My guest today is Kirsten Green, founder and managing partner at Forerunner Ventures. Kirsten launched Forerunner in 2012 and has built it into a leading consumer-focused venture firm with early investments in consumer brands like Dollar Shave Club, Bonobos, Faire, and Warby Parker. Our conversation is an exploration of consumer behavior and how to invest behind change in our society. We also discuss frameworks for identifying brands early, how to build deal flow, and the shift in power between buyers and sellers. Please enjoy my conversation with Kirsten Green. 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'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.  ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- 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[00:02:35] - [First question] - The insights gleaned from studying consumers in the modern era[00:07:02] - Whether or not the shift in consumer behavior is similar to a platform shift like mobile[00:09:58] - Which of her hypothesis going into the research was proven most wrong[00:11:31] - The leading persona archetype that drives consumer spending [00:13:58] - Thoughts about her investing focus after doing all of this research [00:16:23] - How much the digital world is good and bad for community[00:18:50] - Positive and negative impacts digital access has on children[00:21:17] - The investing criteria that she and her firm have developed for founders and business models they find desirable [00:32:00] - The beachhead problem for entry points, encouraging good focus and entry point selection, and who’s done it well [00:35:33] - The history of the consumer of how they buy and sell and where the shifts in power have been [00:39:47] - Other interesting trends she’s seeing in the seller empowerment era[00:43:35] - How different her investing models are for linear product businesses[00:46:45] - Frameworks she’s developed for evaluating a brand early on [00:49:57] - The most defining moment in Forerunner’s history and the hardest lesson she’s had to learn [00:53:13] - Ways she’s fostered and mentored young investors at Forerunner [00:54:04] - What the most underappreciated thing is today about the consumer[00:54:50] - User and customer development strategies that work well for early stage products[00:56:26] - Three businesses young investors should study to educate themselves on great consumer businesses; Shoe Dog[00:59:49] - Where they find the companies Forerunner tends to invest in, and how to build and effective deal flow pipeline [01:05:07] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her

My guest today is Jason Droege, a venture partner at Benchmark. Jason’s had a long entrepreneurial career, which most recently culminated in building and leading Uber Eats. He joined Uber in 2014 with a blank piece of paper to grow the business beyond ride sharing. Within six years, he found product market fit with food delivery, refined the service, and scaled Uber Eats to a global $20 billion GMV run rate. Our conversation pulls out the most important lessons learned during that period and how Jason now employs them in his role at Benchmark. Please enjoy this great conversation with Jason Droege. 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 streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- 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[00:02:52] - [First question] - What it was like at a high level building Uber Eats[00:07:38] - How he would structure entrepreneurial incentives on a platform like Uber for a new leader or team attempting to build on top of it[00:10:17] - What he learned about selecting competitive frontiers and mistakes made while building Uber Eats[00:15:17] - Things that Uber Eats got most right that he’s proud of [00:18:16] - Constructive mistakes that taught him a lot from his time with Uber Eats[00:20:36] - What made India such a competitive environment [00:26:13] - What improved the most in his playbook for launching in a new city[00:27:14] - Defining what best means in this competitive sector  [00:29:01] - Dealing with suppliers in different categories and finding an ideal balance[00:32:09] - When monogamy between the buyer and supplier matters and when it doesn’t in a marketplace [00:36:12] - Defining what founder market fit is and being “fingertippy”[00:37:29] - His views on the relationships between leaders of businesses and their cultures[00:40:26] - Why Uber believed in him more than he did [00:41:40] - What he learned about marketing to suppliers specifically [00:45:18] - Differing views he has on the concept of failure  [00:47:31] - Thoughts about ideas versus execution and the relative importance of the two[00:49:10] - Effectively measuring opportunity cost and using it in decision making  [00:58:56] - The most interesting things he’s learned from his time as a partner at Benchmark[01:00:15] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

My guest today is Paul Orfalea. Paul founded Kinkos, the popular copy chain, in 1970. He started with a single photocopy shop in California and grew the business into a $2 billion multinational operation over the course of his 30 years in charge. Paul is a non-traditional leader in the best sense and we discuss his philosophy of business building, from why your subordinates should frustrate you, why you shouldn’t love your business and tips he learned on hiring well. Please enjoy this conversation with Paul Orfalea.  Founders podcast on Paul Orfalea. 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 streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick.  ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- 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[00:02:58] - [First question] - What it was like to be a very bad student in highschool[00:04:22] - When he first realized he was unemployable[00:05:02] - The origin story of the very first Kinko’s[00:07:53] - Finding what has worked well in each Kinko’s and coaching managers[00:11:45] - The difference of working on and not in the business[00:13:57] - Why a good salesperson will sell you broke  [00:15:36] - Why he teaches, what he teaches, and his teaching style[00:18:31] - Explaining the Federal Reserve in two minutes  [00:21:58] - The role of anger in his career and something he’s worked on over time[00:22:31] - Where Kinko’s falls on the spectrum of bad to great businesses[00:26:18] - Lessons learned about using the word employee[00:27:21] - The most clever marketing strategy he ever deployed or designed[00:27:45] - Learning to spread the glory instead of the money  [00:28:30] - The state of entrepreneurship today compared to when he started [00:30:42] - What motivated him across his career[00:31:35] - Why being in it for the money seems odd in today’s lens[00:32:34] - Who he most admired or most admires today [00:32:51] - Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman[00:33:08] - Preserving the alignment of integrity and action [00:34:57] - How good he is naturally with numbers and math being dyslexic [00:38:05] - His parents’ impression of him while he was building Kinko’s [00:39:56] - The most interesting person he’s ever worked with at Kinko’s[00:40:48] - What he would have done differently if he started from scratch[00:41:24] - Something that is most underappreciated about the United States [00:43:00] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him [00:43:57] - A big lesson he’s earned in a deeper way that he wishes he could share with others

My guest today is Madhavan Ramanujam. Madhavan quite literally wrote the book on how to price products, it’s called “Monetizing Innovations” and his concepts have been used by companies across the world like Porsche, Uber, LinkedIn, and SuperHuman. Our conversation is a masterclass on pricing. We discuss common mistakes when pricing products, why you need to focus on benefits rather than features, and how to pick the right monetization model. Please enjoy my conversation with Madhavan Ramanujam.   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 streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern Saas platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. I’ve been so impressed by the platform that my firm, Positive Sum, recently made an investment in Tegus. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus.   -----   Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best.   -----   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 [00:02:48] - [First question] - How he arrived at a radically different way of building products [00:05:07] - An example of coming up with a price before the product [00:08:35] - Distinctions between a willingness to pay and positive feedback  [00:10:29] - How to make sure you’re talking to the right potential customer in the first place [00:13:32] - Productizing for different customer segments  [00:16:16] - Questions companies should be asking to get accurate feedback [00:21:18] - What he’s learned about the motivations of potential buyers [00:22:43] - What leaders, killers, and fillers are [00:24:37] - Some of the biggest mistakes companies make while following his formula [00:25:35] - A rule of thumb for what is a benefit versus a feature [00:27:35] - Five distinct pricing models for charging a customer [00:30:46] - Whether or not the value piece of all of this revolves around time and money [00:33:27] - What he tells entrepreneurs about pricing their products that most surprises them  [00:35:16] - Defining the first four categories of failure  [00:40:13] - Reasons why so many innovations fail to monetize and pricing being a CEO topic [00:41:51] - Good rules that leaders can use to have a general sense for effective pricing  [00:47:38] - Behavioral changes and observations as the absolute price move up and down  [00:50:36] - Is there a pricing genius we should take note of? [00:53:18] - The single question every leader should ask themselves [00:53:46] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

My guest today is Scott Wilson. Scott is the CIO of Washington University’s endowment, which manages over $13 billion. In this conversation we discuss WashU’s non-traditional endowment model and cover a variety of asset classes and geographies. We talk about the qualities Scott looks for in managers, lessons from investing in Asia and emerging markets, and red flags in the venture space. Please enjoy this conversation with Scott Wilson. 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 streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern Saas platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus.----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- 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[00:02:38] - [First question] - What he learned about markets from quant fixed income trading [00:04:42] - How his experience shaped his degree of skepticism of the world[00:05:15] - The story that brought him to Grinnell College [00:06:45] - What his education was like back in 2010 and what seemed sensible and insane when he arrived[00:09:37] - His philosophy around trying to have more direct ownership[00:12:03] - Lessons learned about choosing good partners and doing it effectively over time[00:13:51] - Things that are most enjoyable about getting to know new managers [00:16:17] - Why they spend so much time in frontier and emerging markets[00:18:21] - Lessons learned from investing in China and thoughts on it today [00:23:16] - The worst things he sees from venture investors [00:24:39] - Whether or not venture investors should care more [00:27:55] - What percentage of investors in private equity are investors versus just involved to try and engineer returns[00:28:59] - His impressions on hedge funds and the evolution of the hedge fund model[00:31:18] - The role that credit can play in a portfolio like the one he manages now [00:36:34] - Everything he’s learned about asset managers acting as asset gatherers[00:39:35] - Ways he fights convergence and tracking error overseeing so much capital [00:41:49] - What it’s like to go through the bad side of tracking error[00:45:43] - What he sees as a normal level of tracking error for endowments and foundations[00:46:59] - Why such big pools of institutional capital tend to look so similar [00:48:10] - Whether or not real estate sits somewhere between stocks and bonds[00:51:10] - Colliding managers in a fun and spirited way at meetings [00:52:16] - An investing trip from his career that he finds most memorable[00:52:50] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

My guests today are Julio Vasconcellos and Mate Pencz, who are partners at Canary and Atlantico, leading early-stage investment firms in Latin America. They’re also both successful entrepreneurs. Mate is the co-founder and CEO of Brazilian real estate unicorn, Loft. Julio was Facebook’s first country lead for Brazil, an entrepreneur in residence at Benchmark, and the former founder of Peixe Urbano which sold to Baidu. This conversation was a great opportunity to dive into the state of investing and business in Latin America today, what it looks like on the ground, and cover the most interesting findings from Atlantico's annual report on Digital Transformation in the region. Please enjoy my conversation with Julio and Mate. 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'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.  ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- 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[00:02:39] - [First question] - A broad perspective on what is interesting in Latin American investing today - Latin America Digital Report 2022[00:05:15] - What makes up the existing 1.5% tech penetration index in Lat Am[00:06:11] - Florian Hagenbuch, Mate Pencz - Everything Will be Bought Online (Loft); David Velez - Building the Branchless Network (Nubank); How important it is to parse by country when it comes to building businesses in LatAm [00:08:31] - Overview of LatAm as a microcosm of fintech innovation happening really fast and what is most exciting in that sphere [00:12:28] - Why the adoption of PIX was so successful and how it maps onto the banking system[00:14:27] - What PIX’s widespread adoption will enable for the coming wave of entrepreneurs [00:22:30] - Shifting to remote work and how it’ll affect LatAm workers and talent[00:30:06] - What it feels like for an entrepreneur today compared to when Loft launched [00:32:36] - Deeper themes and what needs to be unlocked for LatAm’s tech sector to look more like the US or China with big tech giants [00:40:12] - Sources of available funding for venture and private equity  [00:42:54] - What valuations look like and whether or not there’s an entry multiple discount[00:45:12] - Seeking evidence that crypto is used in more valuable ways in emerging markets [00:48:00] - Areas where LatAm is operating in a future state more so than elsewhere[00:50:28] - What the right amount of global firm participation in capital partnerships looks like[00:52:38] - Big standout lessons from their operating days [00:55:53] - What is most exciting and concerning about their investing style and investing writ large in LatAm [00:58:51] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Julio

My guest today is Trina Spear, a former investor at Blackstone and the co-founder and CEO of FIGS. FIGS is a multi-billion-dollar public company that built a category-leading brand selling scrubs to healthcare professionals. It was a problem hiding in plain sight and FIGS solved it through vertical integration and customer obsession. Trina shares so many interesting, simple lessons that are often ignored in business. Please enjoy my great conversation with Trina Spear.   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'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.    -----   Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best.   -----   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 [00:02:28] - [First question] - The original insight that lead to founding FIGS [00:04:28] - Why obvious opportunities can go so long before being seized  [00:06:23] - Key dimensions needed to improve the product and the early days  [00:09:02] - Basic overview of a clothing retailer’s financial profile [00:10:49] - Financing the business and the early stage cash flow cycle  [00:13:04] - Strategies to manage workflow and making sacrifices [00:14:43] - Advice for people trying to build their brands in a hands-on way  [00:17:14] - The biggest calculated risk she took in the first five years [00:19:00] - Building a foundation that allowed for such explosive growth [00:21:44] - The story that allowed FIGS to connect with their customers [00:24:43] - Painting a picture of the size and scope of healthcare apparel [00:26:22] - Things lazy companies do and thoughts on product variety [00:28:54] - Defining SKU productivity and what to do with low productivity products  [00:30:21] - Chip Wilson Book; Lessons learned from reading Chip’s story [00:31:58] - Balancing a healthy relationship with your CFO [00:33:59] - Where she sees the most runway to tackle and continue to execute [00:35:46] - A women-lead industry and her time spent with Meg Whitman [00:38:13] - The most essential jobs she feels she has and shouldn’t do as the CEO [00:40:03] - Thoughts about relationships with investors and messaging  [00:42:14] - What she’d be most focus on in founders if she was just an investor  [00:43:57] - The most stressful thing that has ever come across her desk  [00:44:41] - What types of things bring her the most joy in building FIGS [00:45:27] - Philosophy of hiring given their small team and when it’s okay to hire [00:46:56] - Whether or not there’s a role for non A players in businesses [00:47:48] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her

Today, we are sharing an episode of Web3 Breakdowns with you. My Invest Like the Best conversation with Gabe Leydon last year was one of my favorites and became one of our most popular. Since that conversation, Gabe has become one of the most interesting builders in web3 that I know so I was excited to have him back to share his views of the space and how it might grow. If you enjoy this episode, subscribe to Web3 Breakdowns on your preferred podcast player.   My guest today is Gabe Leydon, who’s episode last year was one of our most popular ever. Gabe has spent the last 20 years designing video games and is one of the most original thinkers I know. He was the co-founder of Machine Zone, which pioneered free-to-play hits like Mobile Strike and Game of War. Over the past year, he has been in stealth mode building a web2 meets web3 video game company called Limit Break, which is founded on a brand new business model that he calls free-to-own. We dive into his vision for the future of gaming, how it could onboard a billion users onto the Ethereum network, and why the LTVs of crypto gamers are so far higher than their web2 counterparts. Please enjoy this conversation with Gabe Leydon.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Coinbase Prime. Coinbase Prime combines advanced trading, battle-tested custody, financing, and prime services in a single solution. Clients have used our comprehensive investing platform to execute some of the largest trades in the industry because they are the only publicly-traded company with experience trading and custodying crypto assets at scale. Get started with Coinbase Prime today at coinbase.com/prime.   -----   Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, 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: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag    Show Notes [00:02:19] - [First question] - What free-to-own gaming means and why it’s exciting  [00:11:40] - Pre-existing behavior that sets up free-to-own for success [00:12:32] - The progression from PFP NFTs to clubs and the road ahead [00:14:16] - Overview of the business and monetization model for free-to-own games [00:17:51] - The story of DigiDaigaku, their mechanics, the drops, and what lead to their creation [00:22:14] - Balancing supply and demand in a free-to-own market [00:24:35] - Creativity and extensions of the DigiDaigaku NFTs [00:26:13] - Tiering, breeding and the role the Genesis series will play in the Digi universe [00:27:32] - The level of brand marketing NFTs will unlock for businesses [00:29:57] - How free-to-own will be the primary monetization method for brands [00:31:21] - A future with a global marketing shift towards digital property and economies [00:33:06] - Why most of the winning PFP projects are of unique characters [00:35:50] - His Twitter strategy and how he’s created such a fervor around him [00:42:40] - What will define the legendary marketers over the coming decade  [00:43:06] - Interoperability needed to make real-world NFT uses appealing to consumers  [00:44:44] - Whether or not we’ll see more token-gated business in the future  [00:45:40] - Stable Diffusion and his impression of the new AI art generating bots [00:48:56] - What great distribution looks like in a digitally native world [00:50:03] - The emphasis of innovation taking place in the metaverse being a bad thing [00:53:24] - Things he most admires in adjacent games and creators in his world [00:54:25] - Unique game mechanics that Web3 technology unlocks  [00:56:16] - NFTs will be the gateway for people to acquire crypto

My guest today is Harley Finkelstein. Harley is the President of Shopify and has been with the company since its early years. He is a lawyer by training but an entrepreneur by calling and that is the focus of our discussion. We discuss the different dimensions of entrepreneurship and Shopify’s role in promoting it, as well as exploring the company’s transition to public markets, and what the last few years have been like. Please enjoy my discussion with Harley Finkelstein.    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'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.    -----   Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best.   -----   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 [00:02:26] - [First question] - His interpretation and definition of a person’s life's work  [00:05:50] - The story of the riverstone and the average polished executive  [00:08:36] - The thing he can’t help but do; and focusing on our compulsions [00:13:12] - How he would boil things down to the most simple entrepreneurial formula; Distilled [00:16:38] - What is harder and easier about new business formation today  [00:21:03] - The countervailing forces for small-to-medium business entrepreneurship  [00:24:31] - What he’s learned about operationalizing ideas and mentor lessons [00:29:08] - A piece of fortune cookie advice that he finds terrible [00:30:49] - How Brands Grow; his philosophy on marketing & distribution   [00:35:27] - The most effective distribution strategies he’s seen work in Shopify that might be portable to other businesses [00:38:43] - What it was like getting their first app developer for the Shopify app store [00:41:17] - The state of ecommerce today writ large and what trends are interesting  [00:45:46] - Lessons learned about the digital places that people are buying  [00:49:06] - What it’s been like as an executive working at a company that had their stock price explode over the pandemic  [00:52:25] - Tips for communicating effectively with Wall Street [00:54:14] - An investor that stands out in memory that really impressed him [00:55:10] - Important aspects of his world that are worth mentioning  [00:57:04] - Lessons learned about motivating people through DJing  [00:59:12] - Whether or not reading the crowd can apply to business [01:03:49] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

My guest today is Mitch Lasky. Mitch is a partner at Benchmark and one of the leading figures in the video game industry. Over the last 30 years, he has built, led, and invested in a number of the best gaming companies in the world, including Activision, EA, Riot, Snapchat, and Discord. I couldn’t think of a better person to break down the anatomy of great gaming businesses and Mitch does not disappoint. His insights are remarkable. Please enjoy this excellent conversation with Mitch Lasky. 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'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.  ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- 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[00:02:31] - [First question] - Why there aren’t more famous gaming investors[00:05:08] - The most important features of the modern gaming business model[00:07:11] - Developing his aesthetic taste and investing decision skill[00:08:03] - What makes a game fun [00:09:26] - How delivering a pleasurable active user experience differs from passive content and media[00:11:09] - The developers of Doom being the first real modern video game company[00:13:09] - Half-Life’s important role in the development of the gaming industry[00:17:54] - How some of the big game aggregators get started in the first place[00:19:58] - What Riot can teach non-gaming businesses about business writ large[00:21:10] - Ways that the change from physical games to downloads changed monetization[00:31:47] - The impact of Apple’s privacy changes on gaming revenue[00:34:11] - How the access to professional game engines and a lower friction environment will change the industry[00:37:04] - Whether or not there is a step beyond mobile[00:39:42] - Ways platforms like Twitch and Discord have influenced gaming[00:42:26] - What he’s learned about games that allow them to seemingly exist forever[00:45:17] - Signs of a healthy gaming community[00:46:21] - The role of celebrities and influencers and generating retained audiences[00:47:45] - Whether or not crypto will unlock new opportunities for in-game monetization [00:52:50] - Key categories of motivators that could replace a ponzi-style in-game inflation [00:54:36] - Contrasting League of Legends versus a Ready Player One style world[00:58:22] - Emerging technologies and trends that may revolutionize the industry [01:02:41] - The most genius game pattern he’s ever played[01:04:44] - What attributes will define the great game investors in the coming decades[01:06:59] - How much his experience lends itself to investing in other sectors[01:11:07] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him