Breakdowns - Guest Guide
Breakdowns - Guest Guide

Why are we creating Breakdowns?

Colossus⁠

, we are obsessed with what makes businesses tick. Why do some succeed while others fail? How do you build competitive advantage? What are the strategies a given business pioneered that have made it unique and successful?

But when we search for answers to these questions on a business we love, we can rarely find the answers. We don’t want introductory, high level learning materials meant for a general audience. We also don’t want to read boring sell-side research reports. We need something that’s the best of both worlds: built for smart investing professionals and entrepreneurs, but enjoyable and easy to consume.

We are creating Breakdowns to solve the problem. A Breakdown is a 40-60 minute conversation between a host and guest to explore a single business. We will be launching Breakdowns on April 5th.

We’ve learned firsthand how powerful a conversation can be for learning. It is among the most fun and efficient ways to learn about any new topic - as close as we can get to learning like Neo.

⁠

Breakdown Format

The goal of each breakdown is to teach the listener what a business does and how it does it. We explore the business’s past, present, and potential future, with an eye on what lessons from the business may be more broadly applicable (more detail in

What's in a Breakdown⁠

We want our audience to leave each Breakdown able to describe a Domino’s, Moderna’s technology, a Ferrari to a smart friend and have key insights that help them better think about their own business or investments.

Finally, we want to uncover for our audience those “nuggets” of wisdom about a business that literally make your eyes go wide and cause you to shake your head. Like this one breaking down Domino’s in our episode of

Invest Like the Best⁠

with Zack Fuss:

⁠

Why be a Guest?

No one can make a business come to life like those who run them or study them as professional investors. We want you to have the definitive conversation about a business or business concept on the internet.

So why come on:

Unrivaled audience of investors and entrepreneurs. There aren’t many ways to have your voice reach hundreds of thousands of investment professionals and entrepreneurs (50% are professional investors, 10% CEOs, and 40% entrepreneurs, students, and builders). If our current podcasts are any indication, just be prepared for “the flood” of inbound after you come on.

⁠

Audience is rabid and growing - 100% year over year growth and deep engagement on Twitter, user surveys, etc.

Learning in public - you share our mission to learn in public and you believe your appearance will be helpful for others that can follow in your footsteps. We will also transcribe your episode and it will live on Colossus.

Because we think you are the best person for the job - we source our guests from our network of operators, founders, and investors, always seeking the person in the best position to explain the business to our audience. That’s why we picked you.

What’s involved in being a guest?

Before and during the recording

The prep - You will receive a 2-3 page research document on the business with some background, history, and keep topics to dig into. You will receive this before your recording and it should be the place where you align with your host on how to structure the call. Talk to your host about the best stories and how to ask questions about them so we can really bring this to life (and check out

What's in a Breakdown⁠

Get your audio ready - Make sure your audio set-up is as good as it can be. We’ve got our guide here -

Recording - Audio Best Practices⁠

Have fun - The best episodes are education but have high energy and great narrative.

After the recording

100% Editorial Discretion - you have 100% authority to cut any sections out or ask us to not air the episode. We will send you a preview of your episode fully produced before it goes live.

Compliance - If needed, we can work hand-in-hand with your compliance team to make sure there are no issues for your or your company. Check out our

Talking to Compliance⁠

guide.

The Flood - Get ready for the deluge of Twitter followers and inbound requests.

The Hosts

We handpicked our initial hosts as they were some of the brightest minds in the world of business and investing. All have had amazing careers already and bring incredible insights and energy into their discussions of any business.

The Colossus Family

Colossus is the home of two of the most downloaded business and investing podcasts in the world - Invest Like the Best and Founder’s Field Guide. They are listened to by the biggest investors in the world, CEOs of major corporations/startups, and budding entrepreneurs looking for inspiration (and get over 1 million downloads per month).

⁠