Atlassian's latest investor day showed growing ambition from this 20-year old cloud pioneer. A transcript with additional links can be found here: https://hellerhs.com/atlassian-growing-ambition/
Software as a service (SaaS) companies are frequently misunderstood because they are investing for the long-term and don’t generate accounting profits today. It turns out SaaS shares an eery resemblance to Walmart when it was in hypergrowth mode. To find out why, listen on. A transcript of this…
Software as a service (SaaS) companies are frequently misunderstood because they are investing for the long-term and don’t generate accounting profits today.
It turns out SaaS shares an eery resemblance to Walmart when it was in hypergrowth mode.
How do modern business empires resemble the Mongolian Empire assembled by Genghis Khan and his descendants? And why is it important, as an investor, to identify these empires? For a transcript and images referenced in the show, please visit: https://hellerhs.com/why-empire-building-is-important/
“In the next three to five years, every brand will have a Roblox strategy.” Quite an interesting statement from Roblox's VP of Brand Partnerships, Christina Wootton! In this episode we explore the opportunity for Roblox to build an advertising business and dramatically increase its monetization.…
Almost a year after I asked the question, is the answer closer to a "yes"? What can the city do to ensure it succeeds? Listen in to find out. As always, a transcript is available at: https://hellerhs.com/could-miami-become-a-world-class-tech-hub/
How do we think about investing at Heller House? This episode explores how we think about our companies, the markets they operate in, valuation, and much more. We discuss our values, alignment of interests, mission and goals. A transcript of this episode is available here:…
How do we think about investing at Heller House? This episode explores how we think about our companies, the markets they operate in, valuation, and much more. We discuss our values, alignment of interests, mission and goals.
Klarna, Affirm, and AfterPay are taking an increasing share of ecommerce payments by offering buy now, pay later (BNPL) to consumers. We take a close look at Affirm, and how it's actually a really old idea whose time has finally come. A transcript is available on our site:…
Klarna, Affirm, and AfterPay are taking an increasing share of ecommerce payments by offering buy now, pay later (BNPL) to consumers. We take a close look at Affirm, and how it's actually a really old idea whose time has finally come.
Blake Scholl, the founder of Boom Supersonic, likes to say that there are only two places in the world where you can find a supersonic airliner: in a museum, and in Boom's headquarters. In this episode, we talk about this interesting company that is trying to finally bring back supersonic…
Blake Scholl, the founder of Boom Supersonic, likes to say that there are only two places in the world where you can find a supersonic airliner: in a museum, and in Boom's headquarters.
In this episode, we talk about this interesting company that is trying to finally bring back supersonic commercial flights.
Today’s episode is called GEICOs of the 21st century. The big idea I was trying to communicate to my investors at the time was that I was evolving from pursuing investments in “cheap” securities, to instead pursuing investments similar to GEICO when Ben Graham invested in it in 1948. Using…
Today’s episode is called GEICOs of the 21st century. The big idea I was trying to communicate to my investors at the time was that I was evolving from pursuing investments in “cheap” securities, to instead pursuing investments similar to GEICO when Ben Graham invested in it in 1948. Using Graham as an example was important, since my investor base was more traditional, value investor-minded. It’s also kind of ironic, of course, since Graham made more money from a “growth” investment than anything else he did put together.
I dislike the labels “growth” and “value” because I think it’s a false dichotomy. To me, “value” just means buying something for less than it’s worth. The growth moniker just means that I’m willing to believe in the company’s future growth, and that growth is what allows me to buy it today for less than what it’ll be worth in the future.
The second reason why using Graham as an example is ironic is that Irving Kahn famously made a study of Graham’s returns and found out he would have underperformed the market if he hadn’t invested in Geico.
When I first published this letter—it came out in August 2018—it made the rounds on twitter, and was even quoted in a book.
I think today—three years later—not only does it hold up well, but the framework set forth here remains as relevant as ever, as we look towards the next technology adoption curves: the metaverse, the entire universe of crypto assets, enterprise software, and more.
Are things getting better, or worse? It feels the answer is "yes" — some things are getting better, and others clearly worse. In this episode, I argue that we should focus on the three most inflationary items in our country: housing, healthcare and education. And to deflate these, we need to BUILD — more housing, more healthcare disruptors, and more ways of educating.
What is the metaverse? Its full expression will be a persistent, immersive virtual reality. We will shop in the metaverse; we will hang out with friends; play games and sports; and learn about ancient Rome not by reading about it in a book, but by being there in person in a photorealistic Rome…
What is the metaverse? Its full expression will be a persistent, immersive virtual reality. We will shop in the metaverse; we will hang out with friends; play games and sports; and learn about ancient Rome not by reading about it in a book, but by being there in person in a photorealistic Rome filled with non-player characters, like a video game. We will work in close collaboration with colleagues from around the world through lifelike avatars.
Listen in for a discussion of these topics and the companies that'll benefit from them.
In this interview with John Rotonti of The Motley Fool, we really cover the waterfront. We talk about portfolio construction, valuation, and discuss the following companies: Shopify, Wix, Slack, PayPal, Square, Twilio, Roku, Spotify, and Zoom. We also talk about the ecological approach we use,…
In this interview with John Rotonti of The Motley Fool, we really cover the waterfront. We talk about portfolio construction, valuation, and discuss the following companies:
Shopify, Wix, Slack, PayPal, Square, Twilio, Roku, Spotify, and Zoom. We also talk about the ecological approach we use, where we think of companies as organisms competing in a Darwinian jungle.
This week we are back with another conversation with my friend Ryan Reeves, this time on Lemonade ($LMND). We talk about the bull and bear cases for the company, the financial model, the importance of using imagination when thinking about the future, and what I think is the most interesting part…
This week we are back with another conversation with my friend Ryan Reeves, this time on Lemonade ($LMND). We talk about the bull and bear cases for the company, the financial model, the importance of using imagination when thinking about the future, and what I think is the most interesting part of the conversation, competitive advantages or moats.
In this interview with Ryan Reeves, which originally aired on Nov. 25, 2019, we go deep into a discussion on Shopify and Slack, the competitive landscape with other ecommerce and collaboration solutions, and much more. You can find a transcript of our conversation here:…
In this interview with Ryan Reeves, which originally aired on Nov. 25, 2019, we go deep into a discussion on Shopify and Slack, the competitive landscape with other ecommerce and collaboration solutions, and much more.
As investors, we must keep an open mind, but most people resist new ideas. In this episode, which originally aired in the 7Investing Podcast, Matthew Cochrane interviews Marcelo P. Lima about keeping that mental flexibility; how to learn new things; how to value fast-growing companies, the…
As investors, we must keep an open mind, but most people resist new ideas.
In this episode, which originally aired in the 7Investing Podcast, Matthew Cochrane interviews Marcelo P. Lima about keeping that mental flexibility; how to learn new things; how to value fast-growing companies, the dichotomy between missionary and mercenary management teams, and much more.
How did the internet fundamentally change business? It's all about zero marginal costs, and playing a different game: blanket the world, capture customers, and only then, monetize them. We discuss Zoom, Slack, Atlassian; talk about Ben Graham's investment in GEICO, in 1948; how GEICO was a…
How did the internet fundamentally change business? It's all about zero marginal costs, and playing a different game: blanket the world, capture customers, and only then, monetize them.
We discuss Zoom, Slack, Atlassian; talk about Ben Graham's investment in GEICO, in 1948; how GEICO was a disruptive innovator in the Clay Christensen sense; what factors made it so, and how can we identify similar companies today, and much more.
Even though this interview originally aired on The Acquirers Podcast with Tobias Carlisle, I'm particularly pleased with how it turned out, because a lot of our discussion remains relevant today.
How does innovation work? How early are we in cloud computing? What are the next computing platforms? In this wide-ranging discussion, Todd Peters interviews Marcelo P. Lima about these topics and much more. A transcript of this talk is posted at…
How does innovation work? How early are we in cloud computing? What are the next computing platforms? In this wide-ranging discussion, Todd Peters interviews Marcelo P. Lima about these topics and much more.
Hello, my name is Marcelo Lima and I’m an investment manager at Heller House. This is our podcast, Increasing Returns. The name Increasing Returns is inspired by W. Brian Arthur’s essay called Increasing Returns and the New World of Business, from 1996. That essay explains why the internet has…
Hello, my name is Marcelo Lima and I’m an investment manager at Heller House. This is our podcast, Increasing Returns.
The name Increasing Returns is inspired by W. Brian Arthur’s essay called Increasing Returns and the New World of Business, from 1996. That essay explains why the internet has completely upended the world of business and changed the rules for investors. I’ll have a lot more to say about this in a future episode, but for now, welcome to the show. I hope you enjoy it.
What is a franchise, and when does it turn into an ordinary business? This question was posed by Buffett many years ago. With the disruption wrought by the internet, many existing franchises are being destroyed... but many new ones are being created. This episode is a reading of our original…
What is a franchise, and when does it turn into an ordinary business?
This question was posed by Buffett many years ago. With the disruption wrought by the internet, many existing franchises are being destroyed... but many new ones are being created.
