Resource
Wade's picks: Acquired's retail trilogy and 'Make Something Wonderful'
Wade calls the Acquired podcast a 10 out of 10. He suggests starting with the NFL episode and singles out the retail trifecta (Costco, Walmart, Amazon) as his favorite. He also recommends Make Something Wonderful, a chronological collection of Steve Jobs's own emails and speeches.
“Well, the NFL episode, if you like sports at all, like, you know, that is a good entryway into Acquired. Though probably my favorite series is all the retail ones. So there's like a like a— like, I think it's Costco, Walmart, and Amazon. And there's sort of like a trifecta right in there that are like all really, really good. As for a book, um, I, I recently finished this book, Make Something Wonderful. It's a Steve Jobs, like, in his own words.”
Framework
3 times a franchise is worth buying
Kevin says a franchise makes sense in three cases. First, the franchisor gives you one of Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers, such as a brand or a cornered resource like Chick-fil-A's recipe. Second, you plan a roll-up, because identical franchise units are easy to integrate and franchisors oversell units, which later need consolidating. Third, you would never start a business without the training wheels a franchise provides.
“I think there's, 3 situations where doing a franchise makes sense. I think the first one is if the franchisor actually has some secret sauce. And like the nerdy way that I think about it is if you listen to like the Acquired podcast, they do the 7 powers. If the franchisor gives you one of the 7 powers, it could be worth it.”
Steal thisOnly buy a franchise if it gives you a real power (brand or cornered resource), a roll-up path, or the push you need to start at all.