Today, we’re breaking down Markel. Markel is an insurance and investing business. It shares the same operating structure as Berkshire Hathaway in that it uses insurance underwriting profits to fund an investing portfolio that includes both minority and controlling interests in public and private businesses. It was founded in 1930 by Sam Markel to insure Jitney buses and today it is a Fortune 500 company with a market value of $17 billion. To break down Markel, I’m joined by Peter Keefe and Saurabh Madaan. Peter is an investor at Avenir and longtime Markel shareholder, while Saurabh was the Deputy CIO at Markel and is now the founder and managing member of Manveen Asset Management. We discuss why the Berkshire comparison is unfair, how a specific set of values is so deeply embedded in the business, and we use Markel as a lens to talk about capital allocation and the psychology of investing more broadly. Please enjoy this breakdown of Markel.   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 | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke   Show Notes (00:02:34) - (First question) - How they would explain Markel’s unique business model to a friend (00:04:24) - The values and systems that make Markel stand out (00:08:57) - Subtleties that differentiate Markel from Berkshire (00:11:22) - Markel’s stance and perspective in the larger insurance industry (00:15:31) - The structural factors that enable Markel’s excellence across many different classes of insurance (00:18:55) - Why this specialized business model is still not widely replicated (00:20:18) - The disproportionate amount of legacy companies in the insurance industry (00:22:58) - The evolution of Markel’s investment portfolio and investing style (00:29:22) - Key differences between Markel Ventures and the public equity portfolio (00:32:25) - How their decision-making and allocation process differs from traditional funds (00:36:42) - How their small team is able to outperform the bigger competitors (00:39:50) - Summoning patience to reap the benefits of holding positions long-term (00:42:37) - The famous American Tower investment story  (00:46:10) - How they would evaluate Markel from an outside investor perspective  (00:53:43) - Key-man risk in Markel’s agile leadership (00:55:33) - Other risks and challenges they think about with Markel (00:57:05) - How experience with Markel has informed their perspective on the insurance industry (01:00:50) - Lessons for builders and investors when studying Markel’s story

Today we are breaking down the world’s fastest-growing sports league, The Indian Premier League. The Indian Premier League, often shortened to IPL, is a cricket competition that takes place in India every year between the end of March and end of May. There are 10 teams, 74 matches, and the competition starts and ends within 2 months.  The biggest sports leagues tend to come with long histories. You can trace the NFL back to 1920, the NBA to 1946, and Formula 1 to 1950. In stark contrast, the IPL and its teams were founded in 2008. But despite its relative youth, the IPL is already a sporting giant. It has revolutionized the game of cricket and is the second biggest sports league in the world if you measure it on a per-game basis. To break down the story and business, I’m joined by Ed Cowan. Ed played professional cricket for Australia in the early 2010s and is now an investor at TDM Growth Partners. Please enjoy this breakdown of the Indian Premier League.   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 | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke   Show Notes (00:03:05) - [First question] - An overview of the Indian Premier League (IPL) today (00:07:41) - How cricket fits in the context of Indian culture and markets (00:11:06) - The mechanics of T20 cricket and its history (00:19:33) - The genesis of the IPL (00:21:42) - How the original eight teams were sold by the league and seeded by investors (00:24:44) - The IPL’s conception and the rockier aspects of its startup phase (00:30:13) - The revenue structure and business model broken down into their many streams (00:33:44) - How Indian culture influences media deals in cricket (00:41:55) - How operators have structured the IPL to optimize for media rights  (00:44:53) - More on league-level economics, costs, and IP monetization  (00:47:22) - Dynamics of individual franchises within the league (00:55:19) - The infrastructure model and overhead costs for individual franchises (00:59:03) - A deep dive into the player auction and how it works (01:07:48) - Fanbase demographics and the importance of female representation in the IPL (01:12:38) - How IPL creates and leverages scarcity value (01:17:26) - The increasing international reach of the IPL draft (01:19:32) - How the BBL in Australia stacks up against the IPL (01:25:18) - Premortem case for the IPL (01:28:22) - Why he thinks cricket and the IPL won’t be disrupted any time soon (01:31:59) - Lessons for operators and investors when studying the IPL story