Course
Moats & Compounders
Why some returns persist — structure, growth counterweights, and capital that stays.
Intermediate4 lessonsabout 23 minContent checked
Persistence is the exception. Porter’s five forces treat a moat as a structure you can inspect, Gardner’s rule-breakers argue the growth side, permanent-capital investors show why preservation compounds, and Sleep’s scale-economies-shared is the modern case study in giving the moat back to the customer.
Module 1 — the Structure of Persistence
- 1. Porter — a moat is a structure, not an adjectiveCompetitive advantage is durable only when something structural protects it. In the numbers that shows up as persistence - margins and returns on capital that stay high for years rather than one good cycle.6 min
- 2. Gardner — the growth counterweightDavid Gardner's six signs of a disruptive winner favour early leaders in emerging industries with strong price leadership and high margins. It is the deliberate counterweight to a bench of value frameworks.6 min
Module 2 — Capital That Compounds
- 3. Permanent capital — preservation before performanceA multigenerational frame in which the first objective is never losing capital permanently. It changes what you screen for - resilience, balance-sheet durability and dividend persistence over growth rate.6 min
- 4. Sleep — scale economies sharedA qualitative durability idea rather than a computed score - the sturdiest businesses hand their scale savings to customers, which grows the moat instead of the margin. Worth understanding precisely because it does not show up in the ratios.5 min