Offshore
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Stock Analysis Compilation
Artisan Partners on Polaris $PII US
Thesis: Polaris offers a compelling opportunity to buy a market leader in powersports vehicles at historically low valuations with strong capital discipline and shareholder returns
(Extract from their Q3 letter) https://t.co/m9C1DQPRpN
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Artisan Partners on Polaris $PII US
Thesis: Polaris offers a compelling opportunity to buy a market leader in powersports vehicles at historically low valuations with strong capital discipline and shareholder returns
(Extract from their Q3 letter) https://t.co/m9C1DQPRpN
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Offshore
Video
Startup Archive
Sequoia founder Don Valentine: “The art of storytelling is incredibly important”
“The art of storytelling is incredibly important. And many—maybe even most of the entrepreneurs who come to talk to us can’t tell the story. Learning to tell a story is incredibly important because that’s how the money works. The money flows as a function of the stories.”
The founder of Sequoia founder explains that the story is how you explain what you want to do, how long it’s going to take, who the competition is, and how much money you need.
a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz shared a similar view in a 2014 Forbes interview:
“Storytelling is the most underrated skill… Companies that don’t have a clearly articulated story don’t have a clear and well thought-out strategy. The company story is the company strategy.”
He continues:
“The story must explain at a fundamental level why you exist. Why does the world need your company? Why do we need to be doing what we’re doing and why is it important?… You can have a great product, but a compelling story puts the company into motion. If you don’t have a great story it’s hard to get people motivated to join you, to work on the product, and to get people to invest in the product.”
This is the job of the founder and CEO:
“The CEO must be the keeper of the story. The CEO is responsible for getting the story right, that it’s up to date, compelling, and can move the hearts of men and women. That’s the fundamental responsibility of the chief executive… The mistake people make is thinking the story is just about marketing. No, the story is the strategy. If you make your story better you make the strategy better.”
Video source: @StanfordGSB (2010)
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Sequoia founder Don Valentine: “The art of storytelling is incredibly important”
“The art of storytelling is incredibly important. And many—maybe even most of the entrepreneurs who come to talk to us can’t tell the story. Learning to tell a story is incredibly important because that’s how the money works. The money flows as a function of the stories.”
The founder of Sequoia founder explains that the story is how you explain what you want to do, how long it’s going to take, who the competition is, and how much money you need.
a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz shared a similar view in a 2014 Forbes interview:
“Storytelling is the most underrated skill… Companies that don’t have a clearly articulated story don’t have a clear and well thought-out strategy. The company story is the company strategy.”
He continues:
“The story must explain at a fundamental level why you exist. Why does the world need your company? Why do we need to be doing what we’re doing and why is it important?… You can have a great product, but a compelling story puts the company into motion. If you don’t have a great story it’s hard to get people motivated to join you, to work on the product, and to get people to invest in the product.”
This is the job of the founder and CEO:
“The CEO must be the keeper of the story. The CEO is responsible for getting the story right, that it’s up to date, compelling, and can move the hearts of men and women. That’s the fundamental responsibility of the chief executive… The mistake people make is thinking the story is just about marketing. No, the story is the strategy. If you make your story better you make the strategy better.”
Video source: @StanfordGSB (2010)
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Offshore
Photo
Stock Analysis Compilation
Madison Funds on Graco $GGG US
Thesis: Graco’s premium products, exceptional margins, and underperformance-driven valuation present a solid entry into a durable industrial leader
(Extract from their Q3 letter) https://t.co/fQdFfkpqyd
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Madison Funds on Graco $GGG US
Thesis: Graco’s premium products, exceptional margins, and underperformance-driven valuation present a solid entry into a durable industrial leader
(Extract from their Q3 letter) https://t.co/fQdFfkpqyd
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Offshore
Photo
Stock Analysis Compilation
Macquarie on Equinix $EQIX US
Thesis: Equinix’s strategic urban presence and rising data center demand cement its position as a key infrastructure growth player
(Extract from their Q3 letter) https://t.co/QqOJlXI3ug
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Macquarie on Equinix $EQIX US
Thesis: Equinix’s strategic urban presence and rising data center demand cement its position as a key infrastructure growth player
(Extract from their Q3 letter) https://t.co/QqOJlXI3ug
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Offshore
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Investing visuals
Palantir $PLTR: Rarely have I seen customer growth this steady👌 https://t.co/Ag3Urpd2az
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Palantir $PLTR: Rarely have I seen customer growth this steady👌 https://t.co/Ag3Urpd2az
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Offshore
Photo
Stock Analysis Compilation
Macquarie on Epiroc AB $EPIA SS
Thesis: Epiroc’s cutting-edge mining technology and exposure to growing demand for electrification metals offer strong growth potential
(Extract from their Q3 letter) https://t.co/S3LEEgb701
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Macquarie on Epiroc AB $EPIA SS
Thesis: Epiroc’s cutting-edge mining technology and exposure to growing demand for electrification metals offer strong growth potential
(Extract from their Q3 letter) https://t.co/S3LEEgb701
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Offshore
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Hidden Value Gems
I have decided to slightly change the format of my free newsletter, focusing on things I found most interesting during the past week.
In the first edition I highlight the winner of the Pershing Square Challenge - $VVV - it also popped up in my Corporate Cannibals screen earlier this year.
Also sharing insights from Anthony Bolton on what differentiates great investors from average with some practical tips.
Finally, I shared a couple of macro charts that I found insightful, particularly on US budget deficit and earnings growth. See link in reply.
Hope you enjoy it! Let me know your thoughts 👇
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I have decided to slightly change the format of my free newsletter, focusing on things I found most interesting during the past week.
In the first edition I highlight the winner of the Pershing Square Challenge - $VVV - it also popped up in my Corporate Cannibals screen earlier this year.
Also sharing insights from Anthony Bolton on what differentiates great investors from average with some practical tips.
Finally, I shared a couple of macro charts that I found insightful, particularly on US budget deficit and earnings growth. See link in reply.
Hope you enjoy it! Let me know your thoughts 👇
tweet
Offshore
Video
Startup Archive
Marc Andreessen on what makes Elon impossible to compete with
“I’m not aware of another CEO who operates the way he does.”
Marc believes you have to go back in history to the industrialists of the late 1800s and early 1900s to find founders comparable to Elon Musk (e.g. Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Watson, Andrew Mellon, Cornelius Vanderbilt).
“Those guys ran very similar to the way Elon runs things… The top line thing is just this incredible devotion from the leader of the company to fully, deeply understand what the company does, to be completely knowledgeable about every aspect of it, and to be in the trenches and talking directly to the people who do the work to deeply understand the issues. And then be the lead problem solver in the organization. Basically what Elon does is he shows up every week at each of his companies, identifies the biggest problem the company’s having that week and he fixes it. He does that every week for 52 weeks in a row and then each of his companies has solved the 52 biggest problems that year.”
Marc juxtaposes this process with more conventional CEOs who respond to problems with planning, meetings, and reports.
The other crucial factor in Elon’s success that Marc points to is his ability to attract incredible talent:
“Many of the best people in the world want to work with him because if you work with Elon the expectations are through the roof in terms of your level of performance. And he is going to know who you are and what you’ve done. He’s going to know what you’ve done this week and if you’re underperforming. And he may fire you in the meeting if you’re not carrying your weight. But if you are as committed to the company as he is, and hard working and capable, many people who have worked for him say that they had the best experience of their lives.”
Marc recalls a famous line from somebody who joined SpaceX from another aerospace company and said, “It’s like being dropped into a shocking zone of competence. Everybody around me is so absolutely competent.”
And lastly, as Marc argues, Elon’s technical ability is another competitive advantage versus non-technical CEOs:
“When he identifies the bottleneck, he goes and talks to the line engineers who understand the technical nature of the bottleneck… He’s not asking the VP of Engineering to ask the Director of Engineering to ask the manager to ask the individual contributor to write a report that’s to be reviewed in three weeks. He doesn’t do that. What he does is he goes and personally finds the engineer who actually has the knowledge about the thing, and then he sits in the room with that engineer and fixes the problem with them. And again, this is why he inspires such incredible loyalty from especially the technical people who he works with. They’re just like, ‘Wow, if I’m up against a problem I don’t know how to solve, freaking Elon Musk is going to show up in his Gulfstream and he’s going to sit with me overnight in front of the keyboard or in front of the manufacturing line and help me figure this out.’”
Video source: @ChrisWillx (2024)
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Marc Andreessen on what makes Elon impossible to compete with
“I’m not aware of another CEO who operates the way he does.”
Marc believes you have to go back in history to the industrialists of the late 1800s and early 1900s to find founders comparable to Elon Musk (e.g. Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Watson, Andrew Mellon, Cornelius Vanderbilt).
“Those guys ran very similar to the way Elon runs things… The top line thing is just this incredible devotion from the leader of the company to fully, deeply understand what the company does, to be completely knowledgeable about every aspect of it, and to be in the trenches and talking directly to the people who do the work to deeply understand the issues. And then be the lead problem solver in the organization. Basically what Elon does is he shows up every week at each of his companies, identifies the biggest problem the company’s having that week and he fixes it. He does that every week for 52 weeks in a row and then each of his companies has solved the 52 biggest problems that year.”
Marc juxtaposes this process with more conventional CEOs who respond to problems with planning, meetings, and reports.
The other crucial factor in Elon’s success that Marc points to is his ability to attract incredible talent:
“Many of the best people in the world want to work with him because if you work with Elon the expectations are through the roof in terms of your level of performance. And he is going to know who you are and what you’ve done. He’s going to know what you’ve done this week and if you’re underperforming. And he may fire you in the meeting if you’re not carrying your weight. But if you are as committed to the company as he is, and hard working and capable, many people who have worked for him say that they had the best experience of their lives.”
Marc recalls a famous line from somebody who joined SpaceX from another aerospace company and said, “It’s like being dropped into a shocking zone of competence. Everybody around me is so absolutely competent.”
And lastly, as Marc argues, Elon’s technical ability is another competitive advantage versus non-technical CEOs:
“When he identifies the bottleneck, he goes and talks to the line engineers who understand the technical nature of the bottleneck… He’s not asking the VP of Engineering to ask the Director of Engineering to ask the manager to ask the individual contributor to write a report that’s to be reviewed in three weeks. He doesn’t do that. What he does is he goes and personally finds the engineer who actually has the knowledge about the thing, and then he sits in the room with that engineer and fixes the problem with them. And again, this is why he inspires such incredible loyalty from especially the technical people who he works with. They’re just like, ‘Wow, if I’m up against a problem I don’t know how to solve, freaking Elon Musk is going to show up in his Gulfstream and he’s going to sit with me overnight in front of the keyboard or in front of the manufacturing line and help me figure this out.’”
Video source: @ChrisWillx (2024)
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