I'm Zack Fuss and today we are breaking down UPS. With over 100 years of history, it's a business we all know as consumers and one many of us interact with on a daily basis. But in investing circles, UPS carries far less relevance and attention share despite its large market cap. To break down UPS and its rich history, I am joined by former Transport Analyst Matt Reustle. Please enjoy this breakdown of UPS.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:02:37] - [First question] - The footprint of UPS in the US economy [00:04:11] - What relevant metrics analysts use to understand UPS’ value [00:06:57] - How logistics networks work and operating leverage on their fixed assets [00:10:43] - UPS’ origin story and key differences between it, Amazon, and FedEx [00:18:24] - Whether or not Amazon is consuming the market or if the market is growing [00:22:20] - Decreased return on capital and the roadmap to increase returns going forward [00:25:14] - Making a decision to lean into their network and what it meant for their customers [00:27:33] - The importance of management and needing outsider management [00:31:40] - Capital investment programs and what Amazon’s growth means for UPS [00:34:41] - Secular changes versus historical cyclicality of fulfillment businesses [00:36:35] - Competitive impacts Amazon and USPS could have on UPS’ future success [00:42:26] - Why cross-border delivery is such a lucrative aspect of this market [00:42:51] - Lessons for investors and builders when studying UPS’ story

I’m Zack Fuss, and today we are breaking down Twitter, a business that needs little introduction. Founded by Jack Dorsey in 2006, Twitter has become one of the most visited and influential platforms in the world. Yet, despite its rising social status, investors and users have been left frustrated by the company’s pace of innovation and shareholder returns. To help me break down Twitter’s business, I’m joined by anonymous professional investor, @Compound248. Please enjoy this breakdown of Twitter.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:02:40] - [First question] - The history of Twitter and where we are today [00:10:44] - The size and scope of Twitter and what drives their business and unit economics [00:18:54] - Reconciling differences between Twitter and competitive social media platforms [00:24:36] - Bridging the gap between Twitter and their competitors [00:29:38] - What about their legacy system had to be rebuilt in order to grow again [00:34:35] - Unique shareholder dynamics, activists in the boardroom, and leadership change; Compound's open letter to Management [00:43:35] - Capital allocation and how investment analysts look at and measure their ROI [00:49:00] - Efforts to innovate around new use cases and Twitter’s opportunity set [00:55:30] - What builders and investors can learn from studying Twitter’s story 

This is Jesse Pujji and today we are breaking down ViacomCBS. This episode has a different format - you'll hear from both an investor and from company management.   Chris Marangi from Gabelli Asset Management starts us off with a history of ViacomCBS. He goes deep into the dynamics of content creation, curation, and distribution, hitting home the value of IP. Then he helps break down how ViacomCBS is transitioning from a shrinking linear business to a growing streaming business.   Next, I sit down with the CFO of ViacomCBS, Naveen Chopra. He shares his views on the business today, how he thinks about capital allocation, and how streaming will evolve for ViacomCBS. Please enjoy this Business Breakdown.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 - Pt 1 with Chris Marangi [00:03:31] - [First question] - What is ViacomCBS [00:04:10] - What a typical media conglomerate looks like [00:06:45] - The scale and size of ViacomCBS today  [00:09:03] - Starting as a radio business and becoming a diversified conglomerate [00:11:25] - What the competitive landscape looked like fifteen years ago  [00:14:07] - Economics of a typical cable network channel like ESPN or MTV [00:16:23] - Key differentiators between a good and a bad channel revenue-wise [00:17:22] - The important roles movies play and how the film industry works writ large [00:18:12] - Durable competitive advantages in producing strong content  [00:19:26] - How much of their market cap is their catalog [00:20:04] - Adopting a streaming model and the impact of this inflection point [00:24:33] - Thoughts on customer acquisition in movies and streaming services [00:25:33] - What has to go right for their market cap to double in the next decade [00:27:55] - What will have gone wrong if they don’t grow over the next decade [00:28:26] - Lessons for entrepreneurs and investors when studying ViacomCBS’s story [00:29:33] - Learn more about ViacomCBS and the cable industry; Cable Cowboy   Pt 2 with Naveen Chopra [00:30:27] - [First question] - Overview of the different businesses within ViacomCBS [00:34:07] - Size of the broadcast arm of ViacomCBS’s business and the costs of running it [00:37:23] - How wide the range of content expenses can be  [00:39:35] - Thoughts on making movies and the business model pre-pandemic [00:42:47] - Is the box office opening night really that important? [00:44:40] - How much box office attendance is down post-pandemic [00:46:19] - Same day releases for streaming and box office can help acquire subscribers [00:51:45] - Leveraging intellectual property to generate revenue [00:53:23] - How much Netflix invests in content compared to ViacomCBS and competitors [00:54:11] - Thoughts on the business model for streaming service revenue [00:58:01] - Scaling Paramount+ to compete and compensate for pandemic impacts [01:02:16] - What he’s most excited about for ViacomCBS and Paramount+ looking forward [01:06:00] - Things in the macro-environment that could be good and bad for ViacomCBS [01:07:54] - Lessons for entrepreneurs and investors when studying ViacomCBS’s story

This is Jesse Pujji, and today we’re breaking down Peloton. Peloton was founded over ten years ago with the idea of making the best in-person gym classes available at home. By delivering eye-catching hardware and compelling content, it has since become the largest interactive fitness platform in the world with over 6 million members. Peloton’s rise has not been without challenges, however, and the business’s economic model is under debate as we speak.   To break down Peloton, I’m joined by my brother Vinny Pujji, partner at Left Lane Capital, a growth-stage investment firm focused on consumer businesses. We discuss Peloton’s success in creating a new fitness category, the impact of the pandemic on its financials, and why it may make sense for Peloton to build its own music label. Please enjoy this breakdown of Peloton.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:03:37] - [First question] - What Peloton is and what they do [00:04:59] - How most consumers experience their brand [00:05:40] - Their customer base and the size of their business today [00:06:22] - The founding story and what lead to Peloton  [00:10:10] - What business they started with and how they’ve expanded their offerings [00:12:03] - Complexities of direct to consumer hardware distribution [00:13:01] - Scope of the global fitness and wellness market writ large [00:14:42] - Unit economics of Peloton’s business [00:19:03] - Contributing factors that draw on their cash and working capital  [00:22:46] - What would solve their current liquidity problem [00:25:11] - Their latest treadmill product and their subscription product [00:26:22] - Thoughts on why management has struggled with their forecasts [00:29:44] - The competitive landscape as it exists today and how they compete [00:33:16] - Whether or not Peloton will experience a boom and bust cycle [00:35:18] - What Peloton does very well that separates them from their competitors [00:36:52] - Gamifying fitness and incorporating a live feature [00:38:59] - How music plays into their business and its role in their future  [00:41:45] - Whether they are a subscription or hardware business [00:43:59] - What has to go right in order to scale their market cap in the next decade [00:45:08] - Their approach to marketing and what drives their engine [00:47:17] - What will have gone wrong if Peloton doesn’t survive the coming decade [00:50:28] - What can we learn from Peloton

This is Jesse Pujji and today we are breaking down the emerging industry of cannabis. After spending decades as an illegal drug, US states have begun to make regulatory changes and build legalized marijuana marketplaces. To help me break down this market, I am joined by Jeff Hoffman of Marathon Partners Equity Management. Jeff is co-portfolio manager of a fund, which invests in US public cannabis companies. We discuss exactly what those regulatory changes look like, the difference between federal and state laws, and companies across the value chain that are showing up in public markets. I hope you enjoy this breakdown.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:03:40] - [First question] - What is cannabis and the current size of the industry today [00:05:44] - Differentiating between THC and CBD  [00:06:46] - Whether or not the whole market is growing writ large [00:08:08] - The history of cannabis, the changing legal landscape, and key players today [00:10:51] - What the argument was for making cannabis a schedule 1 narcotic [00:11:48] - Is cannabis addictive, objectively speaking? [00:13:27] - The differing levels of when cannabis is or isn’t legal  [00:14:05] - Overview of the value chain involved in getting cannabis to a dispensary [00:15:18] - What an MSO is, how their operations work, and the marketplace today [00:20:31] - Regulatory catalysts that would allow this market to thrive [00:23:19] - The income statement of an MSO, their expenses, and how they differ from traditional businesses [00:26:44] - Different business models for MSOs depending on their geography  [00:29:31] - How the economics of MSOs compare to mom and pop shops  [00:31:30] - Normalizing margins and incentives to compete on price or participate in discount wars [00:33:48] - D2C, mobile-first, and delivery trends influencing distribution [00:35:53] - Whether or not cannabis is considered perishable  [00:36:43] - How the finance industry is evolving around cannabis  [00:38:44] - The role COVID played in helping the cannabis industry grow [00:41:03] - Will cannabis see a pullback in public interest as the world returns to normal [00:42:25] - Form factors to consider as the industry shifts from medical to mature markets [00:44:20] - What will have to happen for the cannabis market to excel in the coming decade [00:47:07] - How M&A might play out as the market continues to evolve [00:49:06] - Lessons for builders when it comes to the cannabis industry [00:51:54] - Learn more about the cannabis industry; marijuanamoment.net  

Today’s episode is part business breakdown and part biology breakdown as we explore Finch Therapeutics and their novel work on the microbiome, which plays a crucial role in regulating our immune system.   To help break down these topics, I’m joined by Mark Smith, co-founder and CEO of Finch Therapeutics. Mark is a leader in the microbiome field and the perfect person to cross the bridge between business and science.   As Mark outlines, we’ve made a lot of progress in living longer, but we are yet to make significant steps to living better. In our discussion, we explore what the microbiome is, why it’s so important, and the role that Finch plays in helping patients transform their lives. We then turn to the business side of developing therapeutics drugs and what Mark has learned there. Please enjoy this breakdown of Finch Therapeutics.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----     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 [00:02:55] - [First question] - What is the microbiome? [00:04:56] - Where the microbiome is inside the body [00:06:42] - Overview of what bacteria is in general terms and what they do for us [00:10:44] - What would happen to a human that didn’t have any bacteria [00:13:29] - Inflammatory auto-immune diseases and widespread antibiotics [00:14:32] - How seasonal allergies and gut bacteria are related [00:16:32] - Key contributors that have led to our current understanding of the microbiome [00:18:48] - Whether an absence or dominance of bacteria is more concerning [00:20:47] - The state of stool sample diagnostics today [00:22:52] - Tools available today for widespread microbial treatment and repair [00:24:48] - The science behind probiotics and whether or not they’re worth it [00:27:00] - Fecal transplants and supporting empirical evidence of their efficacy [00:31:39] - Addressable conditions that Finch Therapeutics seeks to solve [00:35:27] - What the end game looks like and the timeline to achieve it [00:40:05] - Is there a future where we use these therapeutics preventatively? [00:41:22] - Key risks that could threaten the growth of Finch in the coming decade [00:43:10] - What it’s been like running a company that is so different than its competitors [00:45:51] - Whether or not the regulatory and iterative pace of therapeutics will increase [00:48:19] - How much his lifestyle has changed given what he knows now in this field [00:50:50] - Other innovations taking place in the microbiome and related therapeutics [00:52:28] - What most has his attention outside of his field in health science today [00:53:24] - Learn more about the microbiome; I Contain Multitudes (book) [00:53:42] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Today, we’ll be breaking down the London Stock Exchange, now referred to as LSEG. LSEG is a nearly £40 billion market cap business that plays an integral role in the infrastructure of the world’s financial markets. Since 2000, there have been at least 11 attempts at mergers and takeovers of the business by other exchanges and banks. The company itself made a notable acquisition when it closed on its M&A of Refinitiv from Blackstone in January of this year. The company offers a wide range of services, financial markets, and data exchanges, which make it an essential player in the world’s markets. To break down the business, Zack Fuss is joined by Nick Shenton of Artemis, a UK-based fund manager. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:02:47] - [First question] - The industry LSEG operates in and its role within it [00:05:37] - How to think about LSEG as a business and what drives their growth [00:07:33] - The model that allows for such high profit and how its pieces work together [00:14:21] - Overview of the data analytics side of their business  [00:18:29] - Trading & banking as a key component of their data analytics revenue [00:22:09] - Its 300-year history and what has led them to become such a dominant player [00:29:25] - Thoughts on the Refinitive asset they’ve acquired and its role in future success [00:33:04] - Key factors that allow LSEG to sell in adjacent markets and their competitive advantage [00:38:57] - Drivers behind the growth of the digital financial market industry [00:41:26] - Structural risks that could impede LSEG’s growth over the coming years [00:45:29] - Simplifying their story to help investors better understand their underlying growth [00:47:35] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying LSEG’s story

Today, we are breaking down The National Football League or, as most know it, The NFL. It’s a sport that dominates American Sundays from late summer into early winter. Behind what happens on the field is a $15 billion dollar business with a unique operating and ownership structure and many stakeholders.    To help break down the NFL, Jesse Pujji is joined by Jay Kapoor. Jay is currently General Partner of venture fund VSC Ventures, and prior to his career as an investor, Jay worked in the League Strategy office at the NFL. During the conversation, we break down some of the fascinating dynamics of the NFL, including how it dominates linear TV, the unique revenue considerations for the league and its teams, and what makes the NFL stand out relative to other sports. I hope you enjoy this breakdown of the NFL.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:02:18] - [First question] - What is the NFL? [00:03:26] - The size and scale of the NFL as a business [00:04:55] - Points of growth on the league side and the team side [00:06:42] - The growth rate of the NFL over the past five years [00:07:24] - How many people are watching the NFL and the size of their audience [00:09:53] - The structure of the NFL compared to other major sports leagues [00:14:08] - Distribution of the revenue generated by media rights [00:15:53] - Other factors that make the NFL’s model unique  [00:18:11] - How the NFL came to dominate the landscape of American sports [00:21:26] - When the NFL became bigger than the MLB and why [00:23:00] - How viewership and media rights have changed over the years [00:24:52] - Complexity of scheduling games and creating scarcity [00:26:14] - How the NFL Schedule is Created [00:27:43] - Additional sources of revenue at the league level [00:30:54] - Major costs to operate the NFL at the national level [00:31:50] - Contributing factors that make annual operating costs $1.5 billion [00:32:29] - How much it costs to run an NFL game [00:33:35] - Major drivers and ways to increase the topline of the business [00:36:09] - How much of the league revenue share is distributed to team owners and players [00:39:06] - Seat sales, boxes, and sponsorship revenue [00:40:40] - Who owns stadiums and an overview from a management and cost perspective [00:42:43] - Non-player related operating costs [00:45:46] - Operating leverage as an owner in this business [00:47:08] - What a commissioner is and the governance model of the NFL [00:51:31] - Overview of an executive team beneath the owners [00:53:01] - Collective Bargaining Agreements  [00:57:15] - How enterprise value is created and why it’s growing so fast for the teams [00:59:11] - His perspective on comparing teams to assets generating revenue multiples [01:00:51] - Defining relevance in regards to the NFL and what it means for the future [01:04:39] - Plans to embrace a D2C model and the impact streaming might have on them [01:06:56] - How the Superbowl became such a pivotal sporting event and why they made it [01:11:35] - What will have to go right in order to grow exponentially over the coming decade  [01:17:34] - Potential risks and concerns that could negatively impact the NFL’s growth [01:22:21] - A big lesson we can learn from the NFL for entrepreneurs [01:23:29] - Lessons for investors when studying the NFL [01:24:48] - Learn more about professional sports and the NFL; The Game Plan; Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps (book)

I’m Zack Fuss and today we’re breaking down NextEra Energy. NextEra is America’s most valuable energy firm and consists primarily of two businesses; a high-quality regulated utility and a renewables business that is the world’s largest generator of wind and solar energy. To help break down the business, I’m joined by Mark Tomasovic, an investor at Energize VC. In our conversation, we discuss the structure of the energy market, what’s changed in the renewables space over the past twenty years, and how NextEra takes advantage of its cost of capital advantage. Please enjoy this breakdown of NextEra Energy.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:03:16] - [First question] - Mark’s background and how he thinks about the energy markets  [00:03:46] - A broad overview of the electricity market and how it’s structured [00:05:22] - The value chain and production line of energy from facility to customer [00:06:59] - What informs how much an energy company is allowed to earn [00:09:16] - Unregulated versus regulated markets and the risks and benefits of both [00:11:29] - How the retail electric market looks today and alternative production methods [00:12:40] - NextEra’s business fundamentals and their current scope and scale [00:14:45] - The two business arms of NextEra [00:16:00] - Inputs and costs of the low cost regulated utility side of NextEra [00:18:33] - NEER being the world’s largest generator of wind and solar [00:19:43] - How they’re able to get contracts and how they work  [00:20:03] - Comparison of revenue generated between their different branches [00:21:26] - How the regulated and unregulated arms work together for NextEra vs its competitors [00:22:30] - What their most important benchmark is and thoughts on gross margin and profits  [00:24:33] - Natural cost of capital advantage given the growing focus on ESG  [00:25:33] - How COVID impacted the energy space, specifically in electricity  [00:28:20] - Conventional energy production becoming more expensive in the near future  [00:30:10] - How reliant NextEra is on government subsidies   [00:31:20] - Where they spend all their revenue, the price of projects, and ROI [00:33:01] - How they evaluate projects  [00:34:19] - Structural differences in renewable energy business models today [00:36:18] - What could happen that could negatively impact NextEra’s growth [00:38:22] - Considering risks when underwriting turbines  [00:39:15] - Is nuclear power a potential tail risk? [00:40:05] - Being forward-leaning when adopting digital technology and innovation [00:41:23] - Lessons that can be learned from NextEra for builders and investors

Today, we’re breaking down Novocure, a global oncology company that has pioneered a new approach to cancer treatment. For over 100 years, the tools used to fight cancer have largely remained unchanged, but there are promising signs of a renaissance and Novocure is at the vanguard of that charge.   To explain the state of cancer research and how the business has developed over the past twenty years, I’m joined by Bill Doyle – Novocure’s Executive Chairman. Please enjoy this breakdown of Novocure.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:03:05] - [First question] - The current state of cancer treatment today writ large [00:05:43] - What cancer is and how it becomes life threatening [00:06:38] - Why uncontrolled cell growth is so bad [00:07:27] - The main three ways we currently treat cancer  [00:11:29] - Whether or not there are targeted ways we can treat cancer like mRNA [00:14:08] - How we’ve historically detected cancer and what future detection could look like [00:17:12] - Death rates of cancer in the US annually and the business side as it stands today [00:18:20] - Key players in the cancer treatment space that serve patients [00:19:13] - The pioneering technology that Novocure created to treat cancer [00:22:38] - The mechanism that allows their tech to target the right cells [00:25:35] - Overview of the actual procedure that takes place with their therapy [00:28:36] - The impact and results of their new treatment method [00:33:37] - A future where we can take this in a prophylactic and preventive sense [00:34:44] - Why this approach to cancer treatment isn’t more widely known and accepted [00:38:09] - Financials of Novocure and the opportunities it presents for their business [00:43:10] - How they spend their R&D dollars and horizontal and vertical growth [00:48:01] - Unique ways how they spend their revenue to scale their business [00:51:05] - Biggest criticisms of the size and scope of Novocure [00:52:18] - Broader business lessons learned while building a cancer treatment company [00:55:23] - The future of healthcare more generally and what has him most excited

I’m Zack Fuss, and today we’re breaking down AutoZone, the leading retailer and distributor of auto parts in the Americas. From the outside, AutoZone might look like a dull business in a mature industry, but once you dive into the details, you quickly realize it’s a hidden gem that echoes the best of Walmart and Costco, earns some of the highest returns on capital in retail, and has a long history of outsized shareholder returns.   To help break down the business, I’m joined by Freddie Lait, founder and CIO at London-based Latitude Investment Management. Please enjoy this fascinating breakdown of AutoZone.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:02:58] - [First question] - The general state of the auto part industry and its key players [00:06:14] - Similar and differing characteristics of AutoZone, O'Reilly, and Advanced Autoparts   [00:08:04] - The history of AutoZone and how they got to where they are today [00:12:11] - ESLs involvement with AutoZone and notable moments from that partnership [00:13:29] - Unit economics, sales per store, how much a store costs, and general features [00:16:32] - Other retail businesses that rank close to the unit economics of AutoZone [00:17:43] - How a customer interacts with their business [00:19:40] - What is being sold that allows them to earn such high gross profits [00:20:57] - Ways AutoZone has kept their competitors at bay [00:23:05] - Additional opportunities in their systems that offer competitive advantages [00:24:18] - Low inventory turnover working in specialty retail merchandise [00:26:14] - How they manage their stock locally and regionally to ensure a reliable supply [00:27:36] - Supplier finance mechanics overview for retailers [00:29:12] - Some of the private label programs they’ve had success with [00:31:40] - Failure oriented parts and what products inhabit this category [00:32:58] - How management and integrated culture find opportunities in DIFM [00:36:08] - Moving up and down the call list and gaining favor as a retailer [00:38:45] - The threat electric vehicles might pose to Autozone [00:37:48] - Whether or not an eCommerce giant may penetrate and disrupt this sector [00:44:58] - Paths AutoZone has taken to return capital to its shareholders [00:49:21] - COVID’s impacts and detriments to the business [00:53:04] - What we can learn as builders and investors from studying AutoZone’s story

I’m Jesse Pujji and this is Business Breakdowns. Today we are doing a different kind of breakdown. We are covering an entire category, Amazon Aggregators. These are the companies that are buying up hundreds of Amazon’s third-party sellers. The concept of Amazon Aggregators is relatively new, tracing back to 2018 with the founding of Thrasio, but the ecosystem is already huge and growing. Most recent numbers peg it at around $300bn dollars in revenue and growing faster than Amazon itself. These aggregators have unique moats and high-quality entrepreneurs.   To help break down the marketplace and business of acquiring Amazon storefronts, I’m joined by Ali Hamed, a partner of CoVenture, who is also a popular guest on Invest Like the Best. In our conversation, we discuss the three superpowers Amazon sellers have, why there’s only $8bn in funding for a market doing $50bn in EBITDA, and we go into detail on how Amazon Aggregators are structured and operate. Please enjoy this unique breakdown on Amazon Aggregators.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:03:23] - [First question] - What is an Amazon aggregator, and who sells through Amazon? [00:05:26] - The scale and size of the aggregator market in general [00:06:43] - The history of third-party sellers and the utility they offer Amazon [00:08:20] - When they started inviting third parties to join their network and their market share [00:09:47] - Amazon’s 40% take-rate and overview of the economic structure [00:10:24] - How many individual storefronts exist and what they look like  [00:13:19] - Who is starting Amazon stores and an overview of a seller writ large [00:14:43] - The initial insight that led to incorporating third-party aggregators [00:21:17] - How many aggregators exist in the space today [00:24:41] - Why vertical integration isn’t such a primary focus for aggregators [00:26:53] - Ways aggregators find businesses and how they tend to acquire them [00:31:29] - What the top 10 aggregators look like and their acquisition frequency [00:32:25] - The common value add aggregators deliver post-acquisition [00:36:47] - Deal pipelines and other sales and marketing functions [00:40:22] - Interesting things in the space given how unique of a marketplace it is [00:43:57] - New innovations and secondary ecosystems emerging as a result of aggregators [00:45:13] - How an aggregator should think about Amazon and risks to their business [00:48:29] - Why Amazon won’t use their data and customer ownership to own the market [00:50:10] - Macro and system risks that would threaten the success of this business model [00:52:35] - What keeps Amazon up at night and potential worries about aggregators [00:53:54] - Reasons why they would pass on an acquisition opportunity [00:55:32] - Contributing factors to explosive growth that exceeded expectations [00:58:10] - Biggest takeaways for builders and investors from 3rd party aggregators [01:01:04] - Where to learn more about Amazon’s third-party aggregators

Today, we’re breaking down HelloFresh. HelloFresh delivers weekly meal kits to people’s homes. With eight million active customers, the Berlin-based business is the most popular company of its kind in the world.   To break down HelloFresh, I’m joined by its CEO and co-founder, Dominik Richter. We discuss the challenges of scaling an operationally intensive business, why HelloFresh is more like CPG companies than grocery stores, and what he’s learned about brand building.   Meal-kits are a notoriously difficult business model to get right and this is a great example of process power; a competitive advantage you don’t come across often. Please enjoy this great breakdown of HelloFresh.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:04:07] - [First question] - What HelloFresh does for its customers [00:05:53] - How many meals are delivered a year and the scale of the business today [00:07:08] - The full customer experience of ordering a meal kit for the week [00:08:03] - What the original service was and the original version of their product [00:10:26] - Overview of the business from a P&L standpoint [00:14:09] - Their centralized and widespread manufacturing plants  [00:16:35] - Attributes of a good recipe that benefits both the customers and the business [00:18:32] - Thoughts on the cost of ingredients and how they impact everything [00:20:43] - How the HelloFresh supply chain differs from traditional ones [00:23:58] - The magnitude of waste and its impact on gross margins [00:27:38] - Identifying customers, acquiring them, and retaining them [00:30:52] - Why other meal kit companies have seemingly done poorly [00:35:53] - Differences in the customer experience of HelloFresh subscribers that allowed them to thrive [00:38:38] - Managing a business that’s dependent on process power and balancing which levers to pull and when [00:41:24] - An example of a decision made to improve tiny percentages of performance [00:44:17] - How a world returning to normal might impact their pandemic propelled growth [00:47:22] - Thoughts on potentially expanding to private supply and distribution [00:50:23] - Lessons learned about successful advertising, branding, and marketing [00:52:41] - Key variables in HelloFresh’s growth for the coming years [00:57:10] - What drives the decision to acquire and build a portfolio of brands [01:00:01] - The biggest risks that the business might face in the future [01:02:27] - What his favorite meal is from their menu and why

I’m Jesse Pujji and today we’re breaking down MongoDB. The MongoDB story traces back to 2007 when the founding team was running DoubleClick, a large adtech business now owned by Google. They could not find an existing database software with the agility and scalability that the internet requires. Today, MongoDB has over 25,000 customers across 100 countries.    To help break down Mongo, I'm joined by Ro Nagpal, an investor at Holocene Advisors. Listeners will recognize Ro from our breakdown of Twilio earlier this year. During our conversation, we get a 101 on database software, talk through Mongo’s creative approach to R&D, learn about how database product advantages compound, and look at what protects Mongo from larger players like Microsoft and Amazon. Please enjoy this business breakdown of MongoDB.    For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:03:51] - [First question] - What MongoDB is, what they do, and their scale today [00:05:03] - The functions of a database and why they’re important [00:07:37] - The unmet market need that led to founding MongoDB and the history of the space leading up to today [00:11:13] - What big data means and how it applies to MongoDB [00:12:42] - Things that would lead customers of Oracle to leave them for MongoDB [00:13:42] - The technology stack behind a company like weather.com [00:14:52] - Types of companies and services that couldn’t exist without MongoDB [00:16:40] - State of the database marketplace today and where they fit into it [00:17:51] - How big the new market of big data is and current competitors [00:19:22] - What makes MongoDB so distinct and why they’re winning [00:21:34] - The most important metrics and numbers for the business [00:23:28] - Gross margins and why they spend so much on sales and marketing [00:24:55] - How investors can justify a company spending so much on marketing [00:26:19] - The P&L and unit economics of the business [00:26:47] - How a customer grows after they’ve been acquired [00:27:21] - Clever ways that MongoDB spends and uses their resources [00:29:26] - Different types of open source models and how they use it to their advantage [00:31:22] - One thing MongoDB does exceptionally well and something they could improve [00:34:19] - What MongoDB has managed to get so right compared to their competitors [00:36:04] - Their unique go-to-market strategy and why it worked [00:37:15] - The things that would have to go right for MongoDB to compound over a decade [00:39:00] - Market factors that may impact their future growth and potential M&A opportunities [00:40:27] - Biggest risks that may affect MongoDB’s growth trajectory over the next few years [00:41:01] - What allows them to exist in a world dominated by Google and Microsoft [00:42:34] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying MongoDB’s story [00:44:17] - Why changing their CEO was necessary and helped the company recover and thrive

Today we’re breaking down Universal Music Group. As one of the largest music businesses in the world, UMG is home to many of the world’s greatest artists, including Taylor Swift, U2, and The Beatles catalog. A discussion on UMG requires a deep dive into the history of music itself, how it was historically monetized, the shift from physical to digital, and what streaming has meant for the various pieces of the ecosystem. Our guest, Arman Gokgol-Kline, a partner and investor at Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, walks us through that evolution of the music industry before we dive in on UMG. In our discussion, we first break down the industry pre and post Napster, looking at the ways music was sold historically, and how that led to both record profits and a consumer revolution. We then assess streaming’s impact on the industry and how, contrary to what you might think, labels may be more important in a marketplace where it’s easier than ever for creators to record and release music. Finally, we finish with UMG’s place in the ecosystem. The primary drivers of the business, how they’re able to attract the world’s superstars, and how they think about deploying dollars to acquire new artists and timeless catalogs. Please enjoy this fantastic breakdown of Universal Music Group.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:03:28] - [First question] - How technology disrupted the music business and it’s evolving history [00:12:11] - What the industry of music labels looks like from the 90s to today [00:20:46] - How it feels as a high-tier artist to engage with a label directly today [00:27:47] - The revenue and business model of an artist akin to Taylor Swift [00:30:11] - The differences between UMG's main sources of revenue; music publishing and recording [00:34:35] - General margins and trends for music publishing [00:35:49] - Ownership and mechanics of monetizing an artist’s Intellectual Property  [00:40:24] - How streaming revenues are divided among stakeholders [00:45:50] - History of the bargaining power of labels and streaming platforms [00:50:52] - Capital allocation, ROI, and acquiring IP and catalogs [00:57:06] - Thoughts on the growth profile of the industry as an investor [01:01:50] - Potential risks to UMG from emerging technology and new creator trends  [01:08:17] - Reasons why an artist would pick UMG over other major labels [01:12:09] - Diversity and how artists are sometimes treated by labels [01:13:31] - A growing increase in music consumption across the world

Today, we’re breaking down Uber. Despite a corporate history that spans just over a decade, the ink spilled on Uber could have its own wing in a library. So rather than record with our typical Breakdown format, we decided to host two portfolio managers and familiar guests on the podcast, Mario Cibelli, and Ram Parameswaran, to walk through their bull cases on Uber stock.   Uber is the case study for network effects in two-sided marketplaces but a controversial corporate culture, ongoing regulatory battles, and a debate over unit economics has made it a battleground stock since going public in 2019. During our wide-ranging conversation, we cover the opportunity for Uber’s business segments, what deteriorating service means for the product, and what COVID may have revealed regarding Ubers’ financials.   While Mario and Ram are clearly Uber bulls, it’s particularly fun to hear where their views align and differ. It’s a great reminder that we can all take very different paths to arrive at the same conclusion. Please enjoy this great breakdown of Uber.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   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 [00:03:16] - [First question] - What they find most interesting about Uber [00:04:40] - Major aspects of the business today in regards to bookings and revenue [00:07:47] - The importance of multiple use cases and what happens by exploring verticals [00:10:47] - History of getting drivers to join the company and what matters on the supply side [00:15:01] - Impact of higher wait times and ride prices and emerging trends in a post-covid era [00:17:48] - Thinking about Uber as a busted but booming model [00:22:31] - The unit economics and journey of $100 flowing into Uber [00:29:32] - Possible concerns and needs for capital Uber may have in the future [00:37:13] - The role that DoorDash plays in this ecosystem and where it’s a potential threat [00:39:01] - Is Lift an equally worthy competitor compared to DoorDash [00:41:59] - What we can learn about labor and regulation when studying Uber [00:43:44] - Thoughts on current management and capital allocation [00:49:56] - Parallels between Amazon Prime and Uber’s membership program  [00:52:25] - Using the accumulated data to integrate an advertising model into their app [00:56:33] - The biggest potential threats to Uber’s growing success 

Today, we are breaking down John Deere. With a history dating back almost two centuries, Deere has been a mainstay in the agriculture industry for generations. And despite its rich history as an incumbent, Deere is also on the leading edge of technology and innovation in ag-tech. To help break down John Deere, Zack Fuss is joined by Matt Coutts. Matt comes from a multi-generation family of farmers, and brings a unique ability to connect finance and farming. During our conversation, we discuss what the ag ecosystem looks like today, what drives farming economics, and why Deere holds such a strong competitive advantage that seems to only be growing. Please enjoy this breakdown of John Deere.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:03:04] - [First question] - What Matt does as a farmer and where he spends his time [00:03:54] - How big the global crop production and agriculture industry is  [00:05:48] - Key considerations in production efficiency with such a large market [00:08:15] - John Deere’s role in the global agriculture industry [00:08:58] - Deere’s business model and how they generate revenue [00:10:14] - What farmers tend to buy and how distribution works [00:12:06] - How a farmer traditionally thinks about their business [00:13:18] - Some of the large machine purchases that a farmer needs [00:14:11] - What a combine does and its role in crop production [00:14:53] - The landscape and types of family farms  [00:15:57] - Whether or not farmers can earn above industry returns through any cycle [00:18:18] - The role Deere plays in controlling variable costs to improve returns [00:20:38] - The things Matt’s most focused on as a farmer and how Deere optimize outcomes [00:22:48] - Brand loyalty and mixing and matching machines from different brands [00:24:55] - What precision agriculture actually means [00:27:55] - Overview of a harvest and how Deere equipment interacts with it [00:31:16] - Unit economics and how their recurring relationship generates profit [00:34:01] - Interpreting data, who owns the data, and digital agriculture analytics [00:35:55] - What enables Deere to generate such large margins as an industrial manufacturer [00:40:35] - Is Deere a higher-priced product than its competitors? [00:41:16] - Recent acquisitions and what it says about their growth [00:43:17] - The John Deere API and potential third party integration  [00:44:28] - Will farmers even be physically operating machinery in the future? [00:46:35] - Lessons learned as a builder and an investor from John Deere’s story 

Today, we are breaking down the cloud and SaaS trailblazer, Salesforce. Founded by Marc Benioff in 1999, Salesforce has grown rapidly to become the global leader in the $100 billion CRM market. The business has 150,000 customers, including 90% of the Fortune 500, and is currently valued north of $270 billion. To break down Salesforce, Patrick O’Shaughnessy is joined by Matt Garratt, general partner at VC firm CRV and former head of Salesforce Ventures, where he led investments in companies like Snowflake, Twilio, and Zoom. In our conversation, we discuss the attributes that make Marc Benioff special, how he pushed against convention to usher in a new era of cloud-based businesses, and ways in which he has built a world around Salesforce’s product lines. We also cover decision-making in the company, why its culture derives from the beaches of Hawaii, and how it’s transitioning from builder to buyer. Please enjoy this breakdown of Salesforce. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:03:14] - [First question] - What Salesforce is and what it does [00:04:55] - The scale and revenue scope of the business today [00:06:13] - Driving variables of revenue growth and their current model [00:09:10] - The unique founding story and becoming the first SaaS company [00:11:06] - What about Marc Benioff made him so compelling and successful [00:14:20] - An experience in his time at Salesforce that changed and moved him [00:15:16] - The first buyer and what they were served as a product [00:17:07] - Overview of Salesforce as a software platform [00:19:58] - The core database that powers their infrastructure and user experience [00:21:26] - Transitioning from being mostly a builder to largely a buyer and acquirer [00:23:46] - Why building trust early on is so crucial when doing something new [00:25:45] - What is Dreamforce, and how it’s evolved over time [00:27:24] - The connection between Hawaiian culture and Salesforce [00:29:14] - How they continue to market and acquire customers and spend so much on marketing [00:30:44] - Their current addressable market and plans to expand into those areas [00:35:05] - How priorities are set, picked, and followed through on  [00:35:58] - What is V2MOM and the role it plays with the executive team  [00:38:08] - The philosophy behind Salesforce Ventures and the function it serves [00:40:27] - Potential risks the business faces going forward [00:44:24] - Key characteristics that separate Salesforce from other businesses out there [00:46:47] - Lessons for investors and builders when studying Salesforce’s story

Today, we are breaking down Solana. Founded in 2017 by an ex-wireless engineer from Qualcomm, Solana is a layer one blockchain like Bitcoin and Ethereum that has been built to process transactions as quickly and cheaply as possible. Where Bitcoin can process about ten transactions per second and Ethereum around 30, Solana can handle over 60,000 transactions per second, and it can do so at a fraction of the cost. Unsurprisingly, Solana’s network has attracted huge interest from developers, users, and investors alike over the last year.   In this breakdown, we cover the killer app for decentralized ledgers, the history of on-chain transaction speeds, and the fundamental difference between software and blockchain technology. We then delve into the architecture that has enabled Solana’s speed unlock and look at the platform’s potential to become a huge piece of the world’s financial infrastructure. To help me break down Solana, I’m joined by Kyle Samani, co-founder and managing partner at Multicoin Capital.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:49] - [First question] - How he views the opportunity set of blockchain technology   [00:06:37] - The evolution of transactions-per-second from Bitcoin to new cryptocurrencies [00:13:43] - Why does decentralized finance matter versus centralized finance [00:18:34] - What is Solana and the scope and scale of it today [00:20:31] - Reintroducing costs with DeFi software compared to prior zero marginal costs [00:24:13] - How to go from 30 transactions a second to 30,000 and make the system work [00:31:03] - What about Solana’s design code that allows it to take advantage of parallelism [00:33:05] - Differences between proof of history and proof of work [00:39:05] - The tokenomics of Solana, their distribution setup, and what owning SOL offers [00:46:24] - What Solana’s blockchain will enable for application development [00:55:15] - The emerging adoption and creation of social tokens   [00:57:40] - Thoughts on regulation and security in regards to Solana [00:59:41] - Competition that Solana may face and layer one blockchains in general [01:04:54] - What has him most excited about Solana and the landscape writ large [01:08:11] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying the Solana story [01:11:23] - Leaning into your differences and the team behind the project   

Today, we are breaking down Taboola, a company you may not know but one you’ve definitely seen. When you read articles on CNBC, Bloomberg, or the Independent, Taboola powers the sidebar and banner recommendations for what you should read next.   The company works with publishers and advertisers to help readers discover what’s new and interesting. Founded in 2007, Taboola recently went public and is now the leading recommendation engine for the open web, serving over 500 million users a day.   To break down the business, host Jesse Pujji is joined by Taboola’s founder and CEO, Adam Singolda. During our conversation, we cover the ways in which Taboola’s value prop differs from Facebook and Google, unpack the advertising concepts of Yield and ex-TAC, and dive into Adam’s vision for Taboola to recommend anything, anywhere.   Please enjoy this breakdown of Taboola.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:48] - [First question] - What is Taboola?  [00:03:35] - The scale of the business, revenue, impressions, and payouts to date [00:05:18] - What problem Taboola solves for advertisers and their user experience [00:07:22] - Comparing the advertising differences between Taboola and Facebook [00:09:15] - Why a publisher would choose Taboola and what they solve for them [00:11:06] - Reasons why advertising through Taboola is desirable [00:14:41] - The founding insight and early struggles of building Taboola [00:18:42] - Important metrics when evaluating their business and what generates revenue [00:20:32] - What they offer to both sides of the marketplace to grow their business [00:22:26] - Defining yield and how they position their rates [00:25:38] - Things they do to improve the value proposition for clients [00:29:29] - What allows Taboola to grow and remain competitive  [00:30:37] - Prioritizing sales and marketing spend to ensure their long term success [00:32:24] - Positive and negative factors in relation to scaling a business like this [00:34:11] - Reasons why they wanted to merge with Outbrain [00:35:16] - Their latest deal with Connexity and his thoughts on M&A for the future [00:37:50] - The top things that would maximize their success over the next decade [00:40:05] - Cookies, privacy, and the role they might play in years to come [00:42:09] - The biggest threats and risks for the future of Taboola [00:44:14] - The competitive landscape of advertising and content placement [00:46:09] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying Taboola’s story   [00:47:47] - Where to go if you want to learn more about Taboola

Today, we are breaking down Sky Mavis, the company behind the NFT-based game, Axie Infinity. Built by a team with a long history in gaming, Axie Infinity was launched in 2018 with the idea that a blockchain-based “play-to-earn” model could create more aligned incentives between game creators and game players long-term.   Axie is one of the most incredible examples of speed-to-scale I’ve seen, with the game reporting $100,000 of revenue in January, over $190,000,000 of revenue in July, and over $360,000,000 in August.   In this breakdown, we cover the basics of Axie and how gameplay is similar to classics such as Pokemon. We dive into the economic model, how Sky Mavis generates revenue, how players earn money, and how this is all enabled by the blockchain. We discuss the importance of gameplay vs. the economic ecosystem and examine the sustainability of Axie from various angles.   To help break down Sky Mavis, Patrick O’Shaughnessy is joined by Aleksander Larsen, co-founder of Sky Mavis, and Stephen McKeon, Partner at Collab+Currency, an early investor in Sky Mavis.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:03:00] - [First question] - How many people are playing Axie and how quickly it’s grown [00:04:03] - What play-to-earn means and how money flows through a digital ecosystem [00:05:03] - A basic overview of the user experience of playing Axie Infinity  [00:07:23] - What an Axie is, its features, how they’re generated, and how many exist [00:09:32] - Monster NFTs and the fungible SLP in-game currency [00:15:00] - Converting the SLP to fiat currency and how low-friction the process is [00:16:40] - Are people actually playing the game or just speculating on the game’s assets [00:23:14] - The AXS governance token, how to earn it, and what it enables for token holders [00:27:08] - What the opportunity set looks like for Axie from an investor standpoint [00:29:39] - Finding a balance between offering digital work and creating a player incentive  [00:33:29] - Mystic Axie and what they are generally worth today [00:34:42] - How much the community will have to expand and build on top of the game [00:38:48] - Overview of the plots of land in the Axie metaverse and what they might unlock  [00:41:57] - What a sidechain is and how the Ronin wallet works  [00:46:41] - Why what’s good for Ronin is also good for Ethereum [00:48:53] - Defining a bridge and how it differs from an exchange [00:50:24] - Lessons learned about good tokenomics and token design  [00:55:04] - The biggest potential risks to the future of Axie Infinity and its growing popularity  [00:57:13] - What an ideal future looks like for the metaverse and Axie infinity [01:01:09] - How the world is changing and why that unlocks value for play-to-earn games [01:04:03] - Asset ownership inversion and how big this could become in the future [01:05:24] - The most surprising things that have happened since joining Axie Infinity [01:06:55] - How he thinks about assessing new opportunities in crypto and the metaverse [01:09:19] - Where you can go to learn more about Axie and dabble in the game

Today, we will be breaking down Datadog. If you've ever used Control-Alt-Delete to force quit a frozen application - you've experienced the Activity Monitor on your own computer. Datadog is that Activity Monitor for all of a business’s systems across its apps, tools, databases, and servers. It is a SaaS-based monitoring platform that gives enterprise IT teams real-time visibility into the performance of their entire software stack. Datadog was founded in 2010 and has repeatedly out-developed competitors to build a comprehensive IT monitoring platform. Today, Datadog’s market cap is over $40 billion dollars.   To break down Datadog, host Jesse Pujji is joined by Peter Offringa, the author of Software Stack Investing. During our conversation, we discuss Datadog’s unique product development cadence, how they’re able to grow their top line at 60% a year while staying profitable, and why Web3 might be their biggest competitive threat.   I hope you enjoy this breakdown of Datadog.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:54] - [First question] - What Datadog does and their current scale [00:03:58] - Their customer base today and noteworthy growth metrics  [00:05:21] - The basics of a tech stack business and Datadog’s approach to it [00:07:31] - What problem Datadog solves and how they came across it  [00:08:26] - An overview of a typical backend infrastructure and how Datadog improves it [00:11:52] - Who Datadog’s actual customer is [00:13:21] - The founding story and what fuelled their rapid growth [00:15:58] - What the market looks like today and who their competitors are  [00:18:35] - Scaling the business so quickly and how they measure it [00:21:07] - Their unique and highly successful marketing approach [00:24:06] - Parallels between the user experiences of Datadog and Twilio [00:26:00] - The gross margin profile and how it’s trending [00:26:58] - Dollar revenue retention and how pricing unlocks sales and marketing spend [00:29:18] - How Datadog’s pricing stacks up against their competitors [00:30:41] - The advantages of using Datadog versus AWS and pre-provided solutions [00:33:49] - Their M&A strategy and what makes it unique [00:36:46] - What would have to go right for their market cap to double over the next decade [00:39:12] - Potential risks or threats to Datadog’s potential success [00:41:28] - Lessons for builders when studying Datadog’s story [00:42:52] - Lessons for investors to take away from Datadog’s success  [00:43:57] - Where to learn more about Datadog 

Today, we will break down Wyndham Hotels, the world’s largest and most diverse hotel franchisor with more than 9,000 hotels across 20 brands in over 80 countries.   Wyndham is a brilliant example of a ubiquitous business that often goes unnoticed. In this breakdown, we’ll start by looking at just how vast Wyndham’s portfolio of hotels and brands is, how the Highway Act of 1956 played an important role in developing that scale, and explore the economics of hotel ownership, both from the franchisee and franchisor’s perspective.   Then we’ll dive into Wyndham’s growth algorithm, the factors that make the business resilient to external shocks, and the ways in which green programs are helping to drive higher cash-on-cash returns for franchisees.   To help break down Wyndham Hotels, host Patrick O’Shaughnessy is joined by Lauren Taylor Wolfe, co-founder and Managing Partner of Impactive Capital and a Wyndham shareholder. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:48] - [First question] - What Wyndham is and the scope of their hotel franchise [00:04:17] - Defining what select-service hotels are compared to traditional ones  [00:04:49] - An overview of what the hotel business is and their important levers  [00:06:44] - Why Wyndham’s business model is so advantageous [00:09:22] - Franchisee expectations and the pros of franchising the brand  [00:12:22] - Whether or not Wyndham participates in loan and debt generation [00:13:36] - Overview of their award-winning loyalty program [00:17:36] - Customer acquisition for their loyalty program and how it drives spending [00:19:16] - Wyndham’s corporate history and how it affects them today [00:22:17] - Driving growth beyond their current real-estate footprint [00:24:30] - Possible positive or negative nonlinear events that could affect them [00:26:09] - Overview of the sales functions inside of their business [00:28:05] - Changes in hotel use trends as of late [00:30:05] - What hotel management means as a business [00:33:05] - Capital allocation and abundant free cash flow without much need for it [00:35:48] - Considering the ESG implications when evaluating the hotel industry [00:38:17] - Aspects of the business that make it both resilient and competitive [00:42:14] - Big variables that could cause Wyndham to fail [00:44:10] - What it is about Wyndham’s economic opportunity that is favorable for franchisees [00:46:19] - Unit economics and expenses at the individual hotel level [00:47:40] - Lessons learned about brand, investing in a brand, and identifying new brands to acquire [00:50:22] - What she’s learned most as an investor working with Wyndham [00:52:19] - Attractive opportunities Hilton could offer that Wyndham couldn’t [00:53:46] - What she’s learned about being a strong operator while working at Wyndham

Today, we will break down Dexcom. Founded in 1999, Dexcom makes best-in-class continuous glucose monitors to help diabetics manage their blood sugar levels. With close ties to growing obesity rates, the diabetes market is big, expensive, and expanding. In the US alone, one-third of Americans are diabetic or pre-diabetic, and the cost of treating diabetes is expected to double over the next decade.   To break down Dexcom, Zack Fuss is joined by Aneal Tenjarla, an associate portfolio manager at Sofinnova BioEquities and an investor in Dexcom. During our conversation, we discuss how Dexcom's continuous glucose monitors have materially changed treatment, we cover the structure of the market and Dexcom’s competitors, and we discuss where the business may have future runway inside and outside of diabetes care.   I hope you enjoy this breakdown of Dexcom.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:37] - [First question] - What is Dexcom, their core product, and the size of their market [00:04:43] - Overview of the expenses that diabetics accrue annually [00:06:36] - Why continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are important for diabetes management [00:09:57] - Dexcom’s unit economics and their current revenue model [00:14:10] - Whether or not there is a tech and regulatory barrier to entry  [00:16:18] - How a diabetic or prediabetic finds their way to a Dexcom device [00:17:41] - Their current customer base and their revenue streams [00:19:31] - What dictates if a practitioner will refer patients to Dexcom or Abbott [00:21:56] - Why the problem Dexcom aims to solve is so culturally relevant today [00:25:12] - What the next chapter for Dexcom’s business could be [00:28:51] - Sizing the opportunity and optionality in this industry [00:32:11] - Thoughts on Dexcom’s capital allocation decisions [00:34:22] - Reasons why Dexcom could potentially fail in the future [00:37:59] - Competitors arising in the wearable CGM space [00:39:49] - Overview of their management team and what a good one looks like [00:42:52] - Whether or not they plan on stepping into the pump and insulin space [00:45:20] - Other externalities that consumer-friendly CGMs could create for consumers and insurance companies [00:48:56] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying Dexcom’s story [00:53:21] - A future where CGMs could be mostly implants [00:54:18] - The value unlock consumer-friendly monitoring will provide

Today, we will be breaking down SmileDirectClub, the oral care company known for its affordable clear aligner treatment. SmileDirectClub was founded in 2014 as a direct-to-consumer alternative to metal braces. It has since expanded to serve over 1 million customers in both the US and abroad.   To help break down the business, host Jesse Pujji is joined by current CFO Kyle Wailes.   In this breakdown, we discuss how SmileDirectClub differentiates itself relative to metal braces and clear aligner competitors like Invisalign. We touch on the company’s DTC roots, how they have expanded TAM in the oral care market, and what growth opportunities the business plans to pursue moving forward.   I’d highly recommend pairing this episode with our previous breakdown on Invisalign. It’s fun to contrast the two business models and their respective histories. There are so many fascinating details about the clear aligner industry.   I hope you enjoy this breakdown of SmileDirectClub.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:38] - [First question] - What is SmileDirectClub and their current scale [00:03:56] - Their economics and revenue over the past year [00:04:59] - What SmileDirectClub is from a consumer perspective  [00:07:19] - The core insight that lead to founding the company [00:08:55] - Early bets that paid off in the long run as they scaled [00:10:00] - Differences between clear liners and traditional braces [00:11:28] - Market size and cases that need servicing annually [00:13:21] - Invisalign; Direct to consumer model and unit economics   [00:15:57] - Customer acquisition funnel and diversified marketing approach  [00:20:17] - How shops became the major form of how they provide treatment [00:24:02] - Navigating the pandemic and reflections on 2020 [00:26:25] - Lessons learned and value unlock from a monthly subscription model [00:28:44] - Thoughts on the market size today and opportunity for the future [00:29:47] - Prioritizing international sales and market penetration [00:30:39] - Lessons learned from executing in international markets [00:31:42] - Competitors in this space and their vantage points [00:33:29] - How SmileDirect competes with Invisalign [00:34:55] - Their prior history with Invisalign and being an early investor [00:35:46] - How the market may play out in the next five to ten years [00:37:07] - What SmileDirect will have to get right to win over the next decade [00:40:10] - Why metallic solutions and braces have survived this long [00:42:44] - Their biggest risks over the coming decade that may threaten their growth [00:43:42] - Navigating legal risks and challenges faced with SmileDirect’s disruptive nature [00:45:39] - Lessons for builders when studying SmileDirect’s story [00:46:31] - Lessons for investors when studying SmileDirect’s story [00:47:07] - Resources for learning more; smiledirectclub.com  

Today, we will be breaking down ZoomInfo. Founded as DiscoverOrg in 2007, ZoomInfo is a go-to-market software & data solution for B2B sales. When a sales rep gains access to ZoomInfo, they gain access to a database with over 130 million contacts. The ZoomInfo platform assists in finding potential customers, contacting those potential customers, and refining each phase of the workflow.   To help break down ZoomInfo, host Jesse Pujji is joined by its CEO, Henry Schuck. Henry founded DiscoverOrg and acquired ZoomInfo in 2019. During our conversation, we cover how ZoomInfo differs from traditional CRM businesses, its unique gross margin profile, their special go-to-market muscle, and Henry’s approach to M&A. As a founder, I love stories about bootstrapped businesses, and Henry’s does not disappoint. I hope you enjoy this breakdown of ZoomInfo.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:35] - [First question] - What is ZoomInfo and their current scale [00:04:19] - The problem that ZoomInfo solves and an overview of their product [00:07:23] - A consumer-friendly description of what ZoomInfo is  [00:11:13] - The value unlock their database provides salespeople [00:13:28] - Big milestones when bootstrapping the business and their history [00:19:20] - Big problems that had to be solved when building the business [00:21:26] - Giving us a sense of the data market today [00:23:58] - Whether or not they play in a competitive landscape [00:26:36] - The P&L of ZoomInfo and metrics he pays attention to  [00:28:18] - Getting the data for their database and the costs associated with it [00:30:03] - Improving their service the more data they accumulate [00:31:48] - Overview of their contracts when offering the service to a business [00:32:35] - Various components of their sales and marketing strategy [00:35:35] - Same day sales cycles and how that manifests itself in ZoomInfo [00:38:48] - What separates ZoomInfo; they sell to sellers and their velocity  [00:40:31] - Their approach to M&A in strategy, valuation, and funding  [00:44:16] - Things they say no to when it comes to M&A  [00:47:19] - How they approached the funding side of their acquisitions [00:48:06] - Why they chose to go public [00:49:52] - Notable moments in how the business responded to the pandemic [00:52:24] - Key factors that would allow ZoomInfo to double their market cap in ten years [00:54:03] - Potential opportunities in AI and data science sectors [00:55:20] - What keeps him up at night in regards to their future success [00:57:12] - Ways he invests in his abilities that other CEOs could learn from [00:57:54] - Whether or not BigTech poses a threat to their data accumulation [01:01:48] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying ZoomInfo’s story [01:03:28] - Learn more about their space; A World of DaaS Podcast  

Today, we will be diving into Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Founded in 1985 as a boutique M&A advisory business with $400,000 of seed capital. The firm now manages over $600 billion across private equity, real estate, credit, and hedge fund strategies. In this breakdown, we will start by discussing Blackstone’s business model and how it has taken advantage of a structural tailwind in the form of low bond yields. Then, we’ll dive into the different ways Blackstone earns money, how that’s changing, and what else management has done to make the business more shareholder-friendly. Finally, we’ll cover Blackstone’s competitive strengths, their brand and scale explaining how they were built and how they’re deployed today. To break down Blackstone, Zack Fuss is joined by Marc Rubinstein, former hedge fund manager and now the writer of Net Interest.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:35] - [First question] - What is Blackstone, their history, and what their scale is today [00:04:29] - Their core competencies in the beginning and what it enabled them to do  [00:05:57] - Examples of their early transactions that allowed them to grow their funds [00:07:39] - Overview of the first principles of how private equity funds make money [00:09:49] - What has allowed Blackstone to grow so large over the last thirty-five years [00:12:30] - Things that make alternative asset management a large and lucrative industry  [00:14:28] - Overview of revenue streams and returns to shareholders [00:17:30] - Analysis of their corporate private equity, real estate, hedge funds, and credit [00:21:00] - Why alternative asset managers have been so attracted to insurance companies  [00:22:40] - Partners Blackstone might find for funding and financing [00:24:44] - Reasons why Blackstone would consider an IPO [00:26:15] - How an investor would evaluate Blackstone versus Berkshire Hathaway [00:29:17] - Ways Blackstone dispels the ‘barbarians at the gate’ stigma around private equity [00:31:12] - The importance of Steve Schwarzman and thoughts on new leadership [00:33:31] - Building a company culture in asset management that creates longevity [00:35:42] - What makes Blackstone so successful writ large [00:37:54] - Emergence of neo-banks and potential threats of regulation and oversight [00:39:05] - The one thing that allows them to always find new opportunities and succeed [00:41:03] - Lessons for investors when studying Blackstone’s story

Today, we will be covering the endlessly fascinating market of Space. While we typically focus on an individual company for Business Breakdowns, we thought an industry primer was the best approach for this expanding market. With Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos directing so much energy to the promise of space, it is impossible not to dream about what lies ahead. To cover this endless topic, I’ll be joined by a previous guest, Tren Griffin. While Tren’s full-time job is a director at Microsoft, his experience with satellites and endless curiosity make him ideal for this conversation. We cover how our ground economy is enabled by space today, what excites him most about the space to space opportunities in the future, and how space compares to other network foundations. I hope you enjoy this great space primer with Tren Griffin. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:19] - [First question] - The current size and scope of the space economy [00:04:42] - Important historic milestones that helped us get to where we are today [00:12:33] - The varying levels of orbit and what they unlock for technology [00:19:22] - How expensive launches were and what they are now with SpaceX and Starship [00:22:08] - Overview of the Starlink project and using it to recoup infrastructural setup costs [00:27:32] - Whether or not launch will ever become more than just a commodity  [00:31:01] - Different types of satellites and earth-orbiting technology [00:34:23] - Thoughts on in-space manufacturing as an emerging industry [00:35:33] - Future colonization of the moon, Mars, and humanity leaving the Earth [00:38:19] - The importance of dreaming big to inspire those around you [00:42:36] - Potential reasons why space may not become a new frontier [00:44:41] - Politics and the militarization side of open space [00:47:19] - Legalities and the need for a space treaty  [00:49:41] - Whether or not humans will be living on the moon by 2035 [00:51:03] - What the benefits will be of a colony on Mars if we can establish one on the moon

Today, we will be breaking down pet care giant, Petco. Founded in 1965 as a mail-order business, Petco has evolved into a one-stop-shop pet care solution across its nearly 1,500 locations.   To help break down Petco, I am joined by Greg Kamstra, current CEO of pet care provider, Riverdog and former private equity investor. We will discuss how Petco evolved into its current big-box model, how pet care store economics differ from grocery economics, and what impact e-commerce has had on the industry. It’s always fascinating to learn about secular growth stories, and the pet care industry falls into that category. I hope you enjoy this breakdown of Petco.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:19] - [First question] - What is Petco? [00:03:06] - How much of their business is solely eCommerce [00:03:40] - The scale of the market today and what that space looks like [00:05:24] - Pet ownership in the US and how much it’s grown over the decades [00:06:28] - The spend-per-pet metric and how it continues to grow [00:06:49] - Sales channels for Petco and the big players in this industry [00:07:31] - When and how Petco started and unique insights that led to starting the business [00:09:09] - Unit economics for specialty brands versus generic brands [00:09:42] - General thoughts on the economics of Petco [00:11:03] - Viewing their revenue and customer base through the lens of a single-store [00:13:15] - How they drive same-store sales growth and customer frequency [00:16:22] - The ways they’ve invested in services to incentivize return customers  [00:18:13] - Conventional retail strategies and how they’ve performed for Petco [00:20:42] - Ways they are trying to compete with their eCommerce competitors [00:23:50] - What their eCommerce growth could look like over the next few years [00:25:20] - Early days of a mobile app and working on their digital-first footprint [00:26:18] - How good of a deal Chewy was for Petsmart [00:27:48] - Other big deals Petco has made and why they’ve mattered [00:28:52] - Unique private equity aspects of Petco [00:31:07] - What happened to their business during the pandemic and what trends might be here to stay  [00:32:03] - How many non-pet owners became pet owners because of COVID-19 [00:33:11] - Reasons why their market cap could double in the next five to ten years [00:34:19] - Reasons why their market cap could be cut in half over the coming years [00:35:10] - Lessons for builders when studying Petco’s story [00:37:14] - Lessons for investors when studying Petco’s story

Today, we will be diving into Cardlytics. Founded in 2008, Cardlytics operates as an advertising platform integrated with the digital channels of banks. It allows advertisers to identify potential customers from their spending habits and reach those customers directly within their mobile banking applications. Today, Cardlytics is one of the largest digital ad platforms, seeing data on 50% of every card swipe in the US.   To help break down Cardlytics, I will be joined by Cliff Sosin, founder of CAS Investment Partners. During our conversation, we touch on what makes Cardlytics' value proposition so valuable to the ecosystem, how Cardlytics' measurement capabilities differ from Google, and what is needed for Cardlytics to reach its full potential. Throughout our conversation, Cliff gives a great perspective on how this management team brought unique insight to this opportunity but then faced struggles as the company started to scale. His understanding of the history of the business shines throughout the discussion. I hope you enjoy this breakdown of Cardlytics.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:33] - [First question] - What Cardlytics does and their scale [00:06:51] - What happens from a consumer perspective when using their service? [00:08:14] - Numbers around the current scope of the business today [00:08:40] - Comparing Cardlytics to Google and Facebook’s advertising models [00:11:01] - History of the company and how they gained access to bank transaction data [00:15:20] - Revenue splits, gross profits, and companies that have had success using them [00:19:23] - Potential risk to the company if banks were to start offering this service in house [00:23:02] - Possible parallels between Visa and Cardlytics as a transaction protocol for banks [00:25:15] - Whether or not brand matters for them [00:26:15] - Lessons learned about network effects and whether or not it applies [00:30:24] - What opportunities excite him about improving the Cardlytics platform [00:35:24] - The role that data and predictive algorithms could play in perfecting the user experience and business scale [00:39:45] - Reasons that Cardlytics could slip and reverse their progress or fail writ large [00:44:17] - What one question he’d like to answer to improve the business [00:46:38] - Lessons he’s learned about data privacy building the company [00:47:34] - What is impressive about Cardlytics through the lens of leaders and management [00:50:39] - Whether or not his views on investing has changed in regards to the quality of management over the course of growing Cardlytics [00:51:57] - What they would have to do and where they would have to spend to grow the business over the coming decade [00:54:41] - Neobanks posing a potential threat to the tech stack they’ve build [00:59:13] - Lessons for operators in building a business when studying Cardlytics’ story [01:02:10] - Lessons for investors when studying Cardlytics’ story  

Today, we will be diving into energy giant, Exxon Mobil. The origins of Exxon date back to John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil. Exxon was spun out in 1911 as the Standard Oil of New Jersey, and in 1998, Exxon merged with Mobil, which was the original Standard Oil of New York. To break down the rich history of Exxon, I am joined by Arjun Murti, a long-time energy analyst, and investor. During our conversation, we dive deep into the supermajor business and how that drove Exxon’s century-long success. We address the past decade of underperformance and examine the key drivers of Exxon Mobil moving forward. Arjun gives helpful overviews on how the energy market has changed across fossil fuels and renewables throughout our conversation. I hope you enjoy this breakdown of Exxon Mobil.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:25] - [First question] - What is Exxon Mobil and its business scale [00:04:46] - Various metrics to understand their scale and their revenue streams [00:07:37] - How many people on average Exxon’s oil touches [00:08:31] - Ways to think about how a barrel of oil can be used [00:09:42] - The supply chain of oil and gas and why Exxon chooses to be integrated [00:10:48] - What a non-integrated supply chain looks like in comparison [00:14:33] - How technology has impacted the exploration and discovery of oil [00:17:22] - Once the land is bought and the oil is coming out of it, what next? [00:19:04] - Overview of what a refinery does to crude oil and its economics [00:23:58] - Final steps of the non-integrated oil supply chain [00:25:23] - The history of the oil industry and John D. Rockefeller [00:29:51] - Why Exxon isn’t the largest market cap in the world these past few years [00:38:20] - Some of Exxon’s bad capital allocation decisions [00:43:06] - Thoughts on the XTO acquisition and rough cost [00:44:12] - Would Lee Raymond have been able to figure out a better way forward [00:46:36] - Exxon’s bet on renewables and climate change and whether or not it paid off [00:51:19] - The size and consumption of the energy market today and its size [00:55:17] - Units costs of oil and coal versus wind and solar and their trends [00:59:16] - How this will play out on a fifty-year time horizon [01:02:06] - Exxon’s peer set during their long career [01:04:14] - Other factors that may have contributed to Exxon’s recent downturn [01:06:32] - COVID-19’s impact on the oil industry [01:09:20] - Opportunities for the future and what could cause a double in market cap  [01:12:07] - What could have contributed to a smaller market cap in the future [01:12:52] - Lessons for builders and investors [01:17:05] - Resources for learning more: The Prize & Titan

Today, we will be diving into Facebook. A business that requires little introduction, Facebook was launched in 2004 from Marc Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room. Zuckerberg has since grown Facebook into the largest social network in the world and continues to operate the business today. To break down Facebook, I am first joined by Robert Cantwell, founder and CIO of Upholdings. Rob’s unique background makes him an ideal person to speak on Facebook. Rob shared a dorm with Zuckerberg, went on to work at Elevation Partners, a large private investor in Facebook, and eventually became CFO of Everlane, where expansion was closely tied to the growth of Instagram and its advertising tools. We touch on how Facebook successfully navigated the transition from desktop to mobile, what drives the value of the network, and where Facebook may drive value in the future.   I am then joined by Jesse Pujji, a familiar voice as a host of Business Breakdowns. Jesse’s time as co-founder and CEO at Ampush make him ideal to break down the advertising business of Facebook. During our conversation, Jesse outlines the basic dynamics of the Facebook ad ecosystem, the economic proposition to an advertiser, and how to assess risks to Facebook's control of the digital ad market.   Facebook is such an interesting business, and we could likely speak for hours on the potential opportunities for growth. We decided to focus on the core advertising business today, given it represents 98% of revenue. In the future, we want to dedicate individual Breakdowns to WhatsApp, Oculus, and potentially other Facebook initiatives that are worthy of their own deep dives alone. I hope you enjoy this conversation on Facebook.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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   Part 1 [00:03:20] - [First question] The size and scale of Facebook and how we interact with it [00:04:59] - The best way to describe what their true core business is [00:07:21] - Observing Facebook’s growth as an operator and how it impacts his view of it  [00:10:46] - The ad model that they offered that wasn’t historically available before [00:12:49] - Competitive advantages they have today that makes theory moat impenetrable [00:15:44] - Potential impacts of the decentralization of the internet [00:19:20] - One of the biggest risks to Facebook over the coming years [00:23:33] - Future asset optionality that investors should be excited about [00:28:16] - Thoughts on whether or not Facebook abuses its power given its size [00:31:19] - Whether or not plans to establish themselves as a super app holds true [00:34:14] - What Facebook is today and where they’re going Part 2 [00:36:25] - Why Facebook has such an effective ad system for digital marketing [00:41:28] - Overview of how an advertiser uses their ad platform [00:45:39] - Key dynamics that impact bidding on certain keywords and customers [00:49:22] - The types of companies that are being built on top of Facebook’s ad railway [00:52:13] - What data they have and common misconceptions about it [00:56:15] - Things Facebook could learn about cross-app system tracking   [00:59:07] - The competitive landscape of digital advertising today [01:01:52] - What would have to play out in order for them to stop growing [01:04:05] - The ways in which commerce plays into Facebook’s story today [01:07:39] - How having access to a user's payment information is a value unlock [01:08:55] - The most important thing to Facebook and lessons to be learned from their story  

In today's episode, we introduce another unique format for Business Breakdowns. We will be diving into the iconic global motorsport brand - Formula One. To break down F1, I will be joined by CEO Stefano Domenicali and investor, Arman Gokgol-Kline.    To start the conversation, Arman and I frame the business of Formula One with a high-level overview of how the league operates and generates revenue. Then Arman joins me to speak to Stefano who was appointed CEO of F1 in late 2020, after the league and teams agreed to their latest Concorde Agreement which governs stakeholders across the ecosystem. We touch on Stefano’s own story growing up with Formula One, how the team, driver, and ownership worlds align, and what gets him most excited for the brand moving forward. Arman and I then wrap up by diving into the white space opportunities for F1 and what key lessons for builders and investors.   The origin story of Bernie Ecclestone founding and operating F1 is fascinating – and I admire how Liberty has been able to push the brand further into the spotlight. You can see a clear focus on building an aligned ecosystem across the fans, teams, and league officials. This was an incredibly fun episode where you hear from both an inside and outside view. I hope you enjoy this breakdown of F1.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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   Part 1 [00:03:00] - [First question] - The overall size of the F1 fanbase [00:05:22] - Three key buckets of revenue and their percentage split [00:07:21] - Business economics of the race tracks and promoter incentives [00:11:22] - Thoughts on expanding the annual race and track count [00:13:49] - Business economics of the race broadcasts [00:18:59] - Business economics of sponsorships and partners Part 2  [00:21:21] - Where Stefano found his early passion for motorsport [00:23:32] - What it was like to run an F1 team [00:27:14] - Why they decided to open up social media to drivers and partnering with Netflix [00:33:07] - The Concorde Agreements and what made 2021’s agreement unique [00:35:24] - How the budget is so crucial to a driver and their engineering team’s success [00:38:13] - Key factors define a great winning engineering team [00:42:26] - What makes a driver great and stand out over time [00:46:14] - Thoughts on the motorsport industry in a world aiming for environmental sustainability [00:48:48] - What will be most different about F1 five years from now [00:52:09] - Stefano’s most memorable moment across his entire career   Part 3 [00:53:10] - Biggest whitespaces in F1 that present great monetization opportunities [00:58:49] - Unique team dynamics and how teams are built and developed [01:02:39] - The story of Lawrence Stroll and Aston Martin  [01:04:35] - Why BMW dropped out of F1 and why a manufacturer would choose to quit [01:07:34] - Reasons why Porsche has never stepped into the motorsport space [01:09:40] - Major costs centers of the business today [01:11:25] - The history of Bernie Ecclestone And F1 racing [01:14:08] - Lessons one could pull from F1 and unlocking value  [01:15:30] - Areas of content production that F1 has done well [01:17:10] - Additional ways F1 could monetize the relationships between teams and fans [01:21:25] - Lessons that business builders can take away from F1’s story [01:23:00] - Lessons that investors can take away from F1’s story [01:24:25] - Where to learn more; Drive to Survive; Concorde Commercial Agreement

Today, we will be diving into Moderna. Founded in 2010, Moderna and its innovative RNA platform made headlines after developing one of the first COVID vaccines. We treated this Breakdown slightly different than our other episodes. I’m joined today by two guests. First, I am joined by Jason Kelly, CEO of Gingko Bioworks. He gives us a primer on the biotech industry, genetic modification, and how Moderna’s platform represents a new breakthrough in the industry. Then, I talk to Matthew Harrison, a biotech analyst at Morgan Stanley. We will cover what differentiates Moderna’s business model, how Moderna’s science could lead to faster and higher efficacy drug development, and key takeaways for investors and operators. I hope you enjoy this Breakdown of Moderna.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 - Part 1: Jason Kelly [00:02:31] - [First question] - What is a biotech company? [00:03:50] - Defining Moderna as a company in the biotech space [00:05:15] - Bridging the gap between biotech and genentech [00:06:02] - Overview of the history of learning to program cells [00:07:46] - Big milestones from the discovery to the human genome project [00:10:03] - Technical process and tool of how one modifies and copies genes [00:11:45] - The scale and tools of modern DNA design [00:14:05] - What the Moderna vaccine is and how it works [00:17:24] - The first engineered drug of its kind  [00:18:24] - Other areas where synthetic biology appears in everyday life [00:22:19] - How many sectors this type of technology will disrupt [00:23:32] - The history of Moderna and how they came to be [00:24:41] - What problem Moderna tries to solve and how they approach it [00:27:11] - Unique deal components in therapeutics and the FDA [00:29:06] - Key factors that will make Moderna a dominant player in the near future  [00:30:01] - How Genentech became as big as they did  [00:30:53] - Competitive and compounded advantages for biotech companies [00:32:09] - Lessons for investors and entrepreneurs in studying Moderna’s story   Show Notes - Part 2: Matthew Harrison  [00:34:10] - What is Moderna and how it got started [00:36:10] - Typical route taken for a drug maker and how Moderna is different [00:37:16] - What separates Moderna from others in the biotech space today [00:39:12] - The role software and technology has played a role in Moderna’s success [00:41:42] - Cementing their position through breakthroughs and capitalizing on them  [00:42:58] - How Moderna generates their revenue  [00:44:45] - Overview of cost of sales, expense buckets and gross margin [00:46:20] - Factors involved in how one valuates a biotech company [00:47:15] - How many drugs are in Moderna’s pipeline compared to others [00:51:26] - Risks of drug development and their market potential [00:54:01] - Internal operations of drug development and what separates Moderna [00:57:17] - Comparing Moderna’s mRNA to others on the market  [00:59:44] - High level breakdown of pharmaceutical R&D [01:01:33] - Other P&L and financial components that arise given the nature of biotech  [01:03:09] - Contrast between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine [01:04:18] - What Moderna will have to get right in order to become the next Pfizer  [01:05:38] - What Moderna would have to get wrong to limit their growth [01:07:24] - Company culture and the importance of management [01:08:06] - Lessons for builders and entrepreneurs in studying Moderna’s story

Today, we will be breaking down Pinduoduo. Founded in 2015, Pinduoduo used a ‘team buying’ social network concept to build what is now China’s largest e-commerce platform measured by annual active users.    In this breakdown, we’ll explore Pinduoduo’s value proposition to a niche but incredibly large merchant segment and its role in the daily lives of hundreds of millions of consumers. We’ll cover what made Pinduoduo attractive to buyers and how the team buying concept creates scaled demand. We’ll touch on their fascinating network dynamics, from the creation of trust ecosystems to the role of gamification in WeChat to the sheer scale of the digital and physical logistics required to make what Pinduoduo has made possible.    For this episode, I am joined by Xin Yi Lim, the company’s Senior Director for Corporate Development. Xin Yi’s experience as a financial analyst covering the sector prior to joining Pinduoduo makes her perspective particularly valuable.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:46] - [First question] - Overview and history of Pinduoduo [00:07:25] - Analysis of the user experience of social shopping   [00:13:22] - Using internal flywheels to optimize supply chain efficiency [00:16:10] - How Pinduoduo is a combination of Costco and Disneyland [00:19:47] - Overview of Pinduoduo’s business model and how it has changed over time [00:24:08] - How Pinduoduo Grocery fits in alongside their existing revenue streams [00:29:20] - Making large-scale decisions while managing such a vast infrastructure [00:32:44] - User base splits between secondary and primary cities [00:36:42] - What categories of goods their platform serves [00:40:06] - The relationship between discovery options and intentional buying [00:42:38] - How they manage to create such a deep experience with so many brand options [00:44:41] - The most defensible of Pinduoduo’s platform against competitors [00:47:53] - Growth objectives for the company as they look out to the future [00:53:38] - Learn more: Stories.Pinduoduo-Global.com, Agri Matters Podcast

Today, we will be breaking down Invisalign. Founded in 1997, Invisalign pioneered clear aligners as an alternative to metal braces. Today, Invisalign generates over $2bn of revenue and accounts for roughly 20% of the orthodontic market.   To break down Invisalign, I am joined by Nick Greenfield, CEO of Candid. Nick co-founded Candid in 2017 as an e-commerce solution to teeth aligners. Candid now offers a broad range of clear aligners and teeth whitening solutions across retail, e-commerce, and the professional market.   Nick's experience in the industry makes him an ideal person to explore Invisalign. We dive deep into the origin of the business, the unique relationship between Invisalign and orthodontists, the economics of orthodontics, and how Invisalign successfully used its patents to maintain its lead in the clear aligner industry.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:43] - [First question] - Overview of Align Technologies and their scale [00:03:31] - What Invisalign is and the problem it solves [00:04:43] - The footprint Invisalign has in the dental industry [00:08:40] - Defining orthodontics and the size of the market [00:09:49] - Why market penetration may double over the coming years [00:14:42] - What the market was missing in the 90s and allowed Invisalign to arise [00:16:20] - Unit economics across the value chain of orthodontics [00:19:40] - Economics of an entire practice built on Invisalign [00:20:34] - How they came to dominate and cement their market position [00:22:44] - Vertical integration and other ways held a majority in the clear liner space [00:25:02] - Branding, distribution and further means of competitive advantage [00:27:05] - Why not move further up the value chain and buy orthodontic businesses [00:28:40] - Invisalign’s P&L in gross margin and major item categories [00:31:49] - What share of chair means and why it’s important [00:32:56] - How many cases can currently be handled by clear alignment trays [00:34:52] - Orthodontists will remain employed once aligners achieve widespread adoption  [00:37:16] - Driving factors for Invisalign doubling over the next five to ten years [00:39:03] - China’s push for training orthodontists and clear aligner adoption [00:39:50] - Other reasons Invalisgn may double their market cap over the coming years [00:40:26] - Competitors and disruptors that may hinder their growth [00:42:01] - Joy dichotomy between patients and businesses [00:43:40] - What happened in 2017, how it changed the marketplace, and the road ahead [00:45:08] - Market share and penetration in today’s landscape [00:46:23] - An analog that can be used to explain Invisalign writ large [00:47:31] - What could revert Invisalign’s growth and market share [00:50:22] - uLab and orthodontists making aligners themselves  [00:51:53] - Other potential threats to Invisalign [00:53:26] - Patenting your IP and gaining an advantage in healthcare [00:55:28] - Lessons for builders and entrepreneurs from the Invisalign story [00:56:39] - Lessons for investors watching Invisalign’s growth over the years [00:58:07] - Where you can learn more; dentaltown Podcasts

Today, we will be breaking down Wix. Founded in 2006, Wix was created to make building websites easier. Fifteen years later, the Wix platform boasts over 180 million registered users and 4.5 million premium subscribers worldwide.   In this breakdown, we will explore how the company helped to lay the rails for small businesses to get on the internet. We cover the development strategies that linked Wix to the creator economy. We touch on the evolution of the freemium business model, and we analyze what differentiates Wix as a one-stop-shop from an increasingly competitive market.   For this episode, I am joined by Dave Ambrose. Dave is a seed-stage software investor focused on the skills and knowledge economy. Dave focused on the digital creator economy well before it was a widely adopted investment thesis - and as a former co-founder and operator - he is an expert on web-based businesses.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:52] - [First question] - The customer journey on Wix [00:05:44] - How a businesses relationship with Wix progresses [00:09:24] - Revenue model for Wix  [00:10:08] - The addition of the app marketplace to the Wix platform [00:13:06] - Their customer acquisition strategy [00:14:10] - A business that creates the rails for other businesses [00:16:52] - The stickiness of their customer base [00:18:47] - First major turning point - when Wix started charging customers [00:20:39] - Second major turning point - shift to mobile browsing and getting away from Flash [00:23:50] - The full landscape for website builders [00:28:13] - How the companies he invests in build their web presence and the challenges of building on Wix [00:30:52] - The Wix vs WordPress battle [00:33:41] - Wix’s horizontal integration strategy [00:37:14] - Being the rails for small businesses to get onto the internet [00:41:49] - What other business operators can learn from Wix [00:45:21] - What investors can learn from Wix

Today we will be breaking down Ethereum. Launched in 2015, Ethereum is an open-source, blockchain-based platform with a native cryptocurrency, Ether. Today, ETH stands as the second most valuable cryptocurrency to Bitcoin, and Ethereum is the preferred platform for blockchain projects. To help me break down Ethereum, I am joined by Justin Drake. Justin is a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation. During our conversation, we cover what differentiates Ethereum from Bitcoin, the increasing number of projects being built on the Ethereum platform, and what a shift from proof of concept to proof of stake means for Ethereum. I particularly enjoy Justin’s framework for defining money and various analogies to better conceptualize the blockchain. I hope you enjoy this breakdown of Ethereum. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:03:02] - [First question] - What a blockchain is on a fundamental level [00:04:36] - A core overview of Bitcoin and the Bitcoin blockchain [00:06:40] - Proof of work and why security is so important [00:08:38] - How much miners spend to secure the network [00:10:20] - Early days of Ethereum and what separates it from Bitcoin [00:12:02] - Vitalik’s role in the rise of Ethereum [00:13:14] - What can currently be built on top of the Ethereum blockchain [00:16:28] - Gas fees and an overview of ETH as a triple point asset [00:19:42] - What generates ETH and decides its value [00:22:36] - Defining proof of stake, how it works, and staking incentives [00:25:10] - Yields from staking ETH in the form of newly minted tokens and tips [00:29:15] - Load to power ratio of the Ethereum network [00:33:38] - Terms for staking your ETH and how much is expected to be staked [00:39:19] - Sequence of events when using ETH to buy an NFT [00:43:13] - Transaction fees how they’re calculated when buying and selling ETH [00:46:11] - Pros and cons of high network demand while trying to scale the Ethereum blockchain [00:50:41] - Defining money and why Ethereum’s design makes it optimized to become an economic engine [00:55:11] - Defi Pulse - The Decentralized Finance Leaderboard [00:55:47] - Ethereum’s rigorous decentralization standards and best in class proof of stake [00:58:57] - Overview of Bitcoin Wrapped and ETH as the native currency writ large [01:01:16] - A further in-depth analogy to better understand the Ethereum network [01:05:19] - Potential competitors and new DeFi blockchain innovation [01:08:27] - Key lessons for builders when studying Ethereum and decentralized finance [01:11:03] - Bankless, Epicenter.tv, Zeroknowledge.fm, Into The Ether

Today, we will be breaking down Calm. Founded in 2012, Calm is the leading app for sleep and meditation. Today, Calm has over 4 million subscribers and has been generating cash flow since its inception. In this Breakdown, we touch on how Calm used data to unlock a non-obvious source of demand, how the upfront subscription cost has allowed for pure operational focus, and what the competitive landscape looks like moving ahead.   To break down Calm, I am joined by my brother, Vinny Pujji, Partner at Left Lane Capital, an early-stage investment firm.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:37] - [First question] - What is Calm and what its businesses do [00:03:31] - How people pay for it [00:03:55] - The top use cases and value proposition for customers [00:05:19] - Who started Calm and the unique insights that led them to create it  [00:05:30] - Major inflection points that drove their business forward  [00:07:54] - An investor’s perspective on freemium funnel models [00:10:01] - Key factors that led to Calm’s success  [00:10:56] - Breaking down their subscription offer [00:12:34] - Analysis of customer retention and breakdown of unit economics [00:15:36] - The difference between their unit economics and other consumer businesses [00:17:28] - What’s unique about Calm from a cash flow perspective [00:19:40] - Capital efficiency when it comes to customer acquisition [00:21:02] - How they learned that sleep was a primary use case and making a shift to provide more content in that area [00:23:09] - Competing with and surpassing Headspace’s popularity  [00:24:19] - Ways that the future might play out for Calm and the mental wellness industry [00:25:38] - Other insights that led to a shift from a meditation focus to a sleep focus [00:26:47] - Designing content with a utility and enrolling celebrities [00:30:06] - Productizing and monetizing on pre-existing consumer habits [00:32:07] - Variable versus fixed cost models [00:33:09] - App distribution and generating widespread brand adoption [00:36:28] - Simultaneously, a software and a consumer business [00:39:19] - COVID-19’s impacts on Calm and how it drove their growth [00:41:19] - Potential contributing factors to Calm’s growth over the coming years [00:44:12] - Practical brand extensions already being implemented  [00:45:24] - Risks and challenges that may be faced in the coming decade [00:46:50] - Integrating new features and other risks that may need to be solved [00:49:27] - Whether or not switching behavior will affect Calm’s trajectory [00:51:09] - Bigger players in the ecosystem who could beat out Apple’s app store [00:53:02] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying Calm’s story [00:54:52] - Where you can learn more about Calm

Today we will be diving into Visa. Starting in 1958 as a BankAmericard credit card program in Fresno, California, it then became a non-profit consortium of banks that operated the Visa network. Over the first few decades of its existence, Visa became the protocol layer that allowed essentially all the banks in the world to communicate with one another.   In 2007, Visa completed a corporate restructuring that took it public and now boasts a larger market cap than all of the banks that previously owned it as part of the consortium.   In this Breakdown, we set the stage with Visa's role in a card transaction, describe the lifeblood of Visa’s revenue, interchange, and then dive into its unique history as a consortium turned multi-hundred billion-dollar public business. We then explore Visa’s unique moat and network effect, how Visa makes money today, and look at the potential threats from other businesses and macroeconomic forces. Visa is a fascinating business, and I recommend you check out our website at JoinColossus.com, where we provide additional articles, books, and podcasts for those who want to keep unpacking the Visa story.   To help me break down Visa, I'm joined by Alex Rampell, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he focuses on investing in financial services. Prior to joining Andreessen, Alex co-founded multiple companies, including Affirm and TrialPay, which was acquired by Visa in 2015.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:03:20] - [First question] - Key players and functionality of a credit transaction [00:05:50] - How $3 would be split up amongst the network after a $100 purchase is made [00:10:55] - How Visa came to be a central player and why banks don’t talk to each other [00:16:26] - Other businesses that have dominating protocol effects in fragmented sectors [00:19:47] - What the internals of a business like Visa looks like and  [00:24:48] - Visa’s topline revenue is almost entirely exclusive to transaction fees [00:26:11] - Thinking of Visa as a tax and simultaneous enabler of commerce writ large [00:30:48] - Why concentration poses a risk to their business model [00:34:56] - How international standards may play a role in Visa’s future [00:41:52] - Would it be worth it for merchants to build something competitive  [00:44:33] - Thoughts on new value transfer tech companies and their relevance to Visa [00:48:59] - Plaid’s role in the payment ecosystem and as a potential competitor [00:50:40] - Parallels between the crypto space, their protocols, and open-source payments  [00:52:54] - Business lessons for entrepreneurs when studying Visa’s history [00:54:44] - Lessons learned that can be applied to investing when studying Visa’s history [00:55:37] - Books to learn more; A Piece of the Action, One for Many   

Today we will be diving into Twilio. Twilio was founded just over a decade ago by Jeff Lawson, with the vision of enabling developers to access the world's communication infrastructure through APIs. Twilio has over 200,000 customers and powered nearly 1 trillion interactions last year through SMS, voice, video, email, and more.    In this business breakdown, we'll cover Twilio's unique approach to distribution, how lower gross margins versus peers can actually be a moat, and why Twilio's revenue model aligns incentives with its customers. We closed with the bull and bear case for Twilio over the next five years and what investors and operators can take away from studying Twilio more closely.    To help me break down Twilio, I'm joined by Ro Nagpal, a senior investment professional at the Holocene advisors.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:02:53] - [First question] - What is Twilio? [00:03:36] - How the world received text updates before Twilio [00:04:14] - The scale of Twilio today [00:05:02] - How expensive designing infrastructure of this magnitude can be [00:05:34] - How to use Twilio and gain access to its functionality [00:06:33] - The insight that led to developing the company [00:08:37] - Other aspects of Twilio’s services beyond SMS [00:09:50] - Unit economics of the business [00:12:01] - Case studies of likely and unlikely customers to use Twilio [00:15:17] - Original use cases and how they’ve evolved since [00:16:12] - Developer insights and what innovation it’s led to [00:19:19] - Twilio becoming a pioneer in the user software API space [00:22:15] - How big the TAM can be and why it’s bigger than people may think it is [00:23:38] - Why the API data and growth rate of Twilio separates it from its competitors [00:26:02] - How having a lower gross margin actually works to their benefit [00:27:28] - Who their competitors are and why Twilio beats them out [00:29:11] - Strategic acquisitions they’ve made like SendGrid, Segment, and Syniverse [00:31:18] - Unifying themes in their M&A strategy [00:32:08] - Fees associated with using iMessage and WhatsApp [00:32:43] - Improving margins as SMS becomes less pivotal in their operations  [00:33:21] - Things about Jeff Lawson that makes Twilio so special [00:35:25] - What’s their bear case is [00:36:19] - Lessons for builders and investors  

Today we will be diving into Cinnabon. Founded in Seattle in 1985, Cinnabon is the market leader among cinnamon roll bakeries and is owned by parent Company Focus Brands. Cinnabon currently operates in almost 50 countries with over 1,500 franchised locations, primarily in high-traffic venues such as shopping malls and airports.   In this breakdown, we start with Cinnabon's scale and an overview of the franchise's fascinating history. We then dive into what really makes Cinnabon special - its omnichannel ecosystem and how it balances franchisees, licensing deals, and distribution through other retails while maintaining its differentiated and relevant brand.    To help me break down Cinnabon, I'm joined by Kat Cole, the former COO and President of North America for Focus Brands. Before that role, she was the president of Cinnabon. Kat's operating and investing experience in this space and her deep understanding of the brand make her the perfect guest to break down Cinnabon. Please enjoy this Business Breakdown.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:03:04] - [First question] - The operational scale and complexity of Cinnabon [00:05:48] - Origins and humble beginnings of Cinnabon [00:10:07] - Diversified stakeholders involved in franchised businesses [00:14:44] - A focus on brand relevance and differentiation [00:19:38] - Building brick and mortar traffic during a recession and partnering with Pillsbury [00:23:21] - Cinnabon’s ability to thrive and support an omnichannel brand ecosystem [00:26:57] - Partnering with Burger King and fast-food market exposure [00:32:55] - Building successfully collaborative equity buckets [00:36:52] - Focus Brands and advantages of being part of a bigger ecosystem [00:41:52] - Balancing licensing opportunities while maintaining core channel partners [00:45:37] - Lessons for operators and investors we can take away from Cinnabon

Today, we will be diving into Costco. Costco is a favorite business story and model for many operators and investors. It was founded in 1983 in Seattle, and it has grown into a juggernaut with over $169 billion in sales and almost 60 million members globally. To me, Costco is the best example of doing one thing for customers and getting better at it constantly for decades.   To help me break down Costco, I talked to both Zack Fuss and Chris Bloomstran. Zack is an investor at Continental Grain, a 200-year old family-owned business that is focused on investing and operating businesses throughout the food and agriculture ecosystem with assets across the US, Latin America, and Asia. Chris is President and Chief Investment Officer of Semper Augustus Investments Group and a long-time shareholder in Costco.   In this Breakdown, we'll start with Zack by diving into the Costco business model, examining the relentless focus on efficiency that separates Costco from its peers, and exploring the secrets behind its private label brand, Kirkland. I'll then talk to Chris about Costco's growing international opportunities and the lessons that operators and investors can take away from studying the business and founder Jim Sinegal. I hope you enjoy this Breakdown of Costco.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:03:03] - [first question] - The fundamental equation that makes Costco work [00:04:02] - Dynamics of a shared scale economy business [00:06:45] - Jim Senegal’s devotion to perfecting one model for decades [00:10:10] - Examples of how far Costco is willing to go to provide value for its members [00:12:27] - Analysis of a private label strategy, and why Kirkland is such a success [00:15:35] - Key differences that separate Costco from their competitors [00:18:19] - An open-source retailing relationship with suppliers [00:21:10] - How they maximize sales per square foot over time [00:25:45] - Thoughts on leverage in unit-concept stores and why Costco doesn’t use leverage to accelerate growth  [00:28:02] - Lessons that can be learned and applied to other businesses    [00:30:47] - How Costco approaches international expansion [00:33:54] - Why Jim Sinegal is such an exemplary CEO

Today, we will be breaking down the world's largest e-commerce company, Alibaba. Alibaba was founded in 1997 by Jack Ma and almost 20 other co-founders as an online bulletin board that allowed small Chinese manufacturers to tell buyers around the world that they were open for business. Today, Alibaba operates a sprawling ecosystem of businesses that includes e-commerce marketplaces, cloud computing, food delivery, logistics, and financial services.    In this breakdown, we discuss the staggering scale Alibaba's business, how Alibaba went from copycat to innovator, the looming threat to Alibaba from the next generation of Chinese juggernauts, and how competition is viewed differently in China versus the West.    For this episode, I'm joined by a special guest host, Claire Cormier Thielke, who many of you will remember from her appearance on Invest Like the Best. Claire is the managing director of Asia Pacific for Hines and brings her first-hand view of what Alibaba has built in China and her daily experience using the company's products.    To help us break down Alibaba, we're joined by Ram Parameswaran, the founder and managing partner of investment firm Octahedron Capital. Ram has invested in some of the biggest Chinese companies of the past decade, including Pinduoduo and Bytedance, and is the first person I thought of when wanting to discuss Alibaba.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. 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 [00:03:13] - [First question] - What Alibaba is [00:04:29] - Tmall and Taobao [00:06:48] - The many faces of Alibaba as a country-scale business [00:09:58] - What defines a company as being country-scale [00:11:29] - Adaptive business models for cities of multiple tiers and mimetic behavior of other large-scale companies [00:18:15] - Alibaba’s ability influence the physical infrastructure of cities and China as a whole [00:19:01] - Full stack solution company JD Global [00:21:03] - Tencent [00:21:47] - Key players in the monetization of commerce in China: JD, Pinduoduo, Meituan [00:26:35] - Reducing friction may be the number one reason for internet businesses to scale [00:31:15] - Is it worth it for Alibaba to explore the social media space? [00:34:05] - Why Chinese companies are naturally more competitive and aggressive than North American ones  [00:38:46] - How China perceives and adopts language such as the Seven Powers framework [00:40:23] - What the West can learn from China and Alibaba [00:43:28] - Adopting Chinese practices for Western brick and mortar stores [00:45:35] - Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization [00:45:51] - Learning more about Alibaba; The House That Jack Ma Built