Neil Mehta

And I have to say, he's one of the most high-integrity people I've ever met in the world. Just to talk about customer centricity, the reason he called me on Friday morning wasn't because Riplin was in trouble. He called me because he wanted to make sure that on Monday morning, his customers weren't in trouble. All of his customers got money.

And I have to say, he's one of the most high-integrity people I've ever met in the world. Just to talk about customer centricity, the reason he called me on Friday morning wasn't because Riplin was in trouble. He called me because he wanted to make sure that on Monday morning, his customers weren't in trouble. All of his customers got money.

There were other payroll companies that were planning to send an email out on Monday that was like, Sorry, you know what's happening with the US financial system right now. Payments to your employees will get delayed. That was not an okay solution for Parker. So Parker called me on Friday morning. It took us about 30 minutes to agree to invest 500 million. Credit to his team, by the way.

There were other payroll companies that were planning to send an email out on Monday that was like, Sorry, you know what's happening with the US financial system right now. Payments to your employees will get delayed. That was not an okay solution for Parker. So Parker called me on Friday morning. It took us about 30 minutes to agree to invest 500 million. Credit to his team, by the way.

Spent the entire weekend, day and night. It wasn't 18 hours. It was 24 hour, two blocks, 48 hours of straight work. And by the way, Sunday, another credit to Parker. Sunday, It looked like everything was going to be okay. And Parker's like, just in case, this is the right thing to do. We're going to do this. We handshook on a deal. We're doing the deal. What an amazing partner to have in Parker.

Spent the entire weekend, day and night. It wasn't 18 hours. It was 24 hour, two blocks, 48 hours of straight work. And by the way, Sunday, another credit to Parker. Sunday, It looked like everything was going to be okay. And Parker's like, just in case, this is the right thing to do. We're going to do this. We handshook on a deal. We're doing the deal. What an amazing partner to have in Parker.

Monday morning, every Rippling customer got their money on time at that schedule. True. Carvana is a funny one because it was public. Carvana is a company we had been following for a long time, never took venture financing, you know, earning a little bit. And he was out in Phoenix. He was building a customer experience that we always thought very highly of.

Monday morning, every Rippling customer got their money on time at that schedule. True. Carvana is a funny one because it was public. Carvana is a company we had been following for a long time, never took venture financing, you know, earning a little bit. And he was out in Phoenix. He was building a customer experience that we always thought very highly of.

Whenever you talk to customers about Carvana, they would talk about how much they like Carvana at a differential rate to CarMax. It makes sense. You could buy and sell a car easily. You get it delivered to your door. There's much larger selection.

Whenever you talk to customers about Carvana, they would talk about how much they like Carvana at a differential rate to CarMax. It makes sense. You could buy and sell a car easily. You get it delivered to your door. There's much larger selection.

Yeah. Yeah, a little bit of hard work operationally, hard work technically, doing it out in the middle of nowhere on behalf of customers that you want to serve differentially well. Similar dynamic in Carvana's case, you have all these local competitors that have a limited selection. Usually they're wearing leather jackets. It's not a great experience to buy from them.

Yeah. Yeah, a little bit of hard work operationally, hard work technically, doing it out in the middle of nowhere on behalf of customers that you want to serve differentially well. Similar dynamic in Carvana's case, you have all these local competitors that have a limited selection. Usually they're wearing leather jackets. It's not a great experience to buy from them.

Carvana was making that a much better experience. Only got to know Ernie when COVID came. The stock was maybe $100 stock. During COVID, it went down to the 30s. I called Ernie. We're like, Ernie, now's the time to take some money from us. He's like, great. Love to do it. We got very close.

Carvana was making that a much better experience. Only got to know Ernie when COVID came. The stock was maybe $100 stock. During COVID, it went down to the 30s. I called Ernie. We're like, Ernie, now's the time to take some money from us. He's like, great. Love to do it. We got very close.

For Green Oak's reasons, we ended up not proceeding and investing, I think it was going to be about $500 million in the business at the time. It would have been a great investment. I would have talked about it as one of our big mistakes. It went from maybe $35, $40 a share up to $300 a share, whatever it was, over 2020 and 2021.

For Green Oak's reasons, we ended up not proceeding and investing, I think it was going to be about $500 million in the business at the time. It would have been a great investment. I would have talked about it as one of our big mistakes. It went from maybe $35, $40 a share up to $300 a share, whatever it was, over 2020 and 2021.

We have these moments at Green Oaks where you're like, ah, now it is well-recognized as this amazing used car experience. It's going to be dominant. People understand it's the Amazon of cars. And it was maybe at 450,000 units being sold each year. And Ernie did this big acquisition, which is Adessa, ramping up. He used quite a bit of debt to do that. I think he financed all of it with debt.

We have these moments at Green Oaks where you're like, ah, now it is well-recognized as this amazing used car experience. It's going to be dominant. People understand it's the Amazon of cars. And it was maybe at 450,000 units being sold each year. And Ernie did this big acquisition, which is Adessa, ramping up. He used quite a bit of debt to do that. I think he financed all of it with debt.

And so added a bunch of debt to the balance sheet. When things started to slow in 22... Everybody's excitement about the fact that he was building infrastructure to go to a million or two million cars. But the other way, people became very nervous about the business surviving. And the stock went from $300 a share, $338 to eventually went down to five.

And so added a bunch of debt to the balance sheet. When things started to slow in 22... Everybody's excitement about the fact that he was building infrastructure to go to a million or two million cars. But the other way, people became very nervous about the business surviving. And the stock went from $300 a share, $338 to eventually went down to five.