Today's episode was originally featured in our Web3 Breakdowns feed. For listeners unfamiliar with Web3 Breakdowns, the concept was inspired by Business Breakdowns but intended to be a place fully dedicated to the emerging ecosystem around blockchains, crypto assets, and everything that makes up Web3. This Breakdown of Anchorage Digital has a foot in both camps, by diving into a business that’s enabling traditional institutions to participate in and profit from digital assets. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to subscribe to Web3 Breakdowns and enjoy our growing catalog of episodes.   My guest today is Diogo Monica, co-founder and President of Anchorage Digital. Diogo started Anchorage in 2017 to meet the growing institutional need to custody and use crypto assets. The business has since grown into a full-service financial platform for institutions, allowing them to securely participate in web3. Our discussion breaks down Anchorage’s business, explores what great digital security looks like, and reveals what new behaviors web3 is unlocking for traditional institutions. Please enjoy this breakdown of Anchorage Digital.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Coinbase Prime. Coinbase Prime combines advanced trading, battle-tested custody, financing, and prime services in a single solution. Clients have used our comprehensive investing platform to execute some of the largest trades in the industry because we are the only publicly-traded company with experience trading and custodying crypto assets at scale. Get started with Coinbase Prime today at coinbase.com/prime.   -----   Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag    Show Notes [00:02:40] - [First question] - Why he got into the crypto space and what set him down the path that would to founding Anchorage  [00:05:53] - An overview of digital security, state of it today, and where people should spend their time learning about it [00:09:16] - A future of perfect authentication and data protection being so core to this space [00:13:29] - How custody should be considered in the modern world and with digital assets [00:18:59] - What it means to be a great qualified institutional custodian [00:25:17] - The business and unit economics of Anchorage [00:28:07] - What it was like working with their first big institutional client [00:30:52] - Speed as a component of digital security and its implications writ large   [00:35:51] - How they’re differentiated from their competitors by expanding beyond custody [00:39:46] - Different challenges between securing NFTs versus currencies and tokens [00:42:43] - New behaviors he finds most interesting about institutions due to Anchorage [00:48:46] - Breakdown of what players and services contribute to and create Anchorage’s clients today [00:51:24] - The best case scenario for the future of the business [00:53:37] - What would worry him about Anchorage’s development if it swayed from their original mission [00:55:55] - Opportunities he finds most interesting that haven't materialized yet  [00:57:46] - Will we need a public blockchain to create the infrastructure needed to bring the world to a more crypto-fluid place [01:00:07] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him 

This is Matt Reustle and today we are breaking down Cadence Design Systems. Cadence operates in the semiconductor ecosystem where they offer electronic design automation software - also known as EDA software - which is used for chip design. Putting that in much simpler terms - our phones now carry an entire 1980s Radio Shack inside them, and Cadence makes that possible with software to design smaller and more powerful chips.    To break down Cadence, I'm joined by two well-known tech investors and experts in the semiconductor space, Brinton Johns and Jon Bathgate of NZS Capital. We cover the value chain of semiconductors, the evolution of Cadence and the EDA market, and how Cadence reduced it's cyclical exposure over the last decade. I think some of the most interesting lessons come from businesses that face adversity and truly re-invent themselves with a micro-strategic change. Cadence is a prime example. Please enjoy this breakdown of Cadence.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:03:15] - [First question] - Everyday products that Cadence helps bring to life [00:07:28] - The rise of Cadence and the origins of the semiconductor industry  [00:10:26] - Major players in the semiconductor space back in the 80s  [00:12:13] - Going from plan, to chip, to production [00:16:58] - The life cycle of a chip and the cost to design one  [00:19:19] - Differences between software design and embedded software  [00:21:25] - The history of Cadence and the size and scope of their business today  [00:28:05] - Existing customer base and how diversified they are [00:30:55] - What a contract actually looks like between Cadence and a customer [00:35:05] - Protection, off-the-shelf IP blocks and custom IP  [00:35:53] - Cadence’s revenue growth, important metrics, and their KPIs [00:37:03] - How correlated their revenue is to semiconductor cycles [00:39:30] - Unit economics and the margin profile of the business [00:42:13] - Contributing factors to growth and thoughts on pricing [00:45:46] - Benefits of scale and what they like to see as investors from their R&D spend [00:48:12] - Risks and competitors that may threaten Cadence’s success [00:50:22] - Potential scenarios where the ecosystem becomes more vertically integrated [00:52:56] - What would drive a 10x growth for Cadence in next five years [00:54:58] - Things that would affect their growth in the next five years  [00:57:38] - Lessons for investors when studying Cadence [00:59:15] - How they navigated the pandemic and how it impacted their business