Joys of Compounding

Luca Ferrari, Bending Spoons: Compounding Through Operational Excellence and Acquisitions - [Joys of Compounding, EP. 40] Oct 7, 2026 3642 Our teacher today is Luca Ferrari, co-founder and CEO of Bending Spoons. Luca spent more than a decade quietly building Bending Spoons in Italy into one of the best operators and acquirers of software businesses in the world, and we talk about why going slow early helped, how they hire people who act like owners, why they would happily buy shrinking companies at high returns, how AI lets small te

America at 250: The Ideas of 1776 - [Joys of Compounding, EP. 39] Sep 17, 2026 4289 Our teachers today are Frank Cogliano, Brendan McConville, and Patrick Griffin, three of the world's leading historians of the American Revolution and contributors to The American Revolution at 250, a new collection of essays Frank edited for UVA Press. Frank, Brendan, and Patrick compare the bicentennial they watched as kids in 1976 with the mood of 2026 and explain why almost nobody saw indepen

A.J. Rohde: Living in the (Software) Limelight [Joys of Compounding, Ep. 38] Aug 3, 2026 5234 Our teacher today is A.J. Rohde, senior partner at Thoma Bravo, one of the largest software-focused private equity funds in the world. A.J. shares stories and lessons learned from his time investing in private equity - including why Thoma Bravo hires tennis players like him, and how playing in a band when he was younger helps make deals happen today. He talks through the fundamental disconne

Nilam Ganenthiran: Building a Beacon in the Fog of AI - [Joys of Compounding, EP. 37] Jun 29, 2026 5486 Our teacher today is Nilam Ganenthiran, founder and CEO of Beacon, a centrally managed technology holding company that acquires the vertical software businesses serving the real economy. Nilam shares the immigrant story that shaped him and why trust becomes the scarce resource as AI turns competence into a commodity. He revisits the hard lessons of his eight years building Instacart, from leading

Annalise Dragic & Zoe Zhao: Software Pioneers in the Dawn of AI - [Joys of Compounding, EP. 36] May 18, 2026 4663 Our teachers today are Annalise Dragic and Zoe Zhao, co-founders of Azlin Software, a next-generation serial acquirer of B2B vertical software companies focused on the providers of essential services and care for families. Annalise and Zoe share how their friendship evolved into a co-founding partnership, the 150 conversations with founders and investors that shaped Azlin from a blank page, and t

Justin Yoshimura - Resurrecting & Rolling Up Retail - [Joys of Compounding, EP. 35] Apr 27, 2026 4362 Our teacher today is Justin Yoshimura, founder and CEO of CSC Generation, a profitable commerce platform doing over a billion dollars in annual revenue across brands including Sur La Table, Backcountry, and One Kings Lane. As we explore what it takes to build an enduring company in a sector most investors have written off, we turn to Justin's unconventional path, one that challenges familiar assu

Brent Beshore - Adventures in Permanent Equity - [Joys of Compounding, EP. 34] Mar 30, 2026 6018 Our teacher today is Brent Beshore, founder and CEO of Permanent Equity, a firm that backs family-owned businesses across North America with no intention of ever selling. As we explore what it means to build enduring companies and live a meaningful life, we turn to Brent’s unconventional path – one that challenges the core assumptions of modern private equity and the incentives that shape it. B

Julian Flannery - Building a Medical Miracle Factory - [Joys of Compounding, EP.33] Nov 24, 2025 5719 Our teacher today is Julian Flannery, co-founder and CEO of Summus, a company democratizing access to the world's leading doctors to drive better health outcomes and cost savings for employers and health plans. As we explore the future of human health, we turn to specialty care, where U.S. healthcare's spiraling costs, inadequate speed, and care disparities are most acute. Yet our system's greates

Matteo Franceschetti - The Sleep Maestro - [Joys of Compounding, EP.32] Nov 12, 2025 4020 Our teacher today is Matteo Franceschetti, co-founder and CEO of Eight Sleep, whose Pod technology ranks among the top five products that have meaningfully improved my quality of life. This conversation launches our series on founders and investors revolutionizing human health, covering everything from diagnostics to longevity science to biotechnology. Matteo's story is fascinating—he's an unlik

CHAPTERS Group - Building Europe's Next Software Champion - [Joys of Compounding, EP.31] Oct 13, 2025 5049 Our teacher today is Jan Mohr, CEO of Chapters Group, a publicly traded serial acquisition holding company with ambitions of becoming one of Europe's technology champions. Chapters' origins date back to a small software startup founded near Frankfurt in 1998. Twenty years later, the core business was sold to a strategic buyer, consolidating the market with the proceeds of the sale in 2018. With J

David Senra - Lessons from the Founder Historian - [Joys of Compounding, REPLAY] Oct 6, 2025 4965 Today's teacher is ⁠David Senra⁠. David is an absolute force of nature who is taking the world by storm with his podcast "Founders." In class today, we enjoy access to the full spectrum of learnings from his decade-long study of history's greatest entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, and leaders. The library David built reflects a range of study that is boundless. From Alexander the Great to Cathe

Lessons from Steve Mandel - [Joys of Compounding, EP.30] Sep 15, 2025 5083 Our teacher today is Steve Mandel, founder of Lone Pine Capital, one of the defining investment firms of our time. For starters, Steve is, without question, among the most important leaders in the investment management industry. Consider that Seth Klarman once called him, “the best industry analyst I've ever met, who became the best long short hedge fund manager of his generation.” In our opinion

Back to School with Chris Begg! - [Joys of Compounding, EP.29] Aug 25, 2025 5595 We've got just the class to help you get back into that learning machine mode. We're stoked to be joined by our good friend Chris Begg, founder of East Coast Asset Management and adjunct Associate Professor at the Helibrunn Center for Graham and Dodd investing at Columbia Business School. He teaches security analysis, perhaps the most legendary investing course in higher education. In today's cl

Will Thorndike - Lessons from the Eternal Outsider - [Joys of Compounding, EP.28] Jun 9, 2025 5334 Our teacher today is Will Thorndike, co-founder of Compounding Labs and author of the acclaimed book, “The Outsiders.” In our opinion, Will has emerged as one of the most influential and innovative investor minds of the past few decades. And if you care about long-term value creation and the art of capital allocation, chances are you've also benefited from some of his ideas. In 1994, he founded

Katie Koch - Be A Force Multiplier - [Joys of Compounding, REPLAY] May 27, 2025 4731 Our teacher today is Katie Koch. Katie is the President and CEO of the TCW Group, a storied firm with over 200 billion in assets under management and a fascinating 50-year legacy as a pioneer in the investment industry. Katie just took the TCW reins in 2023 after more than 20 years at Goldman Sachs. She joined Goldman right after college as the self-proclaimed least capable person in the firm and

Sebastian Mejia - Scaling With Soul - [Joys of Compounding, EP.27] Apr 21, 2025 5481 Our teacher today is Sebastian Mejia. He combines intellectual range with emotional depth and is the co-founder of Rappi, the on-demand delivery platform that has become one of Latin America's most influential tech companies. In this episode, we discuss resilience, identity, intuition, and building companies with a sense of urgency and wonder. We will go from Sebastian’s immigrant hustle in New

Chad Cascarilla - Blockchain’s Carpenter - [Joys of Compounding, EP.26] Mar 24, 2025 5056 Our teacher today is Chad Cascarilla, co founder and CEO of Paxos, the leading regulated blockchain infrastructure company that is reimagining a complete technological replatforming of our global financial markets. Paxos aims to democratize finance by enabling instant global asset movement, partnering with industry leaders like PayPal, Stripe, MasterCard, and others. For those confused by crypto

Jacqui Morby - The Queen Of Software - [Joys of Compounding, EP.25] Feb 24, 2025 2436 Today’s teacher is Jacqueline Morby. She may well be the greatest investor you've probably never heard of. For anyone who invests in software or participates in the now nearly trillion dollar global growth equity industry, chances are Jackie helped to shape and give rise to the professional world you inhabit. In 1978 at the age of 40, and with her only professional experience to date being a few y

Rich Wells - Keep Moving - [Joys of Compounding, EP.24] Jan 28, 2025 4942 This is Rick. Today's teacher is Rich Wells, managing director of Insight Partners, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. I've known Rich for 20 years since our time as section mates in business school, where he was consistently recognized as the smartest person in the room. Rich is universally regarded as one of the preeminent private market software investors of the last 20 years, he

Mitch Rales - The Art of Compounding - [Joys of Compounding, REPLAY] Jan 6, 2025 7597 Before we turn the page on 2024, we wanted to shine one more light on the man behind our most popular class of the last year. And that's Mitch Rales, co-founder of Danaher, one of the most impressive businesses to have been built anywhere in the world this past century. Having co-founded Danaher 40 years ago alongside his brother and best friend Steve, the Rales boys have strung together a track r

Marcus Freeman - Choose Love, Choose Hard - [Joys of Compounding, REPLAY] Dec 9, 2024 2545 In honor of Notre Dame clinching a playoff spot, we're replaying our conversation from earlier this year with head coach Marcus Freeman. We discuss the power of relationships and how he talks with his players about the concepts of hard work & love. Marcus delves into what it takes to focus on inputs rather than outputs, especially as the college sports world is changing in unprecedented ways. And

Patrick Griffin - The Lessons of History - [Joys of Compounding, EP.23] Nov 25, 2024 4635 Today’s teacher is renowned historian Patrick Griffin. Patrick is the former chair of the Department of History at the University of Notre Dame. In 2021, he was named the Harold Vivian Harmsworth Visiting Professor of American History at the University of Oxford, perhaps the highest honor an American historian can receive. He joined us to explore “The Lessons of History” by Will and Ariel Durant,

Rich Wong - The Art of Accel-ing - [Joys of Compounding, EP.22] Oct 21, 2024 4635 Today's teacher is Rich Wong, general partner at renowned venture firm Accel. Rich is a very special investor and leader, and he spent many years as an operator prior to his time in VC. What was going to be a short stint as a venture operating partner nearly 20 years ago turned into a defining pivot for Rich. He not only quickly reached the top of the venture profession but also became the go-to i

Ravi Gupta - Bring Joy - [Joys of Compounding, EP.21] Sep 30, 2024 5149 Today's teacher is Ravi Gupta, a partner at renowned venture firm Sequoia Capital. Ravi has had a fascinating and meandering career on his way to becoming a VC, from consulting at McKinsey to private equity at KKR to operations at Instacart as both CFO and COO. All along the way, Ravi was gathering and cultivating a unique set of skills that's equipped him to now identify and support some of the m

Paul, Rick & Friends - School's Out For Summer - [Art of Investing, EP.20] Aug 5, 2024 10457 We are back with a summer special and to celebrate, we have a cast of teachers joining us. In this episode, you’ll hear from the Mount Rushmore of business podcasters–Patrick O’Shaughnessy, David Senra, and Acquired’s David and Ben–as well as two of our favorite entrepreneurs. We’ll also reflect on what we’ve learned from our guests, from hosting the show, and discuss what’s next for this podclass

Acquired - From Obsession to Profession [Art of Investing, REPLAY] Jul 8, 2024 5907 Today we are replaying our classroom session with Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, founders of Acquired, the podcasting sensation telling the stories and strategies of the world's great companies. In this episode, we turn the tables on Ben and David in order to discover their own stories and the fairy dust behind acquired success. We'll cover the history of the formation of one of the most success

Ho Nam - Lessons in Venturing Differently - [Art of Investing, REPLAY] Jun 10, 2024 6358 Today, we are replaying our conversation with Ho Nam, co-founder of Altos Ventures. As the numbers go, Altos is one of the greatest venture capital firms of the last quarter century. We unpack Ho's origin story and the values that shaped him most as a person and investor, and then we then turn to Altos itself. Altos has emerged as one of the most elite venture investors by breaking traditional VC

David Senra - Lessons from the Founder Historian - [Art of Investing, REPLAY] May 20, 2024 5106 Today, we are revisiting our class with David Senra in honor of our upcoming event together. David is an absolute force of nature who is taking the world by storm with his podcast "Founders." In this class, we enjoy access to the full spectrum of learnings from his decade-long study of history's greatest entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, and leaders. The library David's built reflects a range of s

Marcus Freeman - Choose Hard, Choose Love - [Art of Investing, EP.19] May 13, 2024 2650 Today’s teacher is Marcus Freeman, Head Football Coach at the University of Notre Dame. We discuss the power of relationships and how he talks with his players about the concepts of hard work and love, and we delve into what it takes to focus on inputs rather than outputs, especially as the college sports world is changing in unprecedented ways. For you football fans out there, we even get into a

Mitch Rales - The Art of Compounding - [Art of Investing, EP.18] Apr 29, 2024 7651 Today’s teacher is Mitch Rales, one of the most iconic business builders and philanthropists of our time. Consider that Danaher has annualized at over 21% for four decades, resulting in an 1800-times multiple on invested capital! You’ll learn from Mitch about the key inputs to his outlier success: why greatness is a journey that takes an unusual time horizon, the role benchmarking plays in standin

Drue Tranquill and Joe Schmidt - Finding Joy in Your Journey - [Art of Investing, EP.17] Apr 15, 2024 4374 Today’s teachers are Drue Tranquill and Joe Schmidt, two of our very best former students. You'll hear about Drue’s improbable run to becoming Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs and get to know Joe, a former walk-on at Notre Dame turned team MVP who went on to become a venture capitalist at Excel and now Andreessen Horowitz. Stepping back, we're just in awe of the way Joe and Drue em

Chris Hansen - The Long & Short of Investing - [Art of Investing, EP.16] Apr 1, 2024 5470 Our teacher today is Chris Hansen, founder of Long Short Equity investor, Valiant Capital. Chris spun off from his early career at Blue Ridge to start Valiant and pursue his own unique investment thesis. We cover Chris's foray into investing in India, the training, temperament, and overall constitution of a great short seller, and building something that increases your odds of long-term flourishin

John Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15] Mar 18, 2024 5902 Our teacher today is John Crowley. It is difficult to appropriately describe John and the Crowley family's story without drawing comparisons to superheroes. Harrison Ford gave it a shot, and the result is Extraordinary Measures, a blockbuster movie he starred in, alongside Brendan Fraser and Kerry Russell. The movie is based on Gita Anand's book The Cure, which tells the story of John and his wife

Arcadea Group - Permanent Capital Investing in Vertical SaaS - [Art of Investing, EP.14] Mar 4, 2024 5832 Our teachers today are Daniel Eisen and Paul Yancich, co-founders of Arcadea Group. Arcadea is a private market, long-duration investor building a permanent home for high-quality, vertical market software companies. Today, we sit down with an example of next-generation talent in Daniel and Paul, who began Arcadea after having the rare opportunity to learn and sit at the feet of Mark Leonard and t

Katie Koch - Be A Force Multiplier - [Art of Investing, EP.13] Feb 19, 2024 5578 Our teacher today is Katie Koch. Katie is the President and CEO of the TCW Group, a storied firm with over $200 billion in assets under management and a fascinating 50-year legacy as a pioneer in the investment industry. Katie just took the TCW reins in 2023 after more than 20 years at Goldman Sachs. She joined Goldman right after college as the self-proclaimed least capable person in the firm and

Oliver Thomas - Bootstrapped European Software Investing - [Art of Investing, EP.12] Feb 5, 2024 4689 Today’s teacher is Oliver Thomas, founder and managing partner of Expedition Growth Capital. Expedition is a leading growth equity firm based in London, built to serve the next generation of capital-efficient, founder-led European software companies. Oli shares what it takes to win as an investor in this fascinating and attractive small corner of the market. This class is jam-packed with colorful

Iris Rubin and Greg Maged - Building at the Crossroads of Beauty and Science - [Art of Investing, EP.11] Jan 22, 2024 4515 Our teachers today are Iris Rubin and Greg Maged, co-founders of SEEN, the fast-growing good-for-your-skin hair care company creating a new category at the intersection of science, health, and beauty. This was an illuminating conversation with two people who had already accomplished so much in their lives and careers before embarking on an entirely new entrepreneurial path. This class has a number

Andre Perold - Lessons from an Investor-Teacher Legend - [Art of Investing, EP.10] Jan 15, 2024 3566 Our teacher today is Harvard Business School legend, Andre Perold. Born and raised in South Africa, Andre taught at HBS for over 30 years, earning numerous awards for both his research and teaching excellence. If you were an aspiring investor attending HBS, Andre's class felt like the only class that mattered. He co-founded HighVista Strategies, a now leading investment firm that has $10 billion o

Celebrating The Life Of John Glynn - [Art of Investing, EP.9] Dec 25, 2023 3584 Today we celebrate the extraordinary life of John Glynn, Founder of Glynn Capital, who passed away earlier this year with a more than 50 year career as a technology investor. As an early investor in a who's who of technology companies, from Intel to Facebook, John developed a reputation as both an astute arbiter of mega-trends, as well as a capital partner of choice to talented founders. In additi

Cal Fussman - Compounding Human Connections - [Art of Investing, EP.8] Dec 11, 2023 4405 Today's teacher is legendary journalist Cal Fussman. Whether you're trying to get your first job or you're leading a large company, your ability to authentically connect with others is one of the most important skills to cultivate. To help us explore this topic, we tracked down Cal, a world-renowned interviewer and storyteller. From his time at Esquire to his podcast, Big Questions, Cal has interv

Jeff Marrazzo - Compounding for a Cure - [Art of Investing, EP.7] Nov 27, 2023 4114 Our teacher today is Jeff Marrazzo, Co-Founder and former CEO of Spark Therapeutics. Under Jeff's leadership, this biotech company was the very first in history to receive FDA approval for a gene therapy. Spark has helped to ignite and expand the art of what's possible and how we will seek to treat and potentially cure hundreds of genetic conditions over the coming decades. Jeff provides us with a

Brad Gerstner - Investor, Essentialist, Patriot - [Art of Investing, EP.6] Nov 13, 2023 5899 Our teacher today is Brad Gerstner, founder of Altimeter Capital. Brad is an exceptional investor and gifted teacher with a unique ability to distill complex ideas into clear, qualitative insights. In this session, Brad will share lessons learned across the full arc of his career that has spanned everything from RV manufacturing to politics to founding and operating several technology companies to

Jan Mohr - Lessons from a Young Investor Turned Operator - [Art of Investing, EP.5] Nov 6, 2023 4400 Our teacher today is Jan Mohr. Jan is an investor turned operator who is currently CEO of Chapters Group, a publicly traded holding company building Europe's home for mission-critical businesses. This class is first and foremost about a young aspiring value investor who embodies a fascinating combination of German discipline and sensibility with a more American risk-taking and entrepreneurial spir

David Senra - Lessons from the Founder Historian - [Art of Investing, EP.4] Oct 30, 2023 5099 Today's teacher is David Senra. David is an absolute force of nature who is taking the world by storm with his podcast "Founders." In class today, we enjoy access to the full spectrum of learnings from his decade-long study of history's greatest entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, and leaders. The library David built reflects a range of study that is boundless. From Alexander the Great to Catherine

Ho Nam - Lessons in Venturing Differently - [Art of Investing, EP.3] Oct 23, 2023 6448 Today's teacher is Ho Nam, co-founder of Altos Ventures. As the numbers go, Altos is one of the greatest venture capital firms of the last quarter century. We unpack Ho's origin story and the values that shaped him most as a person and investor, and then we then turn to Altos itself. Altos has emerged as one of the most elite venture investors by breaking traditional VC rules, by backing hedgehogs

David Rosenthal & Ben Gilbert - From Obsession to Profession - [Art of Investing, EP.2] Oct 16, 2023 5967 Today's teachers are Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, founders of Acquired, the podcasting sensation telling the stories and strategies of the world's great companies. In this episode, we turn the tables on Ben and David in order to discover their own stories and the fairy dust behind Acquired's success. We'll cover the history of the formation of one of the most successful podcasts in the world,

Todd Combs - Investing, The Last Liberal Art - [Art of Investing, EP.1] Oct 9, 2023 4281 Today’s teacher is Todd Combs, Investment Manager at Berkshire Hathaway and CEO of Geico. In this episode, Todd will share lessons learned across the full arc of his career, beginning in the halls of the Florida state regulator and all the way through to the great plains of Omaha, Nebraska, home of the eternal compounder. Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are two of the greatest business minds in

Rick Buhrman & Paul Buser - Find Your X, Nurture Your N - [Invest Like the Best] Oct 9, 2023 7116 This is Rick Buhrman and Paul Buser. If you've listened to our Art of Investing trailer, then you'll already know that it was Patrick O'Shaughnessy who first got us into this whole crazy podcast mess. We recently went on Patrick's show, Invest Like the Best, and wanted to share it to give you a better sense for Art of Investing's ethos and vision. Please enjoy our conversation with the very 'grove

Welcome to Art of Investing Oct 2, 2023 230 Welcome to Art of Investing, a 'podclass' with Sator Grove Holding's co-founders Rick Buhrman and Paul Buser. This dialogue is devoted to exploring the vast and endless joys of compounding with the help of some of the world's great investors, company builders, athletes, academics and human beings. In this trailer, Rick and Paul share the vision behind the class and the value they hope to bring to

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