TECHBREAKDOWNS / MAPS · STORIES · MODELS
Follow the money.
Then test the story.
Understand where value moves through a tech market. See what a company actually does within it. Then change the assumptions behind its possible returns.
Who approves the card?
Who moves the parcel?
Trace the customer, the money, and the companies that make a market work.
Learn what each company sells, why customers care, and where the risks sit.
Move the operating levers and see how your view changes the valuation.
PUBLISHED COMPANY STUDIES
The company is where the map gets specific.
Each study pairs a visual business story with an interactive financial model. Open one and see which levers matter.
Instacart
CARTThe grocery app that wants to own the aisle
MercadoLibre
MELIThe store became a bank. Now comes the test.
Stores & marketplacesWarehouses & robotsShipping & deliveryCheckout & paymentsReinvestors
THE PORTFOLIO RECORD
What happens when the ideas become a system?
Two dated model portfolios track companies that return cash or reinvest to grow. Follow the holdings and the record as they develop.
THE COMMERCE INDEX
The map, tracked as an index.
Every public company on the commerce map, equal- and cap-weighted, rebalanced monthly and measured against QQQ and SPY.
75 companies · since Sep 30, 2026 · prices through Oct 6, 2026 · hypothetical research index. Stage indices: Discovery & ads · Storefront software · Cloud, CDN & security · Stores & marketplaces · Checkout & payments · Card networks · Issuers & credit · Warehouses & robots · Shipping & delivery · Returns & support
FROM THE NEWSLETTER
The latest thinking.
New essays, company updates, and the ideas behind the maps.
How Instacart Actually Makes Money
A $57 grocery order leads into the software, payments, and advertising behind Instacart and what the business could be worth in five years.
Read on the newsletter
Nu: A Better Bank, but at What Price?
A purple card, a $1 monthly cost to serve, and a lot to like. I dug into the business, what could break it, and how much growth we’re already paying for.
Read on the newsletter
GitLab: The Invisible Fortress of Enterprise Software
GitHub won developer culture. GitLab built the tollbooth for regulated enterprise code. Inside the unglamorous control plane quietly gating the software world.
Read on the newsletter
The Price of Friction
dLocal owns the local rails Big Tech can’t build on their own. But when your enterprise customers 10x in size, who really captures the economics?
Read on the newsletterSTAY WITH THE STORY
Get the next breakdown in your inbox.
Follow new maps, company research, and the questions that change the investment case.