Matt Reustle

"I'd like to solve the puzzle"

Investments, Media, and Investment Media
Former: Raven Capital, GS Research, Colossus/Business Breakdowns

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

I'd guess Pritzker is the investor blueprint most would romanticize being:
- Insane returns
- Generalist, mainly opportunistic
- Napkin math + sophisticated structuring
- Admired by other GOATs
- Mysterious via avoiding media
- Humble in any interview

[Rame @rainmakerspod]

Rainmakers is back with another episode.

This time on the legendary investor Jay Pritzker.

In his father's first ever TV appearance he tells a panel of fellow businessmen why he disdains the media for the ways they portray his family.

41 years later, I give it my own shot.

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

You are entitled to your own opinion. I would classify his show as conversations, not interviews. And the most interesting thing to me is that this is exactly what his conversations sound like day-to-day, his guests are mostly friends, and they are drawn to him.

This is basically a glimpse at what David and a founder actually sound like at a lunch table (that they stay at for hours). A traditional interviewer is going to be low risk, but not the highest ceiling. You aren’t a “fly on the wall” in a great conversations with traditional interviewers… those are just interviews. Meanwhile I learn the most about Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg when they dissect a different directors movie on The Rewatchables. It’s a different format, with different prompts, that elicits different body language and behaviors. It still might be your cup of tea but it's unique and authentic.

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

The focus goes rightfully to the body of work, but I can't emphasize David's generosity enough. I'm glad some examples are coming out, because he does so much without anyone ever knowing about it.

[Eric Jorgenson 📚 ☀️ @EricJorgenson]

Let's get ahead of this one...

"On David Senra"

@davidsenra is a modern American icon.

Born into an immigrant family with few advantages (and many challenges), he read and recorded his way into the upper echelons of business and investing.

This is the free meritocratic system at its best. He started with a microphone at his kitchen table just over ten years ago.

Why do founders and self-made billionaires want to listen to and be with David now?

Because he has read hundreds and hundreds of books, with ferocious focus.

He was reading for his life, and that made him a better reader than the rest of us.

David ripped out insights and seared them into his mind, because every time he did, he changed his life a bit more.

What else?

He is a devoted friend.

In a world of creators clamoring to trade up relationships and proximity to power, always looking up, David does the opposite.

When I launched The book of @elonmusk, David bought 1,000 copies (insisting on paying) and gifted them to his listeners for free.

He is shockingly generous.

He buys products rather than accepting them for free. He donates huge sums of money to friends in need. He makes life-changing introductions. He teaches us everything he knows about podcasting. He gives business ideas, advice, and encouragement freely and often.

He has an intense work ethic.

If you're jealous of what he has, you better be jealous of what he did to get it.

Six years of podcasting into an awkward silence -- losing money every month. With a wife and young child at home.

When you meet people with his kind of drive and work ethic, it pushes you harder. (or, if you're weak and ashamed or out of touch with yourself, it will make you angry.)

His intensity can make people uncomfortable.

The truth of what it takes to build empires can be ugly. The full lives of history's heroes can be hard to look at.

But David studies the history of entrepreneurship to improve his own life. Without "shoulds", without advice, and without selling a course. It's not about influencing people, moving public opinion. He has no agenda.

It simply speaks to him.

It IS him.

He loves it, he lives it, and we are lucky to be coming along.

That's why we love him, listen to him, and are loyal to him.

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

I'm a big fan of @arudansk and it's awesome to see him cook up some new flavor with Breakdowns.

[Business Breakdowns @bizbreakdowns]

Qasar Younis was COO of Y Combinator when Sam Altman was its president. Peter Ludwig was an early engineer on Android Automotive at Google.

Both are Detroit guys with family roots at General Motors.

In 2017, they started Applied Intuition to make a billion machines intelligent.

Putting intelligence into a machine is one of the hardest problems in technology.

A car, a tractor, and a mining vehicle each have different hardware, different sensors, and lives on the line if the software fails.

So instead of building one machine, they built the technology that goes into all of them. Cars, trucks, defense vehicles, mining equipment, combines, robots.

Like Nvidia sells chips into everyone else's machines, Applied Intuition sells intelligence.

They are the only company in the world that does this across all of these industries. They have raised about a billion dollars. They have never spent any of it.

Qasar believes that when we look back 25 years from now, the most important companies in the world will all be physical AI companies.

Last week they launched Dana, an agent platform built to get there faster.

Enjoy!

@qasar @AppliedInt

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
4:08 Why Physical AI Will Be Enormous
5:54 What Applied Intuition Actually Builds
9:25 Timing the Autonomous Revolution
13:59 From Tools to a Full AI Stack
21:40 Why Chatbots Can’t Build Robots
25:18 The Physical AI Data Flywheel
28:19 The Moat Behind Machine Intelligence
30:13 What’s Slowing Physical AI Down?
32:30 Applied Intuition’s Business Model
36:10 Competing in a Massive Market
39:24 The Hardware Renaissance
41:09 Why They Raised $1 Billion
43:49 A World Filled With Intelligent Machines

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@acontinuouslean @om My admiration has only grown as I've seen the outpouring. He clearly left a mark with a lot of people, myself included. And it felt so authentic and unique to him, not an ounce of acting some part.

I'm pretty comfortable in my skin, but seeing this makes me want to be better.

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@rfkenmore Very much marketing for the sale. Vague enough to leave breathing room. Private White did an epic "no more sales" and then went back to sales. There's a lot more freedom in this message.

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@domcooke And how many great Colossus profiles had you authored prior to that mountain? You left your fear on that mountain!

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@RaphiSavitz @colossusmag 🙏

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

Update: This was my finale for Business Breakdowns. I'll be starting a new role next week.

The entire team and ecosystem around @colossusmag is incredible (and only getting better). I got a non-sports version of being a huge fan and then playing for that team. My season tickets will be perpetually renewed.

One lesson stands above many others: Creating content is unfathomably powerful for your professional endeavors, AND almost everyone I know (who does it) finds it incredibly fulfilling.

DMs are always oiled up, so slide right in.

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@colossusjeremy @colossusmag And no longer just a self-proclaimed one 🤌

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@itsurboyevan @colossusmag Liberal use of the "L" word!

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@ProbyShandilya I remember that vividly! That indigo sashiko remains a magnet.

[Business Breakdowns @bizbreakdowns]

Today, we are breaking down Toast ($TOST)

Sean Barrett, Managing Partner and CIO of Counter Global, returned to cover his history with this business and what makes it so exciting today.

Enjoy!

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

I've come around on video game IP. Great directors showing you have freedom to deliver original storytelling.

[DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm]

First posters for Zach Cregger's ‘RESIDENT EVIL’ film.

In theaters on September 18.

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@jclarkson203 @Banana_Chucker @ExcessDefaults You sent me down a great rabbit hole (rev recognition pre sab 101, deathcare roll-ups, michael burry involvement). But that guy was full of gems...this press release is incredible

https://t.co/U2NvTauneW

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@jclarkson203 @Banana_Chucker @ExcessDefaults "Critics say it's a dying industry. Are you digging your own grave? Find out NEXT"

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@cmaxmagee @conorsen @TheStalwart Fastest to unicorn status, I believe? And an all-time s1.

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@conorsen @TheStalwart I share your hesitation and warranting in this case. And glad to see you examining what it means!

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

Somehow the "business" of Anthropic feels massively undercovered. I am all for focusing on the technology but come on! 4,000 thought pieces on the TBPN fellas(*) and very shallow coverage here.

*they are worth all the ink

[Conor Sen @conorsen]

@TheStalwart I’m generally not a fan of “This is the fastest adoption ever” but increasing a revenue run-rate from $9bn/year to $44bn/year in 5 months is just insane.

[Matt Reustle @ReustleMatt]

@bryancurtis This was an incredible listen.