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Trung Phan 🇨🇦

@TrungTPhan

2 Jan

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in Jan 2007, the maker of BlackBerry — Research in Motion (RIM) — had a market cap near Apple's ($60B vs. $75B).

Now, it’s $5B vs. ~$3T.

While Jobs positioned iPhone perfectly, RIM made 5 decisions that led to its fall.

Here's a breakdown🧵

1/ The BlackBerry vs. iPhone story is not as clean as it seems in hindsight. When iPhone officially hit markets in June 2007, many thought it would fail.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer famously balked at the price ($500) and design ("no keyboard").

Tech media was skeptical:

2/ Blackberry sales actually grew for many years after iPhone's launch.

In 2007, RIM moved <10m BlackBerry units.

In 2011, RIM moved more than 5x the units, selling 50m+ handsets for the year.

Read 19 tweets

Trung Phan 🇨🇦

@TrungTPhan

30 Dec 21

The most memorable interview I did this year was w/ Stanley Druckenmiller, who famously made $1B shorting the British Pound.

The trading legend's track record includes a 30-year stretch returning 30%+ a year (without a single down year).

Here are 8 investing lessons🧵

1/ Make concentrated bets in high conviction plays

2/ Concentrated bets can sometimes *reduce* risk

Read 14 tweets

Trung Phan 🇨🇦

@TrungTPhan

27 Dec 21

In 1998, Marvel offered Sony all of its heroes + villains for $25m. Sony said it *only* wanted Spider-Man (and paid $10m for it)

While “No Way Home” is the first pandemic-era film to make $1B, the other Marvel films grossed $13B+ for Disney.

LESSON: Always take the first offer.

For other timeless business lessons, check out my Saturday email: trungphan.substack.com

Here is more background on the Spider Man deal from WSJ:

Notes:

◻️The $13B+ is prob closer to $20B (WSJ article from 2018)
◻️ Tom Holland Spider-Man series (Homecoming, Far From Home, No Way Home) co-produced by Disney-owned Marvel Studios and Sony-owned Columbia Pictures (w/ Sony handling distribution)

🔗 wsj.com/amp/articles/t…

Read 4 tweets

Trung Phan 🇨🇦

@TrungTPhan

26 Dec 21

Here's a wholesome Reddit thread for the holiday weekend: "What is random great advice?"

12 legit ones🧵

"You spend half your life walking and sleeping. Never buy cheap shoes or a shitty mattress."

"Don’t take criticism from people you’d never go to for advice."

Read 18 tweets

Trung Phan 🇨🇦

@TrungTPhan

23 Dec 21

Why does Red Bull own an F1 team?

Because the company — which sells $7B+ of energy drinks a year — is a pure marketing firm (outsources all production).

Its invested $2B+ into F1 but has gained multiples of that for the brand by "manufacturing history".

Here’s a breakdown🧵

1/ Red Bull. Everyone's favorite concoction of sugar, B-vitamins, taurine and caffeine.

Today, it sells ~8B cans a year and is the market leader in what is a $50B+ energy drink market.

So, how is it *only* a marketing company?

2/ Red Bull makes nothing. Production is outsourced to Rauch, an Austrian bottler.

The drink blend is not proprietary (vs. Coke, which has a secret recipe).

So it spends ALOT on marketing (~35% of sales) to differentiate the brand; way more than Coca-Cola (9%) and Pepsi (7%).

Read 20 tweets

Trung Phan 🇨🇦

@TrungTPhan

19 Dec 21

A Rolls-Royce starts at $300k and easily breaks 7-figures with upgrades.

Why is it so expensive? One word: bespoke.

Here’s a breakdown 🧵

1/ Rolls-Royce is the peak of lux vehicles and gets mad expensive b/c of customization: 90% of cars are one-off (very non-fungible):

◻️ Rolls produces ~5k vehicles a year (3-6 months to complete one)
◻️ In comparison, BMW makes 2m+ cars a year (takes 24-48 hours to complete one)

2/ Rolls sources the best material and employs top artisans in:
◻️sewing
◻️lighting
◻️wood paneling
◻️painting
◻️engine technicians

Each ~2.5 tonne car is worked on by 50+ specialists and customizations are done by hand.

Read 17 tweets

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