Blog

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is Google’s P&L from the first few years of its operations: Google is a once-in-a-generation company. It’s pretty fascinating to really take in its financials […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. I recently read the book Daring To Succeed, which is the story of Couche Tard and its founder Alain Bouchard. I am willing to bet that not many […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is this 2017 article called Turning Over The Most Rocks – a short piece on discovering new investment opportunities which includes this quote: The person that turns […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is this video explainer of Dollar General’s business model (click below to play). The video is worth the full 20-minute watch. It’s a truly mind-blowing […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is this chart depicting Autozone’s epic share buyback as well as some discussion around management returning capital back to shareholders. Autozone has reduced its shares […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is a flow chart that depicts the general framework that John Malone used in building TCI. The framework outlines how Malone borrowed an obscene amount […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is a chart that depicts which elements drive investment returns over a single quarter to 10+ years. And some commentary around an underrated aspect of […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is an excerpt from a lecture Warren Buffett gave in 1991 where he describes 2 business models, one strong and one weak. The strong one […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is this podcast episode featuring Seth Klarman called Timeless Value Investing. Considering I’m a connoisseur of all things timeless and all things value investing, this podcast […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is this chart which shows the 10 largest companies in 1989, and 8 of them being Japanese. I always think about this chart as a […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. I know I have a lot of younger followers who are looking to start their first business. And I always get asked about what type of business […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is a chart depicting General Electric’s (GE) epic value destruction and some discussion around the rise and fall of the company. Let’s dive in, but […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. For today’s gem, I’m featuring a guest post from another newsletter I think you’ll love. Below is one of my favorite issues of GirdleyWorld, written by entrepreneur […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is a book excerpt from George Soros’ Alchemy of Finance, written in the late 1980s discussing venture capital’s boom and bust. This could’ve been written […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. Today’s gem is a table that compares the commonalities among the 8 “Outsider” CEOs, and some discussion around one of the commonalities that stood out to me. […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. I recently read the book, Capital Returns. It’s a collection of letters from Marathon Asset Management from 2002 to 2015. I thought it was a fantastic read and […]

NOTE: this was a past issue of my weekly newsletter, Timeless Gems. Join my free mailing list so you don’t miss out on future issues. A hill I am willing to die on: distribution is far more important than product. A business that has better access to customers will beat out the business […]

This week’s gem is a tweet that summarizes two types of investors, bettors vs builders. …but first, a quick note from our sponsor: It’s 2023, Why Haven’t You Built An Audience Yet? If you’re a founder, having an audience is a competitive advantage. It’s a proprietary distribution channel to source: […]

Today’s gem is this interview exerpt from Magnus Söderlind, CEO of Bergman & Beving (a Swedish serial acquirer): Customer (and or supplier) concentration is a common deal killer for us. I’ve talked about this many times, but most recently in my Porters 5 Forces issue (see bargaining power of customers & suppliers). […]

First, I want to thank all of you who came to SMB Social in Toronto last night. I’m blown away by the attendance (~120 people showed up). Big shoutout to Nunzio for putting this together! I’m grateful to have had a chance to connect with many of you, and for the folks that I […]