20VC: Carvana: The Most Wild Story in Public Markets: From $60BN to $400M and Back to $40BN | The Biggest Opportunities, Mistakes and Challenges Ahead for One of the Public Market’s Only 100x Investments

Carvana is one of the most wild stories in the public markets. The company IPO’d with a market cap of $2BN before skyrocketing to $60BN, only for the company to lose 99% of it’s value hitting a bottom of $400M market cap. Today the company is stronger than ever and with a market cap of $41BN. Joining us in the hotseat is Dan Gill, Carvana’s CPO, the man who oversees all technology functions, as well as strategic partnerships for the business.

In Today’s Episode with Dan Gill We Discuss:

1. From $60BN to $400M Market Cap:

• What did Carvana do that Dan wishes they had not done?

• What did Carvana not do that Dan wishes they had done? 

• How do you maintain morale in a team when the company has lost 99% of it’s value? 

2. From $400M Back to $40BN Market Cap:

• What have been the core needle movers in Carvana’s market cap surging?

• How does the Carvana business model benefit from economies of scale?

• How does vertical integration of the different products Carvana sells change the margin structure of the business? 

3. The Future of Carvana:

• Why does Dan believe there is a massive market for Cavana in selling new cars?

• Why does Dan want to move into the peer to peer market, a market where so many before have failed?

• Why does Dan think Carvana should sell Chinese cars on the platform if American citizens want to buy them? 

• What revenue line does Carvana not have today that Dan believes will be the biggest in 10 years time? 

4. Product Advice, North Star Metrics, Idea Selection:

• What is the product advice that Dan gives more than any other?

• How does Dan advise startup founders on how to know they have the right north star metric? What is his framework?

• How does Dan advise founders on how to select the right idea to work on?

• What is Dan’s prioritisation framework for if an idea will have a larger enough impact and is therefore worthy of being worked on?