Alfred Lin: evaluation

Transcript context

…It’s funny. It’s a nice thing to say we’re long-run–focused over short-term–focused. But in the business that we’re in, it’s quite literally and mathematically just a much, much better strategy given how much of the area under the curve of a compounding returns business shows up in those later years. I think I heard a stat recently that Amazon made as or more money in its 21st year after IPO than the entirety of the 20 since IPO. It’s just funny to think about these businesses that we’re in. The opportunity to invest where you’re investing does come early, but the real returns do come much, much, much later. It’s a testament to compounding, the thing that people don’t get right and it’s hard for us to understand compounding because we’re human and we like linear projections as opposed to exponential projections. We get it wrong in the beginning and in the end.…

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