Kevin Sullivan

[NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman @NASAAdmin]

58 years after Apollo 8’s historic trip around the Moon, NASA is heading back. This time, our crew is going farther into space than any human in history.

Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen will embark on a ten-day mission around the Moon, marking America’s grand return to the lunar environment.

Artemis II marks the beginning of the boldest series of missions the world has ever seen. Through the Artemis campaign, we will maintain American superiority in space, land American astronauts on the Moon, and establish a lunar base all before the end of 2028.

Godspeed Artemis II 🇺🇸

[Jared Isaacman @rookisaacman]

If you follow me for space, aviation, defense or the occasional political take--no need to read further. This book of a post is for the fintech nerds.

Since I passed on the joy of the quarterly investor letters to @tlaubers, I will use the closing of @Shift4’s largest acquisition to foot stomp this capital allocation machine we have built.

As a payments company, we have long believed that to survive, you must deliver value well beyond a simple transaction ‘approval’ or ‘decline.’ That is why, over the last 26 years, we have built great vertical-specific products, acquired scarce rails and integrated capabilities to create a unified commerce platform—now processing on six continents. As a result, we have grown net revenue (GRLNF) and volume by double digits every year for 26 years, been profitable since 2004 and consistently maintained strong margins and take rates during the best and most challenging of economic times.

Keep in mind, before Shift4, merchants would contract with multiple vendors to stitch together a commerce solution. In fact, many of the services listed below existed as standalone companies in the years past—until a Shift4 product devastated them or an acquisition brought them under our roof. Now, in hindsight, it should be very obvious these were features of a unified platform and should not have been independent companies.

- Merchant acquiring
- Encrypted payment gateway & tokenization
- Gift & loyalty network
- Dynamic currency conversion (critical for international hospitality)
- VAT tax processing (critical for global markets and embedded within is a powerful two-sided network of affluent shoppers)
- Crypto authorization & settlement (including stablecoins)
- POS software for restaurants, hotels, stadiums, and theme parks

Because we now offer all of the above on a single platform, we deliver lower total cost of ownership (fewer vendors... fewer mouths to feed), better service (one throat to choke), and have accumulated a nearly $1 trillion payment opportunity within our existing customer base--before even touching the far broader addressable market.

Meanwhile, competitors either lack key links in the value chain--making them vulnerable to take rate compression--or they buy companies that do essentially what they already do, under the belief that more scale will fix product or capability shortcomings.

What we have assembled--what we have built--was accomplished through disciplined capital allocation. We never assume capital comes easily, and we never want to get it wrong. We take ownership to ensure the right outcomes, eliminate the parts that slow us down, and execute with urgency.

Global Blue is the latest...and best example in a winning formula.

Jared Isaacman
Executive Chairman & mondo shareholder

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@rookisaacman @Doritos @StJude This is awesome!

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@rookisaacman @Doritos @StJude This is so, so awesome

[Shift4 @Shift4]

Shift4 Q3 2023 Earnings (Audio Simulcast) https://t.co/O6Eoz3CUFP

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@gaby_goldberg @nyulaw This is appalling. Almost hard to believe. This needs to be raised to administration ASAP.

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@MarioNawfal Your summary of Biden’s speech is missing important context and nuance

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

More about Fancy Clancy here: https://t.co/ZbtBthoLzJ!

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

Baltimore legend Clancy (serving ice cold beer for more than 45 years!) using @Shift4 #skytab to power #CamdenYards. Go Os!

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@Shift4 @Eagles @Ravens 🔥🔥🔥

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@culturaltutor perhaps there’s a universal quality (and global comfort?) to the fact that these buildings all look similar

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@patrick_oshag Hi @patrick_oshag - I don’t post to Twitter but I’ve worked in fintech in a number of capacities (operator, banker, investor) and would be happy to tell you about my small slice of the world.

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@nickywonka I work with a lot of service providers and have been one myself (IB). Turns out just doing an incredible job consistently is better than any “rainmaker” telling you how great you are or they are. Those ppl just take your time and give you nothing in work product.

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@mnovendstern You’ve been in the valley for too long

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@janehk @LaPecc has been working on this for years at Parallel Markets

[Jared Isaacman @rookisaacman]

Earth internet is a big TAM.

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@cashflow_free Do you have a view on disintermediation risk from already scaled players in the alcohol industry or what the M&A landscape could shake out to look like (e.g. Tier I operators swallow up Tier II/IIIs or an interloper buys their way into the industry)?

[Kevin Sullivan @ksullithekid]

@cashflow_free But if I’m thinking about long term re-rating of the category—are these 10x forward EBITDA businesses with 30% EBITDA margins & low/mid-teen growth?