Andrew Sugrue - Investing in Paradigm Shifts - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 224]

My guest today is Andrew Sugrue, co-founder, and partner at Avenir Growth Capital. Avenir is a growth equity firm focused on backing category-defining businesses. In our conversation, we cover Andrew’s investing career, what he learned from Julian Robertson, how counter-positioning could drive unique distribution, and the difference between good and bad growth. We also spend time examining the business model of two of Andrew’s portfolio businesses, SavageXFenty and Latch. There are so many great lessons for investors and operators to take away from Andrew. Please enjoy my conversation with Andrew Sugrue. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ------ This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you've been scrambling to keep up with the deluge of IPOs and SPACs these days, Canalyst has models on Coinbase, Roblox, Qualtrics, and everything in between. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/patrick. ------ This episode is brought to you by MIT Investment Management Company – MITIMCo, the endowment office of MIT. MITIMCo seeks to find people who are focused on achieving exceptional long-term investment returns, partner with these firms early, and stick around for the very long term. MITIMCo is also searching for an exceptional new teammate to join their internal investment team. Visit mitimco.org to learn more – click “Join” to learn more about the Global Investor Role on MITIMCo’s team or and click “Emerging Managers” to learn more about their emerging manager activities. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:31] - [First question] - His journey leading up to his current firm [00:05:55] - Lessons learned from time spent with Julian Robinson [00:07:54] - The chip on his shoulder that helped keep him driven [00:08:40] - Transforming his early motivators into a sustainable career-long fuel [00:10:46] - The first things in mind when approaching a new business or person [00:14:00] - Analysis of Savage Lingerie and learning about how that sector operates [00:20:27] - Amazon producing a one-hour special Savage infomercial [00:23:16] - Lessons learned from Savage that can be applied to other direct to consumer brands [00:25:04] - Having a celebrity at the forefront of your brand [00:26:41] - Levers and overview of apparel company income statements and how they can shape the way you grow and operate the business [00:30:08] - Apparel companies always being tied to identity [00:31:03] - Analysis of Latch and learning about the relationship between hardware and software [00:33:40] - How Latch works and why you might need it [00:38:56] - Other businesses that may benefit from understanding the events that drive demand and using it as an opportunity for customer acquisition [00:40:12] - The concept of density of demand and the power behind it [00:41:33] - Other areas of operations density of demand could be applied [00:44:11] - Shared components that unite Avenir’s portfolio companies [00:46:14] - How he thinks about the world of private investment, having lived such a diverse career [00:50:22] - Developing relationships growing such a concentrated portfolio [00:51:35] - Macro thoughts on the state of investing today [00:52:59] - Defining and identifying characteristics of bad growth [00:54:05] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him