This week’s guest is, Zack Kanter, the founder and CEO of the Stedi.  Zack and I decided not to talk much about his business on this podcast and opted instead to explore more generally, so a bit of an introduction to what they do may be helpful here for some extra context. Stedi is a platform for exchanging and automating 300+ types of business-to-business transactions - transactions like purchase orders, invoices, etc. It’s a modern take on an archaic protocol called EDI - electronic data interchange, something I’d never even heard of until several months ago. Learning about EDI is a bit like finding out about the Matrix - every physical object you come across, from the food you ate for breakfast to the clothes you’re wearing and consumer electronics you use - anything with a barcode on it - was likely touched by EDI, often dozens of times before making it into your hands. Stedi is the first update to this messaging later in decades.Our conversation in this podcast is about business in general, starting with Zack’s fascination with Walmart and Amazon. I should also not that my family is a recent investor in Stedi, and I’m thankful to have learned a great deal from him over the past few months. Please enjoy our conversation. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes1:52 - (First Question) – Interest in Walmart and Amazon4:02 – Sam Walton: Made In America4:49 – What from their success can be applied elsewhere11:07– The idea of tempo with a business17:17 – Ability for a business to expand laterally24:33 - Magic of Amazon as a constitution26:24 – The concept of the OODA loop26:40 – Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War31:51 – Orientation within software businesses32:24 – The Systems Bible: The Beginner's Guide to Systems Large and Small38:03 – Lessons in building software38:37– Certain to Win: The Strategy of John Boyd, Applied to Business41:51 – Setting a common vision for a company44:14 – Changing the dynamic of teams and how different size teams can accomplish different things48:00 – How leaders should think about build vs buy51:07 – The different types of value propositions53:07 – Utility for companies57:31 – Concept of network health and the best question from VCs1:04:04 – Massive projects are less frequent in a world where we can do a lot quickly1:04:08 – Wait but Why1:09:37 – Just in time vs just in case learning framework1:11:55 – His favorite question1:13:39 – Why is most commonly heard advice wrong1:18:06 – Kindest thing anyone has done for ZackLearn MoreFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclubFollow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag