“I think people in general overestimate the value of R&D. Let me qualify. They think that generally pouring money into building stuff pays, pays off. It's really not true at all. What we find is that there's a very small number of things that pay, pay off handsomely, and most things are a waste of money.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading:
filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard
(the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Luca Ferrari
Opinion
Ferrari: Founders complaining about investor exit pressure are naive or dishonest
“I think a lot of entrepreneurs take money from investors and have a level of Entitlement that they should never be asked to provide a return. It's like, oh, but why do you ask me to sell now? It's only been four years, five years. I think that's either naive o…”
Luca FerrariNov 4, 2025▶ 55:55The Playbook on Buying and Running Companies Forever · Invest Like The Best
Opinion
Ferrari: Standalone companies like Evernote attract average talent on average
“So on average, a business like Evernote, no matter how charismatic, intelligent its leaders are, will attract somewhat Average talent.”
Luca FerrariNov 4, 2025▶ 19:03The Playbook on Buying and Running Companies Forever · Invest Like The Best
Disclosure
Ferrari: Bending Spoons offers near maximum upfront to avoid negotiating up
“We try to make an offer that's sometimes the maximum will to pay or close to it because we think although we could probably get a better deal in the moment if we started lower, Then we don't want to establish a reputation for people you can push around and get…”
Luca FerrariNov 4, 2025▶ 43:30The Playbook on Buying and Running Companies Forever · Invest Like The Best
Insight
Ferrari: Outlier investors evaluate fundamentals from first principles instead of pattern matching
“Most good investors are they recognize patterns. So I've seen a certain business model work, and I use that to select their investments. If done right, this is a very successful way of investing. And then there are the bad investors and the amazing investors, …”
Luca FerrariNov 4, 2025▶ 57:10The Playbook on Buying and Running Companies Forever · Invest Like The Best
Insight
Ferrari: People can only evaluate intelligence up to their own level
“I find that if someone is eight out of 10 smart, they can only discern the sevens from the sixes from the fives, but the eight and a half, the nines, the tens for them look like the same, like a big batch of, oh, they're so smart. And so to be able to distingu…”
Luca FerrariNov 4, 2025▶ 1:00:52The Playbook on Buying and Running Companies Forever · Invest Like The Best
PredictionNot checkable as stated
Ferrari: AI Capable of Building Complex SaaS Like Jira Is Years Away
“As far away. Like, it's not months away. It's not even a couple of years away. AI today can't do a lot for you beyond, say, research, copywriting, and maybe some basic content production, but it'll do more and more, and fast.”
Luca FerrariNov 4, 2025▶ 1:16:05The Playbook on Buying and Running Companies Forever · Invest Like The Best
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