Today we are running a special episode in our Business Breakdowns feed. My guest is Alex Danco from Shopify - who you may remember from our Business Breakdown on Shopify in 2021. Our conversation focuses on a new concept, tokengated commerce, and how Shopify is building around this theme. Given the market turmoil in crypto assets, we talk about true use cases of tokengated commerce and why blockchain technology is unlocking something that was not possible otherwise. This episode originally ran in our Web3 Breakdowns feed and represents an interesting case study of corporations embracing blockchain technology. Please enjoy my conversation with Alex Danco.   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 they 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 [00:02:16] - [First question] - What Shopify itself is as an ecosystem and service [00:05:14] - An example of interoperability and the power of platforms outside of Shopify  [00:07:02] - How interoperability and platforms come together [00:12:08] - Where a a constraint-standard resulted in failure  [00:14:26] - Why Shopify is so heavily invested in tokengated commerce [00:17:10] - Lessons learned about the scarcity function of tokens and how they’ll work [00:20:34] - Whether or not Shopify will be building their own crypto wallet   [00:24:48] - The important role blockchains play in tokengated economics [00:28:16] - Overview of the mechanics and offering Shopify is building  [00:32:16] - Tokens help establish protocol adoption [00:34:27] - Which blockchains and protocols will be mostly used in Shopify’s endeavor   [00:36:33] - Why can’t it be key-gated instead of tokengated [00:39:00] - Conjuring demand and how Shopify will create demand for their new system [00:45:46] - The differences between someone's identity and a token holder [00:47:55] - Signals that suggest tokengated commerce will be a big thing  [00:51:02] - Why this concept hasn’t been more widely adopted already [00:54:39] - When there will be a solution to easily create and distribute tokens [00:56:39] - Where things will go from here  [00:59:35] - Reasons why this might not have taken off in five years

This is Matt Reustle and today we’re breaking down Diploma. Diploma is a specialist distributor of medical equipment and industrial components listed in the UK. It’s a business you’re unlikely to be familiar with and, at first glance, may appear mundane. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find a high-quality operator generating significant free cash flow through a mix of organic and inorganic growth channels.  To break down Diploma, I’m joined by Charlie Huggins, an investor in the business and Head of Equities at WealthClub.   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: @bizbreakdowns | @JoinColossus    Show Notes [00:02:23] - [First question] - The history of Diploma, what they do, and what’s attractive about their business model [00:04:39] - Size and scale of the business and their market capitalization [00:07:03] - Overview of what their life sciences business vertical looks like [00:10:00] - The cyclicality of the seals and controls business verticals  [00:13:45] - Returns on invested capital and thoughts on the capital intensity of seals [00:15:06] - What allows their businesses to keep growing and what characterizes a strong acquisition target for Diploma [00:19:14] - An example of how Diploma fits into the value chain [00:21:24] - How Diploma acquires for low multiples when making acquisitions  [00:23:41] - How they drive quantitative and qualitative returns in their acquisitions [00:27:35] - What management is like at Diploma and their longevity in the business [00:33:19] - Overview of their competitive landscape  [00:35:27] - What the business does with extra cash flow in the absence of M&A activity [00:38:01] - What Charlie finds special about Diploma and what has him excited for the future [00:41:22] - The key risks in each vertical and what worries him about them  [00:48:07] - Lessons for investors, business executives and operators from the Diploma story