The way I understand what dxbydy has been writing, he or she is explaining how Warren Buffett often plays the opposite of a venture capitalist, risk-wise. He

The way I understand what dxbydy has been writing, he or she is explaining how Warren Buffett often plays the opposite of a venture capitalist, risk-wise. He isn't a futurist, he picks off clear winners who are firmly entrenched in their markets. While this is always a tough strategy -- because the easier they are to find, the more likely these companies are to become overrated -- it gets a little easier when you have a massive amount of capital. It's still tough to do consistently though. The term "Rent Capture" calls out the distinction between entrepreneurs and landlords. The worth of land is obvious and so it takes other competitive advantages besides ingenuity to close a big deal. Pejoratively, as dxbydy mentioned, "rent capture" implies that the owners don't have to work very hard for their money. "a very large moat" refers to the barriers to entry. Imagine you have 4 or five companies who built power plants 40 years ago. It was expensive for them at the time, but they made back their initial investment years ago and now the only thing they care about is market share. The size of their moat is proportional to how much it would cost for some new company to build their own power plant.