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

My guest today is Zach Fuss, an investor at Continental Grain, a 200-year-old family owned business that is focused on investing and operating businesses throughout the food and agriculture ecosystem with assets across the US, Latin America, and Asia. Prior to his work at Continental, Zack was an analyst at Tiger and Citadel. This is a must listen for those interested in any aspect of the food ecosystem but also understanding value chains more generally. In our conversation we cover where profits tend to sit in a specific value chain, how legacy food businesses are creating their 2nd acts as digital businesses and explore what makes Domino's Pizza so interesting and special. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Zach Fuss.    For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/93129089/fuss-breaking-down-the-food-ecosystem    Invest like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter.   Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:42] – [First question] – Key components of the food management business [00:05:12] – The most defensible businesses in the food chain [00:07:51] – Law of conservation of attractive profits in the food business and food delivery [00:11:05] – Legacy food businesses and ones that have adapted well to changes today [00:15:42] – Dark stores and cloud kitchens [00:17:11] – Breaking down the Domino's Pizza business [00:19:45] – Being a Domino's Pizza franchise owner [00:21:03] – Why they offer such high returns to franchise owners [00:23:22] – The tech company aspect of Domino's Pizza [00:25:25] – Same store economics for an owner [00:28:15] – When Domino's Pizza realized their food was not great [00:29:45] – Why Domino's Pizza owns the delivery and won’t go on other platforms [00:32:47] – Most portable pieces of Domino's Pizza business [00:34:03] – Parts of Domino's Pizza history that are intriguing [00:35:51] – Build once, sell many times [00:40:09] – Lessons from the best retail businesses [00:43:26] – Has it become harder for smaller companies to win with larger ones being more nimble [00:46:39] – Watching the alternative meat companies flourish [00:49:49] – Interesting trends in the food space [00:51:22] – Global trends in food that we can learn from [00:54:04] – Impact of Covid on the food industry [00:57:44] – Businesses outside of stores that he finds fascinating [01:00:08] – Why he’s impressed by Chipotle [01:01:48] – Approaching buying a franchise [01:05:30] – Creating a new QSR business and differentiating from the pack [01:07:58] – Frontiers that he’s interested in today [01:10:17] – What he is saying in the competitiveness in public equities [01:13:48] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

12 Jan 20211h 21min

My guest today is Carlos Cashman,  co-founder and co-CEO of Thrasio an acquirer of third-party Amazon sellers. In a surprising departure for a high growth company, Thrasio has been profitable since its founding in 2018 and was most recently valued at $1 billion. In our conversation we discuss the full spectrum of the Amazon third party seller ecosystem, the effects of globally commoditized manufacturing, and the terms of Thrasio's acquisitions of Amazon businesses. I hope you enjoy this great conversation with Carlos Cashman.     For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/28372673/cashman-lessons-from-the-amazon-ecosystem   This episode of Founder's Field Guide is sponsored by Klaviyo.  Klaviyo is the ultimate marketing platform for ecommerce. With targeted segmentation, email automation, SMS marketing, and more, Klaviyo helps you create your ideal customer experience. See why Klaviyo's trusted by more than 50,000 brands, like Living Proof, Solo Stove, and Nomad to help them grow their business.   For a free trial check out https://www.klaviyo.com/founders.      This episode is also sponsored 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. Founders 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 go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter.   Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:02:44] – [First question] – Origin of Thrasio [00:07:27] – The types of business they work with [00:11:19] – Challenges for smaller businesses selling on Amazon and when they need a Thrasio [00:15:31] – How the Amazon ecosystem has changed since they started [00:18:14] – The capital sourcing side of their business [00:19:49] – Future of the ecommerce space that has them excited [00:27:20] – What makes the major online powerful so powerful for DTC companies [00:32:18] – How edge erodes on spend when people crowd into a platform [00:34:46] – Building the recognition of the Thrasio brand [00:44:06] – His history as an entrepreneur and what was the common thread in these businesses [00:45:47] – Getting customers early on [00:46:47] – Knowing when something will fail [00:48:48] – Downside of MBA’s [00:50:07] – The importance of people in building a company [00:51:01] – Effectively hiring people [00:52:37] – What has to remain with the founder             [00:52:50] – The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success [00:53:53] – Other places in ecommerce that fascinate him [00:56:36] – What are the risk factors that he worries about [00:59:12] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

7 Jan 20211h 5min

My guest today is Ram Parameswaran, founder of Octahedron Capital. Ram started Octahedron this year after more than 5 years as a partner at Altimeter Capital where he made investments in Square, Bytedance, Pinduoduo, and Udaan. In our conversation we cover the potential for internet scale businesses, explore the common characteristics of these businesses, and then go through a rapid-fire round of the most important qualities for 8 business models. This conversation was a blast of energy and could have gone on for 2 more hours. I hope to have Ram on again and can't imagine what his conversations are like at the dinner table with his wife and former podcast guest, Anu Hariharan. Please enjoy this awesome conversation with Ram Parameswaran.     For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/22392883/parameswaran-internet-scale-businesses   This episode of Invest Like the Best is sponsored by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis.  If you’re a professional equity investor and haven’t talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick.     This episode is brought to you by the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCO). MITIMCO is always on the looking for promising investment managers with the potential to compound our capital for a decade or more. If you think your firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional, you might just be exactly what we are looking for. Check us out at https://mitimco.org/partner/ or e-mail us at  partner@mitimco.org. Please also see our new page for emerging managers https://mitimco.org/emerging-managers/.    Invest like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter.   Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:45] – [First question] – The opportunity of the commercial internet [00:11:18] – Identifying the companies that will take advantage of this shift to online commerce [00:18:30] – How businesses build scale, in particular internet vs non-internet businesses             [00:23:09] – How Amazon Wins: By Steamrolling Rivals and Partners [00:24:19] – The Carvana playbook [00:30:11] – Using frequency of use as a factor in valuing a business [00:33:55] – Evaluating ByteDance and what can others learn from them [00:40:52] – Finding success in an experiment [00:43:32] – How online commerce business will grow globally, with India in focus [00:55:28] – How they approach and evaluate online advertising businesses [00:54:50] – Evaluating direct content subscription online businesses [00:55:42] – Biggest challenges in building ecommerce online businesses [00:58:31] – The lens to evaluate online marketplace businesses [00:59:43] – What distinct things matter for on-demand online businesses [01:01:56] – The competition in the online payment space business [01:06:35] – Rake/Take rates outside of the US [01:08:25] – Things that matter for consumer software [01:10:25] – How that compares to enterprise software [01:11:44] – Evaluating developer companies             [01:11:51] – Jeff Lawson Podcast Episode [01:13:53] – Advice to help people be successful early in their investing career [01:17:22] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

5 Jan 20211h 26min

Dylan Field is the co-founder and CEO of Figma, a collaborative, online design tool which has taken the world by storm. With a most recent valuation of more than $2B and bakers like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, and Greylock, Figma has been one of the most successful companies building tools for creators. In our conversation, we dive into the principles Figma is built on, how they created multi-player for design tools, and the growing importance of design in business. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Dylan Field.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/375923/field-the-growing-importance-of-design   DocSend is a document sharing platform that enables companies to share business-critical documents with ease and get real-time actionable analytics. With DocSend’s security and control, startup founders, investors, business development executives, and financial professionals can drive business outcomes that have a lasting impact. Start for free at www.docsend.com.   Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter.   Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:2:04] – [First question] – His decision to and application for the Thiel Fellowship [00:3:23] – What makes his co-founder Evan so good [00:4:15] – The Thiel Fellowship interview process [00:5:26] – Creating better opportunities for open ended learning in education             [00:6:12] – Why Software Is Eating The World [00:7:48] – Importance and types of independent thought as they built Figma [00:10:00] – Early stages of forming Figma [00:12:03] – The market of designers and what Figma does [00:15:57] – His principles of good design             [00:17:36] – Bret Victor - Inventing on Principle [Youtube]             [00:17:49] - Up and Down the Ladder of Abstraction [00:18:12] – Future of design tools [00:19:45] – Design as a multiplayer concept and surprises that have come from it [00:21:40] – Threshold to know when product-market fit occurred [00:24:11] – Lessons for pricing something effectively [00:25:48] – Biggest challenge growing the business for him [00:26:58] – What he’s learned as a manager since starting Figma [00:28:38] – Lessons in effective recruiting [00:31:49] – Payoff of hiring the right partner [00:33:01] – The chapters/stages of Figma [00:34:38] – What has led to success in terms of the distribution of Figma [00:35:56] – Hardest thing to copy about Figma [00:36:47] – Dealing with customer support and unhappy users [00:38:08] – Their Communities platform and why it’s important for the business [00:39:02] – Learning about and from their competitors [00:41:50] – The landscape of software design tools [00:43:43] – Interesting creator tools [00:44:31] – What would be the key levers that lead to explosive growth for Figma [00:45:57] – Global trends he is most curious in [00:47:21] – Creating a more private digital world [00:49:33] – Thoughts or advice for people building something new [00:50:57] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

31 Dec 202057min

My guest today is Tracy Graham, founder and managing principal of Graham Allen Partners, a private equity firm that specializes in acquiring and building technology-enabled businesses. In our conversation we discuss how Tracy ended up playing football at Notre Dame, the key lessons he learned from famed coach Lou Holtz, why Graham Allen believes that businesses in secondary or tertiary US markets are undervalued, and why technology represents a great way to improve old businesses. I hope you enjoy my fun conversation with Tracy. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/86798473/graham-investing-in-overlooked-businesses.   This episode of Invest like the Best 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 Square, Snowflake, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit https://www.tegus.co/patrick to learn more.   This episode is brought to you by the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCO). MITIMCO is always on the looking for promising investment managers with the potential to compound our capital for a decade or more. If you think your firm is too small, too young, or too non-institutional, you might just be exactly what we are looking for. Check us out at https://mitimco.org/partner/ or e-mail us at  partner@mitimco.org. Please also see our new page for emerging managers https://mitimco.org/emerging-managers/.   Invest like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best go to https://www.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 at https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus   Show Notes [3:35] – [First question] – Tracy’s origin story [7:17] – Lessons from Lou Holtz [8:58] – Why Lou was so good as a leader [10:32] – His early experience as an entrepreneur [15:45] – Investing principle at Graham Allen and how it was shaped by his experience [18:41] – Types of companies they target for investment [23:09] – Defining a unique and interesting data set [27:14] – Mispricing data sets and the fools gold [29:19] – Overview of a Midwest manufacturing company [31:50] – How data is being generated in manufacturing businesses [36:57] – Data to improve marketing [41:13] – Using data to dissect distribution [45:59] – Valuation of the companies in terms of multiples they are looking at [47:31] – Business values he strongly believes in [50:54] – Significance of Kenneth Allen in the firm [52:23] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

29 Dec 202058min

Zach Perret is the founder and CEO of Plaid.  Plaid helps companies build fintech solutions by creating APIs that allow people to connect their financial data to apps and services. In this conversation, we dive into Zach's philosophy on building products, how the financial system works today, how the financial system needs to be updated, and the trends Zach is seeing from the next wave of fintech companies launching on Plaid. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Zach Perret.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/39328476/perret-the-future-of-financial-services   DocSend is a document sharing platform that enables companies to share business-critical documents with ease and get real-time actionable analytics. With DocSend’s security and control, startup founders, investors, business development executives, and financial professionals can drive business outcomes that have a lasting impact. Start for free at www.docsend.com.   Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide go to https://www.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 - https://www.joincolossus.com/newsletter.   Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus   Show Notes [2:00] – [First question] – The notion of Great Challenges he got from his parents [3:34] – How it was instilled into him [4:26] – Default Consumptive State and constantly asking questions [5:33] – Origins of Plaid [8:57] – An overview of the Plaid product [11:10] – The early challenges of building Plaid and creating trust with all of the stakeholders [15:57] – First big break for Plaid [18:06] – Convincing Venmo to work with them [20:12] – What helped build relationships with customers [21:30] – How money is moved and their place in the chain [24:34] – How convenience helps to create larger markets and opportunities [26:39] – Usage base vs recurring revenue models [28:03] – Maintaining their systems as the landscapes and customers shift [29:56] – What is he seeing on the financial services frontier [32:34] – Building relationships with developers [35:07] – Lessons from building a business he’s learned along the way [37:44] – Successful techniques in recruiting [39:52] – What’s working well in this current landscape [41:41] – Business models that interest him [43:14] – Advice for other startup founders [44:49] – Things he doesn’t understand today that he wishes he did [45:46] – What he attributes Plaid’s success too [47:55] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him [50:09] – How you know when you’ve found a great challenge

24 Dec 202059min

My guest today is Mario Cibelli. Mario is the managing partner of Marathon Partners Equity Management, a long-biased, concentrated investment firm that he's run for over 20 years. In our conversation, we discuss how his firm figured out Blockbuster's DVD volume and told Reed Hastings and Netflix about their numbers, why visiting a company's distribution center can be an edge for investors, Mario's interesting foray into the world of tequila, and how a few "cornerstone" investing insights have led to many of Marathon's long positions. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Mario.   This episode of Invest like the Best 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 Square, Snowflake, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit https://www.tegus.co/patrick to learn more.   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes (2:34) – (First question) – Doing a deep dive into the early days of Netflix             (2:43) – Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America's Eyeballs (6:50) – What was impressive about Reed (7:34) – Visiting Netflix’s distribution centers early on and the lessons of those visits (10:44) – Lessons learned from other distribution centers (17:52) – What helps create good luck for a company (19:17) – Why tequila was fun to investigate (25:09) – Why tequila is different from other hard liquors (27:40) – Finding the cornerstone insight in a company (29:20) – What he’s learned about media-driven personalities and WWE (34:30) – Lessons in starting a media company and developing IP (39:00) – Having to battle activist shareholders in business (42:43) – How the rate of return in deep investigations has changed over his time (45:08) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

22 Dec 202048min

My guest today, Bob Pittman, has had one of the most interesting careers I’ve ever come across. Today, he’s the CEO of iHeartMedia, the country’s largest operator of radio stations and podcasts. Bob also created MTV, was the CEO of Six Flags and 21 Century Real Estate, and the COO of AOL and AOL Time Warner. He’s the Dos Equis man of business. In our conversation we discuss why convenience is king for consumers, his lessons from building MTV into one of the most iconic brands and media properties in the world, the rise of user-generated content platforms, and the future of media. We also discuss what qualities make for a great host, a topic that given my current position, is always fascinating. Please enjoy my great conversation with Bob Pittman.   DocSend is a document sharing platform that enables companies to share business-critical documents with ease and get real-time actionable analytics. With DocSend’s security and control, startup founders, investors, business development executives, and financial professionals can drive business outcomes that have a lasting impact. Start for free at www.docsend.com.   This episode of Founder’s Field Guide is also 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 https://www.netsuite.com/invest.   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes (2:56) – (First question) – His personal interest that unites all of his business ventures (4:09) – His philosophy on the consumer (7:43) – Biggest quality mistakes business leaders make (9:31) – Respecting convenience in consumer preferences (11:08) – Founding insight to build MTV             (16:23) – Fred Seibert on Math in Magic Podcast (17:14) – How the music video concept evolved with MTV (22:37) – Role of hosts vs guests in the media world (25:13) – Quality that increases the odds a host works (30:15) – Why everyone needs to know how to tell a good story (31:53) – Peak of his time at MTV (37:51) – Lessons for new media from his experience (43:46 – The largest uncertainty in the media landscape amid the rise of user generated content platforms (49:27) – Where he finds inspiration outside of business             (55:40) – What Other People Say May Change What You See (56:16) – Different ownership structures and how they changed his behavior (59:09) – Finding and respecting your audience (1:02:11) – Lessons from time at Six Flags (1:02:24) – Most interesting thing about podcasting (102:52) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

17 Dec 20201h 11min