John Pfeffer - Adapt and Evolve - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 262]

02/01/22 • 114 min

2 Listeners

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

My guest today is entrepreneur and investor, John Pfeffer. John was a partner at private equity firm KKR in the 2000s, Chairman of leading French IT company Groupe Allium in the 90s, and now invests his own money through his private family office, Pfeffer Capital.

John is one of the smartest investors I know, and our conversation spans all of John’s experience and investment ideas. We discuss the difference between value creation and wealth creation, why John has made such a big bet on one asset, and why adaptation is more important than ever. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

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, 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.

Show Notes

[00:03:08] - [First question] - John’s background and the experiences that shaped his worldview and sparked his curiosity

[00:07:34] - Aspiring to grow with a lack of inertia

[00:10:31] - Why he invests primarily in technology and technology dependant businesses [00:15:22] - What it’s felt like being a tech investor from 2011 leading up to today

[00:19:26] - How he defines good and bad business

[00:21:24] - Why good businesses don’t often have technology disruption risks

[00:22:26] - An (Institutional) Investor’s Take on Cryptoassets; key points from his paper

[00:35:28] - What else is interesting in the crypto space and potentially strong business models that exist outside of Bitcoin

[00:48:46] - How capital has changed over time and wha...

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, 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.

Show Notes

[00:03:08] - [First question] - John’s background and the experiences that shaped his worldview and sparked his curiosity

[00:07:34] - Aspiring to grow with a lack of inertia

[00:10:31] - Why he invests primarily in technology and technology dependant businesses [00:15:22] - What it’s felt like being a tech investor from 2011 leading up to today

[00:19:26] - How he defines good and bad business

[00:21:24] - Why good businesses don’t often have technology disruption risks

[00:22:26] - An (Institutional) Investor’s Take on Cryptoassets; key points from his paper

[00:35:28] - What else is interesting in the crypto space and potentially strong business models that exist outside of Bitcoin

[00:48:46] - How capital has changed over time and wha...

Previous Episode

Geoffrey Moore - Building Gorilla Businesses - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 261]

My guest today is the renowned tech author, consultant, and venture partner at Wildcat Ventures, Geoffrey Moore. Geoffrey has spent his career focused on the dynamics surrounding disruptive innovations and his book, Crossing the Chasm, has become a canonical work for young businesses trying to unlock mainstream markets.

This discussion is a masterclass on business strategy. We start with Geoffrey’s more recent work on category-defining businesses, break down his life cycle of adoption framework, and close with the ways messaging should change as a company evolves. Please enjoy this great discussion with Geoffrey Moore.

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, 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.

Show Notes

[00:03:08] - [First question] - What he means by a gorilla business

[00:07:10] - An example of how companies self-organize into gorillas, chimps, and monkeys

[00:09:41] - Why architecture is so important and how it applies to company building

[00:13:11] - How and when businesses should think about open and closed systems

[00:14:50] - Ways in which enabling tech companies are superior to application ones

[00:16:39] - Thoughts on approaching and hiring a singular use case company

[00:18:23] - Markets underestimate competitive advantage periods for technological gorillas

[00:20:38] - The inertia and duration of being the creator of a space’s architecture

[00:23:28] - Advice for early-stage companies when creating or dominating categories

[00:25:16] - What he’s learned about identifying trapped value

[00:26:49] - Questions that can identify trapped value, factoring for time, and horizontal uses

[00:41:49] - Problems with risk exposure in B2B and applying this model for value creation

[00:33:37] - His initial discovery of the life cycles of adoption and its five categories

[00:39:29] - Perspective on venture capital funding and going from idea to the chasm

[00:44:10] - What good pragmatists in pain look like

[00:47:29] - Successful vertical uses-case sales motions

[00:50:03] - Guarding from becoming over-specialized in a singular focused effort

[00:50:52] - The Diffusion of Innovations; Ways messages work their way through a company to keep up with category evolution

[00:55:00] - How extensible these ideas are to non-technology businesses

[00:56:04] - The race between innovation and distribution

[00:56:44] - What about the world today has changed or influenced his thinking

[00:59:17] - Ways big companies can stay competitive in emerging cate...

Next Episode

Peter Chernin - Betting on Passion - [Invest Like the Best, EP. 263]

My guest today is Peter Chernin, who’s had a Hall of Fame career in the entertainment business. Peter ran News Corp and Fox for fifteen years between 1996 and 2009 before co-founding The Chernin Group, which has become one of the leading investment firms in the consumer space. Along the way, he has also produced a number of blockbuster films, including Titanic, Avatar, The Greatest Showman, and The Planet of the Apes Trilogy. Please enjoy this wonderful discussion with Peter Chernin.

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 Levels. As one of their early access members, Levels was one of the most interesting products I've ever used. Levels is attempting to make continuous glucose monitoring mainstream by using real-time biosensors to see how food affects your health. Using Levels made me realize how little we understand about what's happening in our bodies. And it was the only product that ever made me willing to log food. If you want early access to become a Member of their private Beta, (the waitlist is currently at 150K+ people), use this link – levels.link/PATRICK

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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.

Show Notes

[00:03:06] - [First question] - Business and investing lessons from producing Titanic and Avatar

[00:06:44] - Defining great content and why James Cameron’s franchises have done so well

[00:10:26] - Contributing factors to box-office domination of pre-existing franchises

[00:12:56] - Tailwinds in his earlier career and identifying them in time to get behind change

[00:16:07] - Identifying Showcase was a subscription business early on, unlike broadcast businesses

[00:19:40] - Signals of passion and how powerful niche audiences can be

[00:23:24] - What a phony aggregator is and the slow dissolution of the middle market

[00:27:01] - The era of unbundling and direct relationships with superfans

[00:30:27] - Lessons learned from building Hulu

[00:34:29] - Working with Rupert Murdoch and qualities that separate him from the crowd

[00:37:07] - Defining what bravery means in a businesses sense

[00:39:2...

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