My guest today is Michael Ovitz. Michael is the legendary talent agent and co-founder of CAA, or Creative Artists Agency. Michael started CAA in 1975 and over the next twenty years, he built it into the world’s most formidable talent agency, changing Hollywood forever. The list of stars he’s worked with is endless, from Meryl Streep to Steven Spielberg and David Letterman.  Since leaving CAA, he has become an investor and adviser to many prominent firms, most notably Andreessen Horowitz, and Michael’s work ethic is unmatched. Please enjoy this great discussion with Michael Ovitz. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Show Introduction  (00:03:25) First Question, Michael Crichton's Impact (00:04:14) The Art of Storytelling and Creativity (00:07:20) Michael Crighton’s Writer's Block (00:09:53) The Birth of Jurassic Park (00:12:42) The Importance of Pacing in Storytelling (00:17:43) Positional Power and Influence (00:20:04) Knowledge is Power (00:22:10) The Role of Agents in the Business World (00:36:18) The Importance of Momentum in Business (00:42:35) Branding and Image (00:45:44) The Art of Spotting Talent (00:46:20) The Role of Persistence (00:51:25) Investing in People (01:00:30) Building Mystique (01:06:30) The Importance of Relationships (01:10:39) The Role of Art in the Entertainment Industry (01:17:04) Telling the Truth to Clients (01:25:28) Winning the Coca-Cola account (01:42:18) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done for Michael

My guest today is Erik Serrano. Erik is the CEO of Stable Asset Management, which he started 14 years ago in his early 20s and has scaled to over $3 billion in AUM. Unusually, Stable’s strategy focuses on other investing firms. They look to back the Blackstone's of tomorrow and provide those founders with capital and support so their time is spent doing what they do best, which is typically investing. We discuss the commonalities among promising founders in this sector, how Stable serves as a full resource to their companies, and some harsh truths learned from building an investing business. Please enjoy my conversation with Erik Serrano. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported data point and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard-to-calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building, and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:33) - (First question) Exploring the allure of investing in investment firms (00:08:20) - Discussing the scarcity of investors in investment firms (00:18:20) - Strategies for generating returns for investors (00:22:50) - Analyzing risk/return dynamics in portfolios (00:26:26) - Unveiling surprising insights from Project Legends (00:29:56) - Characterizing the ideal General Partner (GP) (00:37:23) - Identifying red flags in GPs' practices (00:44:10) - Viewing investment strategies as marketable products (00:52:52) - Delving into the emotional aspects of investing (01:01:57) - Tracing the lifecycle of an investment firm (01:13:04) - Offering guidance to aspiring young investors (01:18:24) - Reflecting on the notion that ‘nice people finish last’ (01:23:52) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

This week we are replaying our episode with Doug Leone. Doug led one of the world’s most successful venture firms, Sequoia, for over 25 years after he was given responsibility for the firm by its founder, Don Valentine, in 1996. Alongside Mike Moritz, the pair managed its expansion from a single $150m early-stage fund into an $85 billion global powerhouse. It was a privilege to sit down with Doug and learn from him. We talk about his tough start at Sequoia, get into the technicalities of great go-to-market motions, and survey his advice for other investors in the industry. A key theme that will stick with me from this conversation is Doug’s insistence on keeping things simple and clear. Please enjoy my great conversation with Doug Leone. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:21] - [First question] - What Don Valentine’s heart was like [00:06:30] - The most productive and unproductive parts of Don’s toughness  [00:10:55] - Why it’s so important to understand someone’s core motivations [00:14:18] - Questions or topics he returns to when getting to know people  [00:16:44] - The most formative experiences he had prior to becoming an investor that impacted his investing the most  [00:20:37] - What venture looks like to him today relative to his prior career [00:23:51] - His style of approaching emerging technology markets like AI as an investor   [00:26:37] - Whether or not he’d go into venture today if he was in his late 20s  [00:28:30] - Commonalities between the very best at going to market effectively  [00:31:11] - The key components of great product positioning   [00:37:15] - How interacting with companies early on has changed over the ears [00:41:12] - Whether or not new entrants into venture should build firms with enterprise value  [00:46:14] - Sussing out the killer gene in somebody  [00:49:04] - How successful people can instill the lessons learned from hardship into their children  [00:53:52] - Whether or not his view on competitive advantage has changed   [00:55:21] - The early 2000s clawback at Sequoia and what navigating that period was like  [01:00:40] - The most interesting question an LP has ever asked him  [01:05:00] - Which dinner companions he’d pick to educate a newly successful founder [01:07:59] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

My guest today is Justin Ishbia. Justin is the Founding Partner of Shore Capital. Shore is a private equity firm that invests in microcap businesses within industry niches. With $7 billion in capital deployed but an average transaction size of just $12 million, Justin has worked to build a system to drive success for hundreds of businesses through replicable operating procedures and championing young professionals.  The firm has created a moat around volume with nearly 600 acquisitions over the last three years, some of the highest numbers in the world. We discuss identifying growth prospects, constructing a meaningful board, and the business mentality behind "main street," not wall street, as Justin puts it. Please enjoy my conversation with Justin Ishbia.  Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes: (00:03:10) - (first question) - “The system is the star” and how it applies to Shore Capital  (00:07:10) - Shore Capital’s origin story (00:12:48) - What the perfect type of deal looks like for Justin  (00:16:34) - The historical rates of return for their deals  (00:18:12) - Shore Capital’s defensibility and strategic advantages  (00:22:13) - Their board system and incentive structure  (00:28:20) - Why they focus on the industrial subsector  (00:31:21) - Overview of thesis evaluation and generation  (00:37:24) - What they’re looking for during the diligence stage (00:40:45) - The bad reputation of levered rollups     (00:43:57) - What he’s learned about negotiations (00:46:39) - The weak points of Shore Capital’s system (00:48:59) - The Innovation Stack; Thinking about stacking unfair advantages  (00:52:11) - Selling a business and what buyers are looking for   (00:55:08) - Heavy focus on operations and their portfolio performance group  (00:58:00) - Why nobody above an associate level has ever left Shore Capital  (00:60:46) - Lessons learned becoming the owner of a major sports franchise  (01:03:56) - What’s surprising about how the league functions  (01:05:05) - Key people and firms he’s learned the most from  (01:07:17) - Where Shore Capital’s system could improve the most  (01:11:06) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Justin

Today, my guest is 21-year-old Gavin Uberti, who dropped out of Harvard to build Etched, which is one of the most fascinating companies I’ve seen. The topic of our conversation is the ongoing revolution in artificial intelligence, and more specifically the chips and technology that powers these incredible models. To date, general-purpose AI chips like Nvidia GPUs have powered the revolution, but Gavin’s bet is that purpose-built chips, hard-coded for the underlying model architecture, will dramatically reduce the latency and cost of running models like GPT4. We’re about to embark on what Gavin calls the “largest infrastructure buildout since the industrial revolution”, and I won’t spoil what he thinks this will unlock for all of us. It is so uplifting to me that someone so young can be working on something so big. Please enjoy this great conversation with Gavin Uberti. Check out Etched.AI Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported data point and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard-to-calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building, and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes: (00:03:41) - (first question) - Born too late to explore the world, too early to explore the stars (00:05:59) - Interpreting and defining superintelligence (00:07:20) - Excitement we can have for an AI driven future  (00:09:25) - Overview and basic terminology of the transformers that power AI  (00:15:53) - What Q* is and the rumors around it  (00:20:41) - Robotics, machinery, and what’s interesting about them  (00:23:18) - The problem of latency and computing power  (00:8:55) - Needing to build physical infrastructure that doesn’t exist (00:32:18) - Inference and training AI models  (00:36:00) - Major stages of chip design and the upper limits of speed  (00:45:56) - Customers for billion dollar generative AI models (00:48:56) - A sci-fi-esque reality and the politicization of AI (00:50:38) - The Bitter Lesson and the implications of powerful AI models  (00:56:27) - The most important companies in the AI space today  (00:61:52) - Strategically building a defensible AI product  (01:04:07) - Software development and why other AI companies fail  (01:06:51) - Specialization and chip performance improvement  (01:15:34) - Why the transformer remains the leading architecture  (01:17:26) - A proliferation of models beyond the major players and data access (01:21:19) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Gavin

Today, we’re releasing a conversation between John Collison and Charlie Munger. We've had this interview with Charlie scheduled to air for a while, coinciding with Stripe Press's launch of the amazing reprint of Poor Charlie's Almanack, which is released today. We were all stunned last week when we heard the news of Charlie's passing, but having consulted with those close to him, everyone agreed that he'd want us to release this interview. I'm thankful to be able to learn from him just one more time in this interview. Please enjoy, and may Charlie Rest in Peace.   Order your copy of Poor Charlie’s Almanack   Worldly wisdom episodes in honor of Charlie Munger: Daryl Morey: Systems Thinking in Sports Boyd Varty: The Art of Tracking Sam Hinkie: Find Your People David Senra: Passion & Pain Priya Parker: The Art of Gathering Charlie Songhurst: Lessons from Investing in 483 Companies For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:52) - (First question) - The fixation on evaluating business quality (00:05:58) - Learning the big ideas across various disciplines (00:10:03) - The issue of adverse selection in legal services (00:11:42) - Societal solutions for the opioid crisis (00:17:34) - Reasons for not investing in Amazon (00:20:38) - Explaining Costco's model (00:29:08) - Discussing the increasing challenges in investing (00:32:08) - Ingredients for long-term success in business (00:33:18) - Debating cryptocurrency (00:37:37) - Offering guidance for navigating a potential recession (00:38:56) - Reflecting on the state of American society (00:45:20) - Sharing a passion for architecture (00:54:13) - “Win-win” business (00:57:53) - Countering arguments against capitalism (00:60:42) - The origins of Poor Charlie's Almanack (01:05:14) - Building a productive partnership (01:08:55) - Opining on the SEC (01:12:22) - Highlighting investment concerns (01:16:31) - Reasons for optimism about China (01:32:14) - The unique aspects of Berkshire Hathaway

My guests this week are Peter Fenton and Victor Lazarte. Peter and Victor are both General Partners at Benchmark. Of the six equal partners at the storied venture firm, Peter is the longest serving and Victor is the newest, having spent the past decade founding and building Wildlife Studios into one of the biggest independent mobile gaming companies in the world. Peter has been a board member at Wildlife for the past four years and has a remarkable track record of tech investing over his two decades at Benchmark. In our discussion, we talk about the core motivators behind great entrepreneurs, Benchmark's unique operating philosophy, and what it's like to transition from builder to investor. Please enjoy this conversation with Peter Fenton and Victor Lazarte. Listen to Founders Podcast: #326 Anna Wintour  For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:04:10) - (First question) - Victor’s early expectations after being at the company for just three months (00:05:39) - What Victor misses from the operating life (00:06:59) - Peter’s opinion on what makes Benchmark a fascinating company (00:15:00) - Peter and Victor’s perspective on the significance of the phrase “life’s work” (00:24:19) - The influence of market tailwinds on success in investing (00:29:42) - How to keep founders’ generative drive at peak levels (00:32:39) - Balancing aggression, desire and generative drive when building and operating a business (00:34:22) - Victor’s approach to dealing with pleasure seeking as a successful operator  (00:38:29) - Why Benchmark intentionally raises funds at half the suggested amount (00:43:13) - Lessons learned from navigating challenging scenarios in venture capital  (00:46:27) - What excites Victor as he starts a new venture at Benchmark (00:48:19) - Why AI is more akin to the internet than crypto (00:52:41) - The significance of platform-based businesses in the contemporary landscape (00:57:45) - The impact tech giants exert on new entrants in the industry  (00:61:00) - Victor’s opinion on what makes great games and great gaming businesses (01:13:44) - Where Peter and Victor feel they have areas to grow (01:19:48) - Perspectives on human progress (01:21:14) - The kindest thing that anyone has done for both Peter and Victor

Today's episode is a conversation with Lior Susan, the Founder of Eclipse Ventures, whose mission is to unlock solutions to age-old physical industry problems through the intersection of bits and atoms. Lior is Israeli, and served in Israel's special forces before founding Ecplise. The topic of conversation is one fellow investor's perspective of the terror attacks of October 7 and the path forward. I hope more than anything that collective action is in the direction of fewer people dying, and most importantly, zero innocent civilians dying in Israel and in Gaza and Palestine. This is not a political show, and it won't become one. This is a conversation with a person deeply and personally affected by the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, who I believe to be a very good person who wants to be a part of change in the right direction for everyone good in and around Israel and Gaza, regardless of their background, religion, or anything else about them. Please enjoy my conversation with Lior Susan. Listen to Founders Podcast: #326 Anna Wintour For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported data point and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard-to-calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building, and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:57) - [First question] - Recounting Lior's career thus far (00:09:29) - Insights on the global situation post-October 7th (00:14:37) - Delving into Israel's historical backdrop (00:19:47) - Analyzing the wave of protests on college campuses (00:23:29) - Sharing thoughts on Palestine (00:28:49) - Planning for the use of his time ahead (00:31:41) - Evaluating the current state of leadership in Israel (00:36:27) - Concerns for the welfare of innocent people (00:40:47) - Assessing technology's role in future conflicts (00:44:08) - Crafting pathways to effective globalization (00:48:27) - Identifying traits that contribute to investment success (00:55:17) - Envisioning constructive steps post-conflict (00:57:10) - Reflecting on the lessons from strong leadership (01:01:04) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Lior

My guest today is Brad Jacobs. Brad’s resumé is remarkable. He has founded seven companies, all of which are billion-dollar or multibillion-dollar businesses. He has done 500 M&A transactions and raised $30 billion dollars of debt and equity capital. Currently, he is the Executive Chairman of XPO, a commercial trucking company that he started in 2011 and has grown into one of the largest logistics businesses in the world. He has also written a book that will be out in January, titled “How to Make a Few Billion Dollars”. Brad’s energy is infectious and our conversation unpacks his strategies for M&A, his propensity for speed, and methods for earning team buy-in. Please enjoy my conversation with Brad Jacobs. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:11) - (First question) - Identifying key factors in a market before investing (00:05:07) - Gleaning insights from early acquisition experiences (00:08:43) - Delving into the seller's mindset during a business sale (00:12:51) - Weighing pre-built against organic growth strategies in acquisitions (00:17:20) - Defining the elements of an ideal business (00:22:49) - Engaging constructively with Wall Street (00:24:36) - Discussing the substantial buyback of XPO shares (00:28:16) - Ambition as a recurring theme in entrepreneurial success (00:30:17) - Emphasizing the need to facilitate team agility (00:32:35) - Highlighting the joys of post-acquisition integration (00:36:09) - Drawing lessons from Ludwig Jesselson's principles (00:40:34) - Comparing the risks and rewards of early versus late adoption (00:44:09) - Reflecting on errors made in trend analysis (00:48:59) - Strategies for implementing new technologies in enterprises (00:51:59) - The significance of thought experiments in strategic decision-making (00:56:00) - Recalling transformative events from his early years (00: 57:22) - Outlining what makes a meeting 'electric' (01: 01:53) - Sharing experiences with exemplary leadership (01:05:02) - Strategies for maximizing team potential (01:07:37) - Deciding the right time to step away from a business (01:08:58) - Unveiling unexpected challenges in entrepreneurship (01:18:45) - Philosophies for leading a fulfilling life (01:21:04) - Finishing How To Make A Few Billion Dollars (01:22:53) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Brad

My guests this week are Elizabeth Zalman and Jerry Neumann. Jerry has been on this show two times before. He’s an early-stage Venture Capitalist, an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship, and an excellent writer. Liz is a two-time founder, most recently co-founding StrongDM, in which Jerry was a seed investor. Together, they have written a somewhat contentious book called "Founder vs Investor" that lays bare the relationship at the core of most new businesses. They take specific moments in a start-up’s life up to IPO and share their experiences on the friction that inevitably appears. In our conversation, we discuss the strong reaction to the book, the incentive problem at the root of the relationship, and explore best practices for other founders and VCs to follow. Please enjoy my conversation with Jerry Neumann and Liz Zalman. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes: (00:04:02) - (first question) - The controversy surrounding Founder vs Investor: The Honest Truth About Venture Capital from Startup to IPO  (00:07:53) - Considering the idea of firing founders (00:10:44) - Navigating morally grey areas for founders and investors (00:11:57) - Understanding the role of the board and their power (00:15:05) - A PSA for founders (00:17:48) - Identifying where incentives are most broken (00:22:28) - Viewing founder friendliness as a temporary status (00:25:41) - Offering good advice during the fundraising process (00:32:41) - Ensuring delivery on promises as an investor (00:37:04) - Strategies for a long-term relationship between a founder and investor (00:41:44) - Structuring the ideal board meeting tactically (00:48:13) - Determining which investing terms matter most (00:51:18) - Managing the dynamic between a founder and an investor during company growth (00:56:44) - Establishing a sustainable, differentiated position (00:59:08) - Defining the distinction between a founder and an investor (01:00:18) - Reflecting on lessons from exiting a business (01:03:52) - Exploring the VC-to-VC relationship (01:08:01) - Plans following their book release (01:11:34) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Elizabeth

My guest today is Palmer Luckey. Palmer is the founder of Defense company Anduril Industries, which makes next-generation military technology for the US and its allies. Since bringing the company to life in 2017, Palmer and Anduril have disrupted the established order in the Defense industry. Prior to Anduril, Palmer founded Oculus VR, a virtual reality business that he sold to Facebook for $2 billion. Palmer is only in his early 30s, but he has already experienced more than most people will in a 40-year career. We talk about innovation, invention, differentiated thinking, and so much more. Please enjoy this great discussion with Palmer Luckey. Listen to Patrick's Business Breakdown with Anduril CEO. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported data point and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard-to-calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building, and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes: (00:03:28) - The importance of synthetic long-chain hydrocarbon fuel (00:09:37) - Ranking America's potential for innovation (00:12:43) - Why there aren't more Thiel Fellowships (00:14:56) - The principles that motivate and drive him (00:18:21) - What it has been like working in the world of defense after the attack on Israel (00:20:34) - Surprising lessons learned when building a large company (00:24:02) - How to approach a new field initially (00:28:45) - Meeting other out-of-the-box thinkers (00:33:11) - Inventors working backward from existing systems versus forward from their ideals (00:34:51) - The most pressing issue in national security (00:41:01) - What matters most for America from a defense perspective (00:43:58) - How to determine which problems to prioritize (00:50:24) - Lessons learned from working with AI (00:57:21) - How Apple is shaping the future of VR (01:01:36) - Which videogame a prospective employee should excel at (01:04:06) - Why Oculus was so successful in marketing (01:11:13) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Palmer

Today’s guest is Aswath Damodaran, who is joining us for a second time on Invest Like the Best. Aswath is a Professor of Finance at NYU’s Stern School of Business and is often referred to as the Dean of Valuation for his clarity of thought on the subject. This conversation picks up where we left off 18 months ago and covers a wide range of topics from macro risks to Nvidia and the process of crafting a personal investment philosophy. Please enjoy this great discussion with Aswath Damodaran. Listen to Founders Podcast Episode #311 James Cameron For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus Converge — the first virtual event centered on the world of investor research. When twin brothers Tom and Mike Elnick realized that the research process for investors was broken, they founded Tegus to fix it. Now the people behind the most trusted research platform are bringing institutional investors together to investigate the state — and the future — of fundamental research. On November 8th, join industry luminaries like IGSB Founder Reece Duca and Daniel Gross, AI Expert, Entrepreneur and Investor, to dig into the latest research trends and breakthrough technologies shaping the investment landscape. Register today at tegus.com/register. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:45) - (First question) - The general prevailing narrative in markets today (00:05:00) - The biggest business implications given the current market landscape   (00:06:45) - Why it’s bad to have risky founders with cheap capital trying experiments (00:08:53) - The natural rate of interest and how it’s priced  (00:09:55) - His updated view and thoughts on what’s currently driving inflation   (00:11:05) - What it’s felt like valuing companies given rates being where they are (00:13:35) - Macro variables that most have his attention today (00:18:45) - Whether or not international equities will become a place of interest (00:21:53) - The unique absolute basis of NVIDIA’s growth  (00:23:25) - His take on the new wave of AI in a broad sense  (00:29:15) - Trying to value AI companies without tangible business models (00:32:45) - The parts of his own valuation process that are beyond automation  (00:34:20) - Thoughts on a natural end state equilibrium for active management   (00:35:55) - Commonalities between investors who beat the benchmark  (00:38:35) - Episodes on his own path that lead him towards his investment philosophy  (00:42:05) - How he goes about valuing non-traditional companies like sports franchises  (00:46:45) - The world of entertainment and how he sees it as a business today  (00:53:45) - The best business models he’s ever seen  (00:55:40) - What valuing Instacart taught him about online grocery shopping (00:58:55) - The most interesting company he valued over the last year (01:03:25) - How bank failures changed his thinking on our financial systems and banks as businesses writ large  (01:06:15) - The changing attitude towards ESG investing  (01:11:11) - Why there are still so many pools of capital that pursue an active strategy (01:11:06) - Being sick and tired of the conversation always revolving around central banks (01:15:53) - What he’s most excited to look into over the coming year (01:17:53) - Major differences between a financial and an accounting balance sheet

My guests this week are the co-founders of Stripe, Patrick and John Collison. My conversation with John in 2020 is still one of our most popular. A key theme that emerged from that first discussion was John’s boundless curiosity for all things business and this conversation continues that thread. We talk about setting a strategy and culture that attracts ambition, why the returns to sweating the details are high, and how they view Stripe’s progress against their mission to increase the GDP of the internet. Please enjoy this great and wide-ranging discussion with John and Patrick Collison. Buy a ticket to Patrick and David Senra's live show this Thursday in NYC. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 311: James Cameron Subscribe to Colossus's New Show: Art of Investing For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:16) - (First question) - Stripe's curiosity-driven growth fuels enduring success and expansion (00:08:34) - Why companies should resonate with founders' ideas but also have strong enduring cultures (00:012:27) - Stripe aims to reduce friction and expand global commerce by solving practical barriers (00:25:59) - Simplifying processes for startups and large companies to drive growth efficiently (00:29:11) - Analyzing the enduring stories of ancient companies (00:35:44) - Success in Hollywood and academia depends on unmeasurable vision and knowledge (00:40:11) - Stripe's ubiquity, self-serve nature, and collective care drive its unique status (00:43:16) - Success in tech is grounded in user-centricity, care, and connecting with customers (00:48:17) - Parental influence on becoming entrepreneurs is complex (00:50:21) - Adult perspective on parents, admiration for their work, and ongoing philanthropy (00:52:30) - Stripe's challenges include complexity due to diverse payment methods and global programmable accessibility (00:57:27) - Aiming for long-term durability, Stripe prioritizes beauty and craftsmanship in its pursuit (01:02:50) - The most memorable conversation they had between them (01:05:30) - Why the launch of Atlas was a defining moment in Stripe’s history (01:06:35) - How their 25-year-old selves would react to what they are doing now (01:10:19) - The various ways in which they feel proud of each other (01:14:35) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for them

My guest this week is Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of leading game publisher Take-Two Interactive. Maybe most well-known for its hugely successful Grand Theft Auto game, Take-Two is a sophisticated, top-tier developer, publisher, and marketer of interactive entertainment that owns Rockstar Games and 2K. Strauss’s passion for entertainment led him strong and fast into the industry as he worked his way from sales to CEO and transitioned from motion picture to gaming. Today we cover his approach to staying on the cutting edge of media development, unlocking talent and potential in those around you, and becoming the leader you were meant to be. His intensity and his standard for excellence come through clearly. Please enjoy my conversation with Strauss Zelnick. Subscribe to Colossus's New Show: Art of Investing Buy a ticket to Patrick and David Senra's live show. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus Converge — the first virtual event centered on the world of investor research. When twin brothers Tom and Mike Elnick realized that the research process for investors was broken, they founded Tegus to fix it. Now the people behind the most trusted research platform are bringing institutional investors together to investigate the state — and the future — of fundamental research. On November 8th, join industry luminaries like IGSB Founder Reece Duca and Daniel Gross, AI Expert, Entrepreneur and Investor, to dig into the latest research trends and breakthrough technologies shaping the investment landscape. Register today at tegus.com/register. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:39) - (First question) - Why the entertainment media sector is so interesting (00:05:08) - Key inflection points in the history of media (00:09:17) - The role of pure content in businesses today (00:10:32) - Requirements for being a successful media business operator (00:12:03) - Strategies for working effectively with creatives (00:16:13) - How to cultivate a conducive environment for creatives (00:25:54) - The allure of collaborating with Take-Two (00:30:09) - Strauss’ journey to becoming the chairman and CEO of Take-Two (00:37:42) - Strategies for reducing costs in business (00:41:16) - Embracing diversity in the video game industry (00:43:41) - Identifying high-quality intellectual property (IP) (00:46:04) - The inspiration behind Strauss’ book Becoming Ageless: The Four Secrets To Looking and Feeling Younger Than Ever (00:51:12) - Influential leaders for learning and growth (00:55:45) - The impact of technology and the rise of new platforms (00:57:00) - Common misconceptions about Take-Two (00:59:42) - Unique attributes of Take-Two projects (01:00:36) - Defining moments in the history of the business (01:04:19) - Anticipating the future direction of Take-Two (01:13:41) - Sources of motivation and inspiration (01:15:29) - The concept and value of a masterpiece (01:11:08) - Paramount values as a parent (01:11:38) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Strauss

My guests this week are Rick Buhrman and Paul Buser. Rick and Paul spent over a decade managing the public equity portfolio at Notre Dame’s Endowment before leaving in 2020 to set up a permanent capital vehicle called Sator Grove. As you’ll hear in this conversation, they know, have studied, or have invested with most of the world’s best capital allocators. A few years ago, they also set up a class at Notre Dame for 40 of the college’s brightest students, called Art of Investing. The class is devoted to exploring the joys of compounding and each week, they bring in a world class investor or operator to share in detail how they’ve built their lives, portfolios, and businesses around the principles of compounding. Starting next week, it will be available as a Colossus Podcast so that you too will be able to join their class and learn from the likes of Todd Combs, Andre Perold, Ho Nam and others. I’d encourage you to search Art of Investing in your podcast player and subscribe so you don’t miss the first episode. Now onto my discussion with Rick and Paul. Art of Investing: Trailer For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly-differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:30) - (First question) - Shifting from Notre Dame to Sator Grove (00:06:20) - An overview of Sator Grove (00:11:39) - Launching in April 2021, they manage $300M for diverse, flexible investments (00:15:47) - Investing in meaningful projects with trust, long-term focus, and high potential (00:25:30) - How Mitch Rales embodies insatiable curiosity and lifelong learning (00:39:33) - Embracing change, adapting, and experimenting for success (00:41:49) - How investors learn from failed companies (00:51:59) - Investment success hinges on talent's judgment, character, adaptability, and trust (00:56:53) - What they found concerning in firms and teams when assessing managers (01:02:16) - Analyzing asset allocation challenges (01:07:39) - Fostering disciplined habits for growth (01:13:06) - The importance of nurturing compounding (01:21:21) - Creating meaningful connections and providing lifelong lessons (01:26:58) - Wisdom from their mentors and its impact on their investing philosophy (01:43:49) - Defining the good life: Quality projects, quality people, and meaningful integration (01:45:29) - The defining moments of their investing careers so far (01:47:59) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Rick and Paul

My guests today are Jack Altman and Miles Grimshaw. Jack is the co-founder and CEO of Lattice, an HR software platform. Miles is a General Partner at Benchmark, an early investor and Board Director at Lattice, as well as a former guest on Invest Like the Best. Jack started Lattice in 2015 and has scaled it into a multi-billion-dollar business that already serves over 5,000 organizations. In our discussion, we look at all aspects of building and scaling a software product from both an investor and operator’s perspective, which made this particularly fun to do. Please enjoy my conversation with Jack Altman and Miles Grimshaw. Listen to Founders Podcast For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:55) - (First question) - How Jack & Miles met at Y Combinator in 2015 (00:04:22) - Lattice found a niche in mid-market HR software (00:07:55) - Discovering Lattice's true market need (00:11:14) - Fear of stalling drove the need for business growth beyond initial product (00:12:06) - Deciding on multi-product focus over up-market expansion (00:17:01) - Prioritizing quality of usage over frequency for customer health scores (00:20:06) - Balancing customer health scores and actual needs (00:24:31) - Prioritized community by spotlighting HR voices (00:28:20) - Building community helps companies sell a vision or lifestyle (00:31:05) - Cultivating broad awareness instead of hard-selling (00:35:33) - Overcoming the culture of 'perfection’ (00:37:22) - Flywheel effect makes suites efficient: lower go-to-market costs, more focus on product (00:41:06) - The challenges of juggling current needs and future demands (00:46:27) - Navigating disagreements and trust-building within a company (00:50:36) - Investors' roles extend beyond founders, focusing on their own goals and interests (00:51:52) - How transparency eases the founder-investor dance (00:55:16) - The changing employer-employee relationship (00:58:37) - Navigating growth from startup to public equity (01:05:43) - Lattice's ultimate aspiration (01:07:42) - Evaluating founders' authenticity (01:11:18) - What Jack & Miles are most embarrassed about, the most proud of, and the most excited for (01:14:30) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Jack and Miles

My guest today is Michael Simanovsky. Mike is the Managing Partner of Conversant Capital, a real estate investment firm he founded in early 2020. Conversant aims to be the most flexible capital provider in real estate, investing across public and private markets as well as equities and credit. The firm will also incubate platforms where they see an opportunity to take advantage of a compelling theme that lacks existing business models for investment. We cover the most undersupplied part of the market, why he’s building Conversant to be so flexible, and the surprising appeal of billboards. Please enjoy my conversation with Mike Simanovsky. Listen to Founders Podcast Join Colossus live in NYC with Patrick O’Shaughnessy and David Senra on Oct. 19. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:32) (First question) - Real estate investing through the lens of the capital cycle (00:06:50) - The capital cycle in practice (00:12:07) - Using evaluation of supply to determine where you are in a capital cycle (00:13:16) - Why real estate drew Mike in  (00:15:35) - The quality of investors in real estate (00:16:41) - What the US market needs most (00:20:26) - The range of returns in real estate (00:23:01) - Insights that stand out (00:26:45) - Starting a new company vs. building a portfolio of assets (00:28:46) - Key trade-offs and choices when building a firm (00:31:10) - Where things go wrong (00:33:59) - Best investment decision he ever made (00:38:06) - Philosophy on CapEx (00:39:52) - Misconceptions about real estate investing  (00:41:31) - Cold storage real estate (00:43:13) - The most interesting corners of the real estate market (00:46:13) - AI and its impact on the future (00:48:30) - Common investor missteps  (00:50:51) - Three guests Mike would invite to a dinner party  (00:52:34) - The most impactful questions to ask a real estate investor (00:53:17) - A defining moment of his career (00:53:17) - The premise of the platform approach (00:56:20) - Possible opportunities and an understanding of the current landscape (01:03:38) - Lessons Mike learned from basketball coach John Wooden’s philosophies  (01:04:30) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

My guest today is David Senra, the creator and host of Founders Podcast. With an incredible appetite for biographies, David has delved into the lives of over three hundred entrepreneurs, extracting invaluable wisdom that he shares with his audience each week. Throughout the conversation, we discuss David’s love of podcasts, and what can be gained from studying the lives of not just entrepreneurs, but of athletes and film directors alike. I hope you enjoy this conversation with David Senra. Listen to Founders Podcast Join Colossus live in NYC with Patrick O’Shaughnessy and David Senra on Oct. 19. Our first interview with David, Episode 292: Passion & Pain For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Tired of running your own expert calls to get up to speed on a company? Tegus lets you ramp faster and find answers to critical questions more efficiently than any alternative method. The gold standard for research, the Tegus platform delivers unmatched access to timely, qualitative insights through the largest and most differentiated expert call transcript database. With over 60,000 transcripts spanning 22,000 public and private companies, investors can accelerate their fundamental research process by discovering highly differentiated and reliable insights that can’t be found anywhere else in the market. As a listener, drive your next investment thesis forward with Tegus for free at tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:02:43) - (First question) - David's journey so far (00:05:13) - Why there are no negative surprises linked to his work (00:07:13) - Being bullish on podcasts (00:13:27) - The importance of storytelling to the entrepreneurial journey  (00:17:43) - The impulse of entrepreneurs who are world-builders  (00:23:03) - The universal trait of successful entrepreneurs  (00:27:43) - What David has learned from filmmakers  (00:31:23) - The dark side of the Type-A personality (00:35:13) - What he has learned from athletes (00:42:27) - The effects of early childhood on success (00:43:48) - Insights gained from conquerors  (00:49:33) - Ranking the importance he places on power, wealth, and fame (00:56:13) - The possibility of episodes on spiritual figures (01:02:17) - How Henry Ford created something bigger than himself (01:05:43) - His thoughts on ‘high agency’ people (01:11:57) - Why David is not afraid to talk about anything publicly (01:16:27) - His favorite line from Game of Thrones

My guest today is Will England, the CEO and Co-CIO of Walleye Capital. Walleye is a multi-strategy hedge fund headquartered in Minnesota that manages around $5 billion. Our conversation is a primer on multi-strategy hedge funds, which have become a force in markets through the success of firms like Millenium, Citadel, Point72, and Balyasny. We discuss the operational complexity behind the model, which managers best fit this type of investment style, and what happens in stress events like the Gamestop short squeeze in early 2021. We also talk about performance culture, the All Blacks, and Will’s experience as a US National Team rower. Please enjoy my conversation with Will England. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 311: James Cameron For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can’t be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:22) - (First question) - His fascination with Robber Barons (00:04:49) - He explains the style of investing he has built at Walleye Capital    (00:08:51) - The importance of scale and what it means for firms like this  (00:13:01) - A breakdown of the component parts of a 15% return structure (00:16:56) - His advice to new portfolio managers trying to succeed with long/short investments (00:21:23) - His reaction to an efficient market hypothesis    (00:27:33) - He tells us what happens above the individual manager level (00:29:42) - The universe of talented people behind the business (00:35:26) - The backstory of Walleye Capital and why he chose Minnesota     (00:42:37) - He discusses the felt experience of being at Walleye versus other firms  (00:47:25) - Whether he identifies more as an entrepreneur systems builder or as an investor (00:50:04) - What he says about the half life of successful quantitative strategies   (00:54:03) - A breakdown of style allocations and the percentage of managers within each  (00:56:30) - How he determines how much leverage to use and how to be great at applying it  (00:59:59) - How the firm handles tough investment periods (01:02:34) - How he knew Citadel wasn’t taking down gross during the GameStop short (01:03:51) - What he looks for when hiring a portfolio manager (01:06:37) - His philosophy on performance and how he blends that into his firms culture  (01:09:21) - Inspiration he’s taken from the All Blacks team (01:11:25) - Addition aspects of the firm he believes are important (01:13:46) - Historical finance pioneers that inspire him  (01:16:07) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Almost exactly a year ago, Colossus entered into a partnership with David Senra and the Founders podcast to join the Colossus network. The show has since exploded with more devoted fans than any podcast that I've encountered. With that in mind, we are excited to share an example episode from his show here today on the director, James Cameron. It's my favorite recent episode of David's. Please enjoy this episode, and if you haven't already, subscribe to Founders. This is what he learned from reading The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron by Rebecca Keegan and The Return of James Cameron, Box Office King by Zach Baron. Join Colossus live in NYC with Patrick O’Shaughnessy and David Senra on Oct. 19. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:04:00) - I watched Titanic at the Titanic. And he actually replied: Yeah, but I madeTitanic at the Titanic. (00:07:10) - I like difficult. I’m attracted by difficult. Difficult is a fucking magnet for me. I go straight to difficult. And I think it probably goes back to this idea that there are lots of smart, really gifted, really talented filmmakers out there that just can’t do the difficult stuff. So that gives me a tactical edge to do something nobody else has ever seen, because the really gifted people don’t fucking want to do it. (00:07:20) - At 68 years old, Cameron wakes up at 4:45 AM and often kick boxes in the morning. (00:07:45) - Self-doubt is not something Cameron has a lot of experience with. His confidence preceded his achievements. (00:09:00) - I basically gave myself a college education in visual effects and cinematography while I was driving a truck. (00:16:00) - Every idea is a work in progress. (00:17:30) - He's been on a planet of his own making ever since. (00:18:00) - The Return of James Cameron, Box Office King by Zach Baron (00:22:00) - His outlook is that we can take fate in our own hands. (00:34:00) - Cameron had only been at Corman's for a matter of days, but he was already taking charge. He seems constitutionally incapable of doing otherwise. (What a line!) (00:35:30) - Your mediocrity is my opportunity. (00:37:40) - Cameron finds writing torture. He does it anyway. (00:43:00) - Cameron is willing to let ideas marinate for decades. (00:55:30) - I'd just made T2 for Carolco and I admired how they rolled, being their own bosses, mavericks, entrepreneurs. (00:57:30) - Mute the world. Build your own world. (01:04:50) - Opportunity is a strange beast. It commonly appears after a loss. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast.