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Hard eyeroll. How many proprietary soft drinks did different pharmacies and restaurants provide across the nation in 1886? The concept of the soft drink busines

Hard eyeroll. How many proprietary soft drinks did different pharmacies and restaurants provide across the nation in 1886? The concept of the soft drink business is so pervasive that in the US, the lemonade stand is the most basic business we teach kids. So a lot, probably. Somehow common sense logic and business basics should have turned any of them into a $2Tn empire, 150 years later (oh and $66mm in seed money in today's terms with no time restriction from the investor). I haven't seen hindsight applied with such conviction since I hung out with the last super successful investor who fell pray to applying his expertise in one domain to another where it doesn't belong. Whatever Mr Munger did for Mr Buffet, writing insights of this type was not it.

jodrellblank 3y ago
> "The concept of the soft drink business is so pervasive that in the US, the lemonade stand is the most basic business we teach kids. So a lot, probably. Somehow common sense logic and business basics should have turned any of them into a $2Tn empire, 150 years later" That doesn't work because look at all the companies selling generic cheap soft drinks, competing for the lowest cost, and not being anywhere near 150 years old or $2TN. Munger's talk is about what Coca-Cola would need to do over and above ordinary "selling a soft drink" to achieve such a thing.
danielmarkbruce 3y ago
You have to get to the end of the speech. His point is that there are a handful of relatively simple things that can add up to such an outcome, and that academic institutions teach in such siloed ways that people aren't learning how to do the cross-field synthesis required to understand something, even retrospectively.
- riazrizvi 3y ago
  Though that is a valid point about great business, the text here does not teach/demonstrate this skill in a way that would help one realistically apply it. The important points to make, are that it's far more important to maneuver oneself into a position where you can see the landscape clearly, deliver the power to make moves, and then just use uncluttered thinking to chose those moves but chose them you must as the more moves you make, the faster you learn. As opposed to lingering in the ivory tower devising ever more ingenious strategies to excuse weak execution.
  - danielmarkbruce 3y ago
    He's been making the point about silos in academia and the benefits of cross discipline education for decades, and not just in business. It is what it is.

jodrellblank 3y ago

> "The concept of the soft drink business is so pervasive that in the US, the lemonade stand is the most basic business we teach kids. So a lot, probably. Somehow common sense logic and business basics should have turned any of them into a $2Tn empire, 150 years later" That doesn't work because look at all the companies selling generic cheap soft drinks, competing for the lowest cost, and not being anywhere near 150 years old or $2TN. Munger's talk is about what Coca-Cola would need to do over and above ordinary "selling a soft drink" to achieve such a thing.

danielmarkbruce 3y ago

You have to get to the end of the speech. His point is that there are a handful of relatively simple things that can add up to such an outcome, and that academic institutions teach in such siloed ways that people aren't learning how to do the cross-field synthesis required to understand something, even retrospectively.

riazrizvi 3y ago
Though that is a valid point about great business, the text here does not teach/demonstrate this skill in a way that would help one realistically apply it. The important points to make, are that it's far more important to maneuver oneself into a position where you can see the landscape clearly, deliver the power to make moves, and then just use uncluttered thinking to chose those moves but chose them you must as the more moves you make, the faster you learn. As opposed to lingering in the ivory tower devising ever more ingenious strategies to excuse weak execution.
- danielmarkbruce 3y ago
  He's been making the point about silos in academia and the benefits of cross discipline education for decades, and not just in business. It is what it is.