Cliff Sosin

And in terms of how to think about them, I gather different examples from sort of microeconomics, from psychology, from business history, to try to understand different ways that companies have carved out a piece of the world where they are advantaged. And then they can, you know, you can think about a company's profitability over time as kind of its market opportunity times its advantage.

And in terms of how to think about them, I gather different examples from sort of microeconomics, from psychology, from business history, to try to understand different ways that companies have carved out a piece of the world where they are advantaged. And then they can, you know, you can think about a company's profitability over time as kind of its market opportunity times its advantage.

And so the, what, you know, I mean, I don't think there's anything particularly exciting about like what makes a great business. It's you generally want to have,

And so the, what, you know, I mean, I don't think there's anything particularly exciting about like what makes a great business. It's you generally want to have,

um you know multi-threaded advantages a lot of things working for you that are very hard for your competitors to replicate um you know you want to bring a lot of value to your consumers you want to you know um you want the things that are working for you to be generally invariant um with time as tech as society evolves and changes and when you kind of have all those things lined up um you should be able to

um you know multi-threaded advantages a lot of things working for you that are very hard for your competitors to replicate um you know you want to bring a lot of value to your consumers you want to you know um you want the things that are working for you to be generally invariant um with time as tech as society evolves and changes and when you kind of have all those things lined up um you should be able to

You know, have high returns on capital, reasonably good margins, you know, all those things that grow, all those things people look for. You know, of course, everyone knows everything I just said. And so, you know, the whole game is to identify the ones that other people, you know, have missed for one reason or another. And, you know, it's really important.

You know, have high returns on capital, reasonably good margins, you know, all those things that grow, all those things people look for. You know, of course, everyone knows everything I just said. And so, you know, the whole game is to identify the ones that other people, you know, have missed for one reason or another. And, you know, it's really important.

It's the emperor, I think investing is the emperor of intellectual activities in the sense that in academia, people write papers. They're wrong, they're right, eventually they die with a bunch of ideas. Most of them are wrong. In politics, people have views and they're definitely wrong, unlike a lot of them.

It's the emperor, I think investing is the emperor of intellectual activities in the sense that in academia, people write papers. They're wrong, they're right, eventually they die with a bunch of ideas. Most of them are wrong. In politics, people have views and they're definitely wrong, unlike a lot of them.

And in business, people, they have this narrow world and they kind of have to be really good about executing in their narrow world, but they don't necessarily need a deep understanding. You can run a deli. without necessarily having like a deep understanding of like why meat prices are what they are. But in investing, you know, it is wildly accountable.

And in business, people, they have this narrow world and they kind of have to be really good about executing in their narrow world, but they don't necessarily need a deep understanding. You can run a deli. without necessarily having like a deep understanding of like why meat prices are what they are. But in investing, you know, it is wildly accountable.

You're making predictions about which businesses are going to win and which are going to lose, which, you know, to understand businesses are sort of complex social structures embedded in our society, which is a complex social structure. So what do you need to understand how a business's success or failure over time? It's like you kind of need to know everything.

You're making predictions about which businesses are going to win and which are going to lose, which, you know, to understand businesses are sort of complex social structures embedded in our society, which is a complex social structure. So what do you need to understand how a business's success or failure over time? It's like you kind of need to know everything.

So it's, and unlike all these other pursuits, this one's like highly accountable. So- I think it's the emperor of intellectual pursuits. I think that there's no arena to train people better about understanding the world. And I think if you're just curious about the world, there's nothing more interesting than to study business.

So it's, and unlike all these other pursuits, this one's like highly accountable. So- I think it's the emperor of intellectual pursuits. I think that there's no arena to train people better about understanding the world. And I think if you're just curious about the world, there's nothing more interesting than to study business.

I generally think of a contained business as one where when you're trying to understand a company... If you find that it's just, the problem starts to feel intractable in the sense that it's very hard to think about how changes in, there's many things that could change in society that are changing that could cause your view of what the business could be to change over time.

I generally think of a contained business as one where when you're trying to understand a company... If you find that it's just, the problem starts to feel intractable in the sense that it's very hard to think about how changes in, there's many things that could change in society that are changing that could cause your view of what the business could be to change over time.

That is just a tough problem to live with. you know, if because it's just, you know, it's very susceptible, like as the world evolves, like you don't know where the company is going to go. Whereas a business where the thing that makes it work or things that make it work are relatively narrow and in a sort of part of our lives that isn't evolving that much. That would be, you know, very contained.

That is just a tough problem to live with. you know, if because it's just, you know, it's very susceptible, like as the world evolves, like you don't know where the company is going to go. Whereas a business where the thing that makes it work or things that make it work are relatively narrow and in a sort of part of our lives that isn't evolving that much. That would be, you know, very contained.