Deep dive · Global & US
Business Breakdowns
A single business dismantled per episode — how it makes money, what its economics look like, and what would have to change for that to stop.
Why an angel should listen
The format is a guest who knows one business extremely well walking through how it works: revenue model, cost structure, competitive position, and the specific things that would break it. It is analytical rather than narrative, and it teaches a repeatable way of taking a business apart.
For an angel the transferable skill is the question set. After a dozen episodes you find yourself asking a founder the same questions the show asks about mature companies — where does the margin come from, what happens when this input reprices, who has the pricing power in this chain — and those questions work just as well on a company with twelve customers.
Coverage extends well outside technology, which is useful. Understanding how a distribution business or a regulated financial business actually earns its money makes you a better assessor of startups trying to disrupt them.
Where to begin
Start with these
- A business in a category you might invest in, for the mature version of the model a startup is attacking.
- Any non-technology business, for how differently value accrues.
- Episodes on businesses that look boring — the economics are usually more interesting than the exciting ones.
In short
Good for
Listening orders