Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy
Business:Investing
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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This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick.
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This episode is brought to you by Hall Capital Partners. Hall Capital is always looking for exceptional investment talent at any stage and size, so if you are raising capital or looking for a career change in the San Francisco or New York areas, you should check them out at hallcapital.com or e-mail at invest@hallcapital.com.
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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.
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Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus
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 categories
[01:02:23] - The company he’s most enjoyed studying over his career
[01:05:25] - Shared characteristics of exceptional leaders he’s met and talked to
[01:07:48] - The Gorilla Game, Crossing the Chasm
[01:08:14] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for him
Frank Blake - Leading By Example - [Invest Like the Best, EP.377]
Adam Sandow - The Power of Print Media - [Invest Like the Best, EP.376]
Howie Liu - Building Airtable - [Invest Like the Best, EP.375]
Mark Groden - The Future of Flying - [Invest Like the Best, EP.374]
Dev Ittycheria - The Database Evolution - [Invest Like the Best, EP.373]
Nico Wittenborn - Finding the Adjacent Possible - [Invest Like the Best, EP.372]
Mitch Rales: The Art of Compounding - [Art of Investing, Forever Episode]
Marc Lasry - Making Bucks in Credit and Sports - [Invest Like the Best, EP.371]
Bill Gurley & Michael Mauboussin - Putting Theory into Practice - [Invest Like the Best, EP.370]
Tim Ferriss - Curating Curiosities - [Invest Like the Best, EP.369]
Ken Langone - The American Dream - [Invest Like the Best, EP.368]
Robin Dunbar - Optimizing Human Connection (Dunbar's Number) - [Invest Like the Best, EP.367]
Sean Feeney - Reinventing the Restaurant Business - [Invest Like the Best, EP.366]
Dave Fontenot - The Monastery of Code - [Invest Like the Best, EP.365]
Anne-Marie Peterson - The Capital System - [Invest Like the Best, EP.364]
Aravind Srinivas - Building An Answer Engine - [Invest Like the Best, EP.363]
Ali Hamed - Building an Investment Firm - [Invest Like the Best, EP.362]
Cyan Banister - Investing for a Higher Purpose - [Invest Like the Best, EP.361]
Danny Meyer - The Power of Hospitality - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]
Chuck Akre - The Three Legged Stool - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]
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