David Senra - In Service of Founders - [Invest Like the Best, EP.343]

My guests today are Josh Wolfe and Tony Thomas, better known as T2. Josh is the co-founder and General Partner at Lux Capital. T2 is now a venture partner alongside Josh at Lux Capital, after serving for almost 40 years in the US military and becoming a 4-star general and the 11th Commander of US Special Operations Command. Our conversation focuses on the technology frontier in defense as well as the geopolitical threats that the US faces. We talk about everything from semiconductors and autonomous weapons systems to the moral dimensions of investing in defense technology. I hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation with Josh Wolfe and Tony Thomas.   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 has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ------ This episode is brought to you by MIT Investment Management Company – also known as 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 doesn’t care how small, new, or un-institutional your firm is if you have the potential to generate amazing results that support MIT’s pursuit of world-class education, cutting-edge research, and groundbreaking innovation.   Despite their willingness to invest early, they do not ask for GP economics and they commit their initial capital for ten years.     Visit www.mitimco.org and their new emerging managers page to learn more. ------ 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 [00:03:46] - [First question] - Overview of Tony Thomas’s career [00:06:36] - His focus on the information wars and truthiness [00:08:50] - How Josh and Tony met [00:12:27] - Experiencing the slow pace of technology growth within the Department of Defense [00:15:51] - History of businesses selling to and engaging with the government [00:23:52] - Consensus of the threats we face today  [00:28:55] - Most important competitive frontier today  [00:35:09] - The lessening of kinetic warfare [00:46:51] - State of the drone technology and industry  [00:52:56] - Mapping the arctic and the geopolitical ramifications [00:54:31] - The frontier of space  [00:59:26] - What shouldn’t be unmanned technology  [01:02:31] - The cutting edge of simulation technology  [01:06:50] - The most important thing to know about the future of semiconductors [01:11:36] - The moral lens of working with and investing in defense companies [01:20:53] - Traits of the most exceptional soldiers he’s served with [01:23:53] - Kindest thing anyone has done for Tony

9 Mars 20211h 27min

My guest today is Matteo Franceschetti, the founder and CEO of Eight Sleep, a smart mattress company. I’m a customer of Eight Sleep and this was one of the most unique founder conversations I’ve had on the show, in both the focus on the product and the exploration of sleep. We talk about which biometrics matter, how hard it is to start a hardware company and launch manufacturing overseas, how Matteo manages his own sleep, and the massive potential for preventative health companies like Eight Sleep may have in the future. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Matteo Franceschetti.    For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, 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 [00:02:36] - [First question] - Origins of the Eight Sleep business [00:03:21] - Designing and testing the original product [00:04:17] - Goal of the product [00:05:19] - How temperature can improve sleep [00:06:28] - Accuracy of the sensors in this product [00:08:30] - Valuable inputs for health that they measure, HRV (heart rate variability) [00:09:59] - Amount of research on the variables they measure and impact on health [00:11:45] - Hardest data for them to measure in their mattress [00:14:03] - Early challenges to launching the business [00:15:27] - Lessons from the early manufacturing process [00:16:50] - Working through the potential business models [00:17:56] - Goal of less sleep and reducing light sleep [00:19:45] - Behavior changes he’s made as a result of understanding his sleep more [00:21:08] - How alcohol/caffeine impacts sleep [00:22:01] - How food impacts sleep [00:23:01] - Why glucose spikes are bad for sleep [00:23:40] - Challenges in the business after the crowdfunding stage [00:25:34] - Marketing lessons from a high price point and infrequently purchased product [00:26:42] - Most exciting day in the researching phase [00:27:48] - Turning an infrequent purchase into a frequent sale [00:28:54] - What it’s like to work with his wife [00:30:03] - Future of the quantified self-movement [00:31:23] - The hardest challenge in the business [00:32:13] - Most valuable things he’s learned as a fan of Formula 1 racing [00:33:41] - Future of the mattress business [00:35:28] - Other businesses he has learned from [00:36:40] - Lessons from the data part of the business [00:38:26] - Collecting more data from their customers without being intrusive [00:39:56] - What he’s learned through Apple Health  [00:41:39] - What has him excited for the long term future of Eight Sleep [00:42:32] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

4 Mars 202144min

My guest today is Jack Clark, head coach of the University of California Varsity Rugby team. Jack has one of the highest winning percentages not only at the collegiate level but in sports history, winning an incredible 90% of games since his start as a coach in 1984. That includes a 98 game winning streak from 1990 to 1996 and a 115 game winning streak from 2004 to 2009. In our conversation, we dive into how Jack builds high-performing teams, the shared vocabulary he creates across his organization, and his work with companies applying what he's learned on the field to operating businesses. Please enjoy this conversation with Jack Clark.    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 has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ------ This episode is brought to you by MIT Investment Management Company. MITIMCO is the endowment office of MIT. New and small investment funds listen up. MITIMCO is looking to find investors starting funds today.   MITIMCO is partnership-driven, long-term focused, and has an extensive history of backing investors early in their careers. These partners are key in delivering the outstanding investment returns required to support MIT's pursuit of world-class education, cutting-edge research, and groundbreaking innovation. MITIMCO is focused on finding and partnering with the best investors across the globe, no matter the market environment. No firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional.   If you or someone you know is currently in the process of starting a fund or recently launched, please email partner@mitimco.org or discover more on their website at mitimco.org/partner. ------   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 [00:03:44] - [First question] - Overview of his playing and coaching career [00:06:02] - The importance of creating a set of values for a team [00:07:53] - Why selflessness is such an important trait he looks for in teams [00:09:20] - Examples of selflessness in the teams [00:10:06] - The Winner Within: A Life Plan for Team Players [00:10:24] - Lessons on gratitude and entitlement [00:11:34] - Being a meritocracy on the team [00:12:55] - Rewarding merit as a coach [00:14:18] - Improving a team today, the power of the basics and fundamentals [00:15:29] - Defining toughness for players and teams [00:17:29] - Mark Bingham, the epitome of toughness [00:18:33] - Why he created and how he uses a glossary [00:22:09] - Creating a high rate of conversion in recruiting [00:25:01] - What qualities did the teams that beat him share [00:27:22] - Take on pride and something he is exceedingly proud of [00:29:17] - Translating the concepts from the court into the business world [00:32:20] - Where companies have room to improve [00:33:16] - Changing a company culture [00:34:21] - Coaches he has learned from  [00:36:00] - The power of non-cognitive grit [00:38:45] - Advice for companies creating a value set [00:40:40] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

2 Mars 202143min

My guest today is Ryan Petersen, founder and CEO of Flexport. Flexport is a technology platform for global trade. In this conversation, Ryan takes us through the fragmented world of international freight shipping, and we dive deep into the history and inefficiencies of the system. We also cover how shipping containers were standardized, how new protocols get adopted internationally, and the challenges of doing business in the “no man's land” of international waters. Ryan is the type of entrepreneur I enjoy talking to most: he has incredible domain knowledge, high energy and is tackling an enormous global problem. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ryan Petersen.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.   If you are looking for the best place to build web apps or API backends on robust infrastructure, DigitalOcean is the place for you. They provide a fully managed solution that handles your infrastructure, operating systems, databases, and other dependencies, on their new App Platform product. App Platform makes it easy to build, deploy, and scale apps. Get started for free at do.co/founders. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, 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 [00:03:24] - [First question] - Overview of what Flexport does [00:04:49] - His introduction into the world of shipping [00:06:49] - Difference between parcel and freight [00:08:53] - Market cap of the overall shipping industry [00:12:52] - Worst parts of the shipping world [00:15:34] - Improving the tech behind the shipping container [00:19:06] - Why the shipping container changed the world [00:19:07] - The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger [00:21:27] - Teams and outsider perspectives in solving problems [00:22:34] - How their business could make shipping more efficient and reduce costs [00:25:24] - Where the margins and profits are made in shipping [00:25:49] - Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger [00:27:11] - The finance side of shipping [00:28:56] - Maritime law and the ocean [00:30:57] - How much is left in the digitization of shipping [00:32:48] - The perfect state of shipping using Flexport [00:38:19] - Investing in hard assets to expand the business [00:41:03] - Lessons about building a business and global coordination [00:43:15] - Multidisciplinary thinking among their team [00:44:04] - Global supply chain issues in light of Covid and ocean policing  [00:44:15] - Peter Zeihan Podcast Episode [00:47:59] - Testing out demand in the beginning [00:50:28] - The process of testing out new ideas and killing off losers [00:52:33] - Important lessons/themes for founders [00:54:51] - Hardest learned lesson, fundraising [00:58:06] - Other opportunities in shipping [00:59:47] - Lessons for creating a new standard [01:02:22] - Using their standardization to improve global relief work [01:04:40] - Creating synchronicity in a company [01:07:09] - What he’s excited about for the future [01:07:53] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

25 Feb 20211h 10min

My guest today is Jeremy Grantham. Jeremy is the Long-Term Investment Strategist and Co-Founder at GMO. Jeremy has an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of markets, which made it such a pleasure to have him back on the show. In this conversation, we discuss the three key signs of a bubble, why Jeremy believes we are in a bubble right now and how it’s being led by retail rather than institutional investors. We close with the important role that demographics and productivity will play over the next few decades across the world. Please enjoy my conversation with Jeremy Grantham.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest-growing fintech startups. I discovered Koyfin earlier this year when I asked Twitter for the best Bloomberg alternative, and the overwhelming winner was an intriguing new product called Koyfin.  Koyfin has tons of high-quality data, powerful functionality, and a nice clean interface. If you’re an individual investor, research analyst, portfolio manager, or financial advisor, you should definitely check them out. Sign up for free at koyfin.com.  ------ This episode is brought to you by MIT Investment Management Company. MITIMCO is the endowment office of MIT. New and small investment funds listen up. MITIMCO is looking to find investors starting funds today.   MITIMCO is partnership-driven, long-term focused, and has an extensive history of backing investors early in their careers. These partners are key in delivering the outstanding investment returns required to support MIT's pursuit of world-class education, cutting-edge research, and groundbreaking innovation. MITIMCO is focused on finding and partnering with the best investors across the globe, no matter the market environment. No firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional.   If you or someone you know is currently in the process of starting a fund or recently launched, please email partner@mitimco.org or discover more on their website at mitimco.org/partner. ------ 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 [00:03:03] - [First question] - His view on the markets today  [00:03:07] - Jeremy Grantham’s Podcast Episode [00:08:00] - Proliferation of SPAC’s and how he views them as a potential bubble [00:10:20] - Could SPAC’s help to improve the IPO process [00:14:30] - How he viewed the Gamestop story through his historical context  [00:18:24] - Is investor education possible  [00:19:50] - How the increasing role of retail investors impacts bubbles [00:24:15] - Attitudes towards market bears in bubbles [00:28:52] - Long term view on the economy and the forces pushing it higher [00:41:50] - Returning to a hard money standard for the US economy [00:49:39] - Would a finite supply of money change market trajectory [00:51:02] - Best ways to improve the infrastructure of the economy and people’s willingness to work [00:53:52] - What should one do if they believe we are in a bubble [00:58:14] - What he is excited about in his green investments [01:02:28] - Advice to young investors

23 Feb 20211h 6min

My guest today is Carlos Brito, CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev. AB InBev is the world’s largest brewer of beer and maintains a portfolio of hundreds of beer brands across the globe. Our conversation focuses on AB InBev’s culture of ownership, how Carlos balances organic growth with acquisitions and managing disruption as an industry incumbent. I loved hearing about Carlos’ story from growing up in Brazil to now running one of the largest businesses in the world. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Carlos Brito.   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 has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ----- This episode is brought to you by NetSuite. NetSuite allows founders to centralize their payment systems, ditch old spreadsheets and Quickbook tools, and finally gain visibility and control over their financials, HR, inventory, eCommerce - all in one place, instantly.Whether you are doing a million in revenue or hundreds of millions in revenue - see why over 22,000 companies are using NetSuite today. Schedule your free product tour at netsuite.com/invest. ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, 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 [00:03:12] - [First question] - His career path and how he got to where he is today [00:11:02] - Culture building lessons throughout his career [00:14:52] - Maintaining ownership of company culture as businesses grow  [00:16:47] - How and why they avoid wasted resources [00:18:49] - Why conserving resources is so beneficial for a company [00:21:18] - Spreading culture into new members of a team [00:25:26] - Lessons from managing a large portfolio of different brands [00:27:58] - Biggest mistakes he has seen within brands [00:29:38] - Navigating changes/threats in the beer industry, starting with craft beers [00:32:56] - Lessons from the production and distribution side of the business  [00:36:02] - How to assess and decide to move into a new market [00:37:12] - Role of data in deciding how to allocate resources and capital [00:40:34] - The evolution of marketing over his career [00:44:32] - Implementing the meritocracy to keep the right people in the company and move them around [00:47:59] - Feedback he needed to hear [00:49:16] - How other leaders can decide on whether to focus on inorganic or organic growth [00:51:41] - What he’s most proud of from his career [00:53:13] - Passion for the product [00:54:12] - Most memorable beer in his life [00:54:56] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

18 Feb 202158min

My guest today is Scott Belsky. Scott was the co-founder and CEO of Behance, the world's largest creative network, and a prolific angel investor, having made early-stage investments in Pinterest, Uber, Carta, and Airtable. His company was acquired by Adobe in 2012, where he is currently the chief product officer. In this conversation, we cover the importance of focusing on the first mile of a customer's experience with your product, why every user is (at first) either lazy, vain or selfish, and what the rise of creativity tools means for creators and investors in the future. We also cover the major trends that Scott thinks will dominate for the next decade. This was one of those conversations where I was left with 10 great lessons that will stick with me for a long time. Please enjoy my conversation with Scott Belsky.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. 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 [00:03:24] - [First question] - Philosophy for building great products [00:04:52] - Starting the journey of building a great product  [00:06:08] - Making the first mile better [00:08:12] - Understanding user progress in product building  [00:10:25] - Getting to awareness and attention and interest in a product  [00:12:41] - The concept of window dressing [00:14:24] - Taking an idea and turning it into a high-value product  [00:14:42] - The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture and Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality [00:16:49] - Keeping rewards structure in place for teams to stay engaged [00:19:56] - Using his knowledge in product building to invest in other companies [00:24:00] - The concept of object model [00:25:52] - User psychology concepts they keep in mind when designing a product [00:27:51] - Implementing all of these strategies into a product [00:29:25] - The era of eduployment [00:31:05] - How this will impact colleges [00:33:27] - The evolution of the talent/audience relationship [00:35:32] - Decentralization and the companies of 1 [00:37:44] - How that decentralization will impact his investment thesis [00:39:21] - How increased productivity tools could help with more creativity in the workplace [00:42:04] - Training people to be more creative in the workplace [00:44:33] - Future of user interfaces [00:44:58] - The Interface Layer: Where Design Commoditizes Tech [00:48:10] - Good design principles [00:49:51] - The future coming out of Covid [00:52:09] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

16 Feb 202155min

My guest today is Matt Mullenweg, co-founder and CEO of Automattic, the company on top of the open-source project WordPress that Matt helped start. Today, WordPress powers 40% of all the websites in the world. Our wide-ranging conversation covers the state of the internet when Matt first started WordPress, the symbiotic relationship between open source and proprietary projects, and how the most successful companies are really master world builders. I hope you enjoy this great conversation with Matt Mullenweg.   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 has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more. ----- This episode is brought to you by Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to both get and maintain your SOC 2 report, at a fraction of the normal cost. Founder’s Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick.  ----- Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, 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 [00:03:15] – [First question] – What the internet felt like when he first started building Wordpress [00:05:11] – What was wrong with his impression of the internet then [00:06:50] – Being a connoisseur of things overlooked  [00:08:34] – How permission less publishing and open source software shaped the internet [00:12:30] – Balance between centralization and decentralization and where we are in the cycle [00:14:08] – The cycle between direct-to-consumer and having intermediary [00:16:32] – New opportunities and challenges of the internet today [00:18:49] – Potential of cryptocurrency to enable big changes on the internet [00:21:22] – The idea of distributed work via the internet and the utopia of it [00:21:38] - Sam Harris podcast with Matt Mullenweg [00:24:31] – Advantage of having a team distributed across geographies and timezones [00:26:46] – What he learned from the Amazon’s API mandate [00:29:12] – Landmines of distributed work [00:31:13] – Interesting lessons learned building Wordpress [00:34:55] – Company building as world building [00:35:52] – Lessons from Microsoft on platform building [00:38:53] – Key ingredient to world building within your company [00:41:09] – Lessons from Wix and Shopify  [00:42:23] – How to decide what to do next in resource and capital allocation [00:47:00] – How to engage with other stakeholders in a platform business [00:50:06] – The continued connectivity created by the internet [00:53:14] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

11 Feb 202157min