50X Season Two: Asurion

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
Today, we're dropping a special episode in the Invest Like the Best feed. 50X is back, a fan favorite series from Will Thorndike and the team at Compounding Labs. Will's book, The Outsiders, is one of the best business and investing books that you'll ever read. You'll hear him continuing his work in the hosting chair as he looks in detail at investments that have appreciated at least 50-fold. Season Two features Asurion. Colossus is excited to partner with Will as he sits down with the management and investors behind this legendary investment. We kick off this special drop with a short interview that I did with Will on everything he learned studying this business, followed by the full three-part series. Make sure to subscribe to 50X in your preferred podcast player and look out for Will's upcoming interviews on Joys of Compounding where he goes into even more behind-the-scenes detail.

**Will Thorndike** (0:52)
An often overlooked pattern among power law companies such as Asurion is an ethic of frugality and cost vigilance. We relish the story of former Capital City CEO, Tom Murphy, painting only the two sides of his Albany TV station that faced the road. While CEOs in the past needed such traumatic examples to emphasize the importance of cost control, CEOs today are blessed to have a platform like Ramp, which can provide expense visibility across the entire company in real time. Using powerful software to close books faster, control excess spending, and facilitate cost comparison. Ramp is the finance partner your organization needs. On top of cost cutting, Ramp is also designed for efficiency. The average finance team spends 200 hours per year on expense reports, time they could be spending on strategic activities. If you're still manually processing expenses in 2025, that is valuable time, which is simply not being used efficiently. Ramp's corporate card eliminates all of this waste using automation and engineering. One chief financial officer told me they cut their month-end close from five days to one thanks to Ramp's platform. Over 25,000 businesses trust Ramp, including Shopify, CBRE, and Endural. Please visit ramp.com to get started and tell them we sent you. This episode is brought to you by Oberle Risk Strategies, a specialty insurance brokerage providing insurance services to search funds, independent sponsors, family offices, and private equity firms. I have a fun personal connection to Oberle. About 15 years ago, I partnered with Oberle's founder and CEO, August Felker, as an investor in his traditional search fund. After a successful exit, August decided to build Oberle the brokerage he wished had existed during his own search. Oberle offers a comprehensive insurance due diligence package, custom designed for private equity in the search fund community. Additionally, Oberle has a thriving personal lines practice, designed for entrepreneurs seeking a higher level of service and expertise when it comes to insuring one's home, vehicles and valuables. Speaking from experience, August's energy and passion around high-quality customer service and operational excellence is impressive. He knows firsthand the key issues, timelines and risks around acquiring a business, and has built Oberle into a leading insurance firm in the M&A advisory space. If you're interested in connecting with Oberle, visit oberlerisk.com/50x.
This episode is brought to you by System Six, a searcher-owned outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services firm that has been a great partner to us here at Compounding Labs. Many CEOs and business owners spend too much time trying to get accurate financials or get stuck in the weeds of running payroll, paying bills and handling other administrative work. With modern tools and a strong team, System Six eliminates this headache and allows you to spend time where it matters most, growing your business. We currently use System Six at several of our companies and have found them to be exceptionally hard-working, competent, and attentive. So whether you're a CEO, a CFO, or an investor trying to support your portfolio companies, reach out to hello at systemsix.com.
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**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (4:11)
So Will, I thought ahead of your release of 50X on Asurion, which is an investment that is one of the most remarkable in history that people will love the story when they hear about it, that we should record to hear you reflect on it a little bit. You've been a big part of this investment journey too, even though you're the Virgil in the 50X context, you too have been a key investor in the business over the long period of time. Maybe you could just give us your overview of your personal experience with this company and with this investment.

**Will Thorndike** (4:41)
Asurion was an extremely early investment for me. I made it very early in the first stage of the private equity firm I was involved with building, Housatonic Partners, at a time when we were making our investments on a deal by deal basis, which is an important detail. Because what it meant is we were making them out of a serial LLC structure which had no fund life. So, we had the structural luxury of being able to hold these investments for long periods of time. And we made eight investments that way. And that investment turns 30 in July of this year.