Strauss Zelnick - Playing to Your Strengths

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
This episode is brought to you by Tegus Converge, the first virtual event centered on the world of investor research. When twin brothers, Tom and Mike Elnick, realized that the research process for investors was broken, they founded Tegus to fix it. Now, the people behind the most trusted research platform are bringing institutional investors together to investigate the state and the future of fundamental research. On November 8th, join industry luminaries like IGSB founder, Reece Duca, and Daniel Gross, AI expert, entrepreneur and investor to dig into the latest research trends and breakthrough technologies shaping the investment landscape. Register today at tegus.com/register.
If you're a regular listener of my podcast, I have another recommendation for you. The podcast is called Founders and it's hosted by David Senra, who has devoted his life to learning from history's greatest entrepreneurs. David and I will be doing our first and probably only live show together in New York City on October 19th during Tech Week at Webster Hall. Tickets are selling pretty fast, so if you're interested in joining us, you can check out the link in the show notes. Please enjoy this episode and if you haven't already, subscribe to Founders.
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** (1:36)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO and founding partner of PositiveSum and the CEO of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of PositiveSum or O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.
Clients of PositiveSum or O'Shaughnessy Asset Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (2:08)
My guest this week is Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of leading game publisher Take-Two Interactive. Maybe most well known for its hugely successful Grand Theft Auto game, Take-Two is a sophisticated top tier developer, publisher, and marketer of interactive entertainment that owns Rockstar Games and 2K. Strauss' passion for entertainment led him strong and fast into the industry as he worked his way from sales to CEO and transitioned from motion pictures to gaming.
Today we cover his approach to staying on the cutting edge of media development, unlocking talent and potential in those around you and becoming the leader you were meant to be. His intensity and his standard for excellence comes through clearly. Please enjoy my conversation with Strauss Zelnick.
So Strauss, it's hard to know where to begin this conversation because as I was thinking about it, I think you share more specific interests with me than just about any guest I've had, those being technology, investing, media, health. It's hard to pick a starting point, but media certainly has been a through line of your life and career. And I'd love to begin by just understanding why. What is it about the various forms of media and you've had your hand in all aspects of media's history as investor and operator? Why does that sector keep drawing your attention and curiosity through time?

**Strauss Zelnick** (3:20)
I don't know. I might have an attachment to consistency that's greater than many people.
I was always interested in everything creative and I wanted, like many people who work in media and communications and entertainment, I wanted to be a creator and entertainer first and foremost. I didn't really want to be an actor, although I actually did dabble in that when I was a kid.
Then I wanted to be a singer-songwriter, then I wanted to be a writer, and then I realized I probably shouldn't be any of those things, but I was still really interested in the creative arts and in creative businesses and that led me into entertainment initially and it spoke to me. I do enjoy business just as business. I think I'm better, like many people, when I'm passionate about the thing that I'm working on, and I'm really passionate about entertainment, and then more recently, but still quite a long time ago, technology. Then that was more sort of a weird twist on my career, which is a story I can tell you. But initially, like many people, I wanted to be an entertainer and a creator and then realize that I didn't have any talent to speak of.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (4:31)
In the spirit of that twist, I'm curious how you would define the eras of the media business across your career that are most important. I'm guessing that the Internet and everything that it brought on media is a key thing. But what are the key inflection points, as you think back across the whole history?