Reverse-Engineer the Best Companies Before Your Coffee Gets Cold
Day traders study charts. Business builders study companies. Guess which one builds wealth?
Nerd Out on Business is your daily 5-minute breakdown of real companies. Real tactics you can swipe today.
Archive
From Mining Crypto to Manufacturing AI in North Dakota: A $7 Billion Pivot
Applied Digital was bleeding money mining crypto when they realized what was seen liability to many, crypto data centers in ND, was actually their greatest asset. Two years later, they're an NVIDIA elite partner with a $7 billion CoreWeave contract.
This SaaS Company Just Agreed to Sell Itself for $2.5 Billion
Private equity giant Advent International paid an 64% premium for this 40-year-old Israeli software company. Despite facing giants like Guidewire, Sapiens carved out a profitable niche serving 600+ insurers globally with deep domain expertise and unbreakable customer relationships.
How Trip.com Built a $160 Billion Travel Empire (While Screwing Its Best Customers)
Chinese travel giant processes more bookings than Expedia employing a large network of physical stores. But it also got caught charging loyal users higher prices. Inside the playbook of the world's most profitable online travel agency that nobody in the West has heard of.
They Make $5.7B/Year Playing With Other People's Money
The "2 and 20" model means Carlyle gets paid twice: 2% just for holding your money, 20% of profits if they perform. It's a powerful model where your primary asset, your reputation/performance, can erode quickly. Here's how any business can apply OPM principles.
The Gross Margin Slide That's Hammering Zenvia
How do you kneecap a perfectly good SaaS business? Mix it with commodity SMS reselling, chase enterprise deals at any price, and pay 18% interest rates on Brazilian debt. Zenvia's emergency pivot from CPaaS to pure software is a masterclass in why margins matter more than revenue.
Turning Real Estate Into Logistics and Experiences: How Dick's is Staying Relevant
Dick Stack started with $300 from his grandmother in 1948. Today, his company generates $13.6 billion by creating athletic experiences Amazon can't replicate. Inside the playbook that turned 850 physical stores from liabilities into a competitive advantage. Although, I'm not a fan of their stance on guns.