Today we’re talking about a topic we get asked about at least once every week: capital as a moat. Should you raise a billion dollars? Should you bootstrap?

Grant opens the debate by discussing the merits of durability and the idiosyncrasies of building in different categories. We dig more into Parker Conrad’s tweet about venture backed competition potentially eating your lunch, and Hammad then steps in to discuss his thoughts on capital as acceleration and the quality of leadership.

This discussion plays off of many of our prior episodes: chicken sexing, anointment, the hedonic treadmill, and more. Ultimately, capital can be a powerful accelerant in the hands of disciplined leadership, and it’s contingent upon founders (and their investors) to make the most of it.

Enjoy!

🔗 Show Resource Links

• Strategy Letter I: Ben and Jerry’s vs. Amazon

• Parker Conrad Tweet

• Ravens GM on the NFL Draft Tweet

• Ric Elias of Red Ventures on The Drive Podcast (a top recommendation from Grant)

🎙️ Podcast Links

• Spotify

• Apple Podcasts

• ⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠

• Subscribe

🌀 About Motion Blur

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is a Partner at Cantos where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, Susa’s growth fund.

Learn more about the hosts:

• Grant Gregory, ⁠Embers⁠

• Hammad Aslam, ⁠Susa Ventures

Intro music credit: ⁠Will Harrison⁠