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Luca Ferrari

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
See mentions of this person in podcasts
972 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

So yes, we have dilution from capital increases, very modest.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

Off the top of my head, I'd say maybe 10%.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

We could also not have done any of those at all.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

We still did them because we figured in a couple of cases, it helped us get over the hump to close a deal we couldn't without that little extra.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

With that, we were maxed out.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

But also we figured if we bring in a little bit more in terms of high quality international investors, that would be helpful.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

Credibility, far power if we need to go after a huge acquisition quickly, just optionality.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

But we're generally very cautious when it comes to dilution.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

I think if you really believe in what you're doing, it should be painful to increase your capital base.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

There was one time where, let's say we bought a product at the peak of, let's call it a viral moment.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

This is really not applicable to the type of businesses we buy today, but at the time it was a thing.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

It's many years ago now.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

And then as soon as we bought it, basically that viral wave was reaching and had reached the peak.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

And that completely changed.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

We thought we had been conservative, but it completely changed

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

our assumptions and led to drastically inferior returns versus what we expected.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

And that taught us to be absolutely paranoid when it comes to the sources of user acquisition.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

So basically, either we buy businesses where almost all the value lies in existing customers or users, like people, okay, these have been acquired, it's just about now managing them as well as possible.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

Or if a lot of the value is predicated on substantial additional user acquisition or customer acquisition, then

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons - [Invest Like the Best, EP.446]

We need to really clearly understand the drivers of that expected acquisition and make sure that these drivers are things we can predict.