Operational Velocity
Operational Velocity is a podcast about the operating system that converts inputs into cash, decisions into margin, and operational discipline into returns that compound over time. This series is built around one key thesis: the way a business operates determines what it returns. The show works through four main lenses: 1) value creation through operations, 2) operations-first leaders, 3) technology as operational leverage, and 4) operating systems. Each lens is a different way of seeing the same truth; every financial metric you care about has an operational driver sitting upstream of it. In essence, EBITDA margin, free cash flow, and return on capital employed are all operational outcomes. This series is hosted by Gautam Basu (PhD, MBA).
Episodes
8 episodes
Ep 8: Elon Musk: An Operator's Algorithm, Tesla, SpaceX
Episode Description Everyone's knows about Elon Musk as a visionary, but few know him as an operator. This episode is not a profile about Mars, "first principles" as a personality type, or the ten-companies-one-genius a...
Ep 7: Mark Leonard: Quiet Compounder, Constellation Software
Mark Leonard, the founder of Constellation Software is a private man. He doesn't give interviews or speak at conferences but for twelve years he wrote annual shareholder letters that practitioners described as among the best capital allocation ...
Ep 6. Seven-Eleven, Nucor, Frito-Lay & Li & Fung: Four Operating Systems, One Discipline.
In this episode, we analyze four companies in four different industries with one core discipline that differentiates them from their competitors. We break down how Seven-Eleven Japan engineered a convenience store replenishment system so precis...
Ep 5. Rales Brothers: The Kaizen Acquirers, Danaher Business System
In this episode, we dive into the story of two brothers, Steven and Mitchell Rales, who built a unique operating acquisition machine from a Montana fishing trip, a dormant REIT, and a diesel brake factory in Connecticut. The result was 40 years...
Ep 4. Rachel Lawler: Founder of Aperture Growth: Commercial Operating Systems
In this episode, Gautam speaks with Rachel Lawler, Founder and Managing Director of Aperture Growth, to discuss the missing layer between operational alpha and commercial execution. Rachel makes a precise and uncomfortable argument: most mid-ma...
Ep 3. Tom Gores: Carveout King, Platinum Equity, M&A&O
Most private equity firms will tell you they do operations. Platinum Equity is operations. In this episode, we go deep into one of the most consistently successful and least talked-about private equity firms on the planet. Thirty years...
Ep 2. Operational Alpha: Private Equity's Main Lever
In finance, alpha is the excess return on an investment relative to a benchmark, the portion of performance that can't be explained by market exposure or beta alone. It's the measure of whether a manager actually outperformed, or simply r...
Ep 1. Introduction to Operational Velocity
This is the introductory episode of Operational Velocity, where host Gautam Basu (PhD) lays out the thesis that underpins everything Operational Velocity is: cash flow is an operational outcome, not a financial one. That every metric your board...