Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Robert Smith - Investing in Enterprise Software - [Invest Like the Best, EP.291]
My guest today is Robert Smith, the founder, Chairma...
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Aug 23 2022 56m
Chapter 1 3 mins
[First question] What the enterprise software market looks and feels like to himChapter 2 3 mins
Whether or not software is becoming a saturated market and what will drive demand over the coming decadesChapter 3 2 mins
Bringing an engineering mindset to enterprise software investing and cultureChapter 4 1 min
A single change he made to a business that stands out most in memoryChapter 5 3 mins
Qualities that are most critical in defining a good enterprise software companyChapter 6 2 mins
How the profile of companies he’s bought has changed over the yearsChapter 7 3 mins
Categories of software he tends to gravitate towardsChapter 8 3 mins
Evolving his model for considering what multiple to pay for a business and thinking about p/e growth multiplesChapter 9 2 mins
Lessons learned about customer churn over his twenty two year careerChapter 10 2 mins
Capital cycles and how much they truly impact the software worldChapter 11 2 mins
What elements of building Vista have most appealed to him over the yearsChapter 12 3 mins
Changing their investment strategy as the world continues to changeChapter 13 1 min
The war for talent and what his senior team would debate mostChapter 14 1 min
Biggest mistakes Vista has made and what they taught himChapter 15 2 mins
What has him most insecure or paranoid about the platform he’s builtChapter 16 1 min
The advice he’d give on having good relationships with LPsChapter 17 1 min
The largest risk he or Vista has ever intentionally takenChapter 18 3 mins
What he’s learned about having a winning negotiations and sales approachChapter 19 38 sec
Who he’d give all of his capital to outside of VistaChapter 20 3 mins
How he arrived at the themes he tends to be philanthropic towardsChapter 21 1 min
The work he does in the foster worldChapter 22 1 min
The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him