enables PayPal to maintain such a large advantage over its competitors 
(00:46:03) - Identifying PayPal’s main competitors and partners
(00:48:30) - The dynamics of PayPal's relationship with Apple
(00:50:44) - How acquisition and R&D fosters their growth and innovation  
(00:55:12) - Strategic changes adopted by PayPal to recover from the COVID period
(00:56:42) - Speculation on who could replace Dan Schulman as PayPal’s CEO
(00:58:52) - His thoughts on potential growth opportunities for PayPal’s next CEO
(01:01:40) - Potential risks that PayPal may encounter in the future
(01:04:10) - Lessons learned from studying PayPal
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This is Matt Reustle and today we are breaking down Restoration Hardware. The average person would call RH a furniture company but RH is a company where the CEO feels as important as the business, and CEO Gary Friedman has aspirations well beyond selling furniture.
To break down RH, I'm joined by Drew Cohen of Speedwell Research. You may remember Drew from our breakdown of Floor & Decor. We cover how Gary Friedman took Restoration Hardware from the brink of bankruptcy and has built it into a brand with luxury aspirations. We go deep on the business model, why has RH been leaning into this in person experience despite a massive e-commerce boom, the reality of interior designers, inventory management, and orchestrating a supply chain when you sell monstrous couches. There's a lot to talk about here. It's a fascinating business with a fascinating person sitting at the middle of it. Please enjoy this breakdown of RH.
 
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 | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke

Show Notes
(00:02:27) - (First question) - Restoration Hardware’s relevance in the market
(00:04:37) - The origin story of Restoration Hardware
(00:07:58) - Insight into Gary Friedman’s backstory and his entry into RH
(00:09:52) - The current RH business model and how Gary has shaped that over time 
(00:17:14) - Their unique marketing funnels 
(00:19:47) - Their move into the luxury brand market
(00:21:24) - Explaining how the product collections are made up
(00:22:32) - Updated supplier relations model 
(00:25:25) - Insight into the RH sales model
(00:28:04) - Overview of the membership model and how it impacts the business
(00:31:42) - Peers within the industry that are using similar business models
(00:32:49) - Cyclical macro exposure sales growth over time
(00:34:09) - Their operations and logistics model
(00:39:03) - The impact of COVID-19
(00:40:15) - Expected working capital for RH and other furniture peers
(00:42:36) - Peer group average margin growth
(00:45:56) - Key decisions and investments that need to go right
(00:48:41) - European housing sizes and issues with American furniture
(00:49:52) - Capital allocation history within RH
(00:51:15) - How RH stays in style as decor tastes change over time
(00:54:02) - His overall insight towards Gary’s ideas and risky business experiments
(00:55:37) - His capital structure perspective for the future 
(00:58:09) - How RH is moving into the luxury market as other brands move out 
(00:59:09) - Lessons learned from studying Restoration

This is Zack Fuss, an investor at Irenic Capital, and today we’re breaking down Fair Isaac Corporation, commonly known as FICO. FICO is best known for its consumer credit scores product, which has become a common language across the world of consumer loans and banking. Less well known, but a major piece of the business, is FICO’s software offering that helps financial businesses with fraud detection, CRM, and loan origination. Between these two offerings – scores and software – FICO earned $1.3 billion last year.
To break down the business, I’m joined by Dev Kantesaria, managing partner at Valley Forge Capital Management. In going through its history and business units, Dev explains why it would be tough to design a better business model than FICO. Please enjoy this breakdown of FICO.
 
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. 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.

-----

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 | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke

Show Notes
(00:02:40) - (First question) - What attracted him to FICO as a business
(00:03:31) - An overview of their key products and the value they provide
(00:06:01) - How FICO collaborates and competes with credit bureaus
(00:11:23) - Their ability to sustain steady growth in a cyclical environment
(00:12:48) - How FICO's software offerings complement their credit score business
(00:14:13) - Who their competitors are
(00:23:16) - The potential competitive risks of emerging A.I. technology
(00:25:57) - Why the push for VantageScore in the mortgage industry created more competition for credit bureaus 
(00:27:58) - The differences between their B2C and scores businesses 
(00:30:38) - A breakdown of the software side of the business and its significance
(00:34:26) - All about FICO’s Falcon Fraud Manager and Triad Customer Manager 
(00:39:20) - FICO’s capital-light business model in detail
(00:41:59) - The aspects of the business that investors often overlook or underestimate
(00:45:18) - Lessons learned from studying FICO 
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This is Dom Cooke and today we’re breaking down Bayern Munich. Bayern is Germany’s most successful football club and one of the world’s biggest. Most importantly, it makes a great case for being the best-run club in football. It has an enterprise value close to €3 billion, no debt, has been profitable for 3 decades, and is majority owned by fans. Plus, it has a trophy cabinet to rival any club worldwide. Bayern has won a record 32 national Bundesliga titles, including the last ten in a row, and has won the prestigious Champions League, six times.
To break down the business behind the club, I’m joined by Marie Schulte-Bockum, a football journalist and Munich resident. Please enjoy this Business Breakdown of FC Bayern Munich.
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. 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.

-----

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 | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke

Show Notes
(00:02:38) - (First question) - Overview of Bayern Munich
(00:05:37) - How Bayern’s been able to maintain such consistent success writ large
(00:12:39) - What the 50+1 rule is and its implications for German football clubs
(00:17:24) - Major differences between the Bundesliga and other European leagues
(00:22:30) - What it takes to run a high performance team like Bayern Munich
(00:28:39) - Driving profits and the three major revenue buckets for Bayern Munich
(00:35:48) - Germany’s influence being the biggest economy in the European Union
(00:38:40) - How important European football is to every major club and broadcasting revenue
(00:43:20) - Whether Bayern are buyers, builders, or borrowers in regards to their team 
(00:51:15) - Overview of their expenses and the size of their wage bill 
(00:53:43) - What financial fair play is and how it protects football clubs
(00:57:27) - How they’ve managed to cultivate one of the biggest fanbases in the world
(01:02:14) - Potential risks for Bayern Munich’s continued success
(01:04:18) - League-level discussions around sharing revenue equitably 
(01:05:34) - Lessons for builders and investors when studying Bayern Munich’s story 
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This is Zack Fuss, an investor at Irenic Capital, and today we’re breaking down MTN Group. MTN is the largest mobile network operator in Africa and one of the 10 largest in the world. It has over 270 million subscribers, operates in 20 different markets, and is also one of the largest FinTech’s in the continent.
To break down MTN, I’m joined by Benjamin Isaac, founder and Chief Investment Officer at Brizo Capital. We unpack their mobile money business in some detail, contrast the development of Telcos in Africa with what we’ve experienced in the US, and explore the competitive dynamics of operating in Africa. Please enjoy this breakdown of MTN.
 
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

-----

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

-----

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 | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke

Show Notes
(00:02:24) - An overview of MTN Group today
(00:04:13) - Contextualizing the scale and trajectory of the business vis-à-vis
 its strong African demographic
(00:05:52) - MTN Group’s unique position in the value chain
(00:10:37) - The origin and the evolution of MTN Group
(00:13:19) - The business’ current and future revenue models and how they differ domestically and internationally
(00:15:52) - Comparing ARPU in North America and Africa
(00:18:03) - His take on why the international fintech market is developing as rapidly as it is
(00:22:48) - Understanding use cases for MTN Group’s mobile money products
(00:27:57) - The low market share held by credit card companies in Africa, and the opportunity it represents for MTN Group
(00:29:07) - Regional differences, local competition, and the overall market structure
(00:30:42) - The architects, visionaries, and capital allocators behind MTN Group
(00:34:33) - What structural separation means for a business like MTN Group
(00:36:31) - Measuring the size and scale of the business
(00:38:53) - Investing in emerging markets
(00:42:59) - The importance of location in a mobile fintech company listing
(00:45:09) - Risks and challenges facing MTN Group
(00:49:53) - How African mobile and fintech markets fared during COVID
(00:51:23) - Framing the business’ current and future picture of profitability
(00:56:23) - Lessons learned in studying the story of MTN Group
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This is Zack Fuss, an investor at Irenic Capital, and today we’re breaking down Roper Technologies. Roper is a fascinating case study in how an old industrial business can pivot into a new world focused on software and technology. Roper was founded in 1890 as a manufacturer of industrial equipment and home appliances but, today, it is one of the most profitable software businesses in the world. Much of the pivot and subsequent value creation can be credited to Brian Jellison, who took over in 2001.
To break down Roper, I’m joined by Joseph Shaposhnik, portfolio manager of the TCW New America Premier Equities Fund. We discuss the business’s roots, Jellison’s acquisition strategy, and how Roper compares to other niche software acquirers like Constellation Software. Please enjoy this business breakdown of Roper Technologies.

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

-----

This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus 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.

-----

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 | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke

Show Notes
(00:02:38) - (First question) - Basic overview of Roper
(00:05:24) - The businesses history and its pivot away from its roots
(00:08:53) - Brian Jellison’s background and his appreciation for software businesses
(00:14:23) - The way Brian Jellison would distinguish himself from others in his space
(00:20:35) - His focus on acquiring new businesses vs building them himself
(00:26:08) - The 3 dials he used to assess capital allocation decisions and the performance of companies
(00:29:12) - How they are able to grow and expand margin after acquisitions
(00:30:58) - Difference between other vertically integrated businesses like Constellation
(00:34:19) - The succession plan at Roper
(00:38:00) - Risks to that people should think about when it comes to Roper
(00:41:44) - Lessons learned from Roper
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