I’m Jesse Pujji and today we’re breaking down MongoDB. The MongoDB story traces back to 2007 when the founding team was running DoubleClick, a large adtech business now owned by Google. They could not find an existing database software with the agility and scalability that the internet requires. Today, MongoDB has over 25,000 customers across 100 countries.    To help break down Mongo, I'm joined by Ro Nagpal, an investor at Holocene Advisors. Listeners will recognize Ro from our breakdown of Twilio earlier this year. During our conversation, we get a 101 on database software, talk through Mongo’s creative approach to R&D, learn about how database product advantages compound, and look at what protects Mongo from larger players like Microsoft and Amazon. Please enjoy this business breakdown of MongoDB.    For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Coinbase, Hinge Health, Farfetch, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. If you're ready to go deeper on any company and you appreciate the value of primary research, head to tegus.co/breakdowns for a free trial.   -----   This episode is brought to you by the MIT Investment Management Company, known as MITIMCo. As the endowment office of MIT, MITIMCo searches for investment firms that are focused on achieving exceptional long-term investment returns. MITIMCo's goal is to create long-term relationships. They will partner with firms as early as Day 1 and do not ask for general partner economics in return. Visit www.mitimco.org to learn more about their unconventional emerging manager approach, including examples of managers they have backed.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   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.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:03:51] - [First question] - What MongoDB is, what they do, and their scale today [00:05:03] - The functions of a database and why they’re important [00:07:37] - The unmet market need that led to founding MongoDB and the history of the space leading up to today [00:11:13] - What big data means and how it applies to MongoDB [00:12:42] - Things that would lead customers of Oracle to leave them for MongoDB [00:13:42] - The technology stack behind a company like weather.com [00:14:52] - Types of companies and services that couldn’t exist without MongoDB [00:16:40] - State of the database marketplace today and where they fit into it [00:17:51] - How big the new market of big data is and current competitors [00:19:22] - What makes MongoDB so distinct and why they’re winning [00:21:34] - The most important metrics and numbers for the business [00:23:28] - Gross margins and why they spend so much on sales and marketing [00:24:55] - How investors can justify a company spending so much on marketing [00:26:19] - The P&L and unit economics of the business [00:26:47] - How a customer grows after they’ve been acquired [00:27:21] - Clever ways that MongoDB spends and uses their resources [00:29:26] - Different types of open source models and how they use it to their advantage [00:31:22] - One thing MongoDB does exceptionally well and something they could improve [00:34:19] - What MongoDB has managed to get so right compared to their competitors [00:36:04] - Their unique go-to-market strategy and why it worked [00:37:15] - The things that would have to go right for MongoDB to compound over a decade [00:39:00] - Market factors that may impact their future growth and potential M&A opportunities [00:40:27] - Biggest risks that may affect MongoDB’s growth trajectory over the next few years [00:41:01] - What allows them to exist in a world dominated by Google and Microsoft [00:42:34] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying MongoDB’s story [00:44:17] - Why changing their CEO was necessary and helped the company recover and thrive

Business Breakdowns

MongoDB: The Database Platform - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 33]

Today we’re breaking down Universal Music Group. As one of the largest music businesses in the world, UMG is home to many of the world’s greatest artists, including Taylor Swift, U2, and The Beatles catalog. A discussion on UMG requires a deep dive into the history of music itself, how it was historically monetized, the shift from physical to digital, and what streaming has meant for the various pieces of the ecosystem. Our guest, Arman Gokgol-Kline, a partner and investor at Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, walks us through that evolution of the music industry before we dive in on UMG. In our discussion, we first break down the industry pre and post Napster, looking at the ways music was sold historically, and how that led to both record profits and a consumer revolution. We then assess streaming’s impact on the industry and how, contrary to what you might think, labels may be more important in a marketplace where it’s easier than ever for creators to record and release music. Finally, we finish with UMG’s place in the ecosystem. The primary drivers of the business, how they’re able to attract the world’s superstars, and how they think about deploying dollars to acquire new artists and timeless catalogs. Please enjoy this fantastic breakdown of Universal Music Group.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   This episode is brought to you by Quartr. With Quartr, you can access conference calls, investor presentations, transcripts, and earnings reports – straight from your pocket. Quartr is 100% free and includes companies from 12 markets including the US, the UK, Canada, India, and all the Scandinavian countries. Quartr is available for both iOS and Android, so check out the app today.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex began as the first corporate card for startups and now offers a full financial stack built for scale. Get 10-20x higher credit limits, uncapped rewards, easy deposits and payments, and expense management all in one. Grow your business faster with Brex.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   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.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:03:28] - [First question] - How technology disrupted the music business and it’s evolving history [00:12:11] - What the industry of music labels looks like from the 90s to today [00:20:46] - How it feels as a high-tier artist to engage with a label directly today [00:27:47] - The revenue and business model of an artist akin to Taylor Swift [00:30:11] - The differences between UMG's main sources of revenue; music publishing and recording [00:34:35] - General margins and trends for music publishing [00:35:49] - Ownership and mechanics of monetizing an artist’s Intellectual Property  [00:40:24] - How streaming revenues are divided among stakeholders [00:45:50] - History of the bargaining power of labels and streaming platforms [00:50:52] - Capital allocation, ROI, and acquiring IP and catalogs [00:57:06] - Thoughts on the growth profile of the industry as an investor [01:01:50] - Potential risks to UMG from emerging technology and new creator trends  [01:08:17] - Reasons why an artist would pick UMG over other major labels [01:12:09] - Diversity and how artists are sometimes treated by labels [01:13:31] - A growing increase in music consumption across the world

Universal Music Group: The Gatekeepers of Music - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 32]

Today, we’re breaking down Uber. Despite a corporate history that spans just over a decade, the ink spilled on Uber could have its own wing in a library. So rather than record with our typical Breakdown format, we decided to host two portfolio managers and familiar guests on the podcast, Mario Cibelli, and Ram Parameswaran, to walk through their bull cases on Uber stock.   Uber is the case study for network effects in two-sided marketplaces but a controversial corporate culture, ongoing regulatory battles, and a debate over unit economics has made it a battleground stock since going public in 2019. During our wide-ranging conversation, we cover the opportunity for Uber’s business segments, what deteriorating service means for the product, and what COVID may have revealed regarding Ubers’ financials.   While Mario and Ram are clearly Uber bulls, it’s particularly fun to hear where their views align and differ. It’s a great reminder that we can all take very different paths to arrive at the same conclusion. Please enjoy this great breakdown of Uber.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Quartr. With Quartr, you can access conference calls, investor presentations, transcripts, and earnings reports – straight from your pocket. Quartr is 100% free and includes companies from 12 markets including the US, the UK, Canada, India, and all the Scandinavian countries. Quartr is available for both iOS and Android, so check out the app today.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex began as the first corporate card for startups and now offers a full financial stack built for scale. Get 10-20x higher credit limits, uncapped rewards, easy deposits and payments, and expense management all in one. Grow your business faster with Brex.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   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.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:03:16] - [First question] - What they find most interesting about Uber [00:04:40] - Major aspects of the business today in regards to bookings and revenue [00:07:47] - The importance of multiple use cases and what happens by exploring verticals [00:10:47] - History of getting drivers to join the company and what matters on the supply side [00:15:01] - Impact of higher wait times and ride prices and emerging trends in a post-covid era [00:17:48] - Thinking about Uber as a busted but booming model [00:22:31] - The unit economics and journey of $100 flowing into Uber [00:29:32] - Possible concerns and needs for capital Uber may have in the future [00:37:13] - The role that DoorDash plays in this ecosystem and where it’s a potential threat [00:39:01] - Is Lift an equally worthy competitor compared to DoorDash [00:41:59] - What we can learn about labor and regulation when studying Uber [00:43:44] - Thoughts on current management and capital allocation [00:49:56] - Parallels between Amazon Prime and Uber’s membership program  [00:52:25] - Using the accumulated data to integrate an advertising model into their app [00:56:33] - The biggest potential threats to Uber’s growing success 

Uber: The Undeletable App - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 31]

Today, we are breaking down John Deere. With a history dating back almost two centuries, Deere has been a mainstay in the agriculture industry for generations. And despite its rich history as an incumbent, Deere is also on the leading edge of technology and innovation in ag-tech. To help break down John Deere, Zack Fuss is joined by Matt Coutts. Matt comes from a multi-generation family of farmers, and brings a unique ability to connect finance and farming. During our conversation, we discuss what the ag ecosystem looks like today, what drives farming economics, and why Deere holds such a strong competitive advantage that seems to only be growing. Please enjoy this breakdown of John Deere.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Quartr. With Quartr, you can access conference calls, investor presentations, transcripts, and earnings reports – straight from your pocket. Quartr is 100% free and includes companies from 12 markets including the US, the UK, Canada, India, and all the Scandanavian countries. Quartr is available for both iOS and Android, so check out the app today.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex began as the first corporate card for startups and now offers a full financial stack built for scale. Get 10-20x higher credit limits, uncapped rewards, easy deposits and payments, and expense management all in one. Grow your business faster with Brex.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   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.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:03:04] - [First question] - What Matt does as a farmer and where he spends his time [00:03:54] - How big the global crop production and agriculture industry is  [00:05:48] - Key considerations in production efficiency with such a large market [00:08:15] - John Deere’s role in the global agriculture industry [00:08:58] - Deere’s business model and how they generate revenue [00:10:14] - What farmers tend to buy and how distribution works [00:12:06] - How a farmer traditionally thinks about their business [00:13:18] - Some of the large machine purchases that a farmer needs [00:14:11] - What a combine does and its role in crop production [00:14:53] - The landscape and types of family farms  [00:15:57] - Whether or not farmers can earn above industry returns through any cycle [00:18:18] - The role Deere plays in controlling variable costs to improve returns [00:20:38] - The things Matt’s most focused on as a farmer and how Deere optimize outcomes [00:22:48] - Brand loyalty and mixing and matching machines from different brands [00:24:55] - What precision agriculture actually means [00:27:55] - Overview of a harvest and how Deere equipment interacts with it [00:31:16] - Unit economics and how their recurring relationship generates profit [00:34:01] - Interpreting data, who owns the data, and digital agriculture analytics [00:35:55] - What enables Deere to generate such large margins as an industrial manufacturer [00:40:35] - Is Deere a higher-priced product than its competitors? [00:41:16] - Recent acquisitions and what it says about their growth [00:43:17] - The John Deere API and potential third party integration  [00:44:28] - Will farmers even be physically operating machinery in the future? [00:46:35] - Lessons learned as a builder and an investor from John Deere’s story 

John Deere: Centuries of Farming Innovation [Business Breakdowns, EP. 30]

Today, we are breaking down the cloud and SaaS trailblazer, Salesforce. Founded by Marc Benioff in 1999, Salesforce has grown rapidly to become the global leader in the $100 billion CRM market. The business has 150,000 customers, including 90% of the Fortune 500, and is currently valued north of $270 billion. To break down Salesforce, Patrick O’Shaughnessy is joined by Matt Garratt, general partner at VC firm CRV and former head of Salesforce Ventures, where he led investments in companies like Snowflake, Twilio, and Zoom. In our conversation, we discuss the attributes that make Marc Benioff special, how he pushed against convention to usher in a new era of cloud-based businesses, and ways in which he has built a world around Salesforce’s product lines. We also cover decision-making in the company, why its culture derives from the beaches of Hawaii, and how it’s transitioning from builder to buyer. Please enjoy this breakdown of Salesforce. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Quartr. With Quartr, you can access conference calls, investor presentations, transcripts, and earnings reports – straight from your pocket. Quartr is 100% free and includes companies from 12 markets including the US, the UK, Canada, India, and all the Scandanavian countries. Quartr is available for both iOS and Android, so check out the app today.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex began as the first corporate card for startups and now offers a full financial stack built for scale. Get 10-20x higher credit limits, uncapped rewards, easy deposits and payments, and expense management all in one. Grow your business faster with Brex.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   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.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:03:14] - [First question] - What Salesforce is and what it does [00:04:55] - The scale and revenue scope of the business today [00:06:13] - Driving variables of revenue growth and their current model [00:09:10] - The unique founding story and becoming the first SaaS company [00:11:06] - What about Marc Benioff made him so compelling and successful [00:14:20] - An experience in his time at Salesforce that changed and moved him [00:15:16] - The first buyer and what they were served as a product [00:17:07] - Overview of Salesforce as a software platform [00:19:58] - The core database that powers their infrastructure and user experience [00:21:26] - Transitioning from being mostly a builder to largely a buyer and acquirer [00:23:46] - Why building trust early on is so crucial when doing something new [00:25:45] - What is Dreamforce, and how it’s evolved over time [00:27:24] - The connection between Hawaiian culture and Salesforce [00:29:14] - How they continue to market and acquire customers and spend so much on marketing [00:30:44] - Their current addressable market and plans to expand into those areas [00:35:05] - How priorities are set, picked, and followed through on  [00:35:58] - What is V2MOM and the role it plays with the executive team  [00:38:08] - The philosophy behind Salesforce Ventures and the function it serves [00:40:27] - Potential risks the business faces going forward [00:44:24] - Key characteristics that separate Salesforce from other businesses out there [00:46:47] - Lessons for investors and builders when studying Salesforce’s story

Salesforce: The Cloud & SaaS Pioneer [Business Breakdowns, EP. 29]

Today, we are breaking down Solana. Founded in 2017 by an ex-wireless engineer from Qualcomm, Solana is a layer one blockchain like Bitcoin and Ethereum that has been built to process transactions as quickly and cheaply as possible. Where Bitcoin can process about ten transactions per second and Ethereum around 30, Solana can handle over 60,000 transactions per second, and it can do so at a fraction of the cost. Unsurprisingly, Solana’s network has attracted huge interest from developers, users, and investors alike over the last year.   In this breakdown, we cover the killer app for decentralized ledgers, the history of on-chain transaction speeds, and the fundamental difference between software and blockchain technology. We then delve into the architecture that has enabled Solana’s speed unlock and look at the platform’s potential to become a huge piece of the world’s financial infrastructure. To help me break down Solana, I’m joined by Kyle Samani, co-founder and managing partner at Multicoin Capital.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. We created Business Breakdowns to uncover the lessons and frameworks behind every business, and that's what makes Tegus our perfect launch partner. Much of the foundational prep for these episodes starts with research on the Tegus platform.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Coinbase, Hinge Health, Farfetch, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. If you're ready to go deeper on any company and you appreciate the value of primary research, head to tegus.co/breakdowns for a free trial.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   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.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:02:49] - [First question] - How he views the opportunity set of blockchain technology   [00:06:37] - The evolution of transactions-per-second from Bitcoin to new cryptocurrencies [00:13:43] - Why does decentralized finance matter versus centralized finance [00:18:34] - What is Solana and the scope and scale of it today [00:20:31] - Reintroducing costs with DeFi software compared to prior zero marginal costs [00:24:13] - How to go from 30 transactions a second to 30,000 and make the system work [00:31:03] - What about Solana’s design code that allows it to  take advantage of parallelism [00:33:05] - Differences between proof of history and proof of work [00:39:05] - The tokenomics of Solana, their distribution setup, and what owning SOL offers [00:46:24] - What Solana’s blockchain will enable for application development [00:55:15] - The emerging adoption and creation of social tokens   [00:57:40] - Thoughts on regulation and security in regards to Solana [00:59:41] - Competition that Solana may face and layer one blockchains in general [01:04:54] - What has him most excited about Solana and the landscape writ large [01:08:11] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying the Solana story [01:11:23] - Leaning into your differences and the team behind the project   

Solana: Faster, Cheaper, More Scalable [Business Breakdowns, EP. 28]

Today, we are breaking down Taboola, a company you may not know but one you’ve definitely seen. When you read articles on CNBC, Bloomberg, or the Independent, Taboola powers the sidebar and banner recommendations for what you should read next.   The company works with publishers and advertisers to help readers discover what’s new and interesting. Founded in 2007, Taboola recently went public and is now the leading recommendation engine for the open web, serving over 500 million users a day.   To break down the business, host Jesse Pujji is joined by Taboola’s founder and CEO, Adam Singolda. During our conversation, we cover the ways in which Taboola’s value prop differs from Facebook and Google, unpack the advertising concepts of Yield and ex-TAC, and dive into Adam’s vision for Taboola to recommend anything, anywhere.   Please enjoy this breakdown of Taboola.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. We created Business Breakdowns to uncover the lessons and frameworks behind every business, and that's what makes Tegus our perfect launch partner. Much of the foundational prep for these episodes starts with research on the Tegus platform.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Coinbase, Hinge Health, Farfetch, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. If you're ready to go deeper on any company and you appreciate the value of primary research, head to tegus.co/breakdowns for a free trial.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   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.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:02:48] - [First question] - What is Taboola?  [00:03:35] - The scale of the business, revenue, impressions, and payouts to date [00:05:18] - What problem Taboola solves for advertisers and their user experience [00:07:22] - Comparing the advertising differences between Taboola and Facebook [00:09:15] - Why a publisher would choose Taboola and what they solve for them [00:11:06] - Reasons why advertising through Taboola is desirable [00:14:41] - The founding insight and early struggles of building Taboola [00:18:42] - Important metrics when evaluating their business and what generates revenue [00:20:32] - What they offer to both sides of the marketplace to grow their business [00:22:26] - Defining yield and how they position their rates [00:25:38] - Things they do to improve the value proposition for clients [00:29:29] - What allows Taboola to grow and remain competitive  [00:30:37] - Prioritizing sales and marketing spend to ensure their long term success [00:32:24] - Positive and negative factors in relation to scaling a business like this [00:34:11] - Reasons why they wanted to merge with Outbrain [00:35:16] - Their latest deal with Connexity and his thoughts on M&A for the future [00:37:50] - The top things that would maximize their success over the next decade [00:40:05] - Cookies, privacy, and the role they might play in years to come [00:42:09] - The biggest threats and risks for the future of Taboola [00:44:14] - The competitive landscape of advertising and content placement [00:46:09] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying Taboola’s story   [00:47:47] - Where to go if you want to learn more about Taboola

Taboola: The Open Web’s Suggestion Engine - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 27]

Today, we are breaking down Sky Mavis, the company behind the NFT-based game, Axie Infinity. Built by a team with a long history in gaming, Axie Infinity was launched in 2018 with the idea that a blockchain-based “play-to-earn” model could create more aligned incentives between game creators and game players long-term.   Axie is one of the most incredible examples of speed-to-scale I’ve seen, with the game reporting $100,000 of revenue in January, over $190,000,000 of revenue in July, and over $360,000,000 in August.   In this breakdown, we cover the basics of Axie and how gameplay is similar to classics such as Pokemon. We dive into the economic model, how Sky Mavis generates revenue, how players earn money, and how this is all enabled by the blockchain. We discuss the importance of gameplay vs. the economic ecosystem and examine the sustainability of Axie from various angles.   To help break down Sky Mavis, Patrick O’Shaughnessy is joined by Aleksander Larsen, co-founder of Sky Mavis, and Stephen McKeon, Partner at Collab+Currency, an early investor in Sky Mavis.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. We created Business Breakdowns to uncover the lessons and frameworks behind every business, and that's what makes Tegus our perfect launch partner. Much of the foundational prep for these episodes starts with research on the Tegus platform.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Coinbase, Hinge Health, Farfetch, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. If you're ready to go deeper on any company and you appreciate the value of primary research, head to tegus.co/breakdowns for a free trial.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   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.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:03:00] - [First question] - How many people are playing Axie and how quickly it’s grown [00:04:03] - What play-to-earn means and how money flows through a digital ecosystem [00:05:03] - A basic overview of the user experience of playing Axie Infinity  [00:07:23] - What an Axie is, its features, how they’re generated, and how many exist [00:09:32] - Monster NFTs and the fungible SLP in-game currency [00:15:00] - Converting the SLP to fiat currency and how low-friction the process is [00:16:40] - Are people actually playing the game or just speculating on the game’s assets [00:23:14] - The AXS governance token, how to earn it, and what it enables for token holders [00:27:08] - What the opportunity set looks like for Axie from an investor standpoint [00:29:39] - Finding a balance between offering digital work and creating a player incentive  [00:33:29] - Mystic Axie and what they are generally worth today [00:34:42] - How much the community will have to expand and build on top of the game [00:38:48] - Overview of the plots of land in the Axie metaverse and what they might unlock  [00:41:57] - What a sidechain is and how the Ronin wallet works  [00:46:41] - Why what’s good for Ronin is also good for Ethereum [00:48:53] - Defining a bridge and how it differs from an exchange [00:50:24] - Lessons learned about good tokenomics and token design  [00:55:04] - The biggest potential risks to the future of Axie Infinity and its growing popularity  [00:57:13] - What an ideal future looks like for the metaverse and Axie infinity [01:01:09] - How the world is changing and why that unlocks value for play-to-earn games [01:04:03] - Asset ownership inversion and how big this could become in the future [01:05:24] - The most surprising things that have happened since joining Axie Infinity [01:06:55] - How he thinks about assessing new opportunities in crypto and the metaverse [01:09:19] - Where you can go to learn more about Axie and dabble in the game

Sky Mavis: The Builders Behind Axie Infinity - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 26]

Today, we will be breaking down Datadog. If you've ever used Control-Alt-Delete to force quit a frozen application - you've experienced the Activity Monitor on your own computer. Datadog is that Activity Monitor for all of a business’s systems across its apps, tools, databases, and servers. It is a SaaS-based monitoring platform that gives enterprise IT teams real-time visibility into the performance of their entire software stack. Datadog was founded in 2010 and has repeatedly out-developed competitors to build a comprehensive IT monitoring platform. Today, Datadog’s market cap is over $40 billion dollars.   To break down Datadog, host Jesse Pujji is joined by Peter Offringa, the author of Software Stack Investing. During our conversation, we discuss Datadog’s unique product development cadence, how they’re able to grow their top line at 60% a year while staying profitable, and why Web3 might be their biggest competitive threat.   I hope you enjoy this breakdown of Datadog.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. We created Business Breakdowns to uncover the lessons and frameworks behind every business, and that's what makes Tegus our perfect launch partner. Much of the foundational prep for these episodes starts with research on the Tegus platform.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 15,000 calls on Coinbase, Hinge Health, Farfetch, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. If you're ready to go deeper on any company and you appreciate the value of primary research, head to tegus.co/breakdowns for a free trial.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   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.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:02:54] - [First question] - What Datadog does and their current scale [00:03:58] - Their customer base today and noteworthy growth metrics  [00:05:21] - The basics of a tech stack business and Datadog’s approach to it [00:07:31] - What problem Datadog solves and how they came across it  [00:08:26] - An overview of a typical backend infrastructure and how Datadog improves it [00:11:52] - Who Datadog’s actual customer is [00:13:21] - The founding story and what fuelled their rapid growth [00:15:58] - What the market looks like today and who their competitors are  [00:18:35] - Scaling the business so quickly and how they measure it [00:21:07] - Their unique and highly successful marketing approach [00:24:06] - Parallels between the user experiences of Datadog and Twilio [00:26:00] - The gross margin profile and how it’s trending [00:26:58] - Dollar revenue retention and how pricing unlocks sales and marketing spend [00:29:18] - How Datadog’s pricing stacks up against their competitors [00:30:41] - The advantages of using Datadog versus AWS and pre-provided solutions [00:33:49] - Their M&A strategy and what makes it unique [00:36:46] - What would have to go right for their market cap to double over the next decade [00:39:12] - Potential risks or threats to Datadog’s potential success [00:41:28] - Lessons for builders when studying Datadog’s story [00:42:52] - Lessons for investors to take away from Datadog’s success  [00:43:57] - Where to learn more about Datadog 

Datadog: The Realtime Data Monitor - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 25]

Business Breakdowns is a series of conversations with investors and operators diving deep into a single business. For each business, we explore its history, its business model, its competitive advantages, and what makes it tick. Learn more and stay up to date at www.joincolossus.com

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Business Breakdowns

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