Investors · new episode 22 Oct 2026
Business Breakdowns
Hosted by Colossus
Investors taking one company apart: how it makes money and what it is worth.
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- 262Affirm: The Internet’s American Express - [Business Breakdowns, EP.249]22 Oct 2026 · 1h 12mMax Levchin▶Show page
About this episode
Today we're breaking down Affirm, the buy now, pay later company founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin. Affirm processes more than $50 billion in annual purchase volume and is growing over 30%, even after its stock fell more than 90% following its IPO. Joining me is Fraser, an investor who has spent time with Max…
- 261Applied Intuition: A Billion Intelligent Machines - [Business Breakdowns, EP.248]27 Jul 2026 · 47 minQasar Younis▶Show page
About this episode
Today, we are breaking down Applied Intuition. Our guests are co-founders Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig, who started the company in 2017 with a mission to make a billion machines intelligent. The simplest way to understand Applied Intuition is that it builds the brains for machines, and the tools other companies use…
- 260Toast: Sticky SaaS - [Business Breakdowns, EP.247]29 May 2026 · 49 min▶Show page
About this episode
Today, we are breaking down Toast, a name we have covered before but are revisiting because the story has changed enough to be worth telling again. Most listeners will have tapped a Toast terminal without thinking much about the business behind it. Our guest is Sean Barrett, founder, managing partner, and chief…
- 259Auto1: EU-sed Car Marketplace - [Business Breakdowns, EP.246]15 May 2026 · 1h 5mHarrison Moot▶
About this episode
Today, we are breaking down Auto1, and this is an interesting episode because we are tackling a business that most US listeners will not be familiar with, even though it resembles names they already know well. Our guest is Harrison Moot, co-founder and CIO of Sandstone, who walks us through Europe's largest…
- 258Opendoor: Q1 2026 Earnings - [Business Breakdowns, EP.245]8 May 2026 · 26 min▶Show page
About this episode
Today, we are breaking down Opendoor, and this is a unique episode. We recorded with Kaz Nejatian, the CEO of Opendoor, shortly after the company reported its first quarter 2026 earnings, and we covered both what is happening inside the business right now and how he is thinking about Opendoor from the seat after…
- 257PriceSmart: Central America’s Costco - [Business Breakdowns, EP.244]1 May 2026 · 56 min▶Show page
About this episode
Today, we are breaking down PriceSmart, the membership warehouse club operating across Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. I came away from this episode with a new appreciation for how a single retail concept and a single family have shaped the way much of the world shops. When you learn that Sol Price…
- 256Altius Minerals: Royalty Check - [Business Breakdowns, EP.243]24 Apr 2026 · 34 min▶Show page
About this episode
Today, we are breaking down Altius Minerals, a Canadian royalty company that stands apart from the precious metals and oil and gas names that usually define the category. 17 people in Newfoundland control royalties over Canadian potash mines that supply 90 percent of the potash used in the US, along with 2.9 gigawatts…
- 255Givaudan: The Magic Ingredients - [Business Breakdowns, EP.242]17 Apr 2026 · 41 min▶Show page
About this episode
Today, we are breaking down Givaudan, the Swiss fragrance and flavor giant hiding in plain sight. I came away from this episode with a new way of seeing the world around me. When you learn that a single company is behind the scent of your shampoo, the taste of your burger, and the smell of your laundry, you start to…
- 254Apollo: Connoisseurs of Complexity - [Business Breakdowns, REPLAY]20 Mar 2026 · 1h 15mApollo▶Show page
About this episode
This episode was originally recorded in March 2025. Today, we are breaking down the global alternative asset manager, Apollo. I reflected on my personal experiences with Apollo for this episode, and there's a saying that hard work can beat talent when talent doesn't work hard. Well, Apollo has talent, and Apollo…
- 253Cognex: Vision Quest - [Business Breakdowns, REPLAY]13 Mar 2026 · 45 min▶Show page
About this episode
This conversation was originally released in February of 2025. We’re replaying this episode because Cognex sits right at the intersection of AI and robotics. As the market focuses more on physical AI and automation in 2026, machine vision is becoming an increasingly important part of that story. Today we are breaking…
- 252ASML: Competing with Moore’s Law - [Business Breakdowns, REPLAY]6 Mar 2026 · 53 minBaillie Gifford▶Show page
About this episode
This conversation was originally released in June of 2023. Today we return to the semiconductor value chain with one of the most important companies in modern technology: ASML. The company began life as an unwanted spin-out from Philips with no real product and little expectation of success. Today, it builds the only…
- 251Cloudflare: Leading Cybersecurity - [Business Breakdowns, EP.241]11 Feb 2026 · 1h 10mSquare Peg▶Show page
About this episode
Today we are breaking down the cybersecurity giant, Cloudflare. Today, Cloudflare controls over 20% of the world’s web traffic, and more impressively, absorbs 2.5mn cyber attacks per second. My guest is Sam Eden, Investor at Square Peg’s Global Tech Fund. And while I understood on the surface what Cloudflare does,…
- 250How Investors are using AI - [Business Breakdowns, EP.240]5 Feb 2026 · 49 minDavid Plon▶Show page
About this episode
Today we have a special episode breaking down how investors are using AI. This is a question I get from many of you, and while there is no shortage of content on the implications of AI, I know there's an appetite to learn more about tangible use cases, how to make sure you're getting the most out of these tools, how…
- 249Games Workshop: The World of Warhammer - [Business Breakdowns, EP.239]30 Jan 2026 · 40 min▶Show page
About this episode
Today we are breaking down Games Workshop. This episode is another examination of the business of IP. Whether it's Disney, Electronic Arts, or Nintendo, there are so many businesses built around core IP. And while Games Workshop and its Warhammer franchise may not be as familiar to our North America listeners - this…
- 248Databricks: From Data to Decisions - [Business Breakdowns, EP.238]8 Jan 2026 · 1h 15mWCM Investment Management▶Show page
About this episode
Today we’re breaking down Databricks, a $130B private company that helps companies collect, store, and process very large amounts of data, and then use that data to run analytics and train machine learning models. Databricks sits in the middle of modern data systems, connecting raw data pipelines to the tools teams…
- 247Amadeus: The IT Backbone of Travel - [Business Breakdowns, EP.237]12 Dec 2025 · 48 min▶Show page
About this episode
Today we are breaking down Amadeus, the dominant infrastructure powering global travel bookings. If you've used a travel agent or corporate booking system, you've likely interacted with Amadeus's technology, though most of what they do happens behind the scenes in airline operations, hotel inventory management, and…
- 246Doximity: The Hub of Healthcare - [Business Breakdowns, EP.236]5 Dec 2025 · 33 minWilliam Blair▶Show page
About this episode
Today, we are breaking down one of the more impressive B2B media businesses I have come across, Doximity. It's been called “the LinkedIn for doctors.” Jim Jones, partner and analyst at William Blair Asset Management, helped explain exactly how Doximity works as a business. Jim gets into the community engine that…
- 245GE Aerospace: Full Throttle - [Business Breakdowns, EP.235]14 Nov 2025 · 59 minLarry Culp▶Show page
About this episode
Today we are breaking down GE Aerospace. We did cover GE several years ago, but that episode focused on Larry Culp's turnaround of the conglomerate. Ramesh Narayanaswamy, co-founder and portfolio manager of Tourbillon Partners, joins me to explore what is now a pure-play aerospace business. We discuss the unique…
- 244Alternative Investing: Alts For All - [Business Breakdowns, EP.234]7 Nov 2025 · 50 min▶Show page
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle. Today, we are back to talk about increased access to alternative investing. My guest is Josh Clarkson, managing director at Prosek Partners. You may remember that Josh joined us last year in our primer series on private credit. He is back today to discuss what this development could mean for all…
- 243Robinhood: Mobile First, Margins Later - [Business Breakdowns, EP.233]31 Oct 2025 · 1h 0mArthur Olson▶Show page
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle. Today we are breaking down Robinhood. My guest is Arthur Olson, founding partner at Ravenswood Partners. We get into how Robinhood grew from a mobile-native brokerage idea that faced many challenges along the way into the third-largest broker in the USA. Arthur educates on how the business model…
- 242CompoSecure: Heavy Metal - [Business Breakdowns, EP.232]24 Oct 2025 · 56 min▶Show page
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle. Today we are breaking down CompoSecure, a company that manufactures premium metal credit cards and payment cards. My guest is Parsa Kiai, Managing Partner at Steamboat Capital. What really made Parsa the ideal guest is that he has a history with CompoSecure from before the Dave Cote era, which…
- 241Amphenol: The Nervous System for Electronics - [Business Breakdowns, EP.231]15 Oct 2025 · 54 minAndy Gardner▶Show page
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle. Today, we are breaking down the industrial giant Amphenol. Amphenol pairs two of my favorite business frameworks that are often discussed on Breakdowns. Firstly, I am drawn to any company that specializes in selling mission-critical parts, which represent a small percentage of a manufacturer's…
- 240Media M&A - [Business Breakdowns, EP.230]9 Oct 2025 · 47 min▶Show page
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle. Today, we are exploring the world of media deals. My guest is Blake Saunders. Blake has been in media investment banking for almost two decades. When I first met him, he was a banker, so I wasn't expecting to lean into this relationship, but I often introduce Blake to others as the banker. We…
- 239Exor: Fiat Crisis to Ferrari Glory - [Business Breakdowns, EP.229]1 Oct 2025 · 48 min▶Show page
About this episode
This is Zack Fuss. Today, we are breaking down Exor. The origins of Exor date back to the end of the 19th century when Giovanni Agnelli founded the Auto Company Fiat. Over the company's 100-year-old history, a lot has changed. While some of the core assets remain the same today, Exor serves as an investment holding…
- 238WaterBridge: Oil and Water - [Business Breakdowns, EP.228]24 Sept 2025 · 1h 4m▶Show page
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle. Today we are breaking down the recent IPO WaterBridge. I am joined by James Davolos from Horizon Kinetics. We start with HK's history with these very unique businesses that are off the radar for many with TPL, Landbridge and now Water Bridge. James gets into the weeds and nuances of what this…
- 237Mercado Libre: E-commerce Empire - [Business Breakdowns, EP.227]5 Sept 2025 · 1h 13mDaniel Wu▶Show page
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle. Today we are breaking down the Latam e-commerce Giant, Mercado Libre. My guest is Daniel Wu of Bristlemoon Capital. I was introduced to MELI about 15 years ago when it was still the eBay of Latam, and similar to a place that you revisit after a long time away, MELI looks a lot different than…
- 236Compass: Real Estate Revolution - [Business Breakdowns, EP.226]13 Aug 2025 · 1h 3mRevolutionRobert Reffkin▶Show page
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle. Today, we are breaking down the real estate broker Compass. Compass itself is a fascinating business and historically a controversial stock. It was founded in 2012 by Robert Reffkin and has scaled in that short period of time to become the largest real estate brokerage in the United States.…
- 235PE Perspective on Insurance Brokers - [Business Breakdowns, EP.225]7 Aug 2025 · 59 min▶Show page
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle. Today's Breakdown caters to both public and private investors alike. My guest is Aaron Cohen, head of the Financial Services and Technology Group at GTCR, and our topic is insurance Brokers. I was initially intrigued by Aaron and GTCR after seeing their announced $13 billion sale of Assured…
- 234CME Group: The House Always Wins - [Business Breakdowns, EP.224]23 Jul 2025 · 1h 0m▶
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle and today we are breaking down the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. My guest is Adam Chandler, co-PM at Claremont Global, and together we get into the nitty gritty of exchanges. We all know how integral exchanges are to the financial system but we rarely stop to understand how they operate, how they…
- 233Agilent: Back To The Lab - [Business Breakdowns, EP.223]16 Jul 2025 · 42 min▶Show page
About this episode
This is Matt Reustle. Today, we are breaking down Agilent. If you aren't familiar with Agilent, it is a $30 billion market cap company at the time of this recording, and they focus on one of the more interesting niches: equipment and instruments sold into laboratories. Its equipment is being sold to the life sciences…
Who the show talks about
Firms named in its episodes, and people named in descriptions: talked about, rather than on the show.
