Rob Liddiard

Professional EOS Implementer; Exited B2B SaaS CEO (acquired 2022), Reformed M&A Lawyer. U.K. SMB enthusiast. RealEstate-Curious.

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

The EOS Proven Process after founder tinkering 😆

[Silicon Salvage @SiliconSalvage]

I told a guy at a barbecue last weekend that I had been buying busted small-cap software stocks at 4x free cash flow, and he looked at me with the specific facial expression of a man who has just realized he is trapped in a conversation with someone who voluntarily reads 10-Ks on vacation. He asked, with great gentleness, if I had considered Nvidia. I said I had considered Nvidia in the way one considers jumping off a bridge: briefly, theoretically, and with a clear understanding of the outcome.

I told him I owned a company that sells dental practice management software to 11,000 orthodontists and that the CEO, a 64-year-old man named Greg who has not updated his LinkedIn since 2017, was, in my professional opinion, the single greatest capital allocator alive in North America today, and that I would, if legally permitted, have Greg’s name tattooed on my forearm.

He asked if Greg knew this. I said Greg did not know I existed, and that this was the foundation of our relationship and the source of its strength. He excused himself to go check on his children, who, I observed, were not present at the barbecue. I stood by the grill alone for the next 40 minutes, eating directly from a bag of buns, thinking about Greg, who at that exact moment was, somewhere in suburban Indianapolis, almost certainly buying back stock at prices that will, in 2031, be regarded as the single greatest gift any small-cap CEO has ever given his shareholders, and the host’s wife came over and asked, with palpable concern, if I needed a ride home, and I said no, I needed nothing, I had Greg, and Greg was enough, and I have not been invited back to that house, and I do not care, because Greg loves me even though Greg does not know I am alive, and the math, as it has always been in every great deep value trade in history, is the only thing in this country that has not lied to me.

[Jake Wallis Simons @JakeWSimons]

I’ve got to say, Kemi is emerging as a true hero.

[Robert Colvile @rcolvile]

I've signed. So should you https://t.co/p4d4lnJhjS

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

interesting article

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb @nntaleb]

If you don't like immigrants, expel them, but don't fabricate economic reasons.
Because without these people labor costs would explode, housing costs jump because construction & maintenance costs DEPEND on cheap illegal labor.
BTW Randy Fine is retarded.

https://t.co/NflszlYRnq

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

What a brave man - @PeterEttedgui. “I do not want the school bully to become my Prime Minister”. I’m no comms expert, but “i’m horrified to be reminded of saying such hateful things as a boy - i was insecure and silly. im deeply sorry Peter” is what i would have liked in reply

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

‘I have not a political reason but a highly personal reason [for speaking out]. I do not want to see my school bully become prime minister’

Huge kudos to @PeterEttedgui. This is a hugely powerful & sobering interview.

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

i endorse this tweet - generous benefits for the genuinely disabled, everyone else unable/unwilling to sustain employment should have to physically clock in/out & maintain public spaces etc. My guess is most tax payers would *happily* cover scheme setup costs in short term.

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

How to cut the welfare budget? Number one. Ban foreigners from claiming benefits. Number two? If you can work, you must work. If a healthy individual has repeatedly refused a job, then they should be put to work. Don't give them benefits, give them work.

If they want their cash? They can litter pick. Clean up graffiti. Anything. Run council programmes to organise it. Get people working for their benefit money rather than sitting around all day doing sod all.

It's fair to give people a reasonable amount of time to find a job they want to do. But if after months, they keep turning down work? Then no, that's not on.

A life on benefits for a healthy individual must NEVER be an option. If they want to live on taxpayer money, then I say they can work for it.

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

i just paid a £35, camera-issued automatic fine because i momentarily drove in the wrong lane whilst trying to navigate an unfamiliar city at night, in the rain 🤣 #anarchotyranny 🇬🇧

[Griff @Gav_Griffiths]

Britain is one the most heavily surveilled countries in the world whilst simultaneously not able to identify thousands of vehicles illegally dumping waste next to one of the Oxfordshires busiest roads over a 5 year period.

That heady mixture of bureaucratic overreach and bureaucratic incompetence.

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

@BigJohn043 So true. Business is simple, but not easy. Professional work is complex, but (for high IQ types) not hard. Accordingly pretty common for entrepreneurs to suck at the professions and vice versa. Thank God for teamwork!

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

@huntercdurham good on for you the shout out - sucks to go through bad times, but awesome to come out the other side knowing yourself & a few key people so deeply in terms of critical skills & character🧡

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

@BigJohn043 Thanks for the dignified reply which showed my question to be dumb - ofc if you don’t buy bad businesses / underwrite bad strategies you don’t need capable CEOs to come in and challenge the strategy 🤦‍♂️ (i come from the startup world, littered with weak execution & bad strategy!)

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

@DanielPriestley i could live with current u.k. tax burden if Government pivoted to:

• No cash benefits without prior contribution
• 6+ hrs/day of training or service to claim (timecard verified)
• State shelters: just food, roof, structure
• Cap taxpayer-funded pensions to private norms

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

@tomhfh To retain high-tax (but not “rich”) Brits, the next govt should consider:

• No cash benefits without prior contribution
• 6+ hrs/day of training or service (timecard verified)
• State shelters: just food, roof, structure
• And cap taxpayer-funded pensions to private norms

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

@RobNoLastName Sigh. To retain high-tax (but not “rich”) Brits a future UK Government should consider:
• No cash benefits without prior contribution
• Claimants: 6+ hrs/day of training or service (timecard verified)
• State homeless shelters (vs ‘free’ houses) for food, shelter & structure

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

What a legend. I know it’s silly, but i tend to get more nervous teeing off at a modestly posh golf club than i do in any business context. This is his most impressive and courageous endeavour to me. Total badass.

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

I can speak in front of an audience of a thousand people or in a TV studio on a broad range of topics without any preparation and without a twinge of fear, but yesterday I had my first real experience with stage fright.

I found myself on a tennis court in a live streamed professional tournament with a few hundred in the crowd. Throughout the match, my wrist, arm and body literally froze with the expected negative outcomes. I had difficulty breathing, and it was not a fitness issue. It got a bit better as the match progressed, but I was not able to overcome it.

I regularly play with mid-20-year-old D1 college players and recently retired pros on a familiar court with no audience with none of the same symptoms.

It was a very humbling experience that gives one even more respect for the pros who play for a living in front of the cameras and the crowds. We forget that they also need to manage the challenges of their carefully examined personal lives, their break ups, their emotions, financial stresses, and their mental health, family, and other challenges.

Tennis is one of the few sports where the athlete is out there alone in front of the klieg lights for hours operating with incredible intensity with barely a bathroom break. And they might have been awakened in the middle of the previous night for a drug test while staying far from home.

For all but the top players, they also struggle financially as they manage their small businesses working to recruit and retain talent, manage expenses, balance their budgets, and pay their taxes on time.

Whatever respect we already have for these incredible athletes, it is not enough. They deserve more of our applause and appreciation.

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

Love this on Rory’s Masters success by @KylePorterNS here: “What it must be like when your dream and your nightmare happen to overlap, and you fulfill one while conquering the other at the exact same time.”

[Kyle Porter @KylePorterNS]

Some final Masters thoughts.

1. Five is so many. Adam Scott, JT and Scottie combined. It's so, so many. Only 14 players since WW2 have won five or more. Tying Brooks and Seve with the best golf of your life, and now, improbably, Palmer is back in play.

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

“You’re getting paid for headaches and risks” - so true. Scary when people with no appetite for either risk family & wellbeing by buying small businesses.

[Johannes Hock @HockJohannes]

Culturally, buying a small business is now squarely in the same category as flipping houses, multi-level marketing, and crypto. Portrayed as a secret shortcut that will make you rich because you're smart enough to know it.

If you're serious about buying a small business, you need to ask yourself why is there an opportunity to make millions with little money or experience? What does that mean I am actually getting paid for? And why is buying a small business kind of like buying an 18th century cargo ship? (1/x)

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

Super AI will be crazy powerful in knowledge work and *should* eliminate the need for all professionals. But, my lawyer-hating pro full automation friends, the limiting factor is likely to be you - the client & your unwillingness to steer, prompt & check thoroughly - not the tech

[Aditya Agarwal @adityaag]

Unpopular Prediction: AI is going to massively *increase* demand for doctors, lawyers and teachers.

I believe there is a tremendously high amount of *unmet* demand for human-in-the-loop heavy services.

With highly intelligent AI capable of now providing the first layer of things like:
- Legal advice
- Medical diagnosis
- Interactive 1-1 teaching

We will see the demand for the 2nd layer of human-provided deep dives skyrocket.
- AI can help you diagnose a medical condition but you will want to chat live with a doctor about it and potentially do some of intervention/procedure.
- AI can teach you a bunch of concepts but you might still want to interact a teacher didactically.

This will be a weird side-effect of AGI (at least in the 5-10 year horizon).

[Rob Liddiard @RJLiddiard]

@t_blom You may have prompted it inadequately :)