Businesses

Strategy breakdowns on the companies in our research library.

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Airbnb

Online marketplace for short-term lodging and experiences. Disrupted the $800B hotel industry.

Retailshort-term rentalsmarketplacehospitality

Amazon

World's largest e-commerce and cloud computing (AWS) company. Started as an online bookstore.

Technologye-commercecloud computingonline retail

Apple

World's most valuable company. Makes iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, and runs a massive services ecosystem.

Technologyconsumer electronicssoftware servicesmobile devices

Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett's holding company. Owns GEICO, BNSF, See's Candies, and major stakes in Apple, Coca-Cola, and more.

Financeholding companyinvestmentsdiversified

Chanel

French luxury fashion house known for Chanel No. 5, the little black dress, tweed suits, and the double-C logo.

Fashion & Luxuryluxury fashionperfumehigh-end

Coca-Cola

World's largest beverage company. The Coca-Cola brand is the most recognized in the world.

Food & Beveragebeveragessoft drinksbrand recognition

Facebook (Meta)

Social media conglomerate: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and the metaverse (Quest VR).

Mediasocial mediametaversedigital advertising

Ferrari

Italian luxury sports car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Icon of speed, design, and exclusivity.

Automotiveluxury carssports carsautomotive design

Ford

American automaker that pioneered the assembly line and the $5 workday. Made cars affordable for the average American.

Automotiveautomakerassembly linemass production

Goldman Sachs

Global investment bank and financial services company. Known as the most prestigious bank on Wall Street.

Financeinvestment bankingfinancial serviceswealth management

Google (Alphabet)

World's dominant search engine, plus YouTube, Android, Google Cloud, Waymo, and DeepMind.

Technologysearch enginecloud computingadvertising

Hermes

French luxury goods house known for Birkin bags, scarves, and leather goods. The most exclusive luxury brand in the world.

Fashion & Luxuryluxury goodshigh fashionaccessories

LEGO

Danish toy company and the world's most powerful brand. Makes the iconic interlocking plastic bricks.

Consumer Goodstoyschildren's productsplastic bricks

LVMH

World's largest luxury goods conglomerate: Louis Vuitton, Dior, Moet, Hennessy, Tiffany, Sephora, and 75 more brands.

Fashion & Luxuryluxury goodsconglomeratehigh-end brands

McDonald's

World's largest fast-food chain with 40,000+ restaurants in 100+ countries. The franchise model pioneer.

Food & Beveragefast foodfranchiserestaurant chain

Microsoft

Software giant. Windows, Office, Azure, Xbox.

Technologysoftwarecloud computingenterprise solutions

Netflix

World's largest streaming entertainment service with 280M+ subscribers. Pioneered the streaming revolution.

Entertainmentstreamingentertainmentsubscription service

Nike

World's largest athletic footwear and apparel company. Started as Blue Ribbon Sports importing Japanese running shoes.

Consumer Goodsathletic apparelfootwearsportswear

NVIDIA

Semiconductor company that dominates GPU and AI chip markets. Powers most of the world's AI training.

TechnologysemiconductorsAIGPU

Rolex

World's most iconic luxury watch brand. Known for the Oyster, Submariner, Daytona, and Perpetual movements.

Fashion & Luxuryluxury watcheshigh-endiconic brand

SpaceX

Aerospace manufacturer and space transport company. Builds Falcon 9, Starship, and Starlink satellite internet.

Aerospace & Defensespace transportaerospace manufacturingsatellite internet

Starbucks

World's largest coffeehouse chain with 35,000+ locations. Transformed coffee culture globally.

Food & Beveragecoffeehouseglobal chainfood culture

Stripe

Payment processing platform powering internet commerce. Processes hundreds of billions in payments annually.

Financepayment processingfinteche-commerce

The Walt Disney Company

Global entertainment conglomerate: theme parks, movies, streaming (Disney+), Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, ESPN.

Entertainmententertainmenttheme parksstreaming

Toyota

World's largest automaker by volume. Pioneered lean manufacturing (Toyota Production System) and the hybrid car (Prius).

Automotiveautomakerhybrid vehiclesmanufacturing

Visa

World's largest payment network. Processes $15T+ in transactions annually.

Financepayment networktransactionsfinancial services

Walmart

World's largest company by revenue ($600B+). Discount retail giant with 10,500+ stores worldwide.

Retaildiscount retailsupermarketglobal presence

Adidas

Second-largest sportswear manufacturer in the world. Born from a family feud that also created Puma.

Sportssportswearathletic apparelfootwear

Alibaba

China's largest e-commerce company (Taobao, Tmall). Also cloud computing, fintech (Ant Group), and logistics.

Retaile-commercecloud computinglogistics

AMD

Semiconductor company making CPUs and GPUs. Lisa Su's turnaround from near-death to AI chip powerhouse.

TechnologysemiconductorsCPUsGPUs

American Express

Global financial services: charge cards, credit cards, travel, and payments. Premium brand in payments.

Financefinancial servicescredit cardspayments

Anduril

Defense technology company building autonomous systems and AI for the military. The 'Silicon Valley meets Pentagon' story.

Aerospace & Defensedefense technologyautonomous systemsmilitary

AT&T

Telecom giant tracing back to Alexander Graham Bell's telephone. Was broken up by the government, then reassembled.

Telecommunicationstelecommunicationswirelessbroadband

Atlassian

Australian enterprise software company (Jira, Confluence, Trello). Built without a single salesperson.

Technologyenterprise softwareproject managementcollaboration tools

Blackstone

World's largest alternative asset manager. $1T+ in assets under management.

Financeasset managementprivate equityalternative investments

Boeing

World's largest aerospace company. Makes commercial aircraft (737, 787), defense systems, and space vehicles.

Aerospace & Defenseaircraftdefense systemsspace

Booking.com

World's largest online travel agency. Booking Holdings also owns Priceline, Kayak, and OpenTable.

Travelonline travelbookingOTA

Chipotle

Fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain with 3,500+ locations.

Food & Beveragefast-casualrestaurant chainMexican food

CostCo

Membership warehouse club: $1.50 hot dogs, Kirkland Signature, bulk buying. 900+ stores worldwide.

Retailwarehouse clubbulk buyingmembership

Craigslist

Online classified ads site with an intentionally ugly 1990s design. Destroyed newspaper classifieds.

Mediaclassified adsonline marketplacedisruption

Dell

PC and enterprise technology company. Michael Dell started it from his University of Texas dorm room at 19.

TechnologyPCsenterprise technologyhardware

DoorDash

Food delivery platform and largest delivery service in the US. Expanded into grocery and retail delivery.

Food & Beveragefood deliverygrocery deliverylogistics

Duolingo

World's most popular language learning app (100M+ monthly users). Gamified education with an unhinged owl mascot.

Educationlanguage learningeducationgamification

Enron

Energy company whose massive accounting fraud led to the largest corporate bankruptcy in history (2001) and destroyed Arthur Andersen.

Energyenergycorporate fraudbankruptcy

FedEx

Global shipping and logistics company. Pioneered overnight delivery. 'When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.'

Transportationlogisticsshippingovernight delivery

Formula One

World's premier open-wheel auto racing series. Blends technology, speed, glamour, and global audiences.

Sportsauto racingmotorsportentertainment

General Electric

Once the most valuable company on Earth. Has split into GE Aerospace, GE Vernova, and GE HealthCare.

Aerospace & Defensediversified industrialenergyhealthcare

Gillette

Dominant razor and grooming brand. Invented the disposable razor blade and the razor/blade business model.

Consumer Goodsgroomingrazorsconsumer products

GoPro

Action camera company that created the wearable camera category. Surfers, skydivers, and extreme sports.

Consumer Goodsaction camerasextreme sportsphotography

Hershey

America's largest chocolate manufacturer. Built an entire town (Hershey, PA) around the factory.

Food & Beveragechocolateconfectionerysnacks

IKEA

World's largest furniture retailer. Known for flat-pack furniture, Swedish meatballs, and democratic design.

Retailfurniturehome decorflat-pack

Inditex (Zara)

World's largest fashion retailer (Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear). Pioneered fast fashion with 2-week design-to-shelf cycles.

Fashion & Luxuryfast fashionretailapparel

Instagram

Photo and video sharing app. Acquired by Facebook/Meta.

Mediasocial mediaphoto sharingvideo sharing

Intel

Invented the microchip and dominated PC processors for decades. Now struggling to compete in the AI era.

TechnologysemiconductorsmicrochipsAI

Johnson & Johnson

Healthcare conglomerate: pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer health products (Band-Aid, Tylenol, etc.).

Healthcarepharmaceuticalsmedical devicesconsumer health

Kellogg's

Cereal and snack giant: Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Pringles, Pop-Tarts, Cheez-It.

Food & Beveragesnackscerealbreakfast foods

Kering

French luxury group: Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen.

Fashion & Luxuryluxury goodsfashion retaildesigner brands

KFC

Global fried chicken chain with 27,000+ restaurants in 150+ countries. Started when the founder was 65.

Food & Beveragefast foodfried chickenrestaurant chain

L'Oreal

World's largest cosmetics and beauty company. 36 brands including Lancome, Maybelline, Garnier, and Kiehl's.

Consumer Goodscosmeticsbeauty productsskincare

Liquid Death

Canned water brand with punk rock marketing. 'Murder your thirst.' Turned water into a lifestyle brand.

Consumer Goodsbeverageswaterlifestyle brand

Lululemon

Athletic apparel company that popularized yoga pants and athleisure culture. Premium brand with cult following.

Fashion & Luxuryathleisurepremium apparelyoga

Mars Inc.

World's largest candy and pet food company: M&M's, Snickers, Twix, Pedigree, Royal Canin, and more.

Food & Beveragecandypet foodconsumer goods

Mastercard

Second-largest payment processing network globally. Processes billions of transactions in 210+ countries.

Financepayment processingfinancial servicestransactions

Mercedes-Benz

German luxury automaker. Karl Benz invented the first automobile. The three-pointed star is globally recognized.

Automotiveluxury carsautomakerGerman engineering

Monsanto

Agricultural biotech company known for Roundup herbicide and GMO seeds. One of the most controversial companies ever.

Food & BeverageagriculturebiotechnologyGMO

NBA

National Basketball Association. The most global of the US major sports leagues.

Sportsbasketballprofessional sportsentertainment

Nespresso

Premium single-serve coffee system. Pioneered the capsule coffee model. George Clooney ambassador.

Food & Beveragecoffeepremium productssingle-serve

Nestle

World's largest food and beverage company: Nescafe, KitKat, Purina, Perrier, Gerber, and hundreds more brands.

Food & Beverageconsumer goodsglobal brandsfood production

NFL

National Football League. Most valuable sports league in the world. Generates $18B+/year in revenue.

Sportsprofessional sportsfootballsports league

Nintendo

Japanese gaming company that created Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, the Game Boy, Wii, and Switch.

Entertainmentgamingvideo gamesentertainment

Novo Nordisk

Danish pharma company dominating the diabetes and obesity drug markets (Ozempic, Wegovy). Largest company in Europe.

Healthcarepharmaceuticalsdiabetesobesity

Nutella (Ferrero)

Italian confectionery company making Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder, and Tic Tac. World's most secretive food company.

Food & Beverageconfectionerysnacksfood products

Oracle

Database and enterprise cloud computing giant. Larry Ellison built it into one of the largest software companies ever.

Technologycloud computingenterprise softwaredatabases

Palantir

Data analytics company working with governments and enterprises. Named after the seeing stones in Lord of the Rings.

Technologydata analyticsbig datasoftware

Panda Express

Largest Asian-American restaurant chain with 2,400+ locations. Known for orange chicken.

Food & BeveragerestaurantAsian cuisinefast casual

PayPal

Online payment platform that pioneered digital money transfers. The 'PayPal Mafia' spawned Tesla, YouTube, LinkedIn, Palantir, etc.

Financedigital paymentsfintechonline transactions

Pepsi

PepsiCo beverages and snacks. Pepsi, Gatorade, Quaker.

Food & Beveragebeveragessnacksfood products

Porsche

German luxury sports car manufacturer. Iconic 911 design. Also parent company of Volkswagen Group.

Automotiveluxury carssports carsautomotive design

Procter & Gamble

World's largest consumer goods company: Tide, Pampers, Gillette, Oral-B, and dozens more household brands.

Consumer Goodshousehold productsconsumer brandsFMCG

Renaissance Technologies

Most successful quantitative hedge fund ever. The Medallion Fund averaged 66% annual returns over 30 years.

Financehedge fundsquantitative investingasset management

Roblox

Online platform where millions of users create and play games. Massive among Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Entertainmentgaming platformuser-generated contentonline games

Rolls-Royce

Aerospace engine maker and luxury car brand (cars now owned by BMW).

Aerospace & Defenseaerospace enginesluxury carsengineering

Salesforce

World's largest CRM company and pioneer of cloud SaaS (Software as a Service). 'No Software' revolution.

TechnologyCRMcloud computingSaaS

Samsung

South Korean conglomerate: smartphones, semiconductors, displays, appliances. Rival to Apple in mobile.

Technologyconglomeratesmartphonessemiconductors

Shopify

E-commerce platform powering millions of online stores.

Technologye-commerce platformonline storesSaaS

Sony

Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate: PlayStation, Sony Music, Columbia Pictures, cameras, and more.

Entertainmentelectronicsentertainmentgaming

Spanx

Shapewear company that Sara Blakely started with $5,000. She cut the feet off her pantyhose and built a brand.

Fashion & Luxuryshapewearfashion brandentrepreneurship

Spotify

World's largest music streaming platform with 600M+ users. Changed how the world listens to music.

Entertainmentmusic streamingdigital mediasubscription service

Standard Oil

Controlled 90% of US oil refining at peak. The trust that was broken up by the Supreme Court, spawning the modern oil industry.

Energyoil refiningmonopolyhistorical industry

Subway

Largest restaurant chain in the world by number of locations (37,000+). Sandwich shops everywhere.

Food & Beveragefast foodrestaurant chainsandwiches

Taco Bell

Mexican-inspired fast-food chain with 8,000+ restaurants. Known for creative menu items and late-night culture.

Food & Beveragefast foodMexican cuisinecreative menu

The Home Depot

World's largest home improvement retailer with 2,300+ stores. The co-founders were fired from their previous jobs.

Retailhome improvementDIYretail giant

The New York Times

America's newspaper of record. Successfully pivoted from print to digital with 10M+ subscribers.

Medianewsdigital mediasubscription

TikTok

Short-form video platform with 1B+ users. Part of Chinese tech company ByteDance. Reshaped social media.

Technologysocial mediashort-form videocontent creation

Trader Joe's

Beloved American grocery chain known for unique products, low prices, Hawaiian shirts, and no loyalty programs.

Retailgroceryunique productsdiscount retail

TSMC

World's largest semiconductor foundry. Makes chips for Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, and most of the tech industry.

Technologysemiconductorsfoundrychip manufacturing

X

Social media platform. Rebranded from Twitter to X after Elon Musk's $44B acquisition.

Mediasocial mediaplatformcontent sharing

Uber

Ride-hailing and delivery platform operating in 70+ countries. Disrupted the global taxi industry.

Transportationride-hailingdeliverydisruption

Under Armour

Athletic apparel brand that started when the founder made moisture-wicking shirts for his college football teammates.

Fashion & Luxuryathletic apparelfitnessperformance wear

Unilever

Consumer goods giant: Dove, Ben & Jerry's, Vaseline, Hellmann's, Knorr, and 400+ other brands.

Consumer Goodsconsumer productshousehold brandsFMCG

UPS

World's largest package delivery company. Brown trucks deliver 25M+ packages daily in 220+ countries.

Transportationpackage deliverylogisticsshipping

Virgin

Global brand spanning 400+ companies: airlines, mobile, media, space tourism. Richard Branson's adventure empire.

Entertainmentdiversifiedbrandentrepreneurship

WeWork

Co-working space company that peaked at $47B valuation before spectacular collapse. Now bankrupt.

Real Estateco-workingflexible workspaceoffice rental

Messaging app with 2B+ users worldwide. Acquired for $19B with only 55 employees.

Technologymessagingsocial mediacommunication