Like Netflix, but for business nerds.
Short addictive breakdowns of weirdly profitable and interesting companies.
Take their tactics. Apply them to your business or career. Scale smarter than your competitors.
Archive
The Landscape Giant That Grew Too Fast?
In today’s breakdown, I dig into SiteOne, the 690-branch landscape distributor that quietly became a national monopoly. Revenue keeps rising, but margins keep falling, and the reasons are the exact traps most operators fall into when scaling. This is a case study in when growth stops creating leverage.
When 2% of Revenue Drives 50% of Profit
Everyone sees the giant revenue number, but the real story is hidden in the model. Only ~2% of Costco's sales come from memberships, yet that small stream revenue delivers over half the operating profit. This breakdown shows how the entire business is built around that.
How This Oilfield Rollup Grew Revenue From $148M to $748M
Flowco stitched together (ie. rolled-up) gas lift, compression, and methane-capture oil and gqs businesses and turned them into a single high-margin rental company. The big question: how will they survive the cyclicality in a notoriously brutal, cyclical industry?
How a 5% Margin Distributor Built a $10B Company in Healthcare Consumables
Despite margins hovering at 5%, Henry Schein has carved out a defensible position through scale, relationships, and process power. Their mix shift into software shows how even traditional distributors can add leverage.
The "Fun" REIT That Got Punched in the Mouth in 2020
EPR built a high-margin portfolio of amusement parks, ski areas, and theaters, delivering 90%+ gross margins with only 55 employees. But when nearly half of their pre-COVID rent roll came from movie theaters, even their triple net leases couldn't prevent their revenue from cratering. This company is a lesson in a lean operating philosophy as well as the danger of black swans.
How a "Superapp" Turned a 3% Margin Into a 40% Margin Business
Most founders underestimate the scale requirements behind a double-sided marketplace. Grab’s journey shows exactly how much capital, time, and operational pain it takes to get the flywheel spinning. My advice to you: unless you can fund the burn, don't play this game.
