"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Big Government"
"Musallam figured out that defense contractors would be fertile buyout targets for funds willing to deal with the idiosyncrasies of government contracting."
“I and the firm maintain a very close proximity to government because government is at the forefront of all the complexities and issues that confront us”
“He has quietly built an extremely valuable business being at the intersection of government-regulated markets and technology"
“The U.S. government is the largest single investor in technology, bar none, by multiples of what the entire venture capital community invests—dozens of different federal agencies investing directly into companies,” Musallam says.
Hope for the home schooled
“We were literally in the middle of nowhere—there was nothing there,” recalls Musallam of his years in Africa. “We were homeschooled and learned through correspondence. There was no iPad. We would do an assignment and my mom would mail it in.”
"The funds have lost money on only a single investment ($87 million on a solar panel company in New Mexico)"
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If you wear glasses – prescription, shades, even Facebook smart glasses – you’ve likely dealt with EssilorLuxottica.
The conglomerate was built by Leonardo Del Vecchio who rose from penniless to being the 2nd richest Italian.
His story is master class in business strategy.
After the 2018 merger of Del Vecchio’s Luxottica with the French Essilor, the company dominates global eyewear with
-140,000 employees
-€14.4bn in 2020 revenue
-11,000 stores
Brands including Ray Ban, Oakley, Oliver Peoples, and partnerships from Armani to Prada.
Del Vecchio was born in Milan in 1935. His father died when he was only five months old and his mother was forced to send him to a local orphanage at age 7.
The boy became an apprentice at a tool factory and graduated in 1958 with a degree in metal engraving.
In 1929, a young lawyer named Floyd Odlum raised millions which he used to roll up distressed assets after the crash.
And yet, the Great Depression’s most successful investor, is completely forgotten today. This is the story of an unlikely triumph with a tragic ending.
Odlum was born in 1892 in Michigan the youngest son of a minister. He worked throughout school and college, piling scrap lumber, selling kitchenware, even riding racing ostriches one summer.
The family moved to Colorado where he attended law school – his ticket to a better life.
After a stint at a utility, he was recruited by prestigious NYC law firm Simpson Thatcher.
He joined their client Electric Bond and Share, one of the biggest utility companies. Odlum worked closely with Ebasco’s president and ran acquisitions in England and the Americas.
Interesting piece by @kevinakwok coining a term I've been looking for: "narrative leverage" as the ability to lower cost of capital, attract/retain talent, and acquire customers.
"The best founders have figured out that owning their narrative gives them meaningful leverage. Founders and companies can increasingly communicate their narrative in a direct and compounding way to investors."
Types of fundraising pitches: narrative, inflection, and traction raises.
Narrative: compelling story of what could be
Inflection: secrets discovered.
Traction: driven by the results
"In order to have, you have to do. And, in order to do, you have to be."
"You are fit before your body ever gets in shape. You have to be fitness" tim.blog/2017/12/20/ter…
"I didn’t have a penny. But when you do things, and you say, okay, now that I’m rich, what would a rich man do?"
After beating up his abusive father:
"This is the revenge I’ve dreamed about my whole life. And I remember just feeling empty, cold. It’s probably the darkest place I’ve ever been. I’ll never forget. It was just the most hollow, hollow feeling I’ve ever had."
Financing Netflix after the dotcom bubble popped
"And the company had not yet achieved cashflow positive. There was not a penny available in the world, much less millions for a consumer facing eCommerce company in the spring of 2001. It really was a post bubble nuclear winter"
Fundraising
"We gave 188 presentations around the globe to ultimately raise $100 million, TCV One. But there was incredible stress during that point in time. One of the stresses was people didn't like Crossover. They wanted it either a private fund or a public fund."