Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy · Tuesday, August 11, 2026
The speaker draws parallels between the early days of AWS and the current AI landscape, highlighting how initial investor skepticism about AWS's potential for durable margins was proven wrong. They note that the market's growth allowed for multiple winners, contrary to initial zero-sum thinking.
“The investor reaction is just not good. I think if you put 30 of the smartest investors at that time in a room and ask them, what's the probability that this AWS business with durable long-term margins and like super interesting and everything not commodity? I think you would have gone zero for 30.”
“Fast forward from 07 to 2014. I joined the venture business in 2014. And a very common narrative in 2014 was, oh my God, AWS is going to eat everything. There's no enterprise opportunity left.”
“The takeaway to me is there's a bunch of zero sum thinking and not realizing like how big, what if it all works? What if it all works?”