Hemant Taneja - Engineering Global Resilience

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
Two fun facts about our newest sponsorship partner, Ramp. First, they are the fastest growing fintech company in history, reaching a level of revenue in five years that I can't quote exactly, but is eyebrow raising. Second, they are backed by more of my favorite past guests, at least 16 of them when I counted, than probably any other company that I'm aware of. A list that includes Ravi Gupta at Sequoia, Josh Kushner at Thrive, Keith Raboi at Founders Fund, and Coastal Ventures, Patrick and John Collison, Michael Ovitz, Brad Gerstner, the list goes on and on. These facts demand the question, why? Having been personally obsessed with the great businesses through history, one clear lesson is that the best of them are run by disciplined operators. These operators manage costs with incredible detail and they are constantly thinking about how they can reinvest every dollar and every hour back into their business. This is RAMP's mission, to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. First on expenses, the average American business has a profit margin of 7.7%. This means saving 1% on costs is the equivalent of making 13% more revenue. The average RAMP customer is able to save 5% on their expenses each year. Of course, every entrepreneur is looking for ways to grow revenue by 50%. They should just as seriously seek to save 5% on their expenses. Second, on time, unnecessary complexity is why most finance teams spend 80% of their time doing operational work and only about 20% of their time on strategic work. Ramp makes spend management very simple by handling your company's expenses, travel, bill payments, vendor relationships and even accounting. It's notable that some of the best in class businesses today, companies like Airbnb, Anduril and Shopify and investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity are all using ramp to manage their spend. They use it to spend less, they use it to automate tedious financial processes and they use it to reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At both Colossus and Positive Sum, my businesses, we've used ramp for years now for these exact reasons. Go to ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. That's ramp.com/invest.
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Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is Invest Like the Best. This show is an open-ended exploration of markets, ideas, stories and strategies that will help you better invest both your time and your money. Invest Like the Best is part of the Colossus family of podcasts and you can access all our podcasts, including edited transcripts, show notes, and other resources to keep learning at joincolossus.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:29)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of Positive Sum. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Positive Sum. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of Positive Sum may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. To learn more, visit PSUMVC.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (3:58)
My guest today is Hemant Taneja. Hemant is the CEO and managing director of General Catalyst, the global venture capital firm you'll hear us refer to as GC, which oversees nearly $30 billion. GC has set out to build resiliency across critical industries worldwide. The firm leverages technology to retool sectors such as health care, energy, defense and manufacturing, and explores innovative capital structures to support founders and businesses. Hemant discusses how the firm is positioned to respond to the aftermath of crises, including the pandemic, wars, energy issues and beyond. We also discuss the building of a category-defining health care company, Livongo and much more. Please enjoy this conversation with Hemant Taneja.