Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Latest Episodes:

Florian Hagenbuch and Mate Pencz - Everything Will Be Bought Online – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 37] Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

My guests today are Florian Hagenbuch and Mate Pencz, co-founders of Loft. Based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Loft is a digital platform designed to bring Latin American real estate into the e-commerce age. The 3-year-old startup scaled to over $150mm in annualized revenue in 2020 and is on track for multiples higher this year. We dive into the market opportunity in Brazilian real estate and how that differs from the US market, the value proposition for iBuying across the US and Latin America ecosystems, and touch on the potential for Loft to expand from real estate into adjacent services such as mortgages. Florian and Mate are second-time founders and have some great lessons shared throughout the episode. Please enjoy my conversation with Florian and Mate.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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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.

Show Notes

[00:02:52] - [First question] - Why Latin America currently presents such a unique opportunity for modern technology companies

[00:04:38] - What the market looked like when they started Loft

[00:07:20] - How they approached gathering data that wasn’t available or accessible in order to develop the company infrastructure

[00:09:39] - How the process of buying a home used to be in São Paulo versus today

[00:12:19] - What Loft’s hard work unlocks for consumers and home buyers

[00:14:06] - What iBuying feels like writ large and more specifically in real estate

[00:18:07] - Analysis of an iBuying real estate transaction from start to finish

[00:20:09] - The role machine learning plays in property valuation and building that feature

[00:22:50] - Defining their business model and being a fulfillment center aggregator

[00:24:47] - Notable characteristics of the iBuying market in the United States

[00:27:00] - How they think about the competitive advantage extensions of Loft

[00:29:53] - Exciting opportunities for the FinTech broadly in Latin America

[00:32:47] - Deciding on what it is they want to tackle next as they grow the company

[00:34:13] - Thinking about the value proposition to customers and how they market it

[00:35:50] - Lessons learned about building businesses early on that were applied to Loft

[00:40:12] - What led them to finding their early product-market fit

[00:42:48] - Calibrating and defining their ambitions for Loft out of the gate

[00:45:05] - Important and interesting trends in the business world today writ large

[00:48:43] - Further lessons and key challenges around building and scaling Loft

[00:52:24] - The kindest things that anyone has ever done for them

Gabriel Leydon - Designing Digital Economies - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 229] Jun 08, 2021

Show notes

My guest is Gabe Leydon, who is the co-founder and former CEO of MZ, also known as Machine Zone, the company behind huge games such as Mobile Strike and Game of War. Gabe has spent the last 20 years designing video games and is one of the most original thinkers I have talked to in a long time. In our conversation, we cover why great design can be a bad sign that we’d run out of ways to innovate, the most important lessons from human psychology for building games and products, and why products which are busted or breaking but still booming can be great investment opportunities. This conversation rewired my brain on many levels, so I’m excited for you to listen. Take the red pill with us, and please enjoy my conversation with Gabe Leydon.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

[00:03:59] - [First question] - Thoughts on the importance of design and the role it plays in capitalism writ large

[00:07:26] - Huxley’s vision of the future versus Orwell’s - Amusing Ourselves to Death

[00:10:49] - A question about game design in interviews that no one can answer well

[00:18:27] - What about his early experiences that allowed him to be good at answering that question when others could not

[00:26:35] - Another example to further explain the nature of meta software design mechanics

[00:29:44] - Characteristics of what drives players to spend money in games

[00:34:46] - Defining heroic spending and the group dynamics of spending gamification

[00:38:18] - Skill set required to design an economy and what makes it so difficult

[00:41:27] - Cosmetic purchases as a revenue stream in North American video games

[00:43:56] - What he’s learned about human psychology through his design work

[00:45:48] - How the technological infrastructure developed in building video games overlap in performance marketing

[00:48:44] - His experience with the RT platform and some of the technologies he’s built

[00:55:49] - Celebrity NFTs and a shift to becoming virtual manufacturers in the future

[00:59:58] - What businesses can do now to prepare for and adapt to NFTs

[01:01:03] - Why we need AI more than think we might

[01:04:32] - What he plans to do with his skillset if the world becomes increasingly gamified

[01:05:40] - Companies with poor design may be indicative of an attractive acquisition

[01:08:11] - How differing cultural perspectives on video game design permeate into NFTs

[01:08:46] - Defining the Chinese item box approach to in-game player rewards

[01:11:24] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for him

Assaf Wand - Innovation in Static Industries – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 36] Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

My guest today is Assaf Wand, CEO, and co-founder of Hippo, a homeowner insurance startup founded in 2015. In March 2021, Hippo announced a SPAC merger, valuing the business at over $5bn. In our discussion, we cover how Hippo approached innovation in the highly regulated insurance industry, unique strategies for building brand trust, and how direct relationships with homeowners has opened up Hippo's business model to a wide range of opportunities. I was excited to speak with Assaf, given his experience as a serial entrepreneur, and he did not disappoint. Please enjoy my conversation with Assaf Wand.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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See why Klaviyo is 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 klaviyo.com/founders.

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Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

[00:02:44] - [First question] - His philosophy on business

[00:04:04] - His first experience in entrepreneurship

[00:05:03] - Lawyers vs entrepreneurs

[00:07:03] - Major lessons taking risk in entrepreneurship

[00:11:14] - Importance of speed in business

[00:15:02] - Increasing urgency into the business as a leader

[00:18:59] - What the insurance sector was like at the start of Hippo

[00:24:49] - Steps he took to bootstrap trust

[00:27:03] - Convincing partners

[00:29:04] - Building the products and distribution

[00:32:49] - Thoughts on innovators dilemma

[00:35:00] - Flaws within the insurance industry

[00:34:57] - Vision for the firm

[00:37:44] - Importance of culture in company building

[00:41:19] - Storytelling as an essential piece of company building

[00:41:50] - Building and managing a roadmap

[00:43:19] - What does it mean to respect the customer

[00:46:11] - Defensibility of the insurance industry

[00:49:34] - Rewards of the trench warfare of entrepreneurship

[00:53:33] - The feeling of getting wealthy

[00:55:29] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Dennis Lynch - Delivering Alpha in Adapting Markets - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 228] Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

My guest today is Dennis Lynch, Head of Counterpoint Global, where he oversees over $100bn in AUM and boasts one of the strongest track records of any public investor. In our conversation, we cover Dennis's unique approach to building a research team, how misclassification of companies often creates the highest upside opportunities, and how Dennis has adapted his investment process over the past 20 years. I think Dennis defines what it means to be intellectually honest, and you will hear that in his answers throughout our discussion. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dennis Lynch.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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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.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

[00:03:47] - [First question] - How he would teach potential students to be investors

[00:04:26] - The Money Game

[00:04:40] - Moneyball

[00:05:59] - Pros and cons of volatility when investing

[00:08:55] - Emotional response to volatility

[00:12:44] - Training to have a better temperament

[00:14:20] - What is his investing game

[00:15:17] - The Ethical Algorithm

[00:16:44] - How time horizon impacts their investment strategy

[00:20:53] - Assessing a company’s earnings power

[00:26:12] - Shifting business models vs. evolving within a business model

[00:32:32] - Understanding how to invest in disruptive businesses

[00:35:26] - Why he’s skeptical on Growth and Value investing strategies

[00:38:42] - Expectations Investing

[00:38:55] - How his view of assessing businesses has changed

[00:43:56] - Defining unit economics

[00:45:41] - Taking on uncertainty risk in the portfolio

[00:50:38] - The business that taught him the most; Amazon

[00:53:32] - Dealing with massive amounts of change

[00:56:01] - The Big Short

[00:59:46] - Interest in psychedelic research

[01:01:02] - What has changed the most in investing from when he started

[01:04:19] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him

Henrique Dubugras - Building the Financial Center of Gravity – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 35] May 27, 2021

Show notes

My guest today is Henrique Dubugras, co-founder and CEO of Brex, an all-in-one finance account for businesses. Brex recently raised funding at a valuation of over 7 billion dollars despite being founded only four years ago. In our conversation, we cover Brex’s transition from a credit card for start-ups to the central account for businesses, why building that central account was orders of magnitude more difficult than expected, and the difference between building a business in Brazil and the US. We also discussed Henrique’s term horizon for building Brex and how that impacts his decision-making for the business. Please enjoy my conversation with Henrique Dubugras.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

[00:02:53] - [First question] - The state of the B2B financial world before Brex

[00:06:29] - How such a high margin space was generally underserved

[00:08:24] - What the first version of the Brex card looked like

[00:10:48] - How long it took to build and launch their infrastructure

[00:11:13] - Why market penetration is so low for cards in B2B businesses

[00:13:14] - How he thinks about this landscape in Brazil versus the US

[00:14:55] - What interchange and high margins allows him to pass on to the consumer

[00:16:23] - Brex’s first revenue event

[00:17:38] - What the biggest hurdle was to overcome when they launched

[00:19:02] - Key marketing strategy early on and what made it successful

[00:21:16] - Continued distribution lessons they learned from their initial success

[00:22:39] - Building an effective sales force to push their product

[00:24:41] - What makes the current landscape so fertile for fintech businesses

[00:27:12] - Analysis of their unique funding round dynamics

[00:28:42] - Their second product and the insight that lead to that decision

[00:31:05] - Darkest moments while trying to build their central account

[00:31:50] - What their central account allows them to facilitate writ large

[00:35:27] - Notable differences between entrepreneurship in Brazil versus the US

[00:38:55] - Observations on inefficiencies in the US startup space

[00:40:16] - Pros, cons, and costs of being largely remote

[00:41:50] - Keys to building a successful hiring pipeline

[00:44:05] - Lessons learned about decision making and optimization

[00:45:39] - Developing an effective skill set to convince other people of anything

[00:47:35] - What excites him about being a part of Brex lately

[00:49:13] - What excites him about the future in general

[00:50:39] - His business philosophy and the set of principles that guide him

[00:52:03] - Nuances that make focusing on a single problem so attractive

[00:53:51] - Long term infrastructure decisions that will pay off in the end

[00:55:12] - Thoughts and hi perspective on cash flow in general

[00:58:18] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Justin Fishner-Wolfson - Secondary Investing in Private Markets - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 227] May 25, 2021

Show notes

My guest today is Justin Fishner-Wolfson, founder of 137 Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on providing liquidity solutions to founders, investors, and employees of private businesses. In our conversation, we discuss what early career experiences led Justin to start 137 Ventures, the counter-intuitive information asymmetry between public and private markets, and the interesting trend of digitization in the physical world. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Justin.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

[00:03:47] - [First question] - Why he started 137 Ventures and what’s unique about it

[00:05:31] - Overview of secondary equity markets in the tech sector

[00:07:06] - Step by step process of how a secondary market investment works

[00:09:37] - Scale of secondary transactions in markets today

[00:10:19] - Valuations of secondary transaction rounds versus primary ones

[00:11:37] - Defining great in private market investments and the competitive landscape

[00:13:13] - Why there seems to be more information available in private markets

[00:16:23] - How better capital allocation may result from less asymmetry

[00:19:14] - What excites him about companies when meeting them for the first time

[00:20:34] - Example of applying his philosophy of investing in a defensible business

[00:22:20] - Counter positioning and inversion models to gain an advantage

[00:24:17] - Lessons learned from Palantir about unlikely competitive advantage

[00:25:57] - Building good businesses when selling them to the government

[00:26:59] - What technology means in the current era

[00:28:34] - Methods for evaluating potential sources of defensibility and a lack thereof

[00:30:30] - Considering focus and expansion when scaling

[00:32:52] - Shared qualities of entrepreneurs who build these types of businesses

[00:33:50] - The business that individually taught him the most writ large

[00:35:01] - Defensabilities that might appear beyond the seven powers framework

[00:36:21] - Thoughts on what seems to be craziest in the world today

[00:37:15] - What’s surprising on the low end of the valuation side

[00:38:11] - Interesting business models and ones he’s averse to

[00:40:31] - Constructing a portfolio with companies that have a customer focus

[00:41:21] - Additional companies in their portfolio that aren’t of a similar model

[00:42:08] - Lessons learned from SpaceX’s growth

[00:44:46] - Watching a SpaceX launch in person

[00:46:03] - Advice for entrepreneurs when seeking capital and capital partners

[00:48:04] - Investors he finds most impressive that he knows well

[00:49:26] - Defining the cost of capital and what it means to him as a venture investor

[00:50:56] - Is giving entrepreneurs too much money dangerous?

[00:54:14] - What great capital allocation looks like to him

[00:55:29] - Accelerating learning curves with tighter feedback loops

[00:55:57] - Useful metrics for customer acquisition and retention

[00:57:06] - Whether or not investing firms can and should behave defensibly

[00:59:13] - What is going in the world that has his attention lately

[01:02:06] - Key factors that have allowed him and his firm to succeed

[01:03:47] - What he thinks about when his mind isn’t focused on investing

[01:04:08] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Peter Reinhardt - Learning How to Sell – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 34] May 20, 2021

Show notes

My guest today is Peter Reinhardt, co-founder and CEO of Segment, the market-leading data customer data platform that was acquired by Twilio last year. In our conversation, we cover the fascinating journey of Segment from an education feedback tool to the business it is today, Peter’s sales philosophy on meeting the customer where they are and not where you think they should be, and why revenue operations, or RevOps, is underrated for any business. This was an incredibly honest conversation on company building that any builder can learn a lot from. Please enjoy my conversation with Peter Reinhardt.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

[00:02:47] - [First question] - What Segment currently does for its customers

[00:03:37] - How this industry looked before Segment came along

[00:04:30] - Overview of a simple data flow and the utility of capturing user data

[00:05:55] - Insights that lead to developing the structure for a central data pipeline

[00:07:52] - Why other companies don’t just build their own data collection API

[00:10:04] - Early days of building the company and finding success outside their initial idea

[00:12:29] - Pivoting from classroom software to providing software the world needed

[00:16:17] - What Technology Wants

[00:17:06] - Sign that validated becoming a B to B software company

[00:19:49] - Challenging moments trying to scale Segment after bootstrapping the startup

[00:24:58] - Getting customers to articulate your value proposition helps grow your sales

[00:26:42] - Deciding what would be sold and what would remain open source

[00:28:05] - Structuring and developing an enterprise sales team and sales model

[00:30:23] - Overview of a 2 million dollar per sales person contract and how it’s allocated

[00:31:38] - How it feels to be participant in the SaaS industry

[00:34:02] - Lessons learned about revenue operations and how underappreciated it is

[00:36:39] - Backwards efficiency and companies who use products to bootstrap scale economics

[00:38:51] - Focusing on customer acquisition cost to maximize scale efficiency

[00:40:52] - Potential disruptors to economies of scale

[00:42:21] - Lessons learned from achieving massive scale and being acquired by Twilio

[00:45:40] - Behind the curtain view of current data use trends

[00:48:49] - His perspectives on the data privacy landscape and their implications writ large

[00:51:48] - Legitimate businesses that will be hurt by changes in data privacy standards

[00:53:11] - How data privacy standards may affect everyday merchants

[00:54:03] - The worst advice he’s heard given to new entrepreneurs

[00:56:20] - Impactful advice received along the way when growing Segment

[00:56:47] - What has him most excited about the future

[00:57:13] - Lessons learned about leadership from Jeff Lawson and his own experience

[00:58:51] - The hardest changes he’s had to make as a leader

[01:00:20] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Brent Beshore - Learnings from a Year of Unexpected Events - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 226] May 18, 2021

Show notes

My guest today is Brent Beshore. For those that don’t know Brent from his frequent appearances on this podcast, he runs Permanent Equity Fund and has been a close personal friend for the past five years. Brent and I revisit our conversation from the heart of COVID to touch on key lessons learned and where that leaves us today. Brent sits at a unique touchpoint of the economy, so I particularly enjoyed his anecdotes on inflation and how to operate around these dynamics. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Brent.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

[00:03:52] - [First question] - Why last year ended up being so bullish

[00:07:14] - Deal dynamics of the current landscape

[00:09:54] - Lessons learned about managing a team through the pandemic

[00:14:39] - Observations on the housing market and the pool industry

[00:18:56] - Current labor force dynamics of trades

[00:21:18] - Considering labor dependency when investing in new businesses

[00:23:10] - His perspectives on the future of tech through his investment lens

[00:25:50] - Seeking out traditional businesses that reinvent age-old frameworks

[00:27:50] - Key stages of the art and science of evaluating and acquiring a company

[00:31:45] - How much information he wants to know before making an initial offer

[00:34:25] - Psychology of structuring and aligning incentives post-acquisition

[00:37:41] - What defines a great deal negotiator

[00:40:05] - His most creative act when structuring a deal that didn’t work out as well

[00:42:17] - Hist most creative structuring act that proved useful for the upside

[00:43:34] - Notable changes in large-cap private equity markets

[00:45:41] - Skills he feels he can improve on over the coming five years

[00:48:30] - Coaching small companies on how to recruit top tier talent

[00:52:49] - How to effectively get people to say yes to job offers and openings

[00:54:19] - Absolute and relative changes in the opportunity set of small to mid-cap markets

[00:57:40] - Lessons learned from strong support networks and onramps of upward mobility

Jeremy Cai - Manufacturer to Customer – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP. 33] May 13, 2021

Show notes

My guest today is Jeremy Cai, founder, and CEO of Italic, a subscription marketplace for consumer goods that works directly with manufacturers. I was introduced to Jeremy by my friend Blake Robbins and was dying to better understand the Italic business model. In our conversation, we discuss the Italic business model, the evolving role of manufacturers in supply chains, and the concept of building the next generation “everything store.” I love learning and discovering new business models, and this was fun to dig into. Please enjoy my conversation with Jeremy Cai.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

[00:02:45] - [First question] - Overview of Italic’s business model

[00:04:51] - Why comparing Italic to Costco isn’t completely accurate

[00:10:06] - His initial experience with manufacturers and how that world works

[00:15:21] - Direct to consumer commerce and the power of a brand’s story

[00:20:06] - Where manufacturers find the cash to effectively manage their inventory

[00:25:26] - How design and R & D are handled by manufacturers in the current era

[00:29:36] - Educated consumers and emotional versus rational buying decisions

[00:31:12] - Analyzing Italic’s five-step master plan and what needed to be built first

[00:35:42] - Becoming more than just an aggregator and a platform

[00:38:01] - Lessons learned from building Italic so far

[00:39:02] - Other modern business models he finds interesting

[00:43:26] - What Not Pot is and lessons learned from building it

[00:44:51] - Observations about consumer behavior in his managed marketplace

[00:48:07] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Eli Dourado - Frontiers for Productivity - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 225] May 11, 2021

Show notes

My guest today is Eli Dourado, economist and senior research fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. In our discussion, we touch on the ongoing stagnation in labor productivity, the system constraints, and some of the innovative technologies that could reverse this trend. While Eli identifies as an economist, his wealth of knowledge on biotech innovation, alternative energy, and the space opportunity are sure to leave you craving more. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Eli.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Show Notes

[00:03:28] - [First question] - Why he’s interested the great stagnation

[00:05:41] - Is a fair analog for total factor productivity technology?

[00:07:29] - Leading theories for the stagnation in TFP

[00:09:05] - Analysis of why growth is good, and stagnation is bad

[00:10:19] - Rate limiters that are a key part of calculating stagnation

[00:11:43] - Signs that we may be returning to a higher degree of TFP returning

[00:12:24] - Exciting developments like MRNA in biotech that may lead to an explosion of innovation

[00:16:16] - Functions of a protein and their role in advances in biotech

[00:17:55] - What CRISPR is and what it unlocks for the future of humanity

[00:19:31] - The pace of progression when rolling our clinical trials of cellular engineering

[00:21:36] - How biotech may play a role in TFP as a proxy for progress and growth

[00:22:51] - Interesting observations about potential innovation in the energy sector

[00:24:10] - What currently requires energy that could be optimized if they had a lower energy cost

[00:25:34] - Sources that could provide cheaper and more efficient energy

[00:27:13] - Sage Geosystems and the future of the geothermal space

[00:27:43] - The importance of batteries in the modern era

[00:29:02] - Why energy should be a more pivotal focus in our future

[00:29:41] - What’s interesting in the world of transportation writ large

[00:31:02] - Boom’s story, supersonic air travel, and why concord shut down

[00:34:55] - Mach 5 and March 12 supersonic air travel

[00:36:19] - Second-order effects of reducing the time cost of air travel

[00:38:19] - Liftoff, SpaceX, and the future of the space sector

[00:43:07] - Other key players in space people could study; Blue Origin and Relativity Space

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[00:51:19] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

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