Nick Kokonas - Know What You Are Selling

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
Here's an interesting question to think about. If your finance team suddenly had an extra week every month, what would you have them work on? Most CFOs don't know because their finance teams are grinding it out on lost expense reports, invoice coding and tracking down receipts until the last possible minute. That's exactly the problem that Ramps set out to solve. Looking at the parts of finance, everyone quietly hates and asking, why are humans doing any of this? Turns out they don't need to. Ramps AI handles 85% of expense reviews automatically with 99% accuracy, which means your finance team stops being the department that processes stuff and starts being the team that thinks about stuff. Here's the real shift. Companies using Ramp aren't just saving time, they're reallocating it. While competitors spend two weeks closing their books, you're already planning next quarter. While they're cleaning up spreadsheets, you're thinking about new pricing strategy, new markets and where the next dollar of ROI comes from. That difference compounds. Go to ramp.com/invest to try Ramp and see how much leverage your team gains when the work you have to do stops getting in the way of the work that you want to do. To me, Ridgeline isn't just a software provider, it's a true partner in innovation. They're redefining what's possible in asset management technology, helping firms scale faster, operate smarter and stay ahead of the curve. I want to share a real world example of how they're making a difference. Let me introduce you to Brian. Brian, please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your role.

**Brian Strang** (1:18)
My name is Brian Strang. I'm the technical operations lead and I work at Congress Asset Management.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (1:24)
How would you describe your experience working with Ridgeline?

**Brian Strang** (1:27)
Ridgeline is a technology partner, not a software vendor, and the people really care. I get sales calls all the time and I ignore them. Ridgeline sold me very quickly. We went from $7 billion to $23 billion and the goal is $50 billion. Ridgeline was the clear front runner to help us scale.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (1:43)
In your view, what most distinguishes Ridgeline?

**Brian Strang** (1:45)
They reimagined how this industry should work. It was obvious that they were operating on another level.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (1:52)
It's worth reaching out to Ridgeline to see what the unlock can be for your firm. Visit ridgelineapps.com to schedule a demo. One of the hardest parts of investing is seeing what's shifting before everyone else does. AlphaSense is helping investors do exactly that. You may already know AlphaSense as the market intelligence platform trusted by 75% of the world's top hedge funds, providing access to over 500 million premium sources from company filings and broker research to news, trade journals and over 200,000 expert transcript calls. What you might not know is that they've recently launched something game-changing, AI-powered channel checks. Channel checks give you a real-time, expert-driven perspective on public companies, weeks before they show in earnings or consensus revisions. AlphaSense uses an AI interviewer to run thousands of expert calls with real human experts every month, asking consistent questions across experts so the signals are clean, comparable, and useful. You get live updates as interviews come in, full transcript access and coverage across every major sector. Instantly compare insights across experts and analyze quarter-over-quarter trends in sentiment and key performance indicators. For investors trying to stay ahead of the fast-moving markets, it's already table stakes. 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. If you enjoy these conversations and want to go deeper, check out Colossus Review, our quarterly publication with in-depth profiles of the people shaping business and investing. You can find Colossus Review along with all of our podcasts at joincolossus.com.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:27)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of PositiveSum. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of PositiveSum. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of PositiveSum may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. To learn more, visit PSUMVC.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (3:55)
My guest today is Nick Kokonas, the co-founder of three of the best restaurants and bars in America and the world, Alinea, Next and The Aviary, as well as the co-founder and CEO of Tock, a comprehensive booking system for restaurants. This was one of my favorite conversations in the history of the show. Nick is a philosophy major turned derivatives trader and now one of the most well-known and respected names in the restaurant and hospitality industries. We cover so many topics, I can't list them here, but I'll remember it for why it's so important for a business to really know what it's selling and then actually sell it. Nick also pulls back the curtain on why restaurants and even book publishers can be great businesses if you do them the right way. I felt like this conversation could have gone on for hours and I hope you enjoy it.