Case studies

Podcast

Henry Singleton: the capital allocator who taught Warren Buffett

Founders October 20, 2019

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Case studies 10

Exit strategy 8

Business models 7

• Singleton bought back 90% of Teledyne's shares — at eight times earnings
• Decentralisation into 129 profit centres eliminated tail risk entirely
• If everyone is doing it, there is probably something wrong with it

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Cash flow management

YouTube

How much to spend after raising your seed round

Y Combinator October 18, 2019

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Cash flow management 9

Fundraising & VC 6

• Running out of money is a top-two reason startups die.
• Most seed-funded companies never raise a Series A.
• Park half your seed round separately to force frugality.

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Founder interviews

Podcast

Patience and speed: how Tory Burch built a billion-dollar brand

Masters of Scale October 17, 2019

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Founder interviews 9

Long-term planning 9

Branding 7

• Strategic patience means watching carefully, then striking with explosive speed.
• Tory Burch built her company specifically to fund a foundation for women.
• Saying no to the wrong opportunities protects long-term brand and mission.

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SEO

YouTube

How to use Google Search Console to improve your SEO

Ahrefs October 16, 2019

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SEO 10

• Keywords ranking positions 3–8 are the highest-leverage optimisation targets
• Strong rankings with low CTR often mean SERP features are stealing your clicks
• Search Console can't show orphan pages or competitor data — know its limits

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Business operating systems

YouTube

Scaling up through recessions, people strategy, and daily operating rhythms

Bill Gallagher October 16, 2019

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Business operating systems 9

Culture building 8

Cash flow management 6

• Cash and variable pay are your recession weapons — build both now.
• The loudest customer or employee is rarely your most important one.
• Daily huddles cut six hours of Slack and email down to minutes.

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Origin stories

Podcast

How Nolan Bushnell built Atari and invented the home video game industry

Acquired October 15, 2019

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Origin stories 10

Business models 8

Bootstrapping 7

• Built Atari to $30M revenue on $500 of personal capital before raising a dollar
• Secretly created a fake competitor to lock up every distributor in the country
• Warner bought Atari for $28M then destroyed the culture that made it dominant

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